Asian companies learn how to scale up

From left: Tim McCallion, president of Verizon-California; L. Wade Rose, vice president of external and government relations of Dignity Health Moderator; Eugenio Aleman, director and senior economist of Wells Fargo; Jim Wunderman, CEO of Bay Area Council, share opinions about the current business environment in California with audiences during the California Asian Business Summit 2014 at Palace Hotel in San Francisco on Friday. Lian Zi / China Daily

Corporate, business, and government leaders explored cutting edge issues affecting the California economy during the Third Annual California Asian Business Summit on Friday.

"Today's event provides a good chance for Asian companies in California to come together and share opinions," said Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council.

California has a lot of attraction for Asian small- and medium-sized enterprises, because of the large Asian population here who want to do business with other Asians, said Wunderman.

The San Francisco Bay Area, especially Silicon Valley, is the center of innovation, which is good for someone interested in doing business in technology, he said.

According to Wunderman, more than 85 percent of the angel funds in the US are provided to enterprises in the San Francisco Bay Area, most of which are invested in the software and information technology sector.

"We hold this summit today to help Asian companies understand about what California's next economic opportunities are, because we really want to showcase that the technology and innovations are leading the way in the economy of the 21st century," Pat Fong, president of CalAsian-chamber of commerce, told China Daily.

"What we are trying to do today is to figure out what industry clusters are growing and how could Asian enterprises take advantage of that," said Fong.

Technology is powerful and the business is no longer segregated by geographic boundaries, said Fong, adding that businessmen should think about how to solve problems in different ways.

She provided an example. Business owners in the healthcare industry should know that patients no longer have to go hospitals to get treatment. However, thanks to technology innovation, patients can check their blood pressure at home through a mobile application.

During the summit, experts provided suggestions for small- and medium-sized Asian enterprises on how to succeed in California.

According to Fong, Chinese companies doing business in California should find the right organizations to partner with and continually come here through trade delegations to build good relationships with local stakeholders.

Bill Imada, representative of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, said small and family businesses always face development ceilings since they have no management skills and experience.

"Once they get successful, they don't know how to scale up with their money, so it is wise for them to find consulting companies to ask for help," Imada said.

zilian@chinadailyusa.com