China bizman: Innovation key for SMEs to survive crisis

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-18 11:07

LIMA -- The global financial crisis, which has dealt a heavy blow to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), will also bring opportunities with the help of innovation, a Chinese entrepreneur said Monday.

Ma Yun, chairman of the China-based Alibaba group, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview here on Monday that the ongoing financial crisis, which first hit the fictitious economy, has spread to the real part of the economy and thus will bring negative influence on the development of SMEs.

Ma was in Lima, the Peruvian capital, to attend the Second APEC SMEs Summit, part of the Leaders' Week scheduled for November 16-23. He delivered a key-note speech entitled "Technology as an Integration Tool in Global Markets" at the meeting, held in the Real Felipe del Callao on Monday.

He suggested that SMEs put innovation as a priority in their fight to survive in the current grim situation.

Ma warned that SMEs which fail to seek innovation and whose products lack individuality would doom to fail in the fierce competition. The crisis also brings opportunities to SMEs, Ma said, noting that enterprises with more flexible mechanisms will survive longer in the competition.

He suggested that those SMEs that want to win out in competition with larger ones should become more flexible and more innovative to reduce cost by adopting the latest IT technology.

The world would see a drastic change in the coming 10 years as a result of the shift from industry-oriented technology to consumer-oriented ones, he said.

On corporate responsibility, part of the APEC meeting agenda, Ma said a company should shoulder its due social responsibility if it wants to win others' respect.

SMEs account for over 90 percent of all businesses and employ between 60 to 80 percent of the workforce in the region, according to figures released by the organizing committee of the APEC Leaders' Week.