Jin Lan brings the savvy to enter Chinese market
China has fascinated Western entrepreneurs at least since the days of Marco Polo. The world’s most populous nation represents a huge and relatively untapped market for any number of Western companies.
But for those with little or no experience there, learning to do business in China can seem a task as dauntingly large as the country itself. Some Portland-area companies, however, have discovered an inside track into the Middle Kingdom: a quiet man called Jin Lan.
Lan’s youthful appearance, unassuming demeanor and pronounced Chinese accent could lead one, on first acquaintance, to judge him a recent immigrant without much business experience. But that impression is misleading. Lan has been in Portland since he began attending Portland State University in the mid-1980s, and he has been facilitating contact between local companies and China ever since.
Lan now lives across the river in Vancouver, Wash., but it’s hard to imagine he spends much time there. Since he founded his firm, Octaxias Co. LLC, in 1997, his pace has only picked up, as he guides companies through the myriad political and social processes of doing business in China.
Though he bills himself as a consultant, Lan is much more than that, say those who have hired him. Savvy, quick-thinking and well-versed in the business cultures of both China and the United States, Lan seems to know exactly how to get the attention of the government officials whose permission must be obtained to do business in China. He also acts as a tactful and sensitive intermediary between the Americans and Chinese who want to do business together.
Jacques Nichols, a lawyer and longtime veteran of the Oregon venture capital scene, just returned from a trip to China led by Lan. “What I witnessed first hand was Jin’s ability to bring people of high standing to sit with me and other Oregon businesspeople,” said Nichols. “He has untold power and abilities in China. Everywhere we went, we met with mayors, heads of universities, heads of companies—and this was their holiday season,” when many of these people should have been on vacation, Nichols said.
Perhaps Lan’s most visible achievement to date is helping the Port of Portland get Air China Cargo’s nonstop air cargo service to the Portland International Airport. Rick Aizawa, air cargo marketing manager at the port, said that Lan helped port officials negotiate the political processes necessary to getting the service.
“Jin helped the port understand the cultural dynamics,” said Aizawa. “He’s very savvy in terms of how he understands not only the business side, but also how the project is moving forward, and reducing risks—both political risks and business risks.”
Aizawa offered several examples of Lan’s services to the port during the process of negotiations with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the agency that oversees all aviation matters in China. “When they were getting close to a decision, Jin made sure that we had the right messages going in to the Chinese political leaders,” he said. For example, Lan asked Sen. Gordon Smith to send a message to the Chinese ambassador in Washington, D.C. “This let the Chinese political leaders see that there were no political barriers on this side, and that political leaders in Oregon were behind the cargo service,” Aizawa said.
Lan also made sure that when port officials entertained the Air China Cargo site selection team, they knew how to make the team members feel comfortable. “Jin coached us in advance,” said Aizawa, telling port officials that at a luncheon, the most important Chinese officials should be seated with their backs to the stage, rather than facing it. “And he encouraged us to make informal toasts at the luncheon,” a habit no longer common in American society, but one that signals friendship and trust in Chinese culture.
Lan also smoothed the approach to the CAAC for Max-Viz Inc., a startup that designs, makes and sells enhanced visibility systems (EVS) for commercial aircraft. Max-Viz hopes to sell its EVS kits to Avic1, a government-owned company that builds jetliners for the Chinese domestic market. The Chinese market is not only large, it is also now the fastest-growing aviation market in the world, said Gregg Fawkes, president of Max-Viz.
“Aviation in China is growing at over 8 percent per year,” he said. “The plan I saw at the end of last year called for putting in 100 new airports over the next five years. I don’t think there are plans for any new airports in the United States [over that time frame].”
But doing business in China is not for the impatient. “China’s a long-term game,” said Fawkes. “You have to have some patience; nothing happens overnight.”
Max-Viz has not yet made a deal in China, but Fawkes seems confident that the company will finally do so, and happy with what Lan has accomplished so far. Lan represented Max-Viz at the Beijing Air Show in 2001, setting up a Max-Viz booth, getting marketing materials translated into Chinese, setting up a press conference and briefing the trade press. “We saw the [press] article that came out of that,” said Fawkes, “and we were pleased that Jin was so effective in communicating our message to the Chinese market.”
Before arranging any trips to China, Lan makes sure his clients meet the Chinese commercial consul in San Francisco. Without the nod from the commercial consul, Chinese government agencies will not approve a foreign company’s bid to do business in China.
“Once the Chinese officials meet [company executives], they can give good recommendations to the CAAC,” or to other government agencies in China, said Lan. “They can then say, ‘We’ve met this company in Oregon, we’ve seen their offices.’ They get a gut feeling for the CEO, for what the company’s interest in China is, and its general understanding of China. Are they aware of the challenges? Will they not give up in the middle?”
One company that has successfully negotiated the process with Lan’s guidance is Learning.com, a Portland company that recently made a deal with a Chinese distributor to sell its computer-skills learning system to Chinese schools and consumers.
“Jin essentially helped us identify what the opportunity in China was,” said Bill Kelly, CEO of Learning.com. Lan had already organized a visit to Portland by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, and he urged Learning.com to let him set up a meeting between the company and the delegation.
Lan then “leveraged one meeting into another,” said Kelly, until finally the Ministry of Education invited Barclay Burns, co-founder and president of Learning.com, to travel to China and speak to educators about computer learning in February last year.
“Jin has a really natural way of taking a company’s strengths and using these to gain energy in networking,” said Burns. “As a company, we draw on cognitive science, and Jin knew the Chinese would find that meaningful.”
Burns and Kelly expected the process of doing business in China to be slow, but “Before I knew it, I was invited to be the keynote speaker for the Ministry of Education’s technology conference in June last year, in Nanjing,” said Burns.
Lan’s effectiveness seemed nothing short of miraculous to Learning.com, which would never, said the executives, have found their way to China without him. “He facilitates credibility-building, and got me in front of the right people,” said Burns.
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2003/03/03/story4.html
This entry was posted on Friday, February 28th, 2003 at 6:48 am
