Meetings have become a way of life for Ren Jianxin, president of the China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina). Since the full implications of the world financial crisis became only too apparent, Ren has had 118 of them, each more than two hours long.

Ren has had individual meetings with the management of the company's 118 subsidiaries and the question under discussion at all of them was exactly the same: "How do we survive the current economic downturn?"

Ren said: "In the history of ChemChina we have no experiences in tackling such a deep-rooted crisis. Meeting and exchanging ideas is our only means of developing a policy to ensure the business remains healthy."