As the global order undergoes seismic shifts, the ESG movement has evolved from being a “choice” framed as corporate social responsibility into a “compulsory subject” that now determines the survival of supply chains. Against this backdrop, family successors standing at the crossroads of inheritance and innovation face mounting challenges. These challenges are not confined to the adjustment of business models, but extend to a broader test of leadership vision and intellectual depth.
On 5 August 2025, the Cambridge University Taiwan Alumni Association, the Taiwan Digital Enterprise Alliance (TDEA), and《The Icons》International Leaders Magazine co-hosted the forum “From Legacy to Innovation: How Can Enterprises Drive Sustainable Competitiveness from Within?” at the GTB Global Business Centre in Taipei. The event brought together successors from traditional industries, technology, finance and hospitality, alongside leaders from diverse sectors. Through a series of in-depth conversations, second- and third-generation entrepreneurs at the helm of businesses in transition found a starting point for rethinking how to confront the challenges of the future.
Bella Wang, CEO of TDEA: True Succession Is Not About Inheriting Assets, but About Creating New Meaning
At the opening of the forum, Bella Wang, CEO of the Taiwan Digital Enterprise Alliance (TDEA), spoke with striking clarity: the real challenge for successors does not lie in preserving what has already been built, but in defining what future success should mean. She noted that while past achievements have laid a foundation for enterprises, in times of rapid change, successors who only maintain existing practices may at best preserve them briefly, before quickly being overtaken by shifting circumstances.
Widely referred to in the media as the “Queen of Second-Generation Entrepreneurs” for her long-standing role in guiding new business leaders through the complexities of succession, Wang observed that many successors are already well-versed in the operational models established by their predecessors. Yet she urged them to reflect on how long such an advantage could truly last.
“Markets shift rapidly. Pressures of internationalisation and the digital wave arrive one after another, while generational values continue to evolve. Simply replicating the past will only strip enterprises of their adaptability,” Wang stressed. For her, succession is not about receiving assets, but about creating new meaning.
“We must evaluate ourselves by the toughest standards of the future. The real question is whether what we do today can still keep the company standing strong ten or twenty years from now. In the future, it will not be the largest companies that are rewarded, but the courageous ones, those willing to choose differently and to change,” she added.
For Wang, this is nothing less than a “responsibility of the brave”. It means daring to break old rules, shouldering the pressures of transformation, and leading organisations into uncharted territory. Only then can companies avoid being trapped in the glory of the past and continue to create value in a new era.
CISL Head of Innovation Programmes Viola Jardon: Sustainability Is Long-Term Competitiveness, and Leaders Must Drive It Themselves
At the forum, Viola Jardon, Head of Innovation Programmes at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), distilled nearly four decades of CISL research into a concise yet profound framework. Her insights provided guidance for the leaders present while also addressing their most pressing concerns.
Viola pointed out that one of the most common and fatal mistakes businesses make in their sustainability efforts is to treat it as a project delegated to a department or an external consultant. While this approach may appear efficient, she warned, it is in fact a fundamental strategic error. It explains why many corporate sustainability initiatives remain superficial and ultimately fail. When sustainability is reduced to an auxiliary task, it is often confined to public relations campaigns rather than being translated into operational resilience and long-term competitiveness.
For Viola, sustainability is neither a slogan nor a branding exercise. It is a deep transformation that must be driven and implemented directly by the highest level of leadership. Her words recalibrated the sense of responsibility for the next generation of leaders in attendance, serving as a clear reminder that in this decisive battle for the survival of businesses over the next ten to twenty years, leaders cannot remain on the sidelines.
“Whether we are speaking about technology or sustainability, the ultimate responsibility lies with those who hold decision-making power. If you are truly committed to driving change, the core leadership must be personally engaged and ensure that the idea is firmly embedded in their minds. As the saying goes, ‘A revolution cannot be carried out by proxy.’”
Ken Hsi, Chief Marketing Officer of HSIN CHONG GROUP: A Blueprint Must Come First to Drive Industry Forward Together
If sustainable transformation is a global industrial revolution, then Ken Hsi, Chief Marketing Officer of HSIN CHONG GROUP, is standing on its front line. As a key component supplier to some of the world’s leading automotive brands, what he faces are not aspirational discussions but stringent requirements directly tied to contracts: carbon footprint audits, material traceability reports, and zero-waste commitments, each one linked to the survival of orders.
Hsi’s position reflects the reality for many of Taiwan’s “hidden champions” embedded within global value chains. Yet he does not view these pressures as burdens to be passively shouldered. Instead, he sees them as an opportunity to lead the industry in upgrading. For him, strict standards are not obstacles but the foundations of a competitive moat. He is acutely aware that sustainable transformation is never a task that a single company can accomplish in isolation. Real progress comes only when partners across the value chain move forward together.
“Sustainable business cannot be achieved by one company alone. You must bring together your upstream and downstream partners, your customers, and your suppliers so that genuine transformation can happen across the supply chain. The question is how to shape the supply chain into what you want it to become. In my view, you must begin with a blueprint, and then work collectively on how to reach the destination,” he explained.
Chenwei Huang, Southern Regional General Manager of JAN CHENG LIGHTING CO., LTD.: Finding New Opportunities in the Green Transition
While many companies embark on their sustainability journey under the pressure of supply chain demands, there is another, markedly different path driven by the foresight and decisiveness of leadership itself. This path is often more arduous, as it requires leaders to challenge entrenched habits of success without external compulsion, and to search for second or even third growth curves for businesses that already hold a leading position in the market.
For Chenwei Huang, Southern Regional General Manager of JAN CHENG LIGHTING CO., LTD., sustainability has been less about external pressure and more about proactive exploration from within. She astutely linked the energy-saving essence of lighting products with the emerging opportunities of carbon credits, successfully transforming sustainability from a cost item into a new source of value. This shift not only demonstrated her decisiveness as a leader but also embodied a mindset that turns defensive compliance into proactive strategy.
For Huang, this was more than a business manoeuvre. It was a profound shift in thinking, a redefinition of the company’s core value proposition. Under her vision, the DANCELIGHT brand evolved from being seen merely as a “high-quality, high-efficiency lighting brand” into a provider of “sustainable energy solutions with asset-creating potential”. This repositioning created an additional growth curve for the enterprise and offered a striking example of how leaders can redefine the market by turning potential challenges into opportunities at moments of paradigm shift.
“I see sustainable transformation as an ongoing process. Every strategy, every action, and every reflection along the way eventually accumulates into a larger blueprint. I once studied geopolitics, never expecting that a decade later this knowledge would become directly relevant. Remember, no effort you invest at the time ever goes to waste,” she reflected.
Tzu-Cheng Lin, Special Assistant to the Chairman of Fu Tsu Construction: The Extent of Transformation Depends on the Determination of Leadership
For decades, the construction industry has played a central role in national economies, contributing significantly to GDP. Yet beneath this appearance of stability, structural crises are gradually emerging. An ageing workforce, the difficulty of attracting new talent, and long-standing stagnation in productivity have left this traditional giant under mounting pressure to transform. It is within this context that Tzu-Cheng Lin, Special Assistant to the Chairman of Fu Tsu Construction, sees an opening created by technology.
In Lin’s view, if the construction sector merely seeks to preserve the status quo, decline is inevitable. “Traditional models can no longer respond to the challenges of the era. The adoption of new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, is not simply a tool for greater efficiency, but a driving force capable of redefining the rules of the industry,” he explained. AI, he argued, is already reshaping how buildings are conceived, managed and constructed, and is fast becoming the engine of future productivity in construction. Faced with such a technological tide, Lin insisted, the only choice is to embrace it fully.
He further underlined that such transformation cannot be confined to the remit of an IT department. Rather, it is a cultural and operational revolution that must permeate the entire organisation, led from the very top. “Echoing the perspectives shared by other speakers, in our company, the changes brought by AI are not projects to be outsourced. They are responsibilities that leadership must personally take on. I believe true transformation can only stay on the right course when leaders themselves step forward and lead it,” Lin concluded.
Only When Individual Efforts Are Channelled into Systemic Impact Can Their Value Be Amplified
Jeff Tsai, Chairman of GTB Group, sponsored the use of the GTB Global Business Centre as the venue partner for the forum. As an entrepreneur with decades of experience in property development and commercial space, he emphasised that space is more than just a physical structure; it is a stage for advancing industry and fostering talent exchange.
“The design concept of the GTB Global Business Centre is to integrate international standards of professional planning with the practical needs of local enterprises. Our aim is to create a crossroads where ideas, resources and innovation converge. We are honoured to witness a new generation of leaders engaging in dialogue here and shaping the direction of the future. It is only on such platforms that Taiwanese enterprises can truly realise the resonance of legacy and innovation, while connecting seamlessly with the international stage,” Tsai remarked.
Ali Ying-Che Hsieh, President of the Cambridge University Taiwan Alumni Association and Professor at the Institute of Technology Management, National Tsing Hua University, turned the focus to the inner life of leaders. He argued that even with the most sophisticated platforms and carefully designed systems, the real force driving transformation ultimately depends on the sense of mission within leaders themselves — that unmistakable spark in their eyes. It is this mission that converts strategies into organisational conviction and ideas into concrete action.
“The Cambridge tradition of education often reminds us that leadership is not merely a matter of governance or managerial skill, but of sustained reflection on the question of ‘why’. Many Cambridge alumni who have shaped global affairs did so not because they held the most advanced tools or frameworks, but because they led with firm values and a global perspective, guiding their organisations to find direction in uncertain times. In the same way, only when business leaders internalise their mission as a personal conviction, and use it as the foundation for building consensus, can transformation transcend generations and continue to create international impact,” Hsieh observed.
Harry Hsu, Secretary-General of the Cambridge University Taiwan Alumni Association and CEO of 《The Icons》, set out a strategic framework for the next stage of action. He argued that once the right environment and the right people are gathered, the key is no longer mere exchange, but rather how strategic alliances and effective communication can convert consensus into sustainable impact. In an era of intense global competition, he emphasised, the new generation of entrepreneurs cannot afford to “fight alone”, but must instead integrate their fragmented efforts into narratives that can be recognised and trusted internationally.
“If the concrete practices of business transformation can be effectively amplified through media, forums and cross-border communities, they will not only attract international investment and collaboration, but also enable local cases to become part of the global agenda. When a story can be understood and resonate across cultural contexts, it ceases to be the experience of a single enterprise and becomes a collective asset with the power to generate a chain reaction. This is precisely the value that new-generation entrepreneurs must demonstrate in the face of competition: transforming local practices into international language, and channelling individual efforts into systemic impact. Stories must be carried beyond borders if value is to be magnified,” Hsu concluded.
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