Counsel to Counsel - January 2008 - (Page 17) partnership at a glance Hisense Group Qingdao No. 2 Radio Factory, the predecessor of Hisense Group, was founded in 1969 with about a dozen employees. Today, the company, which changed its name to Hisense in 1993, has more than 20 subsidiaries and had 2006 sales of $5.6 billion. Hisense manufactures color televisions, air conditioners, mobile phones, refrigerators, computers and digital equipment such as firewalls and servers. Photo by Jay Carlson From left, William D. Rohrer and Jin Liu, Carlton Fields; Wang “Charlie” Zhihao, Hisense Group While he is learning Chinese, Joseph admits that he will probably never be fluent enough to conduct international business deals. Fortunately, Carlton Fields has an attorney who can serve not only as legal adviser, but interpreter—and not just in terms of language. Jin Liu, an associate at Carlton Fields, earned a law degree in her native China before coming to the United States and getting a juris doctor. Her background and education have helped avoid potential miscommunications over differences in law, language and culture. United States for corporations and the Maryland state government. In 2002, Zhou began recruiting Wang to Hisense, and Wang decided to return to his native city in 2003. “It’s a big help [to have experience working overseas],” says Wang. “We understand the local culture.” Wang estimates that he spends 50 percent of his time traveling, making frequent trips to the United States and Europe. Besides racking up frequent-flier miles for face-to-face meetings, Hisense and Carlton Fields rely upon email and phone conversations, managing the half-day difference between Miami and Qingdao. Carlton Fields is also in the process of exploring a dedicated teleconferencing video link system, which Joseph hopes will improve communications if for no other reason than that attorneys and executives will be able to put faces to names more easily. Zhou Houjian was named director of Qingdao Television Factory in 1992. Three years later, he was named chairman of the board. During his time at Hisense, the company has grown to become one of the 100 largest Chinese electronics manufacturers. Zhou has also served as a deputy in the National People’s Congress. Wang “Charlie” Zhihao, senior vice president in charge of IT and chairman of Hisense TransTech, joined the company in 2003. A native of Qingdao, China, Wang spent nearly 14 years in the United States while earning an engineering degree from the University of Southern California and working for the state of Maryland and several corporations. Photography by “[Our desire to expand] is giving rise to the need for legal services. We require a law firm that understands our culture and needs.” “My role is unique. Because I grew up in China, Chinese is my first language and I have a Chinese law degree,” says Liu. Zhou has also actively recruited business executives who bring an understanding of international cultures. One of the business executives that Joseph works with closely at Hisense is Wang “Charlie” Zhihao, senior vice president in charge of IT and chairman of Hisense TransTech. A native of Qingdao, Wang earned an engineering degree from the University of Southern California and spent more than 10 years working in the martindale.com/c2c Step 2: Crossing Borders The second step in Hisense’s plans for global expansion involves understanding the markets it plans to export to, as well as developing the fiscal systems and disciplines required to conduct business in the West. “The financial and legal systems are very different in China,” says Joseph. “A lot of what I do is explain those differences.” Adapting to Western methods of bookkeeping and financing has involved a learning curve. For decades before and during the Cultural Revolution, China was closed off from the West economically, socially and culturally. The open-door policy, which began in 1978, laid the groundwork for today’s tremendous economic growth. Nonetheless, the business climate and legal system in China are still quite unlike those in the West. For example, during the Cultural Revolution, Chinese companies used accounting methods that grew out of the communist ideology. Under the old system, profits, loss and debt were not considered particularly JANUARY 2008 17 http://www.martindale.com/c2c
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.