About 20 years ago, China International Marine Containers (CIMC) was a small, little-known container manufacturer with just 59 employees. Since then, under the leadership of Mai Boliang, the company has become the industry’s global leader. It has succeeded thanks to an aggressive domestic and global M&Aprogram, a successful human-resources approach that stresses the retention of local talent to run its overseas operations, and a relentless push to innovate and to disrupt the status quo.
CIMC is the world’s largest manufacturer of dry-cargo and refrigerated containers. The most important sea- and land-based logistics systems in Asia, Europe, and North America use its products, which range from regular containers to shipping equipment for energy, chemicals, and food. In 2007, the company had sales of more than 6.4 billion (45 billion renminbi), owned over 100 domestic and international subsidiaries, and employed nearly 60,000 people.
Mai Boliang, CIMC’s president, recently talked with McKinsey principals Martin Joerss and Henry Zhang in Boliang’s office, in Shenzhen, China.