By GUO MENGJIE

and ZHONG HUI

Chinese manufacturing enterprises face a lack of global brands, which could be improved by emphasizing on quality, said Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric considered by many to be the world’s most successful CEO.

His remarks were made at a forum held in Shanghai earlier this month, attracting many Chinese manufacturing enterprises’ leaders who asked many questions.

Welch expressed his admiration for Steve Jobs during an interview, referring to Jobs’ recent resignation.

“I admire Jobs very much, and he’s the greatest CEO in the world,” he said. “Jobs started his success by launching Apple, but left the company to establish an animation studio and then sold it to Disney. After that, he returned to Apple and launched products with innovation.”

Welch also talked about the firing of Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s former female CEO. However, Welch offered his own perspective saying, “Actually, I think Ma Yun (founder of Alibaba) could use this opportunity to expand his company. I think that he can consider the acquisition of Yahoo.”

The forum was attended by renowned industry veterans such as Lee Kai-fu, the CEO of Innovation Works; Feng Jun, the president of Aigo Digital Technology Co, Ltd; and Dai Huaizong, the president of Supor Co, Ltd. They talked with Welch about how to train successors and the relationship between globalization and e-commerce.

Ling Feng, the CEO of Global Market Group, said that although Chinese exports and imports volumes have exceeded the United States to became No 1 in the world, China still lacks its own renowned brands.

Welch said that since Chinese manufacturing enterprises already have Original Equipment Manufacturing, or OEM, Chinese enterprises have the capacity to manufacture high-quality products. He estimated that within five years, the brand influence of Chinese manufacturing will increase.

The most discussed topic was how to innovate in the area of e-commerce for the Chinese manufacturing industry under the background of globalization.

Lee, from Innovation Works, said that innovation could exist in business models and production flow. Welch stated that innovation happened in every company and e-commerce is continuously creating tremendous business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Lee also considered that future e-commerce activities would become more individualized, mobile and socialized.

Welch suggested that China should improve product quality and learn to innovate when it comes to Chinese enterprises’ competitiveness.

“China needs to have millions of companies like Apple to create unique products for the world,” he said.