Wong MNC Center News

September 29th, 2019
Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, was interviewed for a Asia Times story about the impact of Hong Kong protests on Chinese overseas foreign direct investment (FDI). The issue arises because a large proportion of Chinese outward FDI (OFDI), almost 60 percent, flows through Hong Kong. Chinese OFDI (COFDI) is already facing pressures because of increased sensitivites in host countries, project problems, and other factors. Dr. Blanchard concurred that COFDI likely would slow over the next few years because of these aforementioned issues and added that sensitivities pertaining to COFDI in infrastructure would be a special limiting factor as would budgetary problems in host countries. He observed, though, that Chinese firms would continue to win overseas contracts.
July 3rd, 2019
On June 24, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, participated on a Panel entitled “Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of Cross-Border Collaboration on Innovation” at the Bay Area Council orchestrated “2019 California Technology Business Matchmaking” forum in Shanghai, China, which included entrepreneurs, investors, consultants, government officials, and industry association representatives. As part of the panel, Dr. Blanchard spoke about the overall innovation environment, some of the political, cultural, and other challenges Chinese companies face when they invest in the United States (US) and US companies face when they invest in China, the politico-social milieu around the current US-China trade war and associated longer term trends, and the gains to be had from cross-border investment and cooperation. Among other things, Dr.
June 1st, 2019
On May 29, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations gave a speech entitled “Belt and Road, Neither Boom nor Bust: The Continuing Relevance of Politics and Economics” for the popular “China Crossroads” Talk Series. Dr. Blanchard addressed the heated debate about if China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is booming, on the road to stagnation, or, worse, failure and sought avoid the problem of overly broad BRI treatments by concentrating on China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI). Dr. Blanchard presented statistics on China’s trade with, foreign direct investment in, and contracting with MSRI countries in Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia and South Asia that demonstrated the MSRI was not yielding impressive results, though the situation seemed better with respect to contracting. Dr.
June 1st, 2019
On May 8, the Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard was invited to give a talk for the University of Ningbo Nottingham China (UNNC) Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Distinguished Speaker Series. Dr. Blanchard spoke about China and Global Economic Governance (GEG), specifically focusing on China’s stance towards inward foreign direct investment (FDI) as a way to gauge the extent to which China is a status quo, revisionist, or revolutionary player with respect to GEG. Looking at China’s behaviors, Dr. Blanchard argued China is a slightly revisionist player, a fact made all the more noteworthy because of the generally substantial macroeconomic, sectoral, and other goals inward FDI (IFDI) helps China realize. Dr.
October 29th, 2018
In late October, the one-and-a-half-day Global Backlash conference, hosted by UC Berkeley and co-organized by the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center), Berkeley APEC Studies Center (BASC), and Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), took place at the University of California, Berkeley (USA). During the first day, participants, including academics and former and current policymakers, from China, Korea, India, Ireland, Singapore, and the US, spoke about the strategies that countries and companies were adopting to deal with the contemporary backlash against globalization. Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Wong MNC Center, spoke about China’s effort to leverage the BRI to promote Chinese technical and legal standards to deal with the challenges of anti-globalization.
September 30th, 2018
On September 21, 2018, the Mr. & Mr. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporation (Wong MNC Center) and the University of Nottingham, Ningbo jointly held a workshop on China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRSI), Africa, and the Middle East.
July 11th, 2018
The Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center) is co-organizing and co-sponsoring the “Coping with Global Backlash” Conference at the University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in October 2018. The two-day event, which runs from October 18 to 19, is hosted by the UC Berkeley Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center (BASC), Center for Long Term Cybersecurity, Clausen Center, and IEAS, which also are event co-organizers and co-sponsors. The conference will examine disruptions to the global economy in the form of trade protectionism, authoritarianism, China, and data competition. Analysts and practitioners from around the globe will convene not only to reflect on these trends, but also to offer insights about the strategies of global powers such as China and the European Union as well as the responses of companies to these dynamics.
June 25th, 2018
Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, the Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center), gave a keynote speech on June 10 at the 20th China Venture Capital & Private Equity Forum in Shenzhen, China at a panel that considered how to enhance business, scientific and technical, and other forms of cooperation in the Guangdong-Macao-Hong Kong (China) Greater Bay Area (粤港澳大湾区). During his presentation entitled “Soft Aspects of Solidifying a ‘Greater Bay Area,’” Dr.
June 3rd, 2018
Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, the Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center), will speak at the 20th (2018) China Venture Capital & Private Equity Forum held from June 8-10 in Shenzhen, China. Dr. Blanchard will speak on "Hard Ways to Facilitate Soft Cooperation: The Case of the (China) Greater Bay Area" at a panel considering how to enhance cooperation in the Guangdong-Macao-Hong Kong (China) Greater Bay Area (粤港澳大湾区). The panel will investigate how Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau can work to advance cooperation, with an emphasize on the smart hardware manufacturing industry.
May 26th, 2018
On April 18, 2018, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations gave a speech at a United Nation's Industrial and Development Organization (UNIDO) conference (in Shanghai, China) entitled "Fostering Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID) in the New Silk Road Economic Belt: Leveraging potentials of Industrial Parks, Zones, and Cities." The title of Dr. Blanchard's speech was "Making a Portrait from the Dots: Challenges Highlighted by China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI)." In his speech, drawing upon his extensive knowledge about the MSRI, Dr.

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