Insights From

Ming-Jer Chen

4 Reasons Behind the Volatility of China’s Billionaire List

Between 2020 and 2021, the number of billionaires in China rose by more than 60 percent. Compared to the U.S. — which still holds the highest number of billionaires — China’s list changes frequently. Why does it show so much turnover? The answer has to do with the country’s dualistic capitalist-socialist identity.

Pivoting in a Pandemic: From Diapers to Mask Production in China

With the world on the brink of pandemic, a business was asked to make masks. How should it balance an ethical imperative against the risks of entering a new market? And what direction should it take when the crisis receded? Public-private partnerships can combine the strengths of diverse entities, driving rich, broadly beneficial results.

When Political Becomes Personal: Sensitive Racial and Cultural World Issues

During rising tensions between the U.S. and China, what happens when one professional makes a comment on Chinese innovation that offends his colleague? Professor Ming-Jer Chen offers a discussion of context and complex cross-cultural problems, an understanding of which can aid in appropriate action when no clear-cut answer may exist.

Chips on the Table: Chinese Consumer Electronics Manufacturer Bets Big on European Microchip Maker

China manufactures nearly a quarter of the world’s high-tech goods, but most of those goods’ microchips come from the U.S. When tension rose in U.S.-China relations, one Chinese company found an M&A win-win with a European chipmaker looking to expand in China’s market. Here’s how a CEO turned around an existential threat and supply chain weak link.

Entrepreneurship in China: The Rise of Female Billionaires

China’s progress towards modernization and marketization gave women unprecedented opportunities to launch and scale private enterprises and make billions in the process. Professor Ming-Jer Chen shares insights on how China managed to forge a new class of super-successful female founders.

The Smithfield Acquisition: ShuangHui Buys the Whole Hog

Famous for producing pork products, Smithfield Foods had a history of aggressive growth. But when that growth stalled for a matter of years, it was time to consider acquisition by ShuangHui International. This case in point discusses the pros and cons and strategic considerations that went into the international deal.

Lights, camera, Lego: How an ‘active play’ giant took a chance on Hollywood

Darden Professor Ming-Jer Chen discusses the considerations that went into the partnership between LEGO and Warner Brothers in the making of The LEGO Movie.

The Power of One: East Meets West in Strategy

Competition is defined by the relationship between its constituent parts: action and response. The two are as interdependent as day and night; they exist within the context of one another, together creating one totality.

Beyond Competitive Dynamics: From ‘Winner Take All’ to ‘Lifting All Boats’

Professor Ming-Jer Chen says in a world in which globalization and technology are rapidly recoding the very DNA of business, its time for profound reexamination of the meaning, parameters and aims of competition.