Faced with an increasingly complex business environment, Chinese CEOs are starting to attach more importance to skills like "creativity" and "global vision" than their global peers, a biennial report released by International Business Machines Corp (IBM) showed.

Experts from China's high-end business schools point out that such changes are natural given many Chinese enterprises are looking to internationalization and as worldwide competition heats up.

Asked to prioritize the top three most important leadership qualities in the next five years, 67 percent of Chinese CEOs interviewed chose "creativity", as opposed to 60 percent among global CEOs, according to the 2010 IBM Global CEO Study. And 61 percent of Chinese CEOs identified "global vision" as their second priority, while this is only 35 percent with global CEOs.

The report conducted interviews on 1,543 CEOs from 33 industries across 60 nations and regions worldwide, among which 55 CEOs from 22 industries were from the Chinese mainland.

"China as a nation has recognized the importance of innovation, including it as a key strategy in its 11th Five-Year Plan," said Marc Chapman, general manager of IBM Global Business Services for the Greater China Group.

"Global thinking is important to Chinese CEOs due to China's early globalization stage and expansion opportunities and the change in the global balance of power," he said.

Professors from Chinese business schools believe the survey highlighted two remarkable transitions are taking place among Chinese companies.

At present, the majority of Chinese companies are striving to transform themselves from a "following" strategy to a "leading" strategy, from a "domestic" focus to a "global" focus, said Liao Jianwen, professor of Strategy and Innovation at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.

"To move up the value chain and to become an industry leader, it requires Chinese companies to improve their operational capabilities beyond manufacturing excellence to develop capabilities in design of product and service as well as marketing and branding, thus creativity is of great significance," he added.

Cai Shuheng, associate professor of management at China Europe International Business School, said the previous pattern of Chinese companies largely relying on low-end and low value-added products to win market share will not work in the future.

"Due to the increasingly fierce competition both home and abroad, Chinese companies are finding it an inevitable and sustainable way to adopt different strategies by focusing on creativity and global vision," he said.

(China Daily July 20, 2010)