The art of staying connected in business

With his Bonn-based company operating in 220 countries, Appel travels to China on a regular basis. He is impressed with the infrastructure in China. He talked to the vice-minister of transportation in China: "You are a developed country. If I come to Beijing, I feel no difference except your infrastructure is more modern than ours in Europe."

Last year, for three weeks, the CEO brought his whole senior management to China to visit seven cities. That was because 20 percent of the company's revenues last year came from Asia. Half of those from Asia came from China, he said.

"With more than 20,000 employees in China, our businesses are growing rapidly and it is an important part of our operations," said Appel, who joined the group in 2000, holding various functions such as responsibility for corporate services, logistics, global mail and global business services.

"All of our divisions hold leading market positions, which gives us great opportunities to work with multinational and Chinese companies in the market."

On top of three global hubs - Cincinnati, Leipzig and Hong Kong - DHL added a regional hub in Shanghai last July, its 19th regional hub. The Shanghai operation at Shanghai Pudong International Airport serves as its biggest express hub in Asia and cost $175 million. Appel refered to it as a milestone for its Asia-Pacific network.

"We are very happy that the Shanghai hub has improved our service quality significantly. We can provide Chinese customers or importers to China with a much better quality of service. We think we've chosen a good place," said Appel.

The hub has dealt with imports and exports, with express documents and parcels, bringing materials from overseas to Shanghai, from Hong Kong and over the Pacific and even from Europe. It distributes them to other regions within or outside China.

"They are connecting not only China to the world but other regional parts of Asia or to other parts of the world," said Appel, adding the company won't need another hub in the short term because expansion of current facilities will be the priority if it wants to grow.

The growing number of Chinese companies engaging with global trade has boosted its business. DHL has developed a model to help Chinese companies by introducing Chinese nationals living abroad to manage Chinese accounts so they can understand what is involved in exporting to the rest of the world.

At present foreign operators are not allowed to deliver domestic documents. DHL will retain its focus on international express businesses where it is the No1 market leader. Although he sees no signs of the government changing the regulations, Appel believes that more competition is good for any market in the world.

He learned from the Chinese government that it understands the costs of logistics are an important part of the gross domestic product and it is looking at ways to reduce them.

The DHL index shows that the most connected in the country have prospered very much. He said China still has a long way to go. But the government is aware of the opportunities and sees logistics as a core part of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2016).

Before joining the company, Appel was a managing partner at McKinsey & Co in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He left for two reasons: the huge opportunity to work with a team and learn from great leaders. He considers himself a very lucky person to have worked for great leaders from whom he can still learn.

Appel has a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Munich and a PhD in neurobiology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He dropped out of scientific research despite working in some fascinating areas. But he was intrigued by what he found at McKinsey - it is successful because it has a great team.

Working not as a scientist but as a manager, he said his job involves selecting the right team.

"I work with great people and see they are succeeding and creating value for our customers," he said. "It is very rewarding for me to have a very strong team that comes from different cultures."

wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn