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Inside China’s Innovation Ecosystem: A Shenzhen Immersion

Rethink your competitive strategy, inspired by leading innovators

Inside China’s Innovation Ecosystem: A Shenzhen Immersion

Rethink your competitive strategy, inspired by leading innovators

Location

Shenzhen, China

Length

4 days

Fee

CHF 10,900

Next program starts

02 March 2027

Leading through the next era of AI, ecosystems and global competition

China has become a distinctive innovation system where AI, digital platforms, robotics, advanced manufacturing and entrepreneurial intensity reinforce one another at scale.

For C-suite leaders and board members, the question isn’t whether China’s model can be copied. It’s what it reveals about how competitive advantage is being built, and what leaders elsewhere must reconsider about their own strategy, technology choices, operating models and organizational capabilities.

IMD’s Inside China’s Innovation Ecosystem immersion is an intensive executive learning journey in Shenzhen, one of the world’s most dynamic centers of technology and innovation. 

Drawing on IMD research, the program combines executive dialogue, faculty-led strategic framing, and visits to leading companies such as Lenovo, UBTech, SF Express and Ping An*. You’ll explore the forces shaping China’s speed, scale and capacity for commercialization – and what they mean for your organization. 

By the end of the experience, you’ll leave with a focused agenda for action: clear priorities, decisions to explore, and assumptions to revisit.

*Company visits are illustrative and subject to confirmation.

Explore what’s driving China’s innovation success

Understand how AI, advanced manufacturing, digital platforms, robotics and large-scale deployment reinforce one-another, and where China’s innovation system is actually heading.

Go beyond corporate sightseeing

Engage directly with leaders at the companies you visit, each engagement built around a clear executive question and followed by a facilitated debrief on what it means for you.

Tackle the critical strategic questions

Take on the open questions about AI, ecosystems, competition and organizational capabilities that boards and executive teams can no longer avoid.

Turn insight into action

 Leave with clear priorities, decisions to explore and assumptions to revisit, informed by four days inside one of the world’s most dynamic innovation environments.

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You and your class

This program is designed for board directors, CEOs and C-suite executives, as well as senior leaders with enterprise-wide responsibility for strategy, transformation, technology, innovation, talent or international growth. 

You’ll be learning alongside peers who share these same responsibilities and face similar strategic choices. 

 

Your learning journey

Every morning opens with a faculty-led sensemaking session, testing what’s universal against what’s specific to China. Company engagements are complemented by discussions on China’s innovation ecosystem, its emerging generation of consumers and employees, and the experience of multinational companies seeking to win in and with China.

 

Pre-work: Strategic baseline

Assess your organization’s competitive positioning, identify priority questions, and connect with peers ahead of the immersion. 

Day 1: Decode China’s future-readiness

Build a foundation for the immersion by exploring Shenzhen’s rise as a future-ready city, China’s evolving economic landscape, and the future-readiness perspective that will guide the learning journey. The day ends with the program opening dinner.

Day 2: Navigate China’s AI and technology landscape

Examine how AI is reshaping business, technology, and competition in China. Through class discussions, innovation tours, and company engagements, explore the deployment of agentic AI at scale, the geopolitical dynamics influencing technological leadership, and the innovation models driving China’s rapid pace of transformation.

Day 3: Harness the power of business ecosystems

Explore the ecosystems, talent dynamics, and organizational models shaping China’s next phase of growth. Engage in a Gen Z panel exchange and a company visit, where you’ll gain fresh perspectives on organizational transformation at scale. Continue the conversation with peers during the program’s closing dinner.

Day 4: Prepare for what’s next

Explore platform and ecosystem strategies and the implications of AI for the future of work. Through executive dialogue and a company visit, reflect on the immersion’s key insights and define what comes next for your organization.

Future Readiness Centers - IMD Business School
Grounded in research

This immersion draws on insights from IMD’s Center for Future Readiness and China Initiative, combining perspectives on future competitiveness with a deeper understanding of China’s evolving business and innovation landscape. Through faculty-led discussions and structured reflection, participants move beyond individual company examples to examine the broader forces shaping China’s innovation ecosystem and their implications for strategy and transformation.

Program Directors
20220901-Faculty--MarkGreeven-CardCampus-370x187-x2-MH-comp - IMD Business School
Mark J. Greeven
Professor of Management Innovation

Mark Greeven is Professor of Management Innovation at IMD and founding director of the China Initiative. Based in Shenzhen, he draws on two decades of experience in research, teaching, and consulting in China to explore how to organize innovation in a turbulent world. He was included in the Thinkers50 Ranking (2025, 2023) and named on the Thinkers50 Radar list of 30 Next Generation Business Thinkers in 2017.

Greeven has collaborated with innovative Chinese companies (including Ping An, Alibaba,…

Mark Greeven is Professor of Management Innovation at IMD and founding director of the China Initiative. Based in Shenzhen, he draws on two decades of experience in research, teaching, and consulting in China to explore how to organize innovation in a turbulent world. He was included in the…

Mark Greeven is Professor of Management Innovation at IMD and founding director of the China Initiative. Based in Shenzhen, he draws on two decades of experience in research, teaching, and consulting in China to explore how to organize innovation in…

 - IMD Business School
Howard H. Yu
LEGO® Professor of Management and Innovation

Howard Yu, hailing from Hong Kong, is LEGO® Professor of Management and Innovation at IMD. He leads the Center for Future Readiness, founded in 2020 with support from the LEGO Brand Group, to guide companies through strategic transformation.

Recognized globally for his expertise, in 2023 he was honored with the Thinkers50 Strategy Award, recognizing his substantial contributions to management strategy and future readiness. His additional inclusion into the Thinkers50 list places him among the…

Howard Yu, hailing from Hong Kong, is LEGO® Professor of Management and Innovation at IMD. He leads the Center for Future Readiness, founded in 2020 with support from the LEGO Brand Group, to guide companies through strategic transformation.

Recognized globally for his expertise, in 2023 he was honored with the Thinkers50 Strategy Award…

Howard Yu, hailing from Hong Kong, is LEGO® Professor of Management and Innovation at IMD. He leads the Center for Future Readiness, founded in 2020 with support from the LEGO Brand Group, to guide companies through strategic transformation.

Recognized globally for his expertise, in 2023 he was …

Next start & fee

Length: 4 days in Shenzhen

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Program details
Location
Shenzhen
Length
4 days
Price
CHF 10,900

Tuition, teaching materials, and lunch are included.
All fees quoted are exclusive of any value-added or other indirect taxes that may be due in any country.
IMD reserves the right to modify the program dates, location, and fee at any time.

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The Future Readiness Indicator. A project by IMD’s Center for Future Readiness.

The Future Readiness Indicator quantifies a company’s adaptability to long-term, significant trends. Using a rule-based scoring system, we identify industry leaders and delve into their specific behaviors and strategies for success.

The Future Readiness Indicator. A project by IMD’s Center for Future Readiness.

The Future Readiness Indicator quantifies a company’s adaptability to long-term, significant trends. Using a rule-based scoring system, we identify industry leaders and delve into their specific behaviors and strategies for success.

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