An influential entrepreneur and business leader in Communist China has spoken of the importance of his Christian faith in running his company.
Wang Ruoxiong, the founder and Chairman of real estate company Tiantai Group, said he is guided by the Bible when facing difficult business decisions.
He was speaking about the importance of his faith to his business during an interview for a new BBC series called CEO Guru.
Demonstrating God’s love
Six of the eight senior managers at Tiantai Group are Christians and Mr Wang stresses that God is central to their deliberations.
He said: “We usually pray when making key decisions. When faced with difficulties, we usually use the principles of the Bible to guide us”.
“My real dream”, he said, “is to demonstrate God’s love through building the company”.
Values
Wang also believes that following Christian values has helped to make the company more effective.
He added: “When the senior managers at the top are willing to use the values in their own work and life, the values are passed down.
“Eventually they become the shared values of the common employees of the entire company.”
Christian ethics
Mr Wang’s comments echo the theme of a conference last year which discussed the important contribution of Christian ethics to the business world.
The Quaker Capitalism – Lessons for Today conference last November focused on the historic example of Quakers who, at the time, regarded the Bible as their supreme authority, and for whom Christian values were central to business.
It accompanied the launch of a book of the same name by Richard Turnbull, Director of the group that organised the conference – the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics (CEME).