My Consulting Work in China: 1995-1997

I spent two years building the leading education/edutainment CD-ROM republisher and distributor in China, based in Shanghai. Beginning in mid-1995, and working through 1996 and 1997, I consulted virtually full time to a U.S.-Chinese joint venture based in Shanghai, which is endorsed and supported by the highest levels of government.

As the consultant to the CEO of the U.S. company, and advisor to the Board of Directors, I established policy and strategies to build the CD-ROM distribution channels, which were undeveloped in China. I seeded the initial capitalization of the company by creating $2.2 million in deal flow, received in the form of advances from U.S. and worldwide publishers for the localization of titles and their market entry into China. This was a unique deal structure, something of a reverse of the usual contract in which the republisher in-country pays the content provider for access to the content in an exclusive licensing agreement.  I established the deal structure between the publishers and the joint venture, negotiated the agreements, selected the publishers and the products, and sent them into the joint venture for localization, republishing and distribution.

I brought on board a team of leading U.S. software executives in sales, marketing, purchasing/operations, and replication to implement policy and strategy and to empower the Chinese joint venture. This team, and our Chinese counterparts, worked with the leading ministries throughout greater China. We had access to the most current market data on software, hardware and CD-ROM.

On the China side, I designed the policies and strategies to create the channels to distribute the first high production value, fully-localized, government-authorized CD-ROM edutainment titles throughout the retail computer and bookstore channels and the OEM channels in greater China. The joint venture initiated operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore as well.

Having created the seed capital through deal flow, I then brought forward the oldest British investment bank in Hong Kong as an investor. Once the capital was received, the Chairman of the joint venture assumed full operational control of the business, while I continued to advise on policy and strategy to the operations team based in China and Hong Kong. I continue to be in contact with the investment group in Hong Kong. The joint venture still maintains a lead position in CD-ROM distribution throughout China, has expanded its product base to local products as well, and is one of the first government- authorized Intranet developers in China.

My current work includes consulting to F1000, mid-sized companies and capitalized start up CEOs and their investors, offering strategies to ensure market dominance and return on investment. This work, and my expertise in distribution dating back to 1982, combines to help companies form policies and strategies for their international ventures, particularly in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.