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Power: Four of China's five major carriers have ordered GE engines for their boeing fleets. | photograph by Roy Zipstein

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China's Airport Boom

Zhang, a 10-year GE veteran, was born in China and attended the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where many of China's top aviation officials were trained. She was on hand in Shanghai when the regional jet came off the assembly line. She had a good deal to do with it -- the president of the jet maker, China Aviation Industry Corporation I, known as AVIC I, refers to her as the plane's "ambassador" -- and she is directly involved with marketing and selling the aircraft to regional carriers in China. Her mom watched the rollout from her home in Jingde county in Anhui province. Zhang became a U.S. citizen in 1998 (she still speaks with a slight accent), but she has no trouble rejoicing over China's airline advancement. "This photo is really a symbol of everything coming together," she says, holding up a picture of herself on the rain-soaked tarmac in Shanghai with a vice president of AVIC I. "China wants to be high tech," she says, alluding to the country's plans to produce a large-scale commercial jet to compete against Boeing and Airbus. Zhang, of course, hopes to have GE engines powering the planes: "We have very strong relationships with the key people."

"In the aviation business, you don't just sell an engine and say, 'Thank you very much,' and you're gone," Donnelly explains. "Selling an engine as part of an airplane deal is the beginning of 20 to 25 years of servicing that engine. It's not a transaction but an ongoing relationship." That's one reason aviation is such a powerful potential wedge into a white space like China.

"You don't just sell an engine and say, 'Thank you very much,' and you're gone," says GE Aviation CEO Scott Donnelly. "It's not a transaction but an ongoing relationship."

These aviation relationships also allow GE to extend its reach into other areas. "I get a lot of doors opened up because of GE and what we bring," says Mike Wilking, president of aviation for China and Zhang's sales partner on the ground. Wilking -- ironically, a Cincinnati native based in Shanghai -- has been deputized by GE China chief Bertamini to act as a brand representative across GE's business units, from aviation to water to power -- to make real that elusive theoretical model known as synergy.

For example, Wilking is now responsible for contacts in the western province of Sichuan, with 87 million people (nearly three times the population of Canada). The capital is Chengdu. "I'm developing strong relationships with the mayor of Chengdu and with the party secretary of the province," says Wilking. Aviation is his key lever. In a joint venture with flagship carrier Air China, GE is building an aviation maintenance and repair center in Sichuan. Wilking sees it as the straw that stirs an even bigger drink. "I'm not just talking about aviation. I'm there representing GE," he explains. The maintenance center "will lead to a tremendous amount of sales opportunity," he says. "I'm not going to sell them wind. I'm not going to sell them water -- that's not my expertise. But I'm going to bring the GE teams that are expert in those areas, and I'm going to make sure we do it in a coordinated fashion. It's like, 'You don't have that experience today, Mr. Party Secretary, nor do you have the infrastructure to pull it off. I do. I can bring it. I can deliver it.' "

"I'm not going to sell them water -- that's not my expertise," says GE Aviation's man in china, mike wilking. "But I'm going to bring in the GE teams that are expert."

This strategy is not confined to the aviation division. It flows throughout GE like corporate feng shui. Bertamini points out that GE has sold more than 700 turbines -- wind, gas, steam, and hydro -- plus 378 locomotives to China and has played a significant role in completing the country's west-east oil and gas pipelines. "That's helped us not only build credibility" -- and $5.5 billion in revenue last year -- "but also develop some very good relationships with the government, which as you might imagine is actively involved in many of these projects."

The relationship building in aviation actually cycles between China and Ohio. At the Technical Education Center in suburban Cincinnati, Michael Brown trains jet-engine mechanics for Chinese customers -- more and more of them every year. Paul Lutmer, who manages the Learning Centre at GE Aviation headquarters, teaches Chinese airline executives GE's business principles. A few years back, Lutmer says, the Chinese would arrive dressed in black from head to toe. Today, he says, they wear Western clothes and seem more open to learning about Western culture.