Ranked #1 in the World
Rapid industrialization requires a steady supply of foreign commodities, and China has responded with investments in mines, factories and other projects all over the world.
“China is using its massive financial war chest and giant state-run companies to expand its commercial interests,” says Hong Kong resident Douglas Morin, a 1996 Thunderbird graduate. “Ensuring a long-term supply of raw materials is critical to fuel China’s growth.”
Following China’s state-owned companies around the globe are China’s state-owned banks, which provide the capital to finance acquisitions and support Chinese government projects abroad.
Morin says this global expansion has exposed a new type of “experience gap” in China. Although the country has a decade of experience in international mining, manufacturing and construction, it lacks expertise in global financial markets.
“China’s financial institutions have the capital, the political muscle and the will to expand outside China,” Morin says. “But they have had to hire foreign expertise to help execute their international growth strategies.”
Morin, a U.S. citizen who grew up in Washington, is one of the early recruits.
During the financial tsunami of 2008, Chinese banks looked at acquiring some of the world’s leading financial institutions at trough valuations. But in the end, the Chinese banks decided to sit on the sidelines and grow organically. It was at this time that China Construction Bank International (CCBI) hired Morin following a 13-year career at Bear Stearns.
China Construction Bank is the third-largest bank in the world by market capitalization and the second-largest in China, but Morin was leery at first about the job offer. “CCBI had very little profile outside China,” he says. “And from a cultural perspective, I knew I would be the first non-Chinese employee out of a staff of 400,000.”
Morin eventually accepted the position and has kept busy since then, hiring overseas-educated Chinese nationals and foreign talent to help grow CCBI’s business in the Middle East, London and soon New York.
“The cultural differences between a Wall Street brokerage firm like Bear Stearns and a mainland Chinese bank like CCBI are textbook,” Morin says. “But CCBI wants to build a global franchise, and they recognize they need to hire outside expertise to accomplish this.”
He says China has incredible business schools, but finding graduates with experience working outside China is difficult. “The intelligence, willingness to learn and work ethic is there,” Morin says. “But the international financial experience is sparse.”
Morin started his global education at the University of Colorado, a school he picked to get away from the political environment in Washington, D.C. After graduation he worked in the Virgin Islands for a foreign sales corporation management firm, where he first heard about Thunderbird.
“We hired a Thunderbird alumnus who seemed to know a lot about everything going on in the world and how all the pieces fit together,” Morin says. “He was very switched on.”
Morin completed an internship at the American Chamber of Commerce in Santiago, Chile, and then enrolled at Thunderbird.
In 1995, he attended the Thunderbird Japan program in Tokyo. To renew his Japan visa, he made a trip to Hong Kong that changed his life. He fell in love with the city and vowed to return before the 1997 handover to China.
“I found Hong Kong to be a bastion of capitalism,” Morin says. “It was capitalism on steroids in 1995.”
After graduating from Thunderbird, Morin took a job with Bear Stearns in Los Angeles doing institutional equity sales. He impressed the management and soon earned the opportunity to transfer to either Hong Kong or London.
“They asked me to go to Hong Kong on a Thursday,” Morin says. “I packed up and arrived for work on Monday morning in Hong Kong.”
He missed his goal of returning before the July 1, 1997, handover, but only by three months.
Morin says barriers between Hong Kong and mainland China are fading quickly, but the spirit of Hong Kong capitalism remains vibrant. “Hong Kong people can do business with anyone,” Morin says. “If Martians landed in a spaceship, Hong Kong people would learn their language and how to trade with them in a month.”
November 14th, 2011 at 10:19 am
The importance of goals cannot be overstated. Douglas knew in high school he wanted to go to Asia. Supported by parents who raised their sons to be independent; Douglas never lost his focus. His experience at Thunderbird enabled him to finally reach that goal. We are very proud of his success.
al & gayle morin