Vice Premier Wang Yang gives a thumbs up to CIMC’s restructuring of its US subsidiaries

On the margins of the 27th session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang attended the China-US Business Roundtable, in Washington DC, the United States, on Nov 22, 2016 local time. Li Guiping, Director of the Board and Managing Director of CIMC Vehicles, and Charles W. Mudd, CEO of Vanguard National Trailer Corp, one of subsidiaries of CIMC in the US, attended the event as the representatives of the Group. Li Guiping shared CIMC’s restructuring of its American subsidiaries at the conference. The Group’s restructuring efforts and achievements were well received by Wang Yang. During the summary stage of the conference, when talking about how Chinese enterprises notched up a win by successful restructuring of their purchased companies in the US, he raised two examples, and one of them was CIMC’s case.

Eighteen Chinese and American enterprises explored ways to seek business growth

The roundtable is co-hosted by China’s Ministry of Commerce, the United States Department of Commerce and the Office of US Trade Representative. The theme of this year’s roundtable is "how to adapt to challenges presented by changing business environment". The conference was of peculiar importance since it was held after the US Presidential elections.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang, US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, US Trade Representative Michael Froman and other officials attended the event. They were joined by entrepreneurs from 18 industrial giants in both countries, including Dell, Wal-Mart, Emerson, Silver Airways and Alcoa from the US, and Bank of China, CRRC, CSCEC, Poly Group, BYD, CIMC and Fuyao Group from China. The Chinese and US business leaders exchanged viewpoints on new technical challenges facing both countries, compliance operations, merger and restructuring issues at the roundtable discussion, which was hosted by Kristin Williams Mugford, Senior Lecturer of Harvard Business School, and former partner of Bain Capital.     

Li Guiping introduced CIMC’s global business expansion on a global scale and its restructuring of purchased American companies in the US at the conference. With a focus on the Group’s successful restructuring of Vanguard, he made a detailed description of how CIMC transformed its American subsidiary from a dreadful loser into a big winner by implementing the “Midway Island Scheme” between 2009 and 2011, and elaborated on the operating principle of “Global Operation, Local Wisdom”. Mr. Li said that the success of Vanguard tremendously bolstered CIMC’s confidence in its global career and shaped its unique operating principle. Over the past 5 years, CIMC’s investments in overseas markets have outnumbered those in China. In 2015, its revenue from overseas operations represented more than 50 percent of the Group’s total. Today, CIMC has over 6,000 foreign employees, and it has completely reshaped its corporate image.

CIMC’s experience is the focus of attention

Li Guiping impressed the government officials and entrepreneurs with his fluent English and demeanor of a world-class entrepreneur.

CIMC’s success aroused the curiosity of many participants, and the hostess of the roundtable was one of them. She directly asked whether the successful restructuring experience had been applied to CIMC’s companies in other countries including China. Li Guiping said that actually Vanguard was restructured when it was purchased by CIMC in 2003, then it was restructured for the second time in 2009, and the restructuring that lasted for such a long time accumulated a wealth of experiences for the Group; in particular, the experience gained from the second restructuring was later used for CIMC’s subsidiaries in China, Europe and emerging markets countries, and it was pretty awesome.

Vice Premier Wang Yang noted CIMC’s success in his summary remarks. When talking about Chinese enterprises’ restructuring of their American subsidiaries, he said “CIMC has done a good job. Now it has five companies in the US, and they pay over more than US$ 10 million taxes a year.” In particular, Wang Yang has a couple of minutes’ small talk with Li Guiping before leaving, “I specially took CIMC’s success as an example in my speech. CIMC has received a like from me”, said the Vice Premier.

During the discussion, entrepreneurs from both countries exchanged viewpoints on many topics, including the restructuring of enterprises and what role a government would play within this process. Li Guiping said that the local governments in China had played a positive role in the restructuring of CIMC’s member companies. Within this process, CIMC was in urgent need of supports of new sciences and technologies, replacement of outdated functions of old and backward workshops and training of its employees, and the Group received enormous supports in these areas from local governments of Shenzhen and many other places.   

CIMC has been under international spotlight in recent years

After the conclusion of the China-US Business Roundtable, Li Guiping sent back photos and Vice Premier Wang Yang’s comments to CIMC headquarters. When asked about how he felt about the conference, Mr. Li said that he was proud to be there and spoke as the representative of CIMC, because CIMC’s presence at such a high-level conference meant that its global operation performance has received great attention and recognition from governments and different walks of the society. Also, he commented that he benefited a great deal by exchanging viewpoints with so many outstanding entrepreneurs and sharing their stories. It is convinced that the attendance at the business dialogue will be of significant referential values for Li Guiping, the person that steers the development of CIMC Vehicles, to think about the global operations and development of his company.

In addition, Li Guiping found from the communication between the Chinese and American entrepreneurs and the remarks delivered by the Vice Premier that Chinese enterprises are growing bigger and stronger; though the American enterprises have something shining, such as their theories, practices and experiences, yet Chinese ones are working hard to keep up and make their voices heard.

Charles W. Mudd, CEO of Vanguard National Trailer Corp, also benefited a lot from the dialogue. He now has more and deeper understanding of the importance of implementing the “Midway Island Scheme”. “It is natural that the restructuring experience is important to CIMC’s member companies. What amazes me most is that it also works for other companies in China and the US”, said Charles W. Mudd. He is proud to work for CIMC, a company with global presence and international influence, saying that he has improved his vision after attending such a big event, and he will share his experiences in a much more positive mode and contribute his share to the business undertaking of the Group.

CIMC has been under international spotlight since the beginning of this year. In May, CIMC was in the delegation to Malaysia led by Secretary of Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee Ma Xingrui, and Vice President Yu Ya delivered a keynote speech as the sole representative of Chinese enterprises at the conference; in September, CIMC was in the delegation to Shenzhen- Bavaria Economic & Trade Conference led by Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin, Vice President Li Yinhui addressed the participants as the sole business representative of Shenzhen; and today, CIMC was in the delegation to and spoke at the China-US Business Roundtable organized by the top commercial authorities of the two countries. Its presences at these important events have received great attention and won recognition and good comments from governments, presses, business circles and different walks of the society. The top leaders speaking at such events are CIMC’s “spokespersons”, and enhance the brand awareness of “New CIMC” in the internal community.