Israeli manager sows the seeds of success

"A lot is going on here," he added. "There is much empowerment, thinking and creativity. With my background, it is a remarkable setting to operate in."

The composed CEO was reluctant to give advice but agreed to offer brief insights for the benefit of other companies who want to forge alliances between different cultures.

From the Chinese side, it seems the Chinese culture aims to save the other side from facing embarrassment, hence tends to avoid manifesting disagreement, he said.

Later on the dialogue sometimes comes to a halt because there is no easy way of getting both sides to reach a new common ground without someone being placed in a less comfortable position.

"It may be better for the Chinese side to aim to communicate bad news or disagreement early," he said.

For the non-Chinese side, his personal view is that one needs to play one's best act in China. The country, to some extent like the US, cannot be regarded as "one additional market" for multinationals.

One either wants to get immersed in this market or prefer to stay out altogether, said the president.

"Don't keep your best people elsewhere. If you want to play well in China, you have to play your best talent in terms of research and management - and create leadership - that can, over time, emanate from China and be brought out to the world," he said.

Lichtenstein's passion for the Chinese market comes as a result of his observation of the rapidly growing agriculture and life science sectors in the country.

The key role of agriculture in China is underlined by the sheer number of people it affects. That drives the significance attached to farmers and farms by central and local government, he said.

The underdeveloped crop-chemicals distribution channels also attract his interest. In the more developed markets, the top players already control 70 to 80 percent of farmer spending, via semi-captive relationships with a small number of distributors.

Yet in China, even the leading players have a relatively small market share and distribution channels are fragmented, he said.

The strong strategic support of a leading Chinese SOE provides Lichtenstein and his team direction, access and alliances, as well as knowledge about how to build business value in China, as a first step in the vision to develop a leading global enterprise.

The goal of being a leading player in the domestic market is not meant to be achieved only by size but also by gradually driving innovation, he said. They also have high expectations, globally.

"We aim to grow our position internationally through MAI's network, using approaches we develop in China," he said. "The goal is to combine all the efforts and create something in China that can be projected elsewhere."

To achieve the goal, Lichtenstein said the first task is to start with individual customers - the farmers and distributors themselves.

"Unlike other global peers, who perceive the beneficiaries of their actions as crops and plants and their actions as fighting plant disease, an object to be taken care of, we focus on our customers as human beings in their vicinity, someone to learn from and work with. We develop approaches that fit such a relationship," he said.

"We aim to build something that is more consistent with the actual needs of customers in China. This is the direction. The test is in our execution of that plan."