It is a rare event for a well-resourced multinational to struggle to find a lawyer to represent it. It is an even rarer event when its main competitor lends a helping hand in the search.
But chasing corporate ambitions in China can make even the sharpest executives do strange things.
In late 2020, when Swedish Post and Telecom Authority banned Chinese telecoms firms from supplying equipment to Sweden’s fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks on security grounds, Ericsson’s boss, Börje Ekholm, did almost everything in his power to see the decision reversed. This included helping Huawei, China’s tech champion, seek a Swedish law firm to appeal the ban against it.With few takers, however, the Chinese company eventually had to proceed with Norwegian representation. Ekholm also lobbied the Swedish government to not move ahead with a Huawei ban, and he even suggested it may no longer be tenable to keep Ericsson’s 13,000 strong staff and headquarters in Sweden.
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When China announced it was ending quarantine requirements for incoming travelers, Chinese people collectively picked up their phones to search popular travel apps like Ctrip and Qunar. Owned by travel giant Trip.com, these apps helped Chinese travelers explore the world pre-pandemic and facilitated the human-to-human interactions that drove China's rise. But many of today's travelers seem to be sticking closer to home, and their hesitation to get back to the jetsetting habits of the past 20 years has far-reaching implications — especially for Trip.com.
The professor talks about China's real estate bubble; if China can develop a modern financial system without rule of law; and why it's not China that is reshaping the global order, but the world's response...