Culture is key to international expansion: Leaders Lounge with Laura Citron
Culture is key to international expansion: Leaders Lounge with Laura Citron
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00:00I've been really lucky that in my career I've lived in lots of different countries
00:10around the world and I've led teams in lots of different parts of the world and I think
00:15that's helped me because it's given me that external view on the UK and that helped me
00:20to put myself I think in the shoes and to empathise better with our international investors
00:25and to think about how do we really need to support them to understand the opportunities
00:30to navigate a system that's unfamiliar and not to assume too much knowledge.
00:35London and Partners has been promoting the city as a global hub and based on your experience
00:42how do you think that the company's strategies when it comes to China have developed and
00:49evolved over the past years?
00:51China has always been a core market for London and Partners and it continues to be one of
00:55our core markets. So if we go back a lot of the investment from China to the UK was in
01:01quite traditional real estate and financial services and whilst that's still very important
01:07we as a company are much more focused on finding that new innovation and encouraging innovative
01:13new companies to come and expand into London.
01:16So we do see the shift from the traditional real estate industry, we see the walkie-talkie
01:21building in London, it was invested by a Chinese company, Chou Fintech Automotive and other
01:27sectors. So if I were a Chinese investor I would be wondering what businesses have the
01:35most potential for further collaboration between the two countries?
01:39Yeah, great question. London's a great place to scale a business. When we look at the kinds
01:45of Chinese businesses that tend to come and be successful here in recent years, lots of
01:50Fintech and payments companies, some around innovation in smart cities and around electric
01:57vehicles and also around gaming technologies and some life sciences businesses have also
02:06done well. So it's quite broad as you would expect in an economy as big as China which
02:11has such broad sectoral strengths.
02:14What do you think makes London stand out compared with other cities like say New York
02:20or Singapore?
02:22So I think for Chinese companies London is really that rest of world gateway and what
02:27we often see is that a Chinese business will come to London as its first international
02:31office because by being in London it puts you on that global stage. London is a very,
02:37very diverse and international business city and if you're selling B2B, so you're selling
02:43to businesses, it's a very dense centre of global decision makers. So you can come to
02:49London and win a contract not just for the UK but for all of Europe or all of Europe
02:54and the Middle East.
02:56Do you think it is still the case after Brexit?
02:58Absolutely. London has one of the most diverse and large skilled workforces in the world.
03:05We see that our international student numbers are really strong. We attract the best talent
03:11from around the world. We have some of the world's top universities in London and investors
03:16tell us that talent is still the number one reason they come to London. We've helped lots
03:21of different Chinese companies to invest in London over the years and that ranges from
03:25really big household names. We helped Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba to set up their offices here.
03:31In fact, your own company, CGTN, we helped you to set up your office in London as well.
03:38So some of the really big Chinese businesses.
03:41So one of the key challenges in dealing with China is to navigate the complex international
03:47investment environment. So what can London and partners do to attract more investment
03:54from China?
03:55We've always taken a very long-term view on China because we know that long-term relationships
04:01are very important in a changing geopolitical environment. We're really focused on client
04:09service. So our role is to be that shortcut to help people spend their time as efficiently
04:15as possible in the right meetings, with the right places and at the right events. Always
04:21trying to maintain those really, really high levels of client service is at the core of
04:26what we do.
04:28And you get your feedback from some Chinese business professionals investing in London
04:33and what is the most that you have got from them? What are the challenges or obstacles
04:39that they have met in the city when they invest in the country?
04:44So the typical obstacles that Chinese businesses face when they come over, other than sometimes
04:48there are geopolitical challenges, but assuming that's not an issue, are actually the same
04:53as we see for most high growth companies, regardless of where they come from. I don't
04:57think they're particularly specific to Chinese businesses. One of the biggest ones that people
05:02don't think about so much is the company culture. One of the key challenges is translating a
05:08culture internationally, especially if you haven't got an international outpost yet.
05:14Because as we know, culture is such an important driver of a company's growth. And if you have
05:20an innovative business, having that culture of innovation is really core. Often it's the
05:25secret source to that business. A lot of what we do is making sure that they're working
05:29with the right expert partners and then supporting them directly to be networking within their
05:35sector, meeting the right investors, the right corporates, the right influencers.
05:39Your company London and Partners also works for other countries and compared with other
05:45countries, how do you think that China is different or Chinese businesses are different?
05:50I think one of the big differences with Chinese investors is because China is such a big
05:54domestic market, the businesses tend to come internationally when they're at quite a late
05:59stage of development. So the kind of business that would come to London from China is already
06:04well established, maybe has thousands of employees, potentially is already listed on a Chinese
06:09stock exchange. That's quite different from the kind of investor that might come from
06:13Paris or from Berlin, where they will come to London to raise a Series A. So they'll
06:17come to London really quite an early stage in their development. So we're dealing with
06:22a much smaller, much less mature business, whereas our Chinese clients tend to be quite
06:26large and well established.
06:28And do you think it's changing now gradually? There used to be big companies from China
06:32expanding overseas, let's say to London. Probably there are some start-up companies from China
06:38now trying to get access to the European market.
06:41Absolutely. We're working with Chinese start-ups and I think that's really exciting. And I
06:45hope that more Chinese, well, scale-ups, maybe not start-ups, I hope that more Chinese scale-ups
06:51will choose also to expand to the UK. And we really look forward to working with them
06:56when they do.
06:57Looking back at the history of London and partners, how do you personally envision the
07:02future of this relationship evolving, let's say, over the next decade?
07:08Well, if I knew how the future of the UK-China relationship would evolve over the next decade,
07:12I probably wouldn't do this job. But I think China will remain a very important market
07:19for London for trade and for investment, and investment across different asset classes.
07:24We've talked today about real estate, but also about financial services and different
07:28kinds of technology. And I think that whilst the geopolitics might change, that basic trading
07:34relationship will likely endure in some way or other. And I think China continues to be
07:40a really important market for London for tourists and also for students. And so we're looking
07:47forward to continuing to work with our partners in China on that.