FOREWORD

In the past decade，despite the increasing complexities，challenges，and uncertainties in the external environment，the Chinese economy has continued to maintain a stable rate of growth，averaging 6％ annually.China's GDP accounts for 18％ of the total world economy approximately，making it the world's second largest economy.China's contribution to the average annual growth of world economy is over 30％ illustrating the important role it plays in driving world economic growth.The last two years has seen China's GDP per capital rising to over US ＄ 12 000 signifying the country's shift into upper-middle income territory.Furthermore，China is the largest trading partner for over 120 economies，while ranking a global first in commodity trading volume for six consecutive years.In the WIPO's Global Innovation Index Ranking，China has jumped from the 35th place in 2013 to the 12th place in 2023，with the greatest number of Science ＆Technology clusters in the world.29％ of the Global Fortune 500 list are Chinese as the presence of Chinese companies on the list stands increased from 95 in 2013 to 145 in 2023.These unprecedented economic feats are largely owed to the successes of Chinese companies，enabled，in part，by globalization.In this book we explore how Chinese companies maintain their competitiveness and continuously improve indigenous innovation capability while also examining the emergent myths of their management.

The Southwestern University of Finance and Economics （abbreviated hereafter SWUFE） has played a central role in shaping China's globally successful leaders with many pearls of wisdom distilled in the course，Fundamentals of Management，which has run in SWUFE for over 40 years.Inheriting the essence of the teaching experiences from the SWUFE professors，I have taught the course at the esteemed institution since 2013，through English，with students attending from over 10 countries and regions.The genesis for this book emerged during this period of teaching，when I identified a lack of innovative，bilingual Chinese enterprise cases that aligns with the content of the course.This book was developed to support the new finance and economics configuration，with sufficient insights to implement the internationalization strategy of Chinese higher education and the goal of equipping the future，global leaders with relevant，first class talents.Beyond SWUFE students and academics，I envisage this case collection assisting practitioners and the general public，both at home and abroad to better understand the management theories and practices of Chinese companies，understand how Chinese companies fulfill fundamental functions of management such as decision making，organizing，leading，controlling，and innovation management in addition to the corresponding results of these actions.We are grateful for the funding provided by the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics as well as the immense support from the Office of Academic Affairs and the SWUFE Press in assisting me and my team in bringing this book into fruition.

In my role as book editor，I was inspired by the book “Management”edited by Professor Chen Chuanming at Nanjing University，which illuminated course materials and supported the course content framework.This book was developed with the support of Associate professor Shen Tao，Professor Xu Shan，Lecturer Xie Mengying，in addition to students of Professor Tang Mingfeng who participated in writing insightful and prescient book chapters.Associate senior editor Li Xiaosong assisted Professor Tang in designing the book's structure，and supported the editing process and publication pathway.When editing the book，we resolved to transmit the essence of domestic and foreign management theories in addition to shedding light on their practical application.Our aim is to inform students and shape their understanding of the fundamental management functions as recognized by academic experts and business leaders.Based on decision making，organizing，leading，controlling and executing innovation，these fundamental management functions，we adopt the principles of authenticity，typicalness，generalization and representativeness to carefully select enterprise cases，make efforts to combine theories and practices，and show readers how Chinese managers practice these management functions and what the results of their applications are.This book can not only be used as a textbook for domestic and foreign college students，at undergraduate and postgraduate （including MAB） education levels，but it also provides some implications for researchers and practitioners in the management field.

The book chapters have been done by the following contributors：

Tang Mingfeng，Shen Tao：Cases 1，2 and 3 in the first chapter.

Tang Mingfeng，Bao Yuxiang，Xu Shan，Xie Mengying：Cases 1，2 and 3 in the second chapter.

Tang Mingfeng，Li Yuzhu，Shen Tao：Cases 1，2 and 3 in the third chapter.

Xu Shan，Tang Mingfeng，Li Xiaotian，Shen Tao：Cases 1，2 and 3 in the fourth chapter.

Tang Mingfeng，Ma Ruiqi，Xia Ruichen，Feng Jincheng，Chen Yutong，Gao Chengjun，Zhuang Kaiyuan，Wang Hang，Mei Yifan，Shen Tao：Cases 1，2 and 3 in the fifth chapter.

I am forever indebted to my many supportive colleagues for their ongoing assistance and invaluable contributions.I greatly appreciate my team members who have worked diligently to advance our knowledge and understanding of the management theories and practices used within Chinese companies.I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the Office of Academic Affairs and the SWUFE Press for their support and dedication from the initiation of this project to the completion of the book publication.

Due to time constraints，our book may require updating and improvement in the forthcoming years，and we would be grateful to receive comments and suggestions from academics and readers as to potential future improvements that could be made.Furthermore，our book cited numerous existing research findings.Even though we have tried to cite all relevant references，some omissions remain.Therefore，we apologize if we have overlooked any key references and we express our gratitude to the authors for their understanding.If there are any inappropriate citations，please feel free to contact us.Thank you for taking the time to read this and we hope you find this book as useful to read as it was to create.

Tang Mingfeng
Leeds，UK
December 15th 2023