Topic: The types of MNCs we meet in China today

Speaker: Francis Bassolino, Managing Partner, Alaris Consulting- China

Presentation: 
Are MNC’s leaving China? This straightforward question has no succinct answer other than no. A longer and more nuanced answer would need to account for the change in thinking over the past decade when China switched from an easy “Yes, let’s invest more”, to a “Maybe it’s time to reconsider options”.

Since about 2008, when China began to flex its muscles in geopolitics and demonstrate its values at home and abroad, business leadership in the West has needed to recognize that China does not intend to be a liberal democracy.  Regardless of or perhaps despite this values mismatch, many MNCs realize that even though China may have different values, it cannot be ignored. China is often an essential leg in a three-legged stool that includes a foundation in Europe, North America and Asia. Of course, not all feel compelled to be in China. But for many and for a long time to come China will be a place that will still play a pivotal role in global markets.

This presentation describes some of MNCs we meet in China today illustrating what business models are designed to accomplish.

Speaker's bio:
Francis Bassolino is the Managing Partner of Alaris, a strategy and operations advisory firm. Francis specializes in providing strategic and operational support to companies building businesses in Asia. He implements sourcing programs, develops strategic initiatives and designs global expansion plans. Francis has served clients such as Citicorp, Honeywell, Yao Ming, and TPG. His experiences in Asia over the past 20 years span consumer finance, marketing and manufacturing.

Previously, Francis was a Senior Manager with Deloitte & Touche's China Business Services group where he focused on corporate finance and conducting financial and operational due diligence for mergers and acquisitions. Other experiences include operations management for a global logistics firm and business management for a large, Asia based conglomerate with interests in real estate, manufacturing and biotechnology.

In addition to frequently speaking at public events, Francis has published articles in the Asian Venture Capital Journal, The Deal, The China Business Review, Forbes, The China Economic Review, The Harvard China Review, and The Journal of Private Equity. He has also aired commentaries on National Public Radio.

Francis holds an MBA from the University of Chicago where he majored in Entrepreneurship and Finance. Francis graduated from the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, and was an exchange student at Nanjing University as well as Tunghai University in Taiwan. Francis is currently an adjunct Lecturer of Marketing at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Francis is a past member of the Council on Foreign Relations (New York). Fluent in Mandarin, Francis resides in Shanghai with his wife and daughter.