Fosun was among the first private Chinese companies to expand globally. Founded by Guo Guangchang in 1992, Fosun has become a global consumer group with operations in more than 40 countries and regions, spanning pharmaceuticals, insurance, cultural tourism and consumer businesses. Along the way, it has weathered multiple economic cycles.

Today, more than half of Fosun’s revenue comes from overseas markets. In the first half of 2026, Fosun International generated RMB49.16 billion in overseas revenue, accounting for 56.5% of its total revenue.

Throughout this globalization journey, a central priority for Guo Guangchang has been uniting global teams across diverse countries, industries, and cultures, while maintaining operational agility amidst evolving market conditions.

Guo Guangchang believes that Fosun must respect local cultures and the way local teams run their businesses, while operating in strict compliance with local laws and regulations. At the same time, businesses across the Group are united by a shared mission and set of values. Above all, they shall embody an “entrepreneurial spirit”—the common language that enables teams across Fosun to communicate effectively despite cultural and regulatory differences.

In an increasingly globalized world, many Chinese companies face the challenges of expanding overseas. For Guo Guangchang, entrepreneurial spirit underpins Chinese companies’ global expansion and enables businesses worldwide to communicate effectively across cultures and grow across markets. It has also been a core criterion in his approach to recruiting and managing talent since he founded Fosun.

Entrepreneurial Spirit is About Staying Self-Driven and Ready for Action

What does entrepreneurial spirit mean? Everyone has a different interpretation. For Guo Guangchang, it begins with a personal mindset: “What matters most is having the courage to act, taking responsibility, and continually pushing yourself to do better.”

Early in its development, Fosun established a multi-tiered partnership system, appointing global partners at the Group level and functional line partners across specific business units and functional lines. While being named a partner represents a major distinction, it also comes with higher expectations. Guo Guangchang emphasizes that partners must align with Fosun’s core values and vision while acting with an entrepreneurial ownership mindset — taking full accountability for their domains and driving key business breakthroughs.

This “entrepreneurial mindset” extends beyond global partners to every Fosun employee. Guo Guangchang has consistently emphasized that employees must be self-driven and take the initiative to see projects through to completion. They are encouraged to actively leverage Fosun’s resources to foster synergistic development while embracing the Group’s corporate values of “Self-improvement, Teamwork, Performance, and Contribution to Society”—aligning individual accountability with the organization’s overarching mission.

Across multiple internal annual conferences, Guo Guangchang has consistently urged Fosun employees to cultivate an “entrepreneurial spirit”—encouraging team members to step up, proactively manage upwards to secure leadership support, and fully leverage the Group’s platform and resources. He emphasized that employees must take full accountability and maintain operational agility, accelerating their personal and professional growth by resolving real-world business challenges.

Fosun’s biopharmaceutical subsidiary, Henlius, was founded in this exact spirit. In 2009, Guo Guangchang spearheaded the establishment of Henlius, positioning it among the earliest domestic enterprises to venture into monoclonal antibody development. Following years of persistent R&D investment, Henlius became, in 2023, the first innovative drug company listed under Chapter 18A of the Hong KongStock Exchange’s Listing Rules to attain profitability driven primarily by commercial product sales.

Guo Guangchang also acknowledged that top-tier performance cannot be sustained indefinitely. Drawing a parallel to elite athletes, Fosun employees must maintain optimal form. Those needing a moment to recharge are supported in taking a step back, allowing team members in top form to step up and keep the team moving forward.

Entrepreneurial Spirit is About Sustaining a Beginner's Mindset and Continuous Learning

Recognizing that everyone goes through different phases, Guo Guangchang has consistently emphasized one way to sustain an “entrepreneurial mindset”: continuous learning, adaptation and self-improvement.

“Markets fluctuate, industries experience cycles, and individuals go through peaks and troughs. At Fosun, we encourage everyone to approach their work with fresh eyes and a willingness to start anew,” said Guo Guangchang. “Past experience can become a liability when circumstances shift. That is why all Fosun employees must learn effectively and adapt continuously. Setting aside past assumptions to begin afresh is fundamental to an entrepreneurial mindset.”

Fosun was founded by a group of Fudan University graduates. Perhaps this shared background explains the company’s strong emphasis on learning. For years, colleagues have referred to one another as “Tongxue” (fellow students), with Guo Guangchang and Wang Qunbin referred to internally as “Guo Tongxue” and “Wang Tongxue”. In Guo Guangchang’s view, Fosun serves not only as a platform for entrepreneurs to unleash their potential, but also as a real-world business school where teams learn directly through operational challenges.

“I often tell my colleagues that if you want to learn, Fosun provides an unparalleled environment,” Guo Guangchang shared during an external lecture. “On any given day, I join an average of five or six conference calls where project teams, senior executives, and directors discuss issues and make decisions together. Fosun is like a business school,where we learn from real projects and decisions as they unfold.”

This commitment to continuous learning and adaptation is especially important for Fosun, whose businesses span diverse industries and markets worldwide. Each new country it enters and each different business model it encounters requires a fresh understanding of customers, markets and how businesses operate. This adaptability has enabled Fosun to support Fidelidade, the largest insurer in Portugal, in expanding into Latin America and Africa. The same operational agility has helped Fosun build a strong operating presence across more than 40 countries and regions.

Entrepreneurial Spirit is About Committing to Results

While Guo Guangchang considers self-motivation and continuous learning essential to the entrepreneurial spirit, he emphasizes that true entrepreneurship must ultimately generate tangible results. “For a business, sustainable profitability is not just a goal, but also a responsibility,” he remarked.

This emphasis on results echoes management philosopher Peter Drucker’s core principle that effective management must be oriented toward tangible results. For Guo Guangchang, self-motivation and continuous learning must ultimately translate into business performance and generate sustainable value for customers, shareholders, and society.

At Fosun’s annual conference in early 2024, Guo Guangchang encouraged employees to tackle their work with determination and take responsibility for results. His message was clear: good intentions are not enough; commitments must translate into outcomes. This reflects Fosun’s strong emphasis on accountability and results-driven approach.

To ensure that those who take on difficult challenges and deliver results are properly rewarded, Fosun’s partnership system aligns the interests of key talent with the Group’s long-term success. At every level, partner status is not permanent: new partners are appointed each year, while others leave the partnership. As Guo Guangchang said, “Those whose performance falls short or whose values do not align with ours, will no longer remain partners.”

Guo Guangchang explained the rationale in an interview: “This may sound demanding, but it is important. We need to keep raising the bar for ourselves and our teams so that we stay driven and ready to tackle challenges.”

His strong belief in entrepreneurial spirit also explains why he particularly values teams that share this mindset. “We have a special appreciation for innovation and for teams with an entrepreneurial spirit,” he added.

Throughout Fosun’s more than three decades of development, Guo Guangchang has consistently sought out talent and teams with this mindset. He has led by example, fostered shared values and put the right management systems in place to help teams translate entrepreneurial spirit into tangible results. These efforts have played an important part in helping Fosun navigate successive economic cycles.