Cisco last week announced the next phase of its corporate strategy for China, marked by new public-private collaborative programs within the country that deliver upon its USD 16 billion multi-year innovation and sustainability initiative first announced in November 2007.
Cisco's multi-year innovation and sustainability initiative in China includes research and development, education, procurement, investment and training.
Unveiled by Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers at a press conference in Beijing, key updates to this program and to Cisco's broad corporate strategy for China include:
Expansion of Innovation and Education Commitments
-- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) with a focus on next-generation Internet and green research and development (R&D) programs, leadership training, best practice sharing and business development investments
-- MOU with China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), aimed at furthering Cisco's commitment to technology innovation and providing assistance to Chinese businesses in the development of Information Technology (IT) and business process outsource capabilities within the country
-- Strategic Cooperation with Peking University to create the 'Guanghua Cisco Leadership Institute' for leadership development.
"The next stage of our strategy for China reflects the country's importance to Cisco's global growth strategy and to our long-term business model, built upon next-generation innovation in collaboration and Web 2.0 technologies," said Chambers.
"Cisco's public-private collaboration within China not only helps accelerate these business efforts, but also helps the 1.3 billion people and growing number of entrepreneurs within the country gain access to social and economic opportunities afforded by the Internet."
Cisco first established operations in China in 1994 and now employs more than 3,000 staff in sales, customer support and service, research and development, business process outsourcing, IT outsourcing, Cisco Capital programs, and manufacturing. The company has 12 offices in China, a major R&D facility in Shanghai, Scientific Atlanta R&D and manufacturing facilities and several development centers supporting WebEx, which Cisco acquired in March 2007.
According to Chambers, one of the key drivers of Cisco's differentiated strategy is its ability to capture market transitions.
“China is very clearly a market in a dynamic state of transition. As we continue to evolve our innovation, education and sustainability programs within China, we are also focused on our goal of making China one of the company's top three world markets in the next five years," said Chambers. |
