Guangdong Visions: Forging China's Future

In previous parts of this five-part report from southern China's Guangdong province, the core of China's historic reform and opening-up, I presented Party Secretary Wang Yang's vision of transformation. In this installment, I describe several world-class enterprises emerging in Guangdong.

Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies has become the world's strongest telecommunications equipment maker, an icon of China's new enterprises. It grew 46% in 2008, notwithstanding the global recession, booking $23 billion in contract sales. While rival companies expected 2009 to be a depressing year, Huawei forecast 30% growth to more than $30 billion. Once criticized as a second-rate company that copied foreign technology, Huawei has become an innovation leader, surpassing former leaders such as Nortel (NRTLQ), Nokia (NOK), and Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) in its drive to become the world's telecom-gear champion.