China Direct Partners

Tony Palanca manages our business consulting, and customer facing operations functions. He has held senior management positions with fortune 500 firms and has over 20 years experience managing and delivering large scale complex projects to corporate and government clients. He has founded companies involved in building and marketing. He has also operated his own independent management consulting firm that has helped a diverse set of clients with market entry, sales management, change management and project feasability studies. He has undertaken post graduate studies in cross cultural psychology and reviewed the challenges around east-west negotiation models. He maintains affiliate membership with consultgroup where his office is located www.consultgroup.net.au.
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Gary's engagement in China started 20 years ago when the nation really opened it's economy and embraced many new ideas. In the 1990's Gary created a company that sold products and services into China, and also spent many years consulting to firms interested in establishing supply chains out of China. Gary bought the founding partners together around a new concept for engaging effectively with China, based on the values of Connection, Partnership, and Harmony.

Jackson Lau in one of our partners in China. He has over 30 years experience in negotiating contracts and has specialist expertise in quality control and logistics. He is fully conversant with the operational aspects of sourcing and shipping goods from and into China and speaks fluent Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. Through his long engagement with China Jacky has developed extended networks and an appreciation for how to get the best from doing business in China.

Stephen Huang manages our research and logistic programs in China. He graduated from Shanghai University with a major in international business management. He worked for a large state enterprise in export and import and is a joint owner in a private import export firm. His expertise in shipping and logistics in China provides the business with the ability to integrate products from different suppliers into containers for on shipping. His knowledge of supplier networks, foreign market customs requirements, and port logistics provides the platform for our company's ability to move product into and out of the country. Stephen is located in our office in Shanghai, speaks fluent Mandarin and English.

CDP's operations are supported by a fully redundant and encrypted information systems platform supporting project management, online freight visibility, client requirements managemant & tracking, and quote management and tracking. Our client facing partners are all senior executives from diverse backgrounds and come from the volume building industry, the construction industry, and the software development and systems integration industry.

In 1883 a communcation cable was laid that connected Hong Kong to Shanghai and the world. This bridge accelerated commerce with a profound influence on trade and politics. Connection still has enormous power to accelerate commerce
and for the West effective communication is the biggest challenge.

"I don't want to be just a voice on the phone. I have to get to know these guys face to face and develop a sincere relationship. If we run into problems it doesn't get adversarial. We trust each other and have confidence we can work things out." from Wayne Huizenga on partnership - the only person in history to build three fortune 500 companies from scratch. This is the type of partnership that we build for our clients directly with Chinese manufacturers.

A famous proverb in China states that "a family that has harmony will prosper in everything". The meaning of family in China extends beyond relatives to ones guanxi or network. For the Chinese, harmony is not a noun in our sense, but a verb that drives values and behaviour in their culture. The best Chinese factory owners embody these principles in everything they do.

Our connection started in Hong Kong 1976 when two of our partners met and did business with each other. The initial connection bought three other people into the relationship and it became the foundation for business and friendship over many years. In 2004 a business opportunity bought us together and we realised that putting the capabilities of our partners and their firms into one enterprise, would provide real value to western firms who want to engage with China.

Our history allows us to work in a partnership based on trust that is satisfying and efficient. We don't think you can help other people build effective partnerships, if you don't live in them. We have translated our understanding of partnership and its' principles into a framework for working with Chinese suppliers.

Our partners have very different skills and backgrounds, and worked in very different businesses during their careers. But some things are true in every business and for every person. In our experience one core value underlies success in life and business and it is harmony. We strive for harmony in all we do and its' principles are embedded in our business model. We use harmony in the Chinese sense, as a set of actions that drive balance in a system.