Dec 2008
Mr Jack Ma, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, spoke at the Edward K Y Chen Distinguished Lecture Series held in December 2008.
Talking on “Economic Winter: Now What?”, Mr Ma delivered his lecture before a full house of over 600 HKU staff, students and alumni, as well as members of the community.
Earlier this year, Mr Ma predicted an economic winter was approaching and advised people to prepare for it in order to survive and thrive when the metaphorical snows melted. During his lecture, Mr Ma discussed his thoughts on the Chinese and international economies as well as sharing his leadership view that the strength of nations and companies is shown by how they react to harsh conditions. He believes a major key to survival is having a positive attitude in order to embrace change and learn from and adapt to developments in the economy in order to grow and prosper in the longer term.
The “Edward K Y Chen Distinguished Lecture Series” was initiated by a group of former HKU students of Professor Chen from the early 1970s as an accolade to the fine scholar and loving teacher. A fund was set up in 2007 to establish the Lecture Series at HKU in his honour. Not only does this Lecture Series represent a tribute to an honoured teacher, it also aspires to demonstrate the fine tradition of great respect and appreciation for Teachers and Mentors to our younger generation.
The Lecture Series is organised by the School of Economic and Finance.