Real Stories

Managing or Setting up Operation in China Without Hassle?

Posted on: Nov 18, 2008

Posted by: SinoManager
Member since: Nov 18, 2008

Sino Management Partners Oakland, CA
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The Story

Sino Management Partners was formed when two seasoned executives, Alex Cheng and Sheng Deng, saw how US firms often made costly mistakes and operated inefficiently when trying to manage executives or operations in China.

The two basic reasons:

1. US executives are not fully aware of the many differences in business practices, including culture, legal, political and procedural issues

2. US executives do not realize the impact of personal connections with Government officials and key people in the particular regions

Both Alex and Sheng, having implemented Sino-American and other international arrangements with success, decided to team up and offer their complementary experiences and connections to other US firms. In fact, Alex and Sheng had successfully combined their skills to launch a US firm with a US-managed factory in China.

Alex is an American Chinese raised in California. Sheng imigrated from China for college in the Boston area and travels back and forth to China on a regular basis. Their backgrounds below will show how it became obvious they could help US firms operate more efficiently and securely in China.

Background of founders:

Alex F. Cheng - Senior Partner-USA
Alex has a 20-year record in helping launch and grow more than 70 companies in diverse industries, including industrial and consumer products, hardware and software, and unique services. In many cases, his role was co-founder and marketing strategist of the founding team. He has helped take US products to Asia and Europe and has helped German and Swiss companies establish branches in the U.S. An eight-year stint helping Omega establish a presence in the US and Canada is chronicled in his book: "Splitting the Second - My Wacky Business in Olympic and Sports Timing." (Available on Amazon.com) Alex was born in Canton but grew up in California. He now resides in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and three children, and roams Silicon Valley on a regular basis. He has a B.S. in Engineering from UCLA and a MBA from Stanford University.

Sheng B. Deng - Senior Partner-China
Sheng B has experiences as Electronic Engineer, Project Leader and Sales Support Engineer at Mitre Corporation, Toshiba America, IKOS Systems, TransEDA and Forte Design Systems. He was instrumental in developing a new IEEE standard (1149.1 JTAG) while at Mitre. He interfaced with sales and with customers at Toshiba. Sheng founded Tychi Systems in New Hampshire based on an innovative biometric lock. He set up and manages a factory in China to manufacture the locks for his US firm. Sheng grew up in China but immigrated to the US for college. He splits his time between homes in New Hampshire and Guangdong, China. He holds a B.S. degree from Northeastern University in Boston, graduating in 1993 with honors in electrical and computer engineering.

Advice for Others

Negotiated deals and even signed contracts with Chinese executives may or may not be binding in the same sense as assumed in the US. Often, only long time personal relationships can assured business deals that can prevail over short term profit enticements. Even as ethnic Chinese, we can tell of horror stories inflicted on us!