Embracing innovation
By Yayu Wu & Enid Chen
Photos by Yao Fan



Embracing challenges

Q: Can you give a brief introduction to your work experience?
A: After graduating from the Navigation College at Jimei University, I was a sailor from 1990-1994, in which time I rose to the position of second mate. Those four years of experience as a sailor greatly helped my career later when I came to work in the forwarding and logistics industry. In terms of personality, I'm very open-minded and like to challenge myself. Therefore, when Panalpina established a representative office in Xiamen in 1995, I did not hesitate to apply for the job.

Q: What are the challenges that you meet in this job?
A: A manager's main responsibility is to resolve the complex issues that cannot be dealt with by others. This would be a challenging task for anyone! Panalpina's business is built on a simple premise: to help our clients get the goods to market quickly and economically, wherever that might be. We are the doctor who prescribes the medicines and offers customized advice, rather than the pharmaceutical firm which just sells the medicine. Panalpina has an efficient global network, which is vital for providing the best economic solutions for our customers.

Sometimes, we might have to work almost 24/7 (24 hours a day and seven days a week) when we are following up a customer's deliveries. I don't mind working hard, though. When I worked on ships before, everything was about determining position to make sure that the ship was on the right course; but now my job is more challenging and creative, which I really enjoy. Sometimes we know the local market needs better than they do at head office, so we can make constructive proposals to them. As long as what we are doing is good for market development within the company's overall strategy, our proposals will get approval.

Learning from customers introduct

Q: How can Panalpina make itself stand out among the fierce competition?
A: It is of vital importance that we can respond quickly to the needs of the market. In Xiamen, for example, we have a key client from the electrical equipment industry to whom we devote almost half of our time. They impose strict and high requirements on their service providers, so we are constantly improving our services to meet their requirements. Panalpina has only been in Xiamen for ten years. In that time we have learnt a lot about corporate management from our key client during our cooperation, for which I feel really grateful. We cherish our partnership with our clients and we do our utmost to meet their needs. The whole company, from the Xiamen Branch to the European headquarters, pays great attention to the key clients in order to maintain a good working relationship with them. We know that even an hour's delay in delivery will affect the client's production and lead to business losses. We cannot afford even a minor mistake, which drives us to be constantly looking at new ideas in the market and to try every means to improve our service. We consider ourselves not merely as service providers but as strategic partners who care deeply and personally about our partnership with our customers.

Free flow of ideas

Q: As a branch manager, have you encountered any difficulties in management during the past ten years?
A: Good team building is critical for a logistics service company like Panalpina. All the staff work together as a team and family. However, it is important to avoid favoritism and being too emotional. Sometimes arriving at the best solutions requires us to find a compromise within the team. There are times when some team members have their own ideas. I don't mind different opinions and I welcome open dialogue and communication with all the staff. There might be some disagreements at first, but when all the ideas have been put on the table for open discussion, we will be able to figure out the best solutions in the end.

Q: What do you think of your own management style?
A: First of all, I attach great importance to communication, as I mentioned before. As the Chief Representative, I should communicate with both the headquarters and my staff here, both of which are important aspects of the position.

Secondly, there is an old saying that a leader decides what is right, and a manager does what is right. However, as a branch manager, you cannot always just do what your boss tells you to do, without any creative ideas and innovations of your own. It is important for me and my staff here to explore new developments in the market and to report to head office on how we can adapt to meet the market's requirements. Only in this way can we position ourselves better in the local market and support the company's overall strategy for profitable growth. We cannot always do things perfectly at the very beginning, but one thing is for sure - we can always try to do better.


Name: Jack Xu
Position: Chief Representative and Territory Business Development Manager, Panalpina China Ltd, Xiamen Representative Office
Education: BA, Jimei University

Panalpina is one of the world's leading providers of forwarding and logistics services, specializing in intercontinental air freight and ocean freight shipments and associated supply chain management solutions. Panalpina China was founded in 1976 in Hong Kong, where its head office is based, and has been established in mainland China since 1985. The Xiamen Branch was opened in 1995.

在部队长大造就了他豪爽、开放的性格. 不喜欢墨守成规的他, 因此结束了他的海员生涯, 成为了泛亚班拿中国有限公司厦门代表处的首席代表. 他就是徐建新, 一个"民主"与"专断"结合的经理人, 注重与员工开诚布公的沟通, 也喜欢不断创新挑战自我, 为公司寻求源源不断的市场机会.

Vocabulary
intercontinental 洲际的
premise 前提
second mate 二副
prescribe 开处方
pharmaceutical 制药的
strategy 战略
favoritism 偏袒
compromise 妥协