Alumni Story | Wayne LI: to Realize Ambitions through Steady Progress

Since graduating from Harbin Institute of Technology, Wayne has been working in the chemical materials industry for years. During the past 20 years’ work life, he insisted on realizing ambitions through steady progress. From Regional Sales Manager to Chief Representative Officer of China, he was able to achieve the career advancement thanks to his personal efforts and the changes of mindset. With his rich experience in sales channel development and client relations, Wayne successfully opened up the China market for ORCA Pennel & Flipo. Now, as the person in charge of this emerging market with the most updates and the greatest demands, he will take a step forward seeking to give full play to his subjective initiative, giving constructive suggestions to the headquarter in terms of R&D and strategies for further business development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Seek progress in steadiness: from ExxonMobil to ORCA Pennel & Flipo

ExxonMobil was the starting point for Wayne's career. In such a large American company, he always received clear instructions and carried out efficient implementation. 6 years of work had made him an excellent sales manager in every aspect of sales operations, supplier management and customer relations. But one cannot stay in the comfort zone for too long. Wayne began to look for a career change. In 2008, when ORCA Pennel & Flipo, a company also specialized in chemical materials, was ready to further develop the China market, Wayne took the initiative to seize this opportunity. With his extensive experience in the industry and his accumulated customer network, he became Representative Officer of the company in China.

"It was certainly a huge challenge to jump from a large company with a stable pool of customers and suppliers to a small European company with almost no visibility in China. But such a platform could allow me to bring my talent into play.” Though he had to start from scratch, Wayne was confident. Not only because he is familiar with the local market and has a wealth of resources at his disposal, but also because this R&D-oriented company was bullish about the prospects of the China market, willing to listen to local Chinese managers for a better localization.

However, from a sales role to a management role that requires attention to cost, human resources, supply chain, corporate strategy and many other aspects, Wayne was aware of his lack of overall management knowledge and skills. Hence with the support of the senior management of the company, he decided to attend an MBA in order to complete this career transition.

MBA study: embrace challenges and think outside of the box

In choosing MBA programmes, Wayne made some researches and took advice from the management of the company. There are 2 reasons why he applied for SJTU-KEDGE Global MBA. First, he worked in a company where exchanges with European colleagues were quite frequent. An international MBA programme with a French origin could offer him a better understanding of Europeans’ way of thinking and business conventions. And then, KEDGE Business School received a wide recognition from the management of the company.

Wayne enjoyed his 2 years of MBA study. The programme not only provided him with systematic business management knowledge and skills, but also helped him develop a holistic approach to operation and an enhanced time arrangement ability.

“MBA made me realize that it is good and normal to have conflicting opinions with so many business elites around. This is exactly where innovations come from. MBA means being open to challenges. Though sometimes people may hold counterviews, you can always have your voice out.”

Speaking of impressive courses, Wayne mentioned the “Change Management” delivered by Professor Ian Thomas. The professor encouraged active participation and hands-on work. Once he asked the class to make the longest bridge out of newspaper and tape. And it turned out that almost all the groups only focused on the newspaper, forgetting about the tape, which was a better material in terms of length. “So many successful managers have walked straight into the frame setting. The moment the answer was revealed, I suddenly realized that we really needed to think outside of the box.” Wayne emphasized.

Along with the MBA graduation, Wayne completed his career transition. The communication with senior management became more efficient and the company’s sales performance in China achieved a significant increase.

Realize ambitions in progress: take initiatives to play abilities to the full

In 2018, thanks to the efforts of Wayne and his team, the China market ranked first in the company’s global sales. In 2019, although COVID-19 put the company's business in trouble for a while, relying on strong anti-epidemic measures taken by the Chinese government, the company's business in China started to recover in April 2020. For his own part, Wayne also actively communicated with the headquarters to adjust the supply chain management: importing 2 months in advance, storing in the bonded zone and implementing a rolling production schedule.

Having worked in ORCA Pennel & Flipo for more than 12 years, he still sees potentials for mutual achievements between him and the company. In his opinion, people will continue to see, in the emerging China market, rising demands for the company’s products of leading technologies in the area of transportation (such as high-speed railway, metro), special rescue, space flight and aviation, etc. Therefore, as Chief Representative Officer of China, he could make more contributions to the company with his voice being valued and respected. 

In return, in this medium-sized company, he will feel more encouraged to play his abilities to the full. In the future, he hopes to gradually enlarge the team and build a branch here in China, focusing on introducing high-tech materials into China market and building bridges between local private businesses and oversea companies.

10-Year Anniversary: Best memories of MBA 2011 Intake

During the MBA, Wayne served as the monitor of Class A in 2011. In order to give the classmates a sense of collective participation, Wayne and the class committee organized a variety of offline activities, both for study and life. For example, there were study groups after each class, small parties on participants' birthdays, themed activities such as bands, tea tasting and musicals, and even an exclusive website for the whole class to share their study and life experience and send best wishes to each other on festive occasions.

Wayne still keeps well the photos and videos of that time in his computer. The memories covering all the details from their study and life are precious to him. In 2021, which is also the year of the 10-year anniversary of 2011 Intake, he plans to organize a celebration (maybe on the occasion of KEDGE Annual Gala taking place at the end of 2021) and invite all the alumni of the intake to gather together for a reunion where they may recall all the best memories.

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