China retail expert Lexie Morris on making it in China
- Date
- Wednesday 7 February 2024, 17:30-19:30 (18:00-19:00 talk)
- Location
- Leeds University Business School
- Registration
- Sign up online via this form
Anecdotes and insights drawing from nearly fifteen years of living and working in Mainland China. Lexie will talk through her career, spanning the founding of her very own bakery in Beijing, through to her role today as Vice President leading Sweaty Betty’s China expansion.
Lexie will share what she has learnt along the way, from the reasons for the regular failure of Western brands to ‘make it’ in China through to the clashes that cultural and language differences continue to cause in the world of business – interspersed with bits of life and career advice.
Topics will include:
- Reflections on being an entrepreneur and advice for your aspiring entrepreneurs
- "The networking issue"
- Cross-cultural communication and business between China and the UK
- The impact of speaking fluent Mandarin
- Reasons for the failure of Western brands in China, and why it's more complicated than a lack of competence
- What is takes to succeed in the Chinese market
Agenda
5:00pm - 6:00pm
Registration, refreshments and networking in the Esther Simpson Cafe. Enjoy guzheng music and some cultural decorations and activities.
6:00pm - 7:00pm
Lecture and Q&A
7:30pm
Event close
About Lexie Morris
Lexie Morris is a seasoned business leader and China market specialist with extensive experience of launching and leading international retail & e-commerce businesses in China.
After graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Oriental Studies (Mandarin), Lexie started out as a consultant before moving to China to launch her own bakery. When she sold the business six years later Lexie had built up a diverse range of skills, and brought this China retail knowledge to her role as Head of Consumer and Retail (China) for the Department for International Trade. Following that she spent two years as General Manager in China for Whittard of Chelsea before taking up her current position as Vice President (China) for Sweaty Betty.