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	Our RSS feed Subscribe via e-mail Recent Posts China Supership Ban Part II – Ian Bremmer Bait Big Ships Made and Banned in China To Get Rich is Glorious, and Expensive Recommended Reading Blogroll China Business Network China Journal from the WSJ China Law Blog Danwei.org TIME’s China Blog LinkedIn Groups Asia Supply Chain Excellence Group Supply Chain Edge Group Xing Supply Chain Edge group	China Business Blog and Podcast Is China a threat or an opportunity for your company? Are there real growth opportunities for you in the world's fastest growing market? Expertise and insight from Technomic Asia China, a market strategy consulting firm with more than 20 years in China. Use this feed to subscribe to the China Business Blog and Podcast Archive for the ‘interview’ Category « Previous Entries Building a Sales Pipeline in China Thursday, October 7th, 2010 Download this podcast Length – 20:39 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. We are in the middle of a series of conversations with Steve Crandall, Vice President for Implementation Services here at Technomic Asia, based in Shanghai. We’ve addressed a wide variety of topics, from setting up your company in China to HR issues to dealing with the China Price Syndrome. In today’s conversation, we are talking about probably the most important topic a company could face in China: building a sales pipeline. And I start off with a very basic question for Steve … Posted in China, China risk, culture, growth, guanxi, interview, market entry, podcast, Small- and Mid-sized Enterprises, SMEs, strategy \| 1 Comment » The China Price Thursday, September 30th, 2010 Download this podcast Length – 15:31 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. We are working through a series of conversations with Steve Crandall, Vice President for Implementation Services here at Technomic Asia, based in Shanghai. In Steve’s nearly 20 years of working in China, he has helped many foreign companies – primarily small and mid-sized ones – to establish operations in China. We’ve been addressing a number of topics in this series, but today’s hits very close to home for a number of companies as Steve and I talk about the “China Price” syndrome … Posted in business risk, China, China risk, cost savings, culture, Foreign investment, interview, manufacturing, podcast, SMEs, strategy, supply chain \| No Comments » Challenges for SMEs in China: an interview with Steve Crandall Monday, August 2nd, 2010 Download this podcast Length – 20:32 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Following is part two of my interview with Steve Crandall, VP for Technomic Asia in charge of our small- and mid-sized enterprise (SME) practice. Today we focus on the importance of hiring and retaining the right people in your China operations. Posted in China, China risk, communication, culture, Foreign investment, government, guanxi, Human Resources, interview, manufacturing, market entry, podcast, Private Owned Enterprises, Small- and Mid-sized Enterprises, SMEs, strategy \| 2 Comments » Small- and Mid-sized Challenges in China: An interview with Steve Crandall Monday, July 12th, 2010 Download this podcast Length – 6:12 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Here on the China Business Blog and Podcast, we focus on being very logical and very practical … at least as logical and practical as China allows one to be. Over the 25 years we have been working in China, we’ve seen a lot of experimentation, trying this and that to see what works. We’ve even done a fair amount of it ourselves … and that’s fine for many multinational companies with deep pockets who can afford to try this and, if it doesn’t work, try that. However, there is a group of companies for which this experimentation approach doesn’t always work so well … the Small- and Mid-sized Enterprise or as they are commonly referred to, the SMEs. And that is the theme for a new series here on the China Business Podcast – The SME. To discuss this topic with me, we are going to bring in the newest member of the Technomic Asia team, Steve Crandall, who recently joined us as Vice President in our Implementation practice. We have been seeing a need lately to increase our capabilities in helping our clients execute their organic strategies in China – setting up manufacturing, hiring, establishing sales teams and pipelines, executing a sourcing strategy etc. Steve comes to us with a long history in China, starting in the 1980s when he was a student here. Steve went on to set up the first foreign owned car dealership in China when he set up Crandall Ford up in Tianjin (Steve comes from several generations of Ford dealers back in Ohio). He then went on to start up several manufacturing and sales operations for SMEs in China, incubating them until the client was ready to take over. After a stint at Ernst and Young where he had to wear a tie to work everyday, he came to join us. Steve has been a good friend for a number of years and we are thrilled to have him in the Technomic Asia family. There is no standard definition of the SME, just as there is no standard definition of the Multinational Corporation, or MNC. However, generally, the SMEs are defined by their size – less than 500 employees – and their ownership – privately held or invested by a private equity company or other financial backer. Now I’m sure I’m going to get some letters about this … because some subsidiaries of MNCs essentially have to stand on their own and really act like SMEs. As my teenagers say: “Whatever!” The key commonality here is that an SME is facing the same challenges in China as any other company here but they often have less global experience to work from and they typically do not have such deep pockets to do a lot of experimentation. They have to get it right the first time. Over the coming weeks, we are going to explore some issues that impact SMEs in unique ways such as HR, manufacturing, sales, operations, etc. You will be hearing many of the same themes that we’ve been hitting for years here on the China Business Podcast … but we will be discussing them as they impact the SME and will explore several unique ways that we’ve seen SMEs handle these issues. We begin the series today with the age-old issue of market opportunity … Posted in business risk, China, culture, growth, interview, manufacturing, market entry, podcast, research, Small- and Mid-sized Enterprises, SMEs, strategy \| 2 Comments » Repost – “Deal Cultivation” in China M&A Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 Download this podcast Length – 18:17 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. I’ve been hearing from listeners that our last post cut out in the middle of the Podcast. Sorry ’bout that! Here is the re-post. If you still find trouble, please email me at kkedl@technomicasia.com Thanks! Kent Posted in business risk, China, China risk, communication, Foreign investment, government, growth, guanxi, interview, M&A, market entry, podcast, Private Owned Enterprises, SOE \| 1 Comment » “Deal Cultivation” in China M&A Sunday, June 20th, 2010 Download this podcast Length – 18:17 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. I would like to begin this post with an apology … its been awhile since we checked in here on the China Business Blog and Podcast! Thankfully, it seems we have not been forgotten as we’ve received many notes from loyal listeners asking how we are doing … if everything is ok. I can assure you that, yes, things are just fine here in Shanghai, China … in fact, its because things are going so well that I just have not had the time to get these Podcasts recorded and posted. We’ve been working on a series of discussions on mergers and acquisitions in China with Dr. Kim Woodard, one of the leaders of Technomic Asia’s M&A practice here in China, and we are continuing that today. It is appropriate that one of the reasons we’ve been so busy lately is that we’ve seen a big upswing in M&A activity for clients here in China … lots of strategy development and target identification, the early stages of an M&A program. Well, today, we are going to talk about a stage of the M&A process that, we believe, is unique in China – we call it “deal cultivation”. Remember that we’ve been talking about the relatively “young” market for M&A in China … we are still in our first generation of doing deals here and there is not a lot of experience floating around. Therefore, it is critical that we help bring the Chinese companies along in the process, helping them feel OK about it while, at the same time, doing what we call “discovery” – finding out as much about the target as we can ahead of the more formal legal and financial due diligence process. I started today’s conversation with Kim by asking him about deal cultivation and why it is so critical in China… Posted in China, communication, culture, Foreign investment, government, growth, guanxi, interview, M&A, partnerships, podcast, Private Owned Enterprises, SOE, State Owned Enterprises, strategy \| No Comments » Target Selection in China M&A Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 Download this podcast Length – 26:04 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Well … its been awhile since we’ve posted a Podcast. Sorry ‘bout that! I took the week of Chinese New Year off and tried to ignore my computer and email. That was nice … but then I really paid for it coming back to work afterwards. Now I have been able to dig out from everything and get back to our series of Podcasts on China M&A. If you recall, I have been having a series of conversations about China mergers and acquisitions with Kim Woodard – a vice president here at Technomic Asia and one of the leaders of our M&A practice. The theme we have been orbiting around is “reducing risk” … this is because the failure rate for China M&A deals is quite high. We estimate that fully three quarters – that ‘s 75% for the CPAs in the crowd – of deals that reach the letter of intent stage fail to close. So that means, for successful M&A, we need to focus on reducing risk at each stage of the process. Today, we go back to the beginning and talk about, what we feel, is the most important stage in China M&A … target selection. Here is a conversation that Kim and I had just this afternoon in our Shanghai office… Posted in business risk, China, China risk, culture, Foreign investment, government, guanxi, interview, M&A, market entry, partnerships, podcast, Private Owned Enterprises, SOE, State Owned Enterprises, strategy \| 1 Comment » Risk Management in China – a conversation with Kim Woodard (pt. 2) Friday, January 22nd, 2010 Download this podcast Length – 18:21 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. We are continuing our series on mergers and acquisitions in China through a conversation I have been having with Kim Woodard, a Vice President here at Technomic Asia and a specialist in China M&A. In over 30 years of doing business in China, Kim has done deals both from within the corporate environment – with companies like John Deere and AMP – and as an outside advisor. In the last part of this conversation we talked about the five key risk factors in doing a deal in China: 1. The acquiring company chooses the wrong target for the wrong reasons. 2. Failure to connect well and build trust with the shareholders, management, and other stakeholders of the target company. 3. Inability to bridge the valuation gap 4. The target company fails to meet due diligence expectations on financial documentation or on financial and commercial performance. 5. The C-suite in the acquiring company gets worried about post-acquisition performance. Let’s get back into the conversation as we now turn to the best way to manage these risks … Posted in business risk, China, China risk, communication, culture, distribution, government, guanxi, interview, law, M&A, market entry, partnerships, podcast, SOE, State Owned Enterprises, strategy \| No Comments » Risk Management in China M&A – a conversation with Kim Woodard Sunday, January 17th, 2010 Download this podcast Length – 17:55 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. One of our themes for 2010 here at the China Business Blog and Podcast is “acquisitions”. A typical market sector in China is very fragmented and very crowded – there are many players working in their own local areas. From automotive, to healthcare to consumer products … they are all this way. Both foreign and local companies will be looking to strengthen their positions in these markets by acquiring smaller players, bringing products, brands and distribution together to gain scale and more power in the market. In early 2009, the global economic crisis knocked the wind out of the M&A market all over the world, and here in China, it was no exception. Transaction volume fell off significantly as companies hunkered down to wait out the storm. Well, though for many individuals around the world, the storm is still blowing, for companies and investors here in China, it is prime time to move … they have motivation to grow and cash to invest. The challenge, as we will explore today, is managing risk. Here at Technomic Asia, we have strengthened our M&A practice to include end-to-end transaction services and have brought in to the Technomic family one of the preeminent deal guys in China, Dr. Kim Woodard. When Kim joined us late last year, we started a Podcast series on M&A in China. Today we are going to continue that series as Kim and I talk about managing risk in China M&A. And we start off discussing a very shocking statistic … Posted in business risk, China, China risk, consolidation, consumer goods, distribution, economy, growth, healthcare, interview, M&A, market entry, medical, partnerships, podcast, strategy \| No Comments » China and Australia – An interview with David Thomas (part 2) Sunday, December 20th, 2009 Download this podcast Length – 13:17 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. We are at the end of a two-part interview with David Thomas, Founder and Managing Director of Think Global Consulting, based in Sydney, Australia. In the first part of our interview, we explored the long – and often complicated – relationship between Australia and China. As members of the Asia-Pacific Rim group of nations, there is a lot of activity going on between the two countries … and, as we’ve seen in the media this past year, not all of it has been smooth sailing. I started off this last part of the interview by asking David to talk a bit about some of the Australian firms that are finding success in China and what their attitudes are today… Posted in China, culture, economy, government, healthcare, interview, manufacturing, market entry, mining, podcast \| 1 Comment » « Previous Entries China Business Blog and Podcast is proudly powered by WordPress Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).