Latest news with #JoeNgai
CNBC
11 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Chinese companies are looking to go global, no longer just about hard manufacturing
Joe Ngai, greater China chairman at McKinsey, says Chinese companies are increasingly producing products that have a global market, like Labubus, Tiktok, and Black Myth: Wukong – but there's some way to go before they become 'truly global'.
CNBC
06-08-2025
- Business
- CNBC
CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: Beijing wants more babies — are businesses ready for Gen Z parents?
From makers of baby strollers to coding apps, Chinese companies are facing a new kind of customer: the Gen Z parent, with different ideas about raising children and spending on them. China's young parents are digital-natives, have a global outlook and are prefer experiential learning. That mindset is shaping how — and where — they spend. "When you have younger, more digital, international and cosmopolitan parents, their spending patterns are very different [from those of older generations]," said Joe Ngai, chairman of Greater China at McKinsey & Company. Many now prioritize children's experiences, such as golf lessons and ski trips, he added. "We are seeing more spending on the per-kid level, [creating] a more premium market," said Ngai. Businesses catering to enrichment program, extracurriculars and family-centered travel are set to benefit the most, he said. For businesses selling baby formula, cribs, or maternity wear, lower fertility rates have been a drag on growth, still China in 2024 saw nearly three times as many newborns year as the U.S. — a scale that makes its baby-care sector a prize too big to ignore. The baby-care and maternity market was estimated to reach 4.63 trillion yuan (about $645 billion) in 2025, representing around 7% annual growth rate, according to an industry report by iResearch in February. The initial boost from Beijing's stimulus will likely be seen in baby-care and maternity products, before expanding into areas such as pediatric healthcare, early childhood education, insurance products tailored to minors, and technology services designed to support family life. "Think strollers and formula today, but pre-K, private tutoring and family travel tomorrow — all the way to digital learning tools [such as coding apps] and smart parenting apps," said Han Shen Lin, Shanghai-based China Country Director at business consultancy The Asia Group. Parents are also becoming more selective and demanding when it comes to what they buy. Before committing to a product, the younger Chinese parents tend to spend more time comparing options, scrutinizing details and seeking out peer reviews online, said Andy Li, principal at Oliver Wyman in Shanghai. "New parents have become more discerning." That has raised the bar for brands as it's no longer enough to offer quality, companies must also explain why their products stand out. "How to differentiate your proposition, your products against other players in the market has been a major challenge," Li said, noting that giving parents more transparency into what they are buying, especially when it comes to nutrition ingredients, will drive first purchase, ensure retention and brand loyalty. That heightened awareness plays into long-standing concerns over product safety in China — an issue still resonating with Chinese parents nearly two decades after an infant formula scandal in 2008. "For middle-class families still haunted by the 2008 infant formula scandal, many continue to choose foreign brands," said Yaling Jiang, a China-focused independent consumer analyst. In a sign of how quickly public sentiment can shift, driven by the tech-savvy parents, some domestic baby-care brands raised prices days after Beijing rolled out new family subsidies, drawing a swift backlash on social media. The price of one brand of baby wipes jumped from 39 yuan on July 31 to 119 yuan on Aug. 1, according to Manmanmai, an e-commerce price tracker, while a local formula powders' price leapt more than 50% in days. Young parents accused companies of "ripping off the subsidies" before the money has even arrived, with some calling for boycotts. Several brands have since apologized, describing the increases as periodic adjustments. But that backlash highlights a generational shift: Gen-Z parents are value-driven, social media-savvy and quick to call out brands they believe cross the line. In a first for the country, China last month launched a nationwide child-rearing subsidy program, handing out 3,600 yuan ($503) a year for every child under three. It was the first time Beijing extended such subsidy for the firstborn child, with past measures targeting couples with second or third child. The government is betting on the subsidy to reduce the financial strain of parenting and ease what it calls the "fertility anxieties" of young couples. Separately, Beijing on Tuesday announced tuition fees waiver for children in their final year at public preschools and some private kindergartens, starting as soon as the upcoming fall semester. The measures supplement China's efforts to reduce childcare costs at a time when the country is staring at a demographic crisis, fueled by a slide in birth rates. China has seen three consecutive years of population decline, and seven consecutive years of birth rate declines, with a modest rebound in 2024. Muted birth rates also stem from an alarming drop in marriage rates, which fell to the lowest level in almost half a century last year with just 6.1 million new couples. Births dropped to 9.7 million last year — a little over half from the 18.8 million in 2016 when China scrapped its one-child policy that had restricted the size of families — according to Economist Intelligence Unit's estimates based on official data, while the fertility rate is just above 1.0. Fertility rate refers to the average number of children a woman would have in her lifetime. In recent years, China has raised its birth quota to three per couple, introduced tax breaks for childcare and moved to curb after-school tutoring costs. Local officials have tested even bolder incentives, from 10,000 yuan first-baby bonuses in Inner Mongolia to monthly stipends for larger families in Shenyang. But experts say financial incentives alone aren't enough to change minds, particularly among educated women in urban cities, who have continued to face tough choices between career progression, high childcare cost and the burden of eldercare. Millennials and Gen Zs are also part of the so-called "sandwich generation," balancing care for both aging parents and young children. "When you've still got elderly parents to support because there's not a particularly supportive pension system, then a lot of your incomes going up there, rather than, starting your own family," said Harry Murphy Cruise, head of economic research at Oxford Economics. The cost of raising a child until they are 18 relative to per capita GDP is around 6.3 times in China versus 4.11 times in the U.S., according to a population research think tank. Hiring help in tier-1 cities like Shanghai has also been priced out of reach for most dual-income households, said Asia Group's Lin. "For highly-educated, single millennial and Gen Z women who haven't had children, there's a growing awareness of the mental and physical burdens that come with marriage and childbirth," said Jiang. The 3,600 yuan subsidy only covers the cost of about 10 cans (800 to 900 grams each) of infant formula, she pointed out. For now, Beijing's bet is that a little extra cash in parents' pocket — and the spending it triggers — might at least give the country's birth rates a short-term boost, even if it doesn't produce a baby boom. George Chen, partner and co-chair of digital practice at The Asia Group, said that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is following Apple CEO Tim Cook's playbook in navigating U.S.-China tensions. Neil Thomas from Asia Society unpacked what matters most to China's President Xi Jinping and why he's seemingly absent on a global stage. Winnie Wu, chief China equity strategist of BofA Securities, explained why she thinks investors shouldn't chase the recent rally in the China markets. China's BYD posted its first decline in monthly deliveries. In July, the leading Chinese EV maker shipped 341,030 units, around 10% lower than 377,628 in June. Domestic competitors Li Auto and Nio also recorded a drop in deliveries. Nvidia denies China's accusation that its chips have a 'kill switch.' The Cyberspace Administration of China said last week that it needed Nvidia to provide documents on what it called vulnerabilities in the firm's H20 AI chip, which is targeted at the Chinese market. Chinese text-to-video AI models are topping scoreboards. TikTok parent ByteDance hold the first and third spots in research firm Artificial Analysis' top-ranked text-to-video generative AI models, while Beijing-based Kuaishou's Kling AI ranks China and Hong Kong stocks inched higher amid mixed trading in the region as investors digested fresh tariff comments from U.S. President Donald Trump. Mainland China's CSI 300 is up 0.18%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index — which includes major Chinese companies — had gained 0.17% as of 12:19 p.m. local time (12:19 a.m. ET). The mainland benchmark is up 4.28% year to date, data from LSEG 7: Trade data for July Aug. 8-12: World Robot Conference 2025 Aug. 9: CPI, WPI for July
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
McKinsey's Ngai on China's Macroeconomic Shifts
Joe Ngai, Chairman at McKinsey Greater China, discusses the industries that he thinks China will be leading the world in the future and drivers for their growth. He speaks with Stephen Engle on the sidelines at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Bloomberg
24-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
McKinsey's Ngai on China's Macroeconomic Shifts
Joe Ngai, Chairman at McKinsey Greater China, discusses the industries that he thinks China will be leading the world in the future and drivers for their growth. He speaks with Stephen Engle on the sidelines at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin. (Source: Bloomberg)
The Sun
23-04-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Galaxy Macau™ Teamed Up with SCMP Live to Spark Ideas and Innovation by Presenting the Capital Insights Forum
MACAO SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 23 April 2025 - Galaxy Macau™ partnered with South China Morning Post Live (SCMP Live) to jointly present the ground-breaking Capital Insights Forum: Transforming Wealth Strategies in a New Era for Chinese Investors, which took place to a packed curated audience on April 16 at the Galaxy International Convention Center (GICC). In an era marked by rapid shifts in geopolitics, economics, and technology, for today's investors, identifying the hottest investment opportunities and staying ahead of emerging trends is more crucial than ever. The forum exclusively brought together ten of China's leading investment experts, industry leaders, and visionary thinkers to explore five key landscapes navigating the future of wealth, with a global lens. From AI and digital assets to art and clean energy, speakers delivered forward-looking perspectives and actionable strategies. The forum opened with a macroeconomic outlook, with lauded Managing Editor, Business and Projects at South China Morning Post Eugene Tang, joined on stage by Joe Ngai, Senior Partner and Chairman - Greater China, McKinsey & Company. Together, they set the stage in a fascinating discussion that explored how global monetary dynamics and geopolitical realignments are driving new investment trends and unlocking fresh opportunities. The spotlight then turned to the evolving technology investment landscape, with Andy Wong, Head of Innovation and Technology at Invest Hong Kong, and Fred Li, Managing Director at Gobi Partners, sharing extensive insights into how the rapid rise of AI is shifting Chinese consumer behaviors and transforming traditional industries. Their session provided valuable visions for investors to catch emerging opportunities in the dynamic tech market. Then, in a session focused on digital innovation, Michael Lau, Chairman of Consensus; Senior Vice President and Group Head of Business Development at Bullish, joined Christina Pantin, Senior Production Editor at SCMP Plus, for a fascinating conversation about demystifying and navigating the crypto world. They offered a clear framework for understanding the evolving logic of asset allocation in this exciting emerging space and what potentially lies ahead. Shifting to traditional and emerging bricks and mortar investments, Elaine C Kwok, the respected Independent Art Consultant and Auctioneer, and Andy Hei, Founder and Co-chairman at Fine Art Asia, explored the revolution in digital art sales to the shifting preferences of a new generation of collectors. Their discussion demystified key trends in art investment, offering practical strategies for navigating this complex and rewarding market. The final session addressed the critical topic of sustainability. Professor Christine Loh, Chief Development Strategist, Institute for the Environment, HKUST, and Ee Sin Tan, Partner at Ernst & Young, explored the burgeoning landscape of clean energy, analyzing policy incentives and the vast investment potential arising from China's ambitious commitment to renewable energy targets. Building on the success of the Parents' Talk organized by Galaxy Macau and SCMP Learn, which sparked engaging discussions in March, the Capital Investment Forum represented an extension of the initiatives presented in challenging times for the investment sector. Looking ahead, Galaxy Macau remains committed to hosting high-level conferences with thought-leaders such as SCMP, aiming to bring the conversation with leading global speakers to Macau and the Greater Bay Area. Additionally, this landmark partnership with SCMP continues to enhance Galaxy Macau's role in promoting world-class dialogues and cultural exchange, while ushering in a new era for the MICE industry in Macau. GICC - Asia's most iconic and advanced MICE destination - is the latest addition to Galaxy Entertainment Group's ever-expanding integrated resort precinct as it ushers in a new era for the MICE industry in Macau.
