China is not only a huge market but also a huge resource, said Ben Verwaayen, chief executive officer of Alcatel-Lucent, a global telecommunications corporation headquartered in Paris, France.
It means "a lot of our products and a lot of our ideas are coming from China," the CEO told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
"There is a lot of creativity in the market and there are a lot of entrepreneurial people that have great ideas and a lot of good things are happening in China."
According to Verwaayen, China is an extraordinarily important market. "We have been around in China for a long period of time," he said.
The rise of China is one hot topic at the five-day Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum that began on Wednesday. Many participants agreed that it is time to seek opportunities in emerging markets like China.
Verwaayen has visited China many times. "I really like what I see, such as the development of the Chinese economy," he said. "I am impressed by what I see of the resolve of the people to go and make progress."
It is widely agreed that the world economic power is shifting from the West to the East. "We have to step back a little bit to see the total picture," he said. "The big picture is that there is an economic shift and you have to realize that.
Meanwhile, he said that the shift is ongoing, but it is never in one direction. "Going from Eest to East does not mean the West becomes empty, because it is a more connected world".
Talking about his company's investment in China, Verwaayen said, "We do not only look to the telecom business, we are part of somebody else's business as well."
"It is not only about your own industry but also about how to make business by combining industries together, that will be a growing part of our business going forward."
He admitted that the competition in China's communications industry is vehement. "We have been lucky that we have great competitors in China," he said. "We compete, but we also work together."
At Davos, state leaders and company CEOs are reassessing business models. "The financial crisis has made people think again about what their business model is," said Verwaayen. "We need a model where you have a kind of cohesion with society at large."
He said the communications industry, like any other industry, has been affected by people's increasing caution in investment. "Maybe that is a good thing," he said, "because people want to understand what type of risk they are now taking on and try to find a good business model."
At the same time, he said people have understood much better that things are linked after the crisis. "You can't keep one problem in one box and look at another box and say that there is no reflection."
"In a connected world, it is very important that we agree to some basic principles and that we can get things done," he added. He was disappointed by what happened at the Copenhagen climate change conference last December. "We need to think about how we are going to make positions going forward in a much better way and in a much more structured way."
Big companies should come together to boost the development of low carbon economy. All industries, all countries and all individuals should be included to deal with climate change. "People are now getting out of a stage of reflection and thinking and opinions and are now going into the 'do' area and that is where we need to see results."
