Business in Transition: Insights & Case Studies of Successful Foreign SME Turnarounds

In the current challenging business environment, the ability to detect and manage business issues and transform them from distress to success cannot be underestimated. 

Corporate crises can build over time, or they can occur rapidly, when least expected, often with potential consequences that threaten the reputation and livelihood of the organization, their stakeholders and clients. Given the current economic climate and challenging China trading conditions, detecting issues and risks early, taking the right steps for the organization to weather the turbulence, and perhaps come out even stronger, is critical. 

Join us to hear from five transformation experts, as they share their experiences, strategies and tips for sensing when change is needed to avoid crisis, how, with the right perspective and skills,  it can be turned into an opportunity for greater success. 

Speakers

Arie Schreier
General Manager, PTL Group- China

Arie Schreier has over 20 years of management experience with companies and diplomatic missions throughout Asia, Australia and South America. He has spent the last 12 years managing logistics, administration, HR, recruiting, finance, and manufacturing operations for foreign companies in China.

Since 2014 he has been nominated as General Manager of PTL Group - China after fulfilling the role of a COO and VP Sales and Marketing of PTL Group. Arie has been working with a number of international companies to manage their sales, logistics, and manufacturing operations more successfully in a challenging China market. He was also involved in several Operational Audit as well as Turnaround and transformation projects for foreign Owned entities in China. As one of the founders of the China Industrial Initiative (CI2), he is actively involved in the establishment and management of several manufacturing facilities in the country.

Bob Fonow
Managing Director, Revenue Growth International Ltd.

Bob Fonow is a turnaround executive and management consultant based in Beijing, China and Northern Virginia.  Via his company, RGI Ltd., founded in 1993, Bob has completed executive turnaround assignments in the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Switzerland, Russia and the United States relating to telecoms and internet issues.  Prior to moving to Beijing in 2009 he was the senior US State Department advisor on telecommunications and IT reconstruction in Iraq for nearly two years, and then completed assignments in Ramallah, Palestine.  He was the first private business member of the APEC Telecom Working Group and continues to write and consult on Asia Internet infrastructure issues.  He is the non-executive chairman of Beijing Mao Rui’s Discover Club, an education consulting firm in the university area of Beijing which has undergone several transformations under his advice. And he is a founding member and the first executive director (pro-bono) of the Asia Transformation and Turnaround Association (ATTA).  Prior to earning degrees from the University of Wales and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Bob served in the US Air Force in Japan, Italy and England.

Dr. Jimmy Chen Ph.D., CMfgE,CSIT
Chief Executive Officer, Greenworks Tools

Dr. Jimmy Chen is a versatile, highly driven Fortune 500 executive with over 27 years of extensive experience in the global automotive, New Energy EV, & Mechanical Hand tooling areas. He has a proven track record of driving significant revenue growth in highly competitive business markets, turnaround/transformation business by implementing operations excellent/Lean manufacturing system, and leading Chinese company to go globalization. Extensive international work experience in USA, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Korea, India, Thailand, & China. 

Kjeld Staerk
President,Danfoss China

Kjeld Staerk has dedicated his whole professional career to Danfoss. Since Kjeld Staerk joined Danfoss in 1983, he has held various managerial positions within the fields of production, planning, quality control and managing operation in Denmark, US and UK. He worked as a Sales President for the Cooling Segment for North and South America from 2004-05, based in Baltimore US. Before he was appointed as Danfoss China president, he was the President of the Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Division. 

Sarah Kochling
Managing Principal, Blossom

Sarah Kochling is the Managing Principal of Blossom, a strategic insights, innovation and design consultancy that supports clients to get to breakthrough consumer, market and industry insights and collaboratively transform them into meaningful impact. With over 25 years of experience in China and Aisa, including management roles at Procter & Gamble China and J&J Int’l, leading innovation practices at agencies What If?! And Dragon Rouge and advertising China startups, Sarah offers her clients a balance of best-practice experience and entrepreneurial savvy. A frequent speaker on innovation and market trends, Sarah is an active community volunteer. She co-founded and co-chairs the Women’s Executive Network at the Shanghai American Chamber, and in 2016 she was elected to the Chamber’s Board of Governors. Sarah also serves as a board advisor and mentor for several local SMEs and Chinaaccelerator startups. 

Joanne K. Wood
Chairman, Capital Eight

Joanne K. Wood is the Founder and Managing Partner of Capital Eight, a corporate finance house headquartered in Shanghai.  She is also one of the longest serving foreigners based in China, having lived and worked on the Mainland for over 30 years.

With an investment banking career spanning more than 40 years, Joanne has worked in senior corporate finance positions with UBS, Jardine Fleming (JP Morgan) and GE Capital across Europe, the USA and Greater China; 25 of those years have been focused on a wide range of M&A, debt and equity capital raisings, turnarounds and infrastructure financing.

Joanne is a regular speaker at international conferences and often asked for her views on China’s financial services industry and the China investment environment.  Amongst other engagements, she has participated in the BBC’s globally televised debating series “Intelligence Squared”.

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