CEO builds bridges between China, Italy
Print Edition
Luca Biagini still remembered the exact date his boss suggested he go to China and “have a look.”
“This was July 7, 1996,” said a gray-haired Biagini in his Shanghai home.
Biagini, who is chief executive officer of CNH Industrial, is one of the top ten winners of the Second Shanghai International Excellence Awards, an honor for expatriates who contribute to life in the city.
“Since that time, I’m still having a look, because there are so many changes in Shanghai,” said Biagini, who described the city as a place where “you can see the reaction of your action... I came from Italy, where everything is more or less beautiful, but established.”
The ambitious Biagini’s accomplishments in business include helping to open 11 plants in China for Magneti Marelli, an Italian manufacturer of components for the automotive industry. After joining CNH Industrial as CEO in 2013, Biagini established the CNHI Management Company to oversee the global industrial group’s activities in China.
Since his arrival in China in 1996, Biagini has also worked to find connections between the cultures of China and Italy.
“We Italians are quite similar to you Chinese. One of the similarities is that we love to eat, and one of the things we both like is noodles. We call it spaghetti. We eat spaghetti at the beginning of a meal, but Chinese normally eat noodles at the end. We eat them dry, you eat them with soup. And you eat with chopsticks, we eat with forks.”
The executive explained that appreciating such similarities and differences has helped him succeed in localizing his Italian business interests. He was also quick to express his gratitude to local authorities for their generous incentives and efforts to upgrade infrastructure, even in relatively remote places like Waigaoqiao.
Biagini also strives to promote relationships between his company and local universities.
CNH Industrial is the sponsor of four technological courses, one of which is an engineering course organized in partnership with Tongji University in Jiading District.
Biagini himself is also a member of the Sino-Italian Advisor Board at the university.
Biagini is optimistic about Shanghai’s endeavor to build itself into a global innovation center.
The Shanghai International Excellence Awards is organized and presented by the city’s two major English-language media organizations, Shanghai Daily and International Channel Shanghai. The winners were chosen based on the results of an online poll.
An award ceremony for the winners will be held on January 30. During this event, Biagini and his fellow award recipients will share their stories with government officials, diplomats, community leaders, journalists, as well as devoted readers and viewers of Shanghai Daily and ICS.
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