President and CEO says cooperation will give impetus to innovation and worldwideexpansion
DALIAN, Liaoning - Technology and commercial partnerships between corporate America andrising Chinese business giants can benefit both China and the United States, said MarkHutchinson, president and chief executive officer of General Electric Co (GE) China.
He said the partnership can create jobs, help innovation and expand markets for the twocountries.
GE, the world's biggest maker of power generationequipment and aircraft engines, entered China asearly as 1906. It has 50 legal entities, including whollyowned companies, joint ventures and research anddevelopment (R&D) centers in China with more than18,000 employees.
"All of GE's businesses have set up operations inChina. We team up with Chinese partners andintroduce technologies, innovations, and also ourexperiences of how to operate as a global player,"said Hutchinson in an exclusive interview with ChinaDaily.
The moves raised concerns among some in the USwho think the rise of Chinese companies could createformidable rivals who had learned state-of-the-arttechnologies from US multinationals. The strongerChinese competitors may limit growth for UScompanies and, therefore, reduce job opportunities,they said.
"It's not a zero-sum game, but a real win-win. WhenGE grows in China, so does our employee base inChina and the United States," said Hutchinson, whojoined GE 17 years ago and was appointed presidentand CEO for GE China on March 1.
The company exported high-tech equipment, including gas turbines and aircraft engines, toChina every year, creating jobs in the US.
GE China does not just focus on China, but focuses globally, he added. GE basically formed50-50 joint ventures with Chinese companies in the fields in which GE has expertise. Then thetwo sides will innovate together and obtain global market share together.
"When we think about jobs, we think about jobs here in China. We also think about jobs in theUnited States. So what GE does is to create thousands of jobs in China and create thousandsof job in the United States," Hutchinson said.
GE has 2,200 engineers working at the GE China Technology Center in Shanghai and otherR&D facilities in Beijing and Wuxi. The figure is expected to increase by 1,000 by 2012, as thecompany planned to invest more than $2 billion in a three-year period that ends in 2012 toexpand its innovation and customer-support capabilities in China.
In the US, GE expects to add about 15,000 jobs this year, said Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE andhead of US President Barack Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Immelt made theremarks in a CNN interview this month.
Although the world's economy has been sluggish, the expected growth for GE is realisticbecause of a relatively stronger economic performance in countries such as China, whichcreates momentum and plays an ever-increasing role in the global economy.
"China is the world's fastest-growing market for aviation, energy, transportation, healthcare andfinancial services ... (GE's initiatives here) will create jobs in both China and the United States,"Immelt wrote in a statement.
Joe Biden, the US vice-president, expressed a similar view that China's rise doesn't spellAmerica's demise. A successful China can make the US more prosperous, not less, he wrote inan opinion piece in the New York Times on Sept 7.
Biden argued China and the US will have a stake in each other's success as trade andinvestment bind the two countries together. They also share "common challenges andresponsibilities" and have incentives to work together on issues "from global security to globaleconomic growth".
"The purpose of GE in China falls on four things, and the first thing is to help China solve itsmajor problems," Hutchinson continued. Some challenges for the Chinese people and theChinese government are in environment protection, clean energy and the task of improvingpeople's lives in China, and "that's kind of what GE do, actually", he said.
Better innovation
GE traces its beginnings to Thomas Edison, who created theworld's first electric light. Edison established Edison Electric LightCo in 1878. In 1892, a merger of Edison General Electric Co andThomson-Houston Electric Co created GE.
The tradition of innovation is endemic in GE. However, theinnovation process has changed greatly from the Edison era,when the work was usually carried out by one individual.Innovation in GE is now more open, globally oriented andemphasizes cooperation.
"Working through partnerships in China benefits innovation. Wehave US engineers working with Chinese engineers, and webelieve it will end up with better products," said Hutchinson.
GE's Shanghai R&D center is one of five the company runsglobally. The other four are located in the US, India, Germanyand Brazil.
Engineers in China work on developing products for China andalso for the global market. The company recently launched ahandheld ultrasound device that can be used in any place peoplewant. The product was developed in conjunction with all theresearch centers around the world.
In addition to R&D centers, GE also set up innovation centers inChina. Customer innovation centers are about to be establishedin six Chinese cities, with Chengdu, Shenyang and Xi'an selectedfor the first phase.
The innovation centers will focus on product development,engineering for applications, sourcing support and delivery in keydevelopment areas for China such as rural healthcare,renewable and clean energy, smart grid and aviation.
"They are really in China for China," Hutchinson said. The one inChengdu will focus on healthcare to develop more affordable andaccessible products for people in China. The Xi'an center is setto focus on lighting to innovate world-class LED light, and theShenyang center will look to develop clean energy products.
GE also encourages more Chinese people to be involved in innovation. The company plans toteam up with a number of venture capital companies to collectively invest $100 million in aninnovation competition starting this month.
"GE committed $200 million in the United States last year to challenge people, so if you havean idea about clean technology, if anybody has an idea about a business plan (on that topic),they could approach us and we could consider investing in their ideas," he said. The activityachieved great success last year, and the company is going to launch exactly the same thing inChina, focusing on gas and gasification.
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