Management inspired by music
By Yayu Wu & Enid Chen
Photos by Yao Fan



ABB Huadian High Voltage Switchgear (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. founded in December 1999, is a joint venture funded by ABB (China) Ltd., China Huadian Engineering Corporation and Xiamen Electric Power Bureau. The Business scope of the company is to design, manufacture, assemble, test and commercialize high voltage switchgears and accessories up to 550kV.
厦门ABB华电高压开关有限公司成立于1999年12月,由ABB(中国)有限公司、中国华电工程(集团)公司和厦门电业局三方合资兴建.来自意大利的富贵先生去年底出任公司总经理,在ABB工作多年的他,曾在不同的岗位上任职,因此对公司各环节的运作都了如指掌.他认为一名成功的企业高层管理人员必须拥有丰富的理念和想像力.而这位多才多艺的总经理,喜欢弹奏钢琴,他说,正是音乐不断地激发了他的灵感和想像力.


Name: Fulvio Granata
Nationality: Italian
Position: General Manager, ABB Huadian High Voltage Switchgear (Xiamen) Co., Ltd.

ABB's advanced management methods
Q: Many multinational companies hold the same belief that it's crucial for them to use local employees, invest in the local economy and be a local citizen. What is your opinion towards that?
A: That's quite true, but I have my own interpretations. First and foremost, we need to have local employees working for us to ensure smooth operation of the company. Nevertheless, the local employees also need to be open-minded to international culture. They are working in a multi-national company where people come from different countries and cultural backgrounds. Meanwhile the technologies we use today are from Germany and we have a close relathionship with them. Hence, the local employees here should be willing to accept international ideas.
Secondly, we are here to promote and make contributions to the development of the local economy.
Thirdly, I'm trying to integrate myself into this city and be a citizen here. I participated in the Xiamen International Marathon held in March earlier this year, which was the first time ever in my life to do such a thing. In my spare time, I go to play soccer at Xiamen University. All I'm doing is making myself a part of this city. I enjoy being a citizen here because Xiamen is the best city for living and for working as well.

Q: What is the key factor for ABB's ongoing and sound development?
A: Concerning our business, we need to be small so we can be flexible. There are only 90 employees in our unit. Our main business is to provide tailor-made products to specific customers. To satisfy their needs, we need to be extremely flexible and act quickly in response to any problems. So it's important for us to be small and smart, which makes it easier to achieve customer satisfaction. Easy is better. It's quite different from our neighbors here. While we are trying to become sure in our flexibility, they have to deal with being gigantic and pushing volume.
However, being small does not necessarily mean our business will not grow. For the time being, we are thinking about developing new products and introducing new product lines. A new factory is being built, which is to be finished at the beginning of next year.

Q: As a well-known multinational corporation, ABB enjoys state-of-the-art technology and management methods. What are your opinions and ways of training the employees of this company?
A: One of the biggest assets of the company is our people. To find good and suitable people for the vacancies(职位空缺) in this line of work is not easy. ABB is keen on training and invests an impressive amount of money in training the newcomers, which is a good chance for them. Although the turnover rate of our employees is a bit high, we still try to make unremitting efforts in training to make sure of high performance in different positions.
At the same time, ABB's culture is to show respect and give freedom to the staff. So they feel free to do things and it gives full play to their potential.

Refreshing management style
Q: Can you give us a brief introduction to your career so far?
A: I worked for some companies and joined ABB in Italy, where my hometown is. After five years in ABB, I left for one and a half years and in the mean time I moved to Switzerland where I started working for ABB again. When I was in Switzerland, I was frequently on business trips to China. I came to China and became the president of this company last November. The reason why I was sent here for the position was that I was quite familiar with China. I also studied some mandarin in Switzerland. I enjoyed being here on business trips and top management in Switzerland thought I spoke good mandarin and sent me here.
I feel quite lucky because I have had different jobs with ABB, from engineering, sales, product development to customer service, which are of great interest to me. Now I can understand most of the problems that happen in the company owing to my wide experience in different positions and areas of the company.

Q: What do you think is the most important qualification for a successful top manager?
A: Above all, a leader of a company should be inventive and have a lot of ideas in his mind. Since every company is different and unique, we cannot copy others' models, whether they be successful or not in their companies. As a result, it's crucial for us to make differentiation and find our own way, which requires us to be creative. Being a general manager, you should have ideas and visions on top of education, knowledge, communication skills and other qualifications. Sometimes, imagination can be more important than knowledge. There is a problem with some of my colleagues because they are too busy to have time for thinking. From time to time, we need to pause for a while and leave time for inventing new ideas. It's like a soccer team. To go to the Olympics, you have to invent something new and have some new strategy. That's why we have to have new ideas and modernize our thoughts. I find this task to be fascinating.
The second thing for a successful top manager is communication with your staff because you need to understand what is happening. You should have a reliable and trustful relationship with them. That's why we try to create a friendly and easy-going environment in this company. If the staff were fearful of me, they would dare not talk to me. Actually for me, it's interesting to hear what they have to say.

A versatile manager
Q: It's said that you are a versatile manager, who can play the piano very well. Is it an indispensable(不可缺少的) part of your life?
A: I started learning to play the piano at the age of six and through the years I achieved professional level in Jazz contemporary music, although I majored in engineering. I'm still practicing it on a daily basis and keep it as a habit. There are a lot of similarities between music and my work. Both require ongoing training and discipline. Playing the piano can stimulate my imagination as well.

Q: Why don't you pursue your career as a musician then?
A: Well, environment, talent, studies and events in my life made me more comfortable to be an engineer rather than a pianist. Then I finally become a manager.