BEIJING, Jan. 23 -- The man who moved the Shanghai Concert Hall three years ago has now bigger plans on his mind: He wants to elevate the Bund's 20-odd Western style buildings, mostly built in the 1920s by foreign banks.
    
    "It's totally technically achievable and that can create more than 200,000 square meters of space to bring about business opportunities worth billions of dollars," said Raymond Shaw, general manager of Actuant China Ltd, an engineering company specializing in hydraulic pressure.

    "What a pity the area is now far from being fully commercially used" because of a need to "protect these buildings with historic value."

    Shaw's blueprint is to raise these buildings to make room for shopping or entertainment complexes in the space that will be created below. And in order not to jeopardize the original appearance of the area, a roof, for pedestrian use, will also be built atop the current riverside roads. That will give the impression the Bund buildings have the same look as before, despite them being slightly taller.

    "Though the project is unlikely to start right now because of its extremely huge scale, I hope officials could consider it five to eight years later when the city finishes many of its major urban construction projects such as the Metro lines."

    Beijing-born Shaw, now a US citizen, said he had unofficially sounded out the ambitious idea with Shanghai's urban planning authority, which came up when he led his team to successfully relocate the landmark Shanghai Concert Hall a distance of 66.4 meters in 2003.

    The engineer-turned manager says he always gives creativity the top priority in his business.

    "As a relatively small company, we have to focus more on innovation rather than follow others in the crowded markets. Many Chinese firms like to follow others in other industries once they see others making big money. That then leads to a price war and to surplus inventories and eventually an unhealthy market. So you see, we are in a niche and unique market and that enables us to keep growing," he said.

    But there is always a number of companies copying others' technologies and that's a major problem facing foreign firms like Actuant that sell solutions, Shaw noted.

    So, his first major action after being appointed as head of China operations was to fire two domestic distributors who were found to pass on Actuant's solutions to others.

    The move initially worried Actuant's board in the United States which feared a tumble in sales in the Chinese market. Shaw said he successfully lobbied headquarters by telling them that "if such problems cannot be solved, there is no future."

    Actuant generated only US$2 million in China in 2001, 16 years after it entered the country. But after Shaw took over in late 2002, revenue in the world's most populous nation has grown more than 10-fold.

    That catapulted the 47-year-old Shaw to Actuant's executive leadership group last year and now Actuant China reports its earnings directly to its US headquarters in Wisconsin rather than being calculated together with other Asian regions.

(Source: shanghai Daily)