Perfect vision

It didn't take US-based Christie Digital Systems long to establish a significant presence in China.

Although it entered the Chinese market in 2001, Christie Digital, one of the world's largest providers of visual solutions, already has its products in many of China's modern landmarks and venues: whether it is the Great Hall of the People, Olympic Park, and even Zhongnanhai, the central headquarters of the Chinese government.

The privately held company mainly manufactures products such as projectors, digital theaters, industrial simulation facilities and control rooms,

More than 140 of Christie's digital projectors also helped audiences worldwide watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.

The company is the provider of the world's top visual solutions. Its connection with China could be traced back in the 1980s when the company tapped the market through agents.

In 2001, the company set up its first office in Shanghai and established another office in Beijing two years later.

Frank Xiao, deputy general manger of Christie Digital Systems USA Inc in China, says his company decided to enter China for two reasons: It wanted to bring in more of its different products and planned to increase its investments in building up the company's brand in the country, which can't be done through agents.

"China is a large country that few companies can neglect. At that time we thought everything was ready so we decided to make a direct entry," says Xiao.

In fact, the timing of Christie Digital's entrance to China seemed perfect. In 2001, China won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Starting from that year, the country's movie industry was also on the rise as a group of Chinese directors such as Feng Xiaogang and Zhang Yimo, funded by private companies after industry deregulation, started releasing a series of movies that turned out to be huge successes.

According to industry figures, the ticket revenue of Chinese cinemas increased from 960 million yuan in 2001 to 3.3 billion yuan last year. The increase has lead to a rapid expansion of Chinese cinemas, which significantly boosted the business of Christie Digital as one of the world's largest providers of film projectors and digital cinema systems.

"In China, our strategy is to always stick to the top-tier customers," says Xiao. "Once we win the offer from them, other customers will follow."

It may be this stick-to-the-top model that helped Christie Digital become successful. Since its entrance to China in 2001, the company has kept an average growth rate of over 15 percent, a relatively significant figure considering the high price of Christie's products.

But Xiao says his company's revenue in China reached $15 million last year and accounted for only a paltry of 3 percent of the company's $450 million revenue globally. He says the company plans to expand its business coverage to other Chinese cities outside Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

"Our current challenge is that the number of high-end customers in China is still relatively small," says Xiao. "But the Beijing Olympic Games is a milestone for our future development as it not only created the largest order in our company's history but also would help promote similar applications in China."

He said the company received many inquiries and even some orders during the Olympic Games and the company's revenue growth this year is expected to reach 50 percent because of the Games.

"I think the demands will further take off in as Guangzhou Asia Games and Shanghai World Expo both get closer.

(China Daily 10/20/2008 page7)