At a panel on the essential elements--or the corporate DNA--of global growth companies, Yang Yuanqing, Chairman of the Board of Lenovo Group, which acquired IBM's personal computer (PC) business in 2004 and became the world's third largest PC maker, also listed three traits he considered the most important to global growth companies : having strategic vision, clear about core competitiveness and allocating resources in a worldwide scope.

"To have strategic vision, company leaders should set strategic goals, and adjust the goals according to changes in the [business] environment and development demands," Yang said. When Lenovo became a leading PC maker in China, it began to think of being a leader in the Asia-Pacific region and even the wider world market.

"Having strategic vision also means a company can grasp opportunities," added Yang. "For example, when the PC industry undergoes a reshuffling period, such an opportunity can't be missed. We can expand business through mergers and acquisitions, to go beyond China and the Asia-Pacific region."

But grasping opportunities doesn't mean you can do just anything with them, according to Yang. "The opportunities should be compatible with your core competitiveness," he said. "You must be clear what your company's core competitiveness is.

According to Yang, for most companies, the most important core competitiveness is their business models: how to do business, how to structure their companies, what is the workflow, and so on. "It is closely related to the third trait--allocating resources in a global scale," said Yang.

Companies whether large or small, domestic or foreign, can allocate their resources globally, Yang said. This requires company leaders to be capable of best allocating its resources. For example, a marketing department can be in the United States, the development and research center can be set up in Japan, the service side in India and production in China. "Then, establish a logical workflow, combining all these resources," Yang said. "Thus you can build up a highly-efficient, more competitive business model in worldwide scope."

Personally, global growth company leaders should cultivate their own strengths themselves, according to Fang. For leaders of Chinese global growth companies, they should grasp foreign languages, understand foreign cultures, and communicate more with their foreign counterparts.

Tap into foreign markets

"Chinese companies like Lenovo and Huawei Technologies were the forerunners of going abroad, but their road wasn't always so easy." said Fang. "Of course, there are many risks ahead."

The purpose of the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions is to make global growth companies more aware of global opportunities and risks, according to Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF.

"The biggest risks of going global, in my opinion, are local culture and talent," Frank Y C Lyn, China Markets Leader of PriceWaterHouseCoopers, told Beijing Review. Lyn explained that Chinese companies should first understand local culture when going to foreign countries in order to better understand the models of business operations in these countries.

Finding qualified employees is also one of the most important things, according to Lyn. "If you think one country has market potential, you should send out your best team," he said. "Meanwhile, you should make good use of local talent and recruit excellent local managers."

Lyn's views are echoed by Maurice Lévy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Group, France. Levy argues that business leaders must figure out how best to incorporate local insight into their increasingly global operations.

"We need people who understand the local culture of a country," said Maurice Lévy. To build a brand, he explained, it is essential to have a workforce thoroughly steeped in local thinking--people who can recite even its lullabies, he added. Brand building may demand different strategies to create the same emotional resonance across cultures.

With regard to finding the right talent, Chinese global growth companies are in great need of staff familiar with international practices, said Fang. Chinese companies should cultivate globally oriented teams, by training inside employees and introducing outside talents simultaneously.

Lyn thinks that Chinese global growth companies should have long-term recruitment plans. He explained that since a company should send the best team where it's going while maintaining operations domestically, they will need to be double staffed in their foremost management teams.