Today we bring you the story of Mister Tiziano Masseroli, Managing Director at Automha Industries Co.LTD. (欧导（太仓）工业物流设备有限公司).

Mister Masseroli has a long and faceted business experience with China, which provided him with a solid technical foundation and resource management skills. Through company and personal courses, he develops both technical and managerial competencies. Over the years, he becomes a Managing Director and participates on the boards of several companies. He has international experience and a positive view of different business cultures. In 2017, he receives permanent residency in China.

Enjoy his story in this new “Circle of Friends” interview!

PERSONAL STORY WITH CHINA 

How did your experience with China begin? Was it a casual meeting, related to her work, for pleasure?

At the time I worked for an Italian company that had several branches around the world and of which a Joint Venture was in China, specifically in Xuzhou, a city in China in the province of Jiangsu, a city of around six million inhabitants and where several of our clients were present and for reasons For improvements, I had been asked to be available to supervise the site in China for a year with a one-year mandate for support activities for the industrialization of all departments as well as investments and reorganization of production in collaboration with Chinese colleagues.

Very positive experience because it was the basis for acquiring cultural and business issues which gave me the opportunity to begin to better understand this economic power in its entirety of business, relationships and way of life.

And this recharged me with stimuli that were fading a bit, particularly in that historical period of recession in the European and American markets which all companies and in various sectors were experiencing and no less the same company I worked for, added to the feeling of wanting to escape from that plaintive normality typical of Italians.

How has your relationship with China evolved over time?

After this first past experience, upon returning after completing the year of my mandate, I returned to Italy with the clear idea that the china could give me the right stimuli to start again and be able to contribute again with my experience and skills by diving back into new work experiences while Not being so young anymore but I felt the desire for change.

I carried out a mini research to evaluate the opportunities and in a short time I received requests that led me to contact a company that had two branches in China exactly in the city of Tianjin where the permanent presence in China was requested.

This new experience was initially like a breath of fresh air due to the many innovations it required, but it did not last long because there were dynamics in the new company that after a few months led to having to face major unplanned changes that suddenly emerged.

This experience added to the first one shaped me because I was forced to overcome every obstacle if I intended to continue pursuing the path I had already started, putting myself to the severe test of having to overcome the complexity of the slope where the regulations and procedures make you understand that you cannot never remain calm but you must always be ready to review with different strategies and with great flexibility and ability to resolve any obstacle or problem that emerges.

What has your personal experience in this splendid country taught you?

China is a huge market with a thousand-year-old culture where it varies in each province or city while maintaining a very similar business system base but you have to be very dynamic in this market, chameleonic and patient but at the same time always have the readiness and ability to always knowing what decision to make on every occasion without ever procrastinating.

China needs to be experienced and understood in its cultural complexity before being able to think of doing good business and this remains the basis for being able to enter a complex market like this, anyone who does not reside for a long time will never be able to say that they have full knowledge, in this I was also helped a lot by my Chinese partner where she followed me in all my work experiences, in everyday life I was able to understand even the small details of the culture, ways of experiencing cultural nuances that as a foreigner I would never have been able to understand without having my partner at my side. The love of a local person where two cultures as important as Italy and China come face to face and thus be able to find the meeting point in life and in doing business.

BUSINESS

How has China changed compared to its early years from a business perspective in its specific sector? What are the differences that most affected you positively and negatively?

When I arrived in China for foreign companies and foreign people it was still a good time when the economy was booming in a market where there was hunger for knowledge of new novel products therefore it was very welcoming and attractive with enormous opportunities .

The rapid evolution that this nation has been able to make in a short time by putting all the strength that only China can do has been able to seize all the opportunities that the international and internal markets required and the rapid development have taken away a part of the opportunities today.

Today the foreign companies present have enormous difficulties in doing business in China and this has created an initial selection of both people and companies, in addition to the large selection that occurred with the pandemic caused by the lockdowns and the difficulty of moving.

This selection put to the test the true mental strength of people and the duty to outline new strategies, where they had to review their strategic plans by setting themselves new objectives trying to better understand how it could still be important in this enormous market to contribute to their companies.

Also because China in some sectors currently holds the best technologies also in the AI ​​sector which will be the future in the world, digital technologies where the way of life of a huge population has changed in times with a positive impact.

Tell us about your experience at Automha. What was his role and what are the main results you have achieved over the years?

I joined Automha as General Manager at the end of 2018, managing the two branches that Automha had established in 2013 and 2014 and then moving on to the role of Managing Director as legal representative and president of the boards of both branches in 2020.

The objectives were to grow the branches and put them in the conditions of stability and economic sustainability and the protection of the brands from the unfair competition of which I had noticed that nothing had been done, something that I immediately focused on and from 2019 entering the branches are became sustainable by achieving the objectives which were not easy because the companies were both at a loss and this entailed a job of becoming aware of the strength in the market by reviewing the strategies with the right balance of costs and revenues, not posing the sole problem of having to demonstrate and increase every year the turnover remains important but not fundamental.

In particular in the three years of the pandemic where the difficulties were travel and fears of the virus, this meant that investments were all blocked or suspended and some were definitively cancelled, but with great tenacity and determination fortunately we navigated the worst economic moment experienced very well while always maintaining high objectives and always achieving good results every year with good economic growth has allowed us to reduce all debts and put ourselves in the best conditions of sustainability, not having to require support from the parent company but making a great contribution to the growth of the Automha group.

Protection of brands and know-how, another activity that required additional effort and time, Italian companies in particular are small or medium-sized businesses whose markets they enter without the knowledge base but often carried away by the euphoria of doing good business but without putting myself in a position to best protect their brands and this meant that I had to carry out various cases in courts in various cities and by my decision having a fair knowledge of the procedures carried out independently internally without the aid of law firms with the excellent result of having won every case brought forward, including debt collection.

How important is it to know the local culture and language in your business?

There is no market where it is not important to know the culture and China is no less, I believe I cannot be denied by anyone that it remains the basis for doing good business, the business methods in China there is no fixed rule to follow but there are ways that only by having knowledge of the culture help you achieve results, the Chinese language remains an advantage for those who are lucky enough to have it, although I can say that in my experiences sometimes it was better for the other party to know that you didn’t understand it was better for the dynamics of business relationships where the goal could only be achieved between locals, so it is necessary to manage every situation well.

Regarding your current company, what are the projects you are focusing on and future goals?

The president of Automha, a person of whom he was and remains a great visionary, had rightly identified that in the Chinese market there could be great opportunities to be seized in this regard in a year of great global instability and with an internal Chinese economy which is not struggling to recover at the moment it remains that the presence of Automha in China continues trying to maintain the right attention to the evolution of the market and increasingly pushing the Asian market, convinced that logistically being in China is still favorable, despite the slowdown but new opportunities are arising and it will certainly be a nation that will still be able to deliver good results.

We will continue with the consolidation of local partnerships to give more by countering the strong competition that grows every day by setting achievable objectives and with a careful vision of the dynamics of market change in order to take advantage of and seize every opportunity.

How has the pandemic affected your business and what strategies have you implemented to respond to the crisis?

The pandemic has overturned traditional systems and methods of work in the world but in China much more caused by the difficulties of internal policies and this has made it difficult to keep the staff active and be able to obtain positive results, managing the staff in the best possible way , suppliers and customers. The best way of doing business in China was the frequency of visits to customers where relationships remain important, this means having to change to the remote entertainment system with constant contact via local platforms WeChat which remains the best app for communicating and doing business in quick way.

What are the main challenges you have encountered in your experience as a successful manager in China? What are the positive surprises?

The biggest challenges were managing companies in China in different sectors where they were unknown to me and therefore led me to have to put in considerable efforts to be able to gain knowledge in a short time and give the right directions and strategies to obtain good results. , I give an example as a manager of a manufacturing company, I had to face and learn about the real estate market where the company was in charge of various properties that needed to be sold, therefore understanding the direct sales methods and all the procedures, discovering a world that I had never approached by accumulating ever more knowledge of regulations, procedures and people’s social lives.

I was surprised and proud that in every experience I left positive signs at a corporate and personal level where they were recognized by the presidents where I remained in contact and on excellent terms with almost everyone, evidence that they were clear that they were on their way to obtaining results require knowledge, ability and tenacity.

How important is the role of technology in your business? From this point of view, is it an advantage for your company to be able to operate in China?

Technology in every sector remains important and no less in the automation market where every machine without software or PLC would be just empty mechanics, making different types of machinery where they move materials communicate with each other is like an orchestra playing different instruments and in the end the music comes out which makes you happy to hear and see as well as the advantages that automatic warehouses bring which have now become fundamental for companies in every sector and even in China I can’t say that it is an advantage but it is fundamental.

GOING EAST

Why does it still make sense to focus on the Chinese market for an Italian company and what are the opportunities in particular in the part of the country where you operate?

I cannot think that those who have invested do not provide continuity and be present in this market but also those who are not present do not collaborate with the second world economy, the enormity of a market must make one think that among all the difficulties that this market offers they cannot If there are no opportunities, we need to probe and make an effort to give this market what it requires, not what we want to give. If this is understood then there is no lack of opportunities and benefits can be reaped.

Are you already present in Chongqing or in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle?

We are not present directly in Chongqing or in the area mentioned except indirectly through dealers or integrators who have the ability to manage relationships throughout China, we still have a lot of work to do which can give us more and more visibility.

How can the Galilei and the Sant’Anna in Chongqing be useful to your company in China and Italy?

Allow me to make a premise, I want to thank Galileo and Sant’Anna of Chongqing for this personal opportunity which honored me with this interview.

Being a very corporate person, every way that can give visibility to the company where it can bring benefit I make all the efforts available and I dedicate every minute and surely this opportunity will be a way to make Automha known through Galilei which can certainly reach where most likely we have not succeeded before as I hope that this interview can also benefit Galilei and my interview can be an inspiration for other companies or managers who are present or who intend to approach this enormous market called china.

Interview by Marco Bonaglia