[School Post] - Jack Perkowski and Asimco

Asimco Tour.
This was a great presentation. We are so lucky we took this tour. We are getting the inside scoop on a lot of stuff in China. On Tuesday, we visited Asimco which manufactures engine block and brake equipment for motor vehicles. They started in China. Jack Perkowski, a former football player at Yale and A Harvard MBA (interesting mix) presented his company’s strategy in China. He mentioned that he finds it important to surround himself with senior managers who are local but not part of the “Old Chinese Manager” pool that was, according to the HBS case and Mr. Perkowski himself, susceptible to the influence of misusing their “guan xi” and acting in conflict of interest with Asimco. The “New Chinese Manager” the type of person now rounds out his senior management, has bought into making Asimco successful. I am not in the class that did this case but what Asimco is doing is pooling promising candidates to give them access to become leaders in the company.