After earning his MBA degree at the University of Cambridge in 2004, Hou Guoqiang chose to return to China from Britain.
Today, 41-year-old Hou is the general manager of China National Offshore Oil Mansion Management Co. (CNOOMMC), a branch of the China Offshore Industrial Enterprise Corp. Studying abroad expanded his international sights and strengthened his professional spirit.
Under his leadership, CNOOMMC, originally a small property management company, in two years became well-known within industry circles.
Hou said, ‘I studied many successful cases of the world’s first-class management companies, trying to make every detail accord with international levels.’
Originally, CNOOMMC only served the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), one of world’s top 500 enterprises listed by Fortune. Today, the company has become a model in its industry, expanding operations to other companies.
As the general manager of CNOOMMC, Hou has brought his rich knowledge of Western business management to bear on company problems.
He said, ‘I am trying to combine the Western professional spirit with Chinese culture.’
Beijing Review tells how shortly after entering the university, Hou heard a story about a person who, many years ago, built a small bookstall at Cambridge and worked hard to provide cheap but popular books to students, never taking his business lightly. With such a working attitude, the person became a famous bookseller years later.
The second story came while he was attending a get-together. When introducing their husbands’ jobs, one woman said with pride that her husband was a cleaner. In China, Hou thought, people believe cleaning is one of the more lowly jobs.
Hou said, ‘The two stories strongly affected me and made me understand that there is neither nobler nor lower divisions between different jobs if only we take the right attitude.’
In 2008, CNOOMMC was named the best property management company in Beijing by a nation-wide property management match.