Since the advent of the 21st century, the increasing presence and prestige of Chinese companies in the global economy have become evident. Brands like Alibaba, Huawei, and BYD have emerged on the international stage, posing formidable competition to brands such as Amazon, Apple, and Tesla. A close examination of the rise of these companies reveals a trajectory similar to that of Japanese enterprises five and six decades ago, but with 21st-century Chinese characteristics. A granular look at Sony, Matsushita, Toyota, and the like from the 1960s gives us insightful perspectives when considering BYD, DJI, Haier, Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. today.

What about the world's reactions to the rise of these Asian conglomerates? Fear of Japan in the 1980s seems all too familiar to those who are engaged with China and the world now. However we can be smarter this time. Join us on December 15 to review these rhyming trajectories, and explore what the future may hold for Chinese enterprises going global.

About the speaker:

John Darwin Van Fleet has been a resident of China for more than two decades after living in Japan in the 1990s. With an extensive career working for multinationals and startups in both countries, he joined academia in 2003 and currently serves as adjunct faculty at the Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. A contributor to the Asian Review of Books, Caixin, Nikkei Asia, and quite a few others, Van Fleet published his first book, Tales of Old Tokyo, in 2015. His ongoing research project, First Time in History, is a multimedia endeavor (print, podcast, website) exploring China's socioeconomic rise since 1978, and for which he far too infrequently produces another bit, like this one.