The Soft Pitch

I had the opportunity of being included in a business roundtable with Zhou Wenzhong, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the U.S. There was a nice turnout of business leaders – some of the usual suspects – other large companies with a significant presence in Phoenix like Intel and Honeywell.  But there were also some smaller companies that one might find a bit surprising such as small manufacturing companies exporting construction hardware.  Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong’s main point was that we – the U.S. – have a mutual interest with China: growth and economic success. Of course, political differences exist, but still he spent a fair amount of time presenting his country’s position that we all benefit by working together as “friends.” Couldn’t agree more, and I was reminded of my mom’s old saying that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. He also explained China’s philosophical commitment to environmentally-friendly policies and urged caution when it comes to protectionist policies.

It’s interesting to see how quickly we can build bridges across borders in the business world, establishing connections all over the world.  For example, Avnet’s business in China is now more than $2 billion annually, we have 24 offices across the country and almost 1700 employees. We’ve been able to grow quickly in part fueled by the growth of the Chinese economy, but also because we adhere to a market-led philosophy: With more than 30 different business units globally, each market Avnet serves has different priorities and requirements, based on their unique business environments. Avnet leverages its global scale and scope to create local value propositions that address customer and supplier expectations in each market. What that boils down to is we give the local management a great deal of autonomy in making decisions and running their businesses in their market. As the world’s largest value-add technology distributor, the strategy seems to be working.

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