Recently, Alumni Forum “China’s Foreign Investment Project in the Belt and Road Initiative – Experience from Actual Cases” was held in the 301 lecture hall of Tower A, Tongji Building. Lu Feng, master alumnus of Tongji SEM, Ph. D. in Economics of Ruhr University and researcher of Warton Economic Institute, Zhong Mo, President of Foshan Keda Hydraulic Machinery Co., Ltd., master alumnus of Tongji SEM and Ph. D. in Economics of the University of Cologne, and Zhang Fuqiang, Chairman Assistant of the Board of Directors and Chief Investment Officer of PENGXIN Group, were invited as keynote speakers. The forum was hosted by the Alumni Association of Tongji SEM and chaired by Wu Boning, Director of the Alumni and Corporate Relations Office. Professor Chen Song, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Branch of Tongji SEM, issued alumni mentor certificates to the three alumni. Huang Yuxiang, former President of Tongji SEM, as well as over 100 students and alumni attended the event.

Dr. Lu Feng delivered a speech entitled “Internationalization of Chinese Enterprises: Motivation, Challenge, Trend and Opportunity”. He described the different management methods, legal frameworks and employee mindsets of Chinese and European enterprises, making in-depth discussions with participants on the models and choices of internationalization, the reasons for internationalization and some problems encountered by Chinese enterprises in this process.

Dr. Zhong Mo delivered a speech entitled “Globalization of Chinese Enterprises: Global Layout and Empirical M&A Cases”. He introduced two cases of Chinese enterprises going global in detail, shared a series of issues that need to be considered during the negotiation of overseas M&A as well as its implication, and emphasized the key role of decision makers in the process of internationalization.

Zhang Fuqiang made a speech entitled “Practice and Thoughts on China-Myanmar Beef Cattle Industry Investment in the Belt and Road Initiative”. Taking the imported Burmese beef cattle as an example, he introduced the role of investment and development along the Belt and Road in solving China’s supply shortage, the solution for Chinese market connecting with overseas resources as well as the realistic problems for Chinese investors, such as risks posed by the management and limitations of opening up and decision-making in countries along the Belt and Road.

At the end of the forum, speaking from their own experiences, three alumni shared their opinions about learning and practice with the student audience. While encouraging them to participate in practical activities, the alumni also noted that only by strengthening theoretical foundation in class can we achieve long-term career development.

The “empirical knowledge” of the three alumni provided a lot of useful information for the participants. Student audience said that they hope there would be more opportunities to participate in such events and have more in-depth exchanges with the alumni in the future.

(provided by the Alumni and Corporate Relations Office)