Effective and competent managers and executives are China's greatest need in business, in communication and transportation, in government agencies, in schools and universities and hospitals. A developing country can easily import technology. It can easily import capital. But technology and capital are simply tools. They only become effective if properly used and properly employed by competent and effective management. And thus the development of people who can manage, who can lead institutions, who can build institutions, who can motivate people and can put people to effective work is central to China's development.
And managers and executives cannot be imported or only in very small numbers and for a very short time. They have to be home grown; they have to be imbedded in the country's culture. They have to understand the country and its people. They have to be Chinese to develop China.
And thus the rapid growth and development of effective and competent managers and executives is both China's greatest need and China's greatest opportunity.
It is a need and the opportunity to which Peter F. Drucker Academy itself. It is a need and an opportunity for which these courses have been developed. That my work and I can contribute to this important undertaking makes me very proud and very grateful.
My warmest thanks to Peter F. Drucker Academy for giving me this opportunity, and my warmest wishes to Peter F. Drucker Academy for the success of these courses. And my very warmest wishes to you, the students, for your success, for your effectiveness, for your achievement.
Peter F. Drucker
6th July, 2001