Deloitte leader sees bright future for China

John Meacock grew up in a family that made education and sports high priorities, which shouldn't be surprising — his parents are both educators. As the youngest of four with three brothers, a competitive spirit was finely honed in his childhood, as was a lifelong love for learning.

"Competing in the 'backyard' in hockey and various other sports was great fun and helped hone our skills, but also, as it was self-umpired, taught us about competing fairly and fair play," said Meacock, chief strategy officer of Deloitte Global.

Despite being the youngest Meacock considered himself particularly advantaged, as he learned from his older brothers and had to find ways to compete even though he was not as physically strong.

Meacock enjoyed strategy and marketing when he was in university, and always had a curiosity about how businesses worked even though his family had no background in the field.

With an intellectual curiosity that kept him going in the face of changes, Meacock established his own company at the age of 27. In 11 years, the company became very successful in strategic risk and treasury outsourcing before he became a senior partner at PwC in strategy and post-merger integration.

He then moved to Deloitte to lead in consulting, spending more than 18 years at the firm. In that time he grew from a regional leader to a global one.

Meacock has witnessed Deloitte's growth in the Chinese market over nearly 20 years and the improving business environment in the country, especially the legal environment and technological enhancement.

"All global companies are keen to get access to China's huge consumer market and increasing capability in technology. A challenge in the past has been a belief that, when taking products and services into China, there was inadequate protection from organizations copying. The new IP protection in the Foreign Investment Law is seen as critical by global companies, and enables them to realize the benefits of their R&D and product development investment," Meacock said.

With trust and confidence in the Chinese market, Deloitte, celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2020, has participated in CIIE for three consecutive years.

Under the theme of "Connected. Make an Impact", the company showcases innovative solutions to hot topics, with areas of focus including The Future of Health, Smart City & Future Community, Now Consumer, Connectivity Center of Excellence and Smart Manufacturing 2.0 at the third CIIE, which is being held from Nov 5-10.

Meacock said Deloitte identified a huge range of opportunities for foreign companies in China, as the country has been transitioning to a more consumer-based economy from an infrastructure-driven one over the past five years.

These opportunities are brought by the rise of major Chinese companies, the rapidly growing "middle class", the rise in high net-worth individuals and large private companies and the level of innovation that is occurring in China, he said.

Meacock was excited to see what China is doing to encourage trade and foreign investment in China, as a number of nations are becoming more nationalistic and protectionist with policies not good for growth, or the globe.

The opening up of China will lead to better outcomes for China and increasing interest from a broad range of organisations, Meacock said, adding Deloitte is keen to help organisations successfully build their China presence.

Moreover, by opening up the China market, China will help stimulate world growth and bring a range of innovations to the globe that have not been tapped before, Meacock added.

"Any significant level of uncertainty, particularly if it is geopolitical, is not good for business," he said. "However, we believe most organizations are striving to continue to trade and are believers in a more globalized world. Over time, we believe nationalism and protectionism will diminish and we will move back to the progression of a more liberalized trade world."