Fostering the Next Generation of Unicorns: CKGSB's Pioneering Innovation in Business Education

By Xiang Bing, Founding Dean,

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)

Since 1979, China has achieved remarkable economic success through its "Reform and Opening-up" policy. Key milestones include the following: Between 1979 and 2023, China contributed 18.2% of global GDP growth. From 2013 to 2021, China's contribution to worldwide GDP growth reached 38.6%, outpacing the combined contribution of the G7 nations, which was 25.7%. Additionally, China has been the world's largest exporter since 2009, surpassing Germany, and has held the title of the top trading nation since 2013, with the exception of 2016. 

 What elements of the Chinese way may have global relevance? One thing I have discovered is that China’s economic development tends to be more disruption-driven, as compared with America’s well-known innovation-driven approach. This disruption may be reflected in newly emerged large companies on the Fortune Global 500 list since 2001, newly minted billionaires on the Forbes Billionaires List since 2001, and the number of unicorn companies tracked by CB Insights since 2015.  

In 2021 and 2022, the number of Fortune Global 500 companies from mainland China surpassed that of the U.S. Between 2001 and 2023, the number of Chinese companies on this list surged from 11 to 129, representing 25.8% of the total. Similarly, Chinese billionaires on the Forbes Global Billionaires List skyrocketed from just 1 in 2001 to 495 in 2023. Furthermore, the number of Chinese unicorns tracked by CB Insights grew from 22 in 2015 to 169 in 2023, making China the second-largest hub for unicorns globally. By these three measures, China and the U.S. have been the most disruptive economies in the past two decades.

China has been imitation-driven for some time, but more recently more and more companies are becoming definitely innovation-driven across a number of industries, including renewable energy, e-commerce, electric vehicles (EVs), lithium-ion battery manufacturing, and 5G technology, etc. This wave of innovation is propelling Chinese enterprises to disrupt global markets. As of 2023, China holds the leading position in installed capacity of renewable energy sources (solar power, wind power, hydropower and bioenergy) and is the world’s largest EV market (accounting for 59% of global sales with BYD remaining the top seller). Additionally, China has become the leading exporter of solar products, EVs and lithium-ion batteries (with total export of these three sectors reaching 1.06 trillion yuan in 2023).

Chinese internet platform companies have also achieved notable success in the U.S. market for the first time. A particularly remarkable example is ByteDance, which has held the title of the most valuable unicorn company for over five years, with a valuation significantly exceeding that of the largest American unicorn. TikTok, a subsidiary of Bytedance, was the most downloaded entertainment and video streaming app in 2022 and became the first non-game mobile app to generate $10 billion in consumer spending in 2023. Examples of e-commerce companies include Temu of Pinduoduo, which became the most downloaded free app in the United States by the end of 2022, and SHEIN, which was ranked as the second-fastest-growing brand on “The Fastest Growing Brands of 2023” among the U.S. millennial population and was listed as the 4th most valuable unicorn company by CB Insights as of March 19, 2024.

I firmly believe that economic disruption is essential for driving prosperity and enhancing social mobility. By harnessing the forces of innovation and entrepreneurship, countries and businesses can unlock new potential and gain a competitive edge. However, current economic models face significant challenges, including income inequality, declining social mobility, and sustainability concerns. Fostering the next generation of unicorns and aspiring unicorns, with a renewed emphasis on global responsibility, social purpose, and long-term thinking, may provide a viable solution:

a) Social Purpose: Actively contribute to addressing major societal challenges, such as income and wealth inequality, to promote inclusive growth and enhance social mobility.

b) Global Responsibility: Tackle some of humanity's most pressing issues, including climate change, sustainable development, and global economic recovery.

c) Long-term Perspective: Encourage equity across generations and create enduring incentives for political and business leaders to genuinely care about the future of humanity and the planet. 

In light of this observation, we launched our unicorn programs in China in 2015, as we recognized that disruption is essential for economic development and the enhancement of social mobility. The concept behind our next-generation unicorn programs is to share the experience of China’s unique approach to economic development, combining the positive aspects of Chinese disruption-driven strategies with American innovation-driven practices. Our aim is to promote these insights globally to foster economic prosperity and social mobility. As a result, to date, 1,188 founders or co-founders of companies with at least Series A funding have studied at CKGSB, including the founders and co-founders of 151 unicorn companies (85.3% of all unicorns with CKGSB alumni in top leadership roles as of September 2023). From 2017 to 2022, 231 Chinese unicorn companies were tracked by CB Insights, with 41 of them having CKGSB alumni as founders or co-founders, representing 17.8% of the total. In 2016, CKGSB began expanding its successful model from China to Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond. Since then, we have delivered 11 programs, supporting over 200 global entrepreneurs from 30 industries across 37 countries on their path to becoming potential unicorns. Notably, this includes the founders and co-founders of three unicorn companies: Unbabel (Portugal), Sword Health (Portugal), and Teladoc Health (USA). Additionally, 49% of the companies that participated in our China Start program have successfully secured Pre-A and A+ round funding.

Our alumni include some of the most iconic Chinese entrepreneurs, such as Yidan Chen, Co-Founder of Tencent; Wei Cheng, Founder and Chairman of Didi; Shizhong Ding, Founder and Chairman of Anta; Colin Huang (Zheng Huang), Founder of Pinduoduo; Jong-yoon Kim, CEO of Yanolja; Miranda Qu (Fang Qu), Founder of Xiaohongshu; Jack Ma (Yun Ma), Founder of Alibaba; Lidong Zhang, Chairman of ByteDance China; and Hongyi Zhou, Founder of 360 Security Group. These leaders represent the pinnacle of entrepreneurial talent, showcasing the spirit and impact CKGSB has cultivated within its alumni network, which today includes over 22,000 business leaders, half of whom are CEOs or chairpersons, collectively leading one-fifth of China’s most valuable brands.

Since then, we have built a global ecosystem for the next generation of unicorns and unicorn-to-be companies, with a renewed focus on global responsibility, social purpose, and long-term vision. Our unicorn programs stand out for their global reach, spanning five continents—from the RCEP and GCC to Europe, the Americas, and Oceania—and with a multi-sector focus on key industries such as AI and other future tech/deep tech, life sciences, healthcare, luxury management, and social innovation. We have established partnerships with leading institutions like Stanford Engineering, Columbia Engineering, UC San Diego, and Johns Hopkins. In the realm of fashion and luxury management, we collaborate with SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan and ESCP Business School in Paris. In February 2025, we will partner with the University of Sydney in Australia to focus on renewable energy and disruptive innovation within the evolving economic landscape of the RCEP. Additionally, we engage with government and multilateral organizations, including the Executive Council of Dubai, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups of South Korea, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and UNESCO, to deliver rich, interdisciplinary content to our program participants.

Going forward, we will continue our undertaking of building a global ecosystem for the next generation of unicorns by serving a wider region and through collaborations with more and diverse institutions like accelerators, funds and science foundations. In the future, this ecosystem will focus on innovation, disruption, scaling and the next generation of unicorns. Together, we hope to nurture more globally-minded and socially-responsible business leaders who compete with compassion and empathy.

 

关于长江商学院

长江商学院成立于2002年11月21日，是教育部批准设立的拥有独立法人资格的非营利性中外合作办学机构，是国务院学位委员会批准的“工商管理硕士授予单位”(含EMBA和MBA)，为国际管理教育协会(AACSB) 和欧洲管理发展基金会(EFMD)成员，并获得AACSB和EQUIS认证。学院总部位于北京，现设有工商管理硕士项目(MBA)；高级工商管理硕士项目(EMBA)；企业家学者项目；高层管理教育项目(EE)及全球独角兽项目。