let’s have a toast for happy 2014 -...

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Vol. 3, #10, December 2013, No. 34

Let’s Have A Toast for Happy 2014 !

The 2014 Midea Group Business Management Conference

Advances Newsletter, December, 2013

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ADVANCES Newsletter

Contents

Midea Advances Newsletter is published monthly

by the International Strategy Department of

Midea Group. We welcome all comments,

suggestions and contribution of articles, as well as

requests for subscription to our newsletter. You

can reach us by email at: [email protected]

Address:

ADVANCES, International Strategy Department

Midea HQ

No. 6 Midea Road

Beijiao, Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong

P.R.C. 528311

Tel: +86-757-2360 4714

Web: www.midea.com

Managing Editor:

Sophia Su

Mandy Wang

Regular Correspondents:

Anggie Cai

Alex Cheng

Himani Joshi

Blinda Li

Amber Liu

Crystal Lun

Tony Miao

Sue Ou

Sandra Sun

Yongen Wang

James Yu

Daniel Zhang

Peck Zhao

NEWSLINE

Midea RAC “1 kWh per Night”

Won the Time Weekly

Marketing Award 2013 PAGE 6

Midea New Joint Venture

Inception in the Philippines PAGE 3-4

Laundry Division and a

Finland-based Company

Signed Letter of Intention on

Self-cleaning Technology PAGE 5

Midea R290 Product Line

Earned International

Acceptance PAGE 9

PAGE 20

FEATURE

SNAPSHOT

PEOPLE

Tough Power Cooling Europe PAGE 16-19

Laundry Division Convened

the 2013 Patent & Innovation

Workshop PAGE 12

Try Out New Experience of PD

Portable AC PAGE 11

MCJV Brazil Launches New

Midea Brand Website PAGE 13

Santa Claus Is Coming to

Town PAGE 12

Midea New Konnex

Gateway: Bridge to

Intelligent Buildings PAGE 10

Midea Commercial AC Ob-

tained the First European ErP

Certificate for HPWH PAGE 7

Laundry Division Steps on

the Road towards Excel-

lence for Industrial Design PAGE 8

The 2014 Midea Group Busi-

ness Management Confer-

ence PAGE 14-15

Midea RAC Leads Industrial

Upgrading PAGE 13


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Midea New Joint Venture Inception in the Philippines

By Matt Smith

M idea has recently expanded its business with anoth-

er joint venture, this time in the Philippines. With its official

inception on November 28th, the new company, officially

known as Concepcion Midea Inc., will very shortly offer a broad

range of Midea-brand appliances to local consumers, from wash-

ing machines and microwave ovens, to water dispensers and rice

cookers.

The shareholders of the company consist of Midea and its

local Philippine partner Concepcion Industrial Corporation

(CIC) and Concepcion-Carrier Air Conditioning Company

(CCAC), CIC’s own local joint venture with Carrier Corpora-

tion, a long-time partner of Midea.

CIC is the market leader in the Philippines in air condi-

tioning and refrigeration, and its highly developed network in

sales, distribution and after sales will allow Concepcion Midea to

enter the market there on a firm foundation.

At the press conference in Manila for the formal an-

nouncement, Raul Joseph Concepcion, CIC’s CEO & Chairman

and CCAC President, praised the joint venture with Midea: “The

joint venture with Midea propels CIC into the global arena as a

premier manufacturer and distributor of appliances. It is an

affirmation of CIC’s organic strength as a company, and of its

core values of product excellence and constant innovation. To-

gether with the company’s public listing in the Philippine stock

market, CIC is truly on the threshold of transitioning into a

NEWSLINE


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Midea New Joint Venture Inception in the Philippines

By Matt Smith

more globally diverse and sustainable company, with

a value-integration platform not only in the cooling

solutions sector, but also in the wider spectrum of

the white goods appliance market.”

Andy Gu, Vice President of Midea Group

commented on the high suitability of the partner-

ship: “CIC and CCAC’s market leadership in air con-

ditioning and refrigeration solutions defines the

brand of business engagement Midea seeks to associ-

ate with as we position our company in the Philip-

pine market.”

At this time, Concepcion Midea’s products are

scheduled to hit store shelves in Q1 of 2014, with air

conditioning products coming first, in January.

NEWSLINE


5

Laundry Division and a Finland-based

Company Signed Letter of Intention on

Self-cleaning Technology By Blinda Li

F rom November 16 to November 17, the 3rd

China (Wuxi) Overseas Intelligence Fair and Oriental

Silicon Valley Program conference were jointly held in

Wuxi. Science & technology teams and research insti-

tutes from 22 countries and regions such as Britain,

Finland, and France came for negotiations. During the

two days conference, 154 projects were successfully

signed. In the afternoon of November 17, Midea Laun-

dry Division and a Finland-based technology firm to

cooperate over self-cleaning technology of dryers.

With major customers from industries such as

materials, electronics, construction, and processing, this

Finland-based technology firm engages in providing

advanced coating materials and surface processing

technologies, particularly for its Avalon® nano fungi-

proofing coating materials well featured with easy to

clean, fungi-proofing, corrosion resistance, and scrap-

ing resistance, which is what Midea

Laundry Division has always been

keeping a close eye on.

The cooperation with well-renown

international technological company

over fungi-proofing and anticorrosion

materials will further accelerate

Midea’s technological industrialization.

Midea Laundry Division will take the

lead in establishing the leading edge

anti-fungi and anti-corrosion technolo-

gy and further improve its product

competitiveness. At present, Laundry

Division R & D Center has discussed

with the Finland-based firm on issues

of detailed cooperation plan.

NEWSLINE

Laundry Division and the Finland-based firm is signing technology cooperation documents on the afternoon of November 17.

Hu Ziqiang, President of Laundry Technology R & D Center exchanged ideas with other companies on the conference.


6

Midea RAC “1 kWh per Night” Won

The Time Weekly Marketing Award 2013 By Crystal Lun

T he 2013 Time Weekly Marketing Awarding Ceremo-

ny was held at Guangzhou Last month. Initiated by The Time

Weekly in 2008, the Time Weekly Marketing Awarding was fa-

mous for listing and commenting the most outstanding market-

ing personnel and events of the year regarding to their innova-

tiveness, popularity and effectiveness. It is a big event gathering

large amount of marketing and media elites across China.

The marketing event conducted by Midea Residential AC won

the Time Weekly Marketing

Award 2013. When the

Midea “1 kWh per night” air

conditioner series firstly

came out to market, doubts

were also brought up re-

garding whether the “1kWh

per night” technology could

really limit power consump-

tion to as low as 1kWh per

night. To ease concerns

from customers, Midea car-

ried out a customer experi-

ence event in March. 500

consumers countrywide vol-

unteered to participate in

this event to test and record

the actual power consumption of this series.

The whole consumer testing process was conducted in a trans-

parent way. The result of the amount of power consumption

turned out to what these series air conditioners promised to be.

Besides, local news reporters from more than 10 cities such as

Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen and

Changsha also kept trace of the whole testing process. Facts

speak louder than words. The testing result of "1 kWh per

night" power consumption marketing event won wide recogni-

tion from consumers.

Since the launch of Midea

Eco Series “1 kWh per

Night”, lots of attention

has been gathered

amongst consumers and

the entire industry. Statis-

tics released by China

Market Monitor show that

models with this feature

topped in the “hot sale”

list in China’s retail mar-

ket throughout first half

year of 2013.

NEWSLINE


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Midea Commercial AC Obtained the First

European ErP Certificate for HPWH By Anggie Cai

H eat pump, as a technology for new energy resource,

by absorbing heat from a cold space and release it to a warmer

one, transferring heat from low temperature to higher tempera-

ture, has attracted increasing attention globally. Along with the

international advocacy of “Low Carbon, Green Environment”,

heat pump products have been receiving compliments from

consumers worldwide.

On September 6, 2013, EU officially released the ErP di-

rective with regard to eco design requirements for water heaters

and hot water storage tanks (Article: (EU) No 814/2013), as well

as energy labeling of water heaters, hot water storage tanks,

packages of water and solar device (Article: (EU) No 812/2013)

on the Official Journal.

ErP directive ((EU) No 814/2013) amended the methods

to test the performance of water heaters. It also sets up higher

requirements for performance evaluation of water heaters with

respect to the quantity of hot water, water heating energy effi-

ciency, heat insulation capability of water tank, etc.

As one of the leading commercial air conditioner manu-

facturers in the HVAC industry, Midea CAC has always com-

mitted itself to developing cutting-edge technology, and innova-

tive better products, as well as aimed to obtain authorized prod-

uct accreditations product quality, performance and safety.

Shortly after the release of ErP directive for HPWH, R&D team

and engineers of Midea CAC started working on heat pump

products in compliance with the directive.

Midea CAC successfully developed one type of HPWH

following the ErP directive in December this year. The new

HPWH was awarded the first CE ErP directive certificate and

TÜV SÜD ErP Mark certificate by TÜV SÜD, one of the glob-

ally renowned third-party testing and accreditation bodies. This

award represents a significant step forward in Midea CAC’s

development of highly efficient energy saving HPWH products

and symbolizes a great achievement that Midea CAC has made

on its way to developing greener and superior HPWH products.

NEWSLINE

TÜV SÜD ErP Mark Certificate CE ErP directive Certificate


8

Laundry Division Steps on the Road towards

Excellence for Industrial Design By Blinda Li

A t the 2013 South Korea Good Design Contest,

Midea Vandelo automatic front-loading washer was awarded the

“Award of the President of KIDP” (GD Award), which is one

of the five most famous industrial design awards globally, with

rest of the four are Germany IF Award, Germany Red Dot

Award, America IDEA Award, and Japan G-MARK Award.

Actively Seeking for External Cooperation

Midea design team cooperates with international well-

known design company SEOL on Midea Vandelo automatic

front-loading washer. After confirming the design and timeline

for Vandelo, a team formed by both parties carried out a market

survey to learn about the needs of consumers with respect to

washing machine’s function and design. In the meantime, the

team also interviewed marketing managers and shopping guiders

in markets such as Shanghai, Wuxi and Nanjing to learn about

consumers’ purchasing behaviors

and potential improvements on

products. In addition, surveys

were also conducted in different

families in order to get to know

their using habits and purchasing

motives. Besides, the team also

paid careful attention to and

completed in-depth analysis and

studies in regard to a washing

machine’s size and appearance.

More Advanced Technology and Outstanding Design

Midea Vandelo front-loading washing machines integrate

the advanced automatic washing and drying functions of the

industry. In terms of overall appearance, the product inherits

Midea product family’s tradition. Its large display screen and

window provide users with a feeling of professional and cutting-

edge technology. Details of the washing machine are so exquisite

and user friendly.

Further Improvement

After the cooperation with SEOL, Midea design team un-

derstands better their strengths and drawbacks in regard to de-

sign and technology. Overall, the cooperation with SEOL is a

big success for both parties, in which Midea Laundry Division

further enhances its product quality, design and brand influence.

NEWSLINE


9

Midea R290 Product Line Earned

International Acceptance By Crystal Lun

U nder the trend of low energy efficiency and environ-

mental protection, Midea has played an active role in developing

environmental friendly technology for new refrigerant. On De-

cember 17th, the world’s first R290 demonstration production

line conducted by Midea Residential Air Conditioning Division

and sponsored by United Nations Montreal Multilateral Fund

successfully passed the assessment.

Under the trend of low energy efficiency and environmental

protection, Midea has played an active role in developing envi-

ronmental friendly technology for new refrigerant. On Decem-

ber 17th, the world’s first R290 demonstration production line

conducted by Midea Residential Air Conditioning Division and

sponsored by United Nations Montreal Multilateral Fund suc-

cessfully passed the assessment.

According to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that

Deplete the Ozone Layer, R22 has been banned to be used in

European Union for years, and it will be gradually eliminated

over the world. As an alternative to R22, R410A is not the best

option as it

still causes

greenhouse

effect. How-

ever R290

with features

of fluoride-

free, low

carbon emis-

sion and en-

ergy efficient

is considered

to be the

most promis-

ing new re-

frigerant for

the industry.

Midea Resi-

dential Air-

Conditioning

Division has been committed to researching and developing

environmental friendly refrigerant including R290. The world's

first R290 production line reconstruction project sponsored by

United Nations Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund was ap-

proved in 2010, and was formally launched by Midea Air-

conditioning in 2011. The reconstruction project has lasted for

48 months with more than 15 million Yuan investment. It is

preliminarily estimated that the production capacity can reach

up to 250,000 units per year. On December 17th, it finally

gained acceptance by international expert groups.

President of Midea Residential Air-Conditioning Division,

Wu Wenxin introduced that Midea Air-Conditioning owns the

world’s first-class R290 assembly line, which is equipped with

full set of advanced facilities. Besides, Midea R290 got the new

leakage-proof technology patent, as well as other 34 patents, and

it also obtained the TUV safety certification and national anti-

explosion certificate. Mr. Wu said that Midea is actively acceler-

ating the speed of launching environmental friendly products to

the market.

NEWSLINE


10

Midea New Konnex Gateway:

Bridge to Intelligent Buildings By Amber Liu

K onnex (KNX) is a standardized (EN 50090, ISO/

IEC 14543), OSI-based(Open System Interconnection) network

communications protocol for intelligent buildings. It is the suc-

cessor to, and convergence of, three previous standards: the

European Home Systems Protocol (EHS), BâtiBUS, and the

European Installation Bus (EIB).

Midea Heating & Ventilating Equipment Co., Ltd is hon-

ored to be the first Chinese CAC manufacturer to become a

member of KNX China.

In 2013, Midea launched the KNX gateway in China’s

HVAC industry. After passing series of tests carried out by

KNX accredited third party testing labs, Midea KNX gateway

acquired the KNX certificate, which is completely compatible

with KNX/EIB standards and is applicable with other hundreds

of KNX certified products in the same working system.

With this technology, users can access the integrated sys-

tem via PCs or smartphones to control home appliances or oth-

er devices such as lighting, heating/ventilation & air condition-

ing, refrigeration, washing machine, alarming monitoring, audio

& video etc. all at once or separately.

Midea has successfully applied this technology and prod-

ucts in office building of the President in Maputo, capital of

Mozambique. Over 400 sets of VRF indoor units are installed,

among which, 330 sets are connected to Midea KNX gate way.

Users can achieve any operation control via the instabus, the

EIB system of Siemens which has also been connected with the

Midea KNX gate way.

NEWSLINE

Midea product units are installed in the office building of the President in Maputo, capital of Mozambique.


11

Try Out New Experience of PD Portable AC

By Crystal Lun

T he new ErP (Energy Related Products) standard im-

plemented by EU in January 2013 requires energy efficiency to

be up by 5%, and sound power noise level requires to be ≤55 +

2 dB in terms of portable air conditioners. To meet the new ErP

standard, Midea has optimized the air duct structure and the

performance of sound power noise level to build a new platform

of PD portable air conditioner.

Energy Saving -- 0.5W Standby Technology

The new ErP standards require the air conditioner unit to re-

duce standby power consumption down to no more than 0.5W

starting from 2014. The Midea PD portable air conditioner can

fully comply with the new standard with standby power as low

as 0.5 W, meeting the requirements for the next three years in

the European market.

Healthy -- Air Filter System

Midea PD portable air conditioner provides healthy func-

tion in accordance with the "QMK-J11.006-2006 Technical

Standards: limitation of the use of harmful substances in prod-

ucts, and the RoHS directive. Additional functions such as

healthy air filter system of Vitamin C filter, bio filter, 3M HAF

filter, silver ion filter and ionizer etc are also carried out by this

product.

Comfort -- Follow Me

Users can choose the follow-me function of Midea PD

portable air conditioner. With this function, a temperature sen-

sor is built in the remote control. When user gets close to the

remote control, the sensor in the remote control is activated and

replaces the sensor in the indoor unit. The air conditioner then

adjusts the room temperature based on the temperature around

the remote controller instead of the indoor unit.

NEWSLINE


12

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town By Mandy Wang

C hristmas trees and decorations are around the floors

at Midea International Division (MID), indicating the coming of

the Christmas holiday.

When staff are working

hardly on their desk,

nobody knows that a

surprise would come to

them. A Santa Claus

comes to Midea head-

quarters to the MID to

distribute Christmas gifts

and brought best wishes

to MID employees. Even

though this is a western

holiday, it has been inte-

grated to be part of

Laundry Division Convened the

2013 Patent & Innovation Workshop By Blinda Li

L aundry Division R&D Center convened the 2013

Patent & Innovation Workshop in October 25, 2013. Gu

Xianhong, hostess of the

workshop, firstly presented

the achievements of the pa-

tent team this year, proposed

future improvements need to

be implemented, and also

shared the strategy and plan-

ning for the coming three

years. According to Ms. Gu,

achievements regarding to

patents and innovation cannot

be made without the strong

support and unceasing en-

deavors from Laundry Divi-

sion and its patent team. In addition, Ms. Gu briefed attendees

on the work in patent applications, receiving high recognition

from attendees.

Subsequently, three outstanding inventors shared their

successful experience in patent application, and further under-

scored the importance of inde-

pendent R & D and innovation.

When came to the group discus-

sion, attendees were divided into

six groups with topics in patents

and innovation. At the end of

the discussion, each group pre-

sented its discussion results.

At the end of the

workshop, Hu Ziqiang, Vice

President of Technology and Ye

Dexin, Director of R & D Cen-

ter respectively gave a wrap-up

speech. They expressed their

wishes for greater achievements for the coming year.

NEWSLINE

MID’s happy working environment culture. No mat-

ter what holiday it is, giving gifts to employees is just

a way to show appreciation to them.


13

MCJV Brazil Launches New

Midea Brand Website By James Yu

A s the peak season for home appliances market is

approaching, MCJV Brazil launched a new website for Midea

products in December in order to replace the old one which has

been used for 3 years.

The new Brazilian Midea website is on the basis of brand

communication suggested by the brand agency following brand

research conducted in 2013. It also adopted elements from the

new Midea visual identify guidance from Midea HQs. Instead of

using mostly light blue images which the air conditioning prod-

ucts previous did, the new website applies more colorful images

as the company is entering the small appliances market. A lot of

images showing happiness of families’ daily life are also used on

the website to show how Midea products would help our con-

sumers “enjoy every moment of life more”. “Enjoy every mo-

ment of life more” is Midea’s main brand communication mes-

sage to the market. Consumers in Brazil can access the website

by entering the domain of www.mideadobrazil.com.br or

www.midea.com now.

NEWSLINE

Midea RAC Leads Industrial Upgrading By Crystal Lun

S ince the corporate transformation initiated in 2011,

Midea has advocated to be a "consumer oriented" enterprise,

and has taken this as a strong driving force for the development

of the company. Great progress has been made on productivity

and quality improvement in the past years. Midea Residential AC

is one of the examples to show these progresses.

During the course of the transformation, Midea Residential

AC has invested heavily in R&D. Mr. Li Qiang, Director of

Midea Residential AC Research Institute, stated that in 2013

Midea Residential AC recruited many talents to the company,

including a refrigerant expert from the United Nations Environ-

ment Programme (UNEP), 19 foreign experts, 26 R&D staff

with doctorate degree, as well as other 16 professionals. In the

meanwhile, Midea cooperated with other manufacturers to form

joint technology development laboratories in order to further

improve Midea technologies. For example, Midea worked with

Toshiba Carrier on the introduction and transformation of in-

verter technology, and cooperated with IR (International Rectifi-

er) on the application of inverter controlling chips.

The Midea talent pool and its rich social intellectual re-

sources are strong support for scientific innovation and techno-

logical achievements. During the last ten years, Midea AC has

applied for 1,895 patents, among which 497 are invention pa-

tents, accounting for 26% of total.

Midea rewards its talents for their achievements. For instance, in

this year’s Midea Technology Month, the R&D team responsible

for Eco series project of “1 kWh per night”, won a reward of 5

million RMB, which is the highest of single reward amount in

Midea’s history.

Besides investments in talent base and technology improve-

ment, Mr. Wu Wenxin, president of Midea Residential AC Divi-

sion pointed out that more than 1 billion Yuan was invested in

the field of product quality improvement. All possible unsatis-

faction of customers guides our efforts for product improve-

ment.


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The 2014 Midea Group Business

Management Conference By Sophia Su & Mandy Wang

FEATURE

O n December 25th and 26th, the

2014 Midea Group Business Management

Conference was held in Beijiao, Shunde,

China, where Midea Group Headquarters

are located. Agendas were intensively

planed among the two-day conference, in-

cluding presentations from external profes-

sionals and entrepreneurs, management

reports from 13 business units, annual re-

views from Midea Group functional depart-

ments , as well as the 2014 plan of Midea

Group. During the conference, Heads of

business units also signed the 2014 KPI

performance evaluation management agree-

ments.

At the first day, speakers from re-

nowned universities, consulting companies

and enterprises discussed the strategies of Huawei, the develop-

ment and importance of e-commerce, and corporate transfor-

mation or change management undertaken by companies such

as IBM, GE,

Lenovo,

Samsung,

LG, etc. The-

se cases pro-

vided insight-

ful infor-

mation and

experiences

of the devel-

opment of

other multi-

national

companies,

which is very

helpful for

the ongoing

corporate

transfor-

mation as

well as the future globalization of Midea.

The second day business review session showed the

achievements of 2013 - sales revenue of Midea Group increased

by 19% year-on-year, and gross margin increased even more!

This re-

assured all

Midea peo-

ple’s belief

in the cur-

rent corpo-

rate trans-

formation

which leads

to Midea’s

accomplish-

ment this

year. This

conference

restated the

importance

of Midea’s

strategic

focuses on


15

The 2014 Midea Group Business

Management Conference By Sophia Su & Mandy Wang

FEATURE

“Leading products, Product efficiency and Global operations”.

Fang Hongbo, Chairman of Midea Group gave a speech

in the conference to give guideline for Midea’s business growth

in 2014. He underscored the importance

of continuing corporate transformation

and pursuing further sales growth while

improving current profitability. Mr. Fang

indicated that in 2014 Midea Group shall

still be customer-oriented and focus on

producing good products. In addition, Mr.

Fang stressed that for the purpose of

maintaining continuously growth, we need

to be open-minded, be brave enough to

deny ourselves and be flexible to make

changes in way of our thinking, organiza-

tional structure and corporate cultures.

Besides, regular review and self-criticism

of what we have done in past years is nec-

essary. In the meanwhile, Mr. Fang

stressed the requirements for improving

management style, optimizing organiza-

tional structure and deepening cultural

changes etc.

Finally, Mr. Fang summarized that the key works for

the coming 2014 are to make good products, and to keep

changing with and adapting to the always-changing world. All

management executives must have sense of re-

sponsibility and sense of mission for the compa-

ny, and all work together closely in order to

achieve our business objectives.

Mr. He Xiangjian, founder of Midea Group, also

joined the second day dinner. He confirmed the

achievements Midea Group has made in this

year and encouraged the management to stick to

the principles of the corporate transformation

and to make greater success in the next year!


16

By Mandy Wang

Marianna Zhao

General Manager of Western Europe,

Overseas Sales Company of RAC

[email protected]

Marianna Zhao started her first job in Midea within the sales sector in 2004. With her hardworking, passionate, proactive, self-motivated and independent attitude, she gradually advanced her career within this organization. She took the position as the General Manager of Western Europe for Residential Air Conditioning Division Overseas Sales Company in early 2013, leading a team of passionate colleagues. Even though she is busy with her work and her MBA class, she still enjoys playing instruments, going to concerts and visiting museums. ADV: You joined Midea Living Appliances after your graduation from college and you currently work in the sales sector in Midea. How have your past experiences influenced you and developed you into such a good sales person? Marianna: I graduated in 2004 and worked at Midea Living Appliance for one and a half years. From that initial experience, I have three key learnings; independent thinking, systematic thinking and hard working. Why are these three elements important? When I first entered Midea, the overseas company was set up on a very small scale. At that time, support from the factory was very weak, so you had to handle everything by yourself. This experience really trained me and taught me how to handle things independently. A diligent and energetic perspective for a sales person is essential because you have to work very hard and be very persistent in seeking increased sales results. We not only care about the final sales result, but more importantly learning how to improve efficiency and productivity are also paramount to us. ADV: You believe there are three traits that make you a good sales person---independent thinking, systematic thinking and diligence. What other attitudes or personalities can help you to succeed? What’s your attitude towards work? Marianna: First and foremost is being passionate. As a sales person, you have to be very passionate and proactive. Secondly you need to have a very strong knowledge of the market and customer insights. Besides that, a strong sense of responsibility is also very important, not only to the work and your colleagues, but also to your customers. That is how we sustain and maintain good relationships with our customers.

ADV: Do you try to enforce those attitudes on your team members? Marianna: Yes because if you are a team leader with experience and knowledge which you think are good for your team, you would like to encourage those beliefs. If it is just a small team, it is very easy to influence others with your thinking within your team. However, when the team gets bigger, it is harder because people are very independent. They have their own personalities, their own way of thinking and work ethics. I’m trying to influence them, because I do believe those attitudes I mentioned are essential and I believe that my team has this mind-set too. ADV: Besides good attitudes, what other aspects do you ensure your team has in meeting your sales goals?

PEOPLE

Tough Power Cooling Europe


17

By Mandy Wang

Marianna: Definitely we need some management tools. We have the weekly working plan and monthly business review. This is very basic. For our business review, which we started from this year, we break down the sales target periodically. Sales people have more specific sales target every month. So it is better to review and discover problems at early stage and thus reduce any potential large problems. Therefore if you really do a good job in the initial period, that will help you in sustaining your work in the future. Secondly is high autonomy to team members, empower to those who are capable to cope with various issues. Thirdly team spirit is essential. Personally I believe in this so much. I read a book on management 2 years ago. The main concept of this book is about corporate culture. There is a sentence that was very profound, but at that time, I didn’t understand that clearly. It said that “All performance is resulted

from corporate culture”. In Chinese it is like, “所有的业绩都

是企业文化的表现”. I do believe that having an open-

minded and pleasant team spirit with transparent regulations and rules can really lead to good sales performance. That’s also the direction I really want to develop deeper into. ADV: I heard that you are taking the MBA class. Have you found any management tools that you learned in class which you think you can apply to your work? Marianna: Yes. I have taken two modules already. The first was O r g a n i z a t i o n a l Behavior (OB). The s e c o n d w a s S t a t i s t i c s a n d Decision Making. These had very interesting tools, especially for OB. It delivers principles about how you can organize people and make the team work more efficiently and effectively, and how you can motivate people. During classes, we debated and held discussions regarding ways to motivate colleagues. Our current team

consists of the 80s and 90s generation. Most of them are single children, so they don’t care about the salary that much. You need to make them satisfied through their emotions, to really motivate them, to provide them with greater platforms to learn from and to help them discover their potentials. ADV: As the GM of one region, you need to lead a team of people. What’s the secret to developing strong working relationships with peers, and leading a team to achieve and maintain excellence? Marianna: To be very honest, the relationship is not strong enough at the moment but we are trying to build a team endowed with purpose and determination. Moreover we are in the process of harnessing a friendly team environment in which team member’s respect, appreciate and would like to work with each other. Foremost, to build a strong sales team, we need to set up very clear sales goals and rules and regulations and to make sure that your team knows that. If you achieve good things, you will get rewards. Rewards and punishments should be parallel. Secondly is to build team spirit. We need to share information more frequently than before and to communicate more freely. Even though I am the GM and they are my peers, we can discuss more candidly.

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By Mandy Wang

ADV: I heard that the team building activities of sales teams are always so interesting. Are there any team building events that your team participated in which you would like to recommend to other teams? Marianna: I’d like to give you a small example. Two weeks ago, our team made a small video as a gift for 2013. “Why do people have strong connections with each other?” The most important reason we found is that they share the same memories. They have something to remind each other of especially all the good times or tough times they experienced together. I think everybody can’t wait and are very excited to see the video. We have also done something for Christmas. Yesterday, we had a small event in which all team members exchanged gifts with each other. This is a Western tradition called “Kris Kringle” whereby people are chosen at random to exchange gifts with another colleague. We have prepared for this event for two weeks. Activities like this will help to create and maintain work relationships Also, we have some experience sharing events often led by team members who share their wisdom and know-how. ADV: You worked in regions such as Europe, and in Venezuela in South America. Which regions do you find the most

interesting and most challenging? Have you ever encountered any difficult times in sales? Marianna: I should say all markets are interesting. That’s also the reason why I like this job as sales person. I love my job which is people orientated and you can always experience different things. For instance, Latin America is interesting. The customers working style is casual, passionate, and you can really make friends with them; while European style is more professional, cool and rigorous. My current job is somewhat challenging because European market is challenged by upgrading regulations and stagnant economic conditions. We need to compete with A brands face to face after upgrading on energy efficiency. The competition situation changed, from local Chinese manufacture to world-class Japanese and Korea brands. At the same time, price war is getting fierce. The traditional importers or brand owners are losing the competitiveness. Thus, we have to think about how to break through, no matter on business model, sales channel and other value-added services or products we could deliver to the market. We need a new mind-set, also need to take the advantage of the overseas branches approach to the market and to find the shortest way to increase the operation quality.

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By Mandy Wang

ADV: Do you have any plans for your 2014 strategy? Marianna: As mentioned, the profit margin is not as good as before, we shall broaden the sales channels, such as enforce more on the retailing channel. We also have plan to set up an after-sales service network in Europe to provide more services to customers. Meanwhile, we focus more on productivity. In coming year, there will be new platforms launched, relying which we expect to get more sales in 2014. ADV: When facing some problems or challenges, how do you ensure that a solution is implemented? Marianna: Whenever I meet a problem, I will divide them into smaller pieces. When you see a problem as a whole, it is like a mountain, but when you split it, it is just like a small rock. It’s much easier to handle. ADV: When you first joined the sales team, did it feel like a boys club? How did you advance in a male-dominated field? Marianna: Sure. I think it is the boys club. But girls always have some privileges, such as support and respect from your colleagues. Women are always very easy going, sensitive and have good communication skills. We know how to build a relationship with people. That’s the advantage. But at the same time, there are some disadvantages. Women sometimes find it difficult to make decisions, easily in a dilemma. One reason I was able to advance in this organization is through the support I received from my bosses and colleagues, who o p e n e d u p g o o d opportunities for me, and they trusted and supported me always. I am thankful for the chances I got in Midea. Another reason may be due to my own personality. I am a self-motivated person and passionate for the job. ADV: Besides that, do you have any general advice for women, or how to balance their work and family life?

Marianna: (laughing) Actually, I am not the best example of how to balance between work-social and life because recently I put too much focus on work. ADV: But as long as your family members support you. Marianna: Yes, they support me a lot. So I think the general suggestion is just “be yourself”. Time management is very important. You need to allocate your time properly and enhance efficiency otherwise you won’t even have time for work, family or for fun. ADV: What do you usually do have after work to wind down? Do you exercise or hang out with friends? Marianna: Yeah. I like parties. I like playing instruments, such as the piano. Several days ago, I bought a Ukulele. It is a very happy instrument. Playing Ukulele is a good way to release your stress from work. I like classical music and concerts. I also love shopping like all ladies. One of my colleagues told me that when I work I am like a man, but when I am off work, I am a little girl (laugh).

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