Setting sail into uncharted waters (2)

In the first three quarters of last year, Jebsen's marine division delivered eight yachts, hitting a record high of 1.5 boats a month. To carry on the trend, Jebsen Marine has decided to open a new office at Nansha Marina, its third in China after Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Jebsen, a 100-year-old marketing and distribution company, is based in Hong Kong. It made a total revenue of more than HK$15 billion ($2 billion yuan) in 2012, from which the marine division is sure to have sought double-digit growth from the mainland, ever the focus of the group, said Petersen.

Currently, Jebsen has more than 2,000 staff in the region, including 900 in Hong Kong and 1,400 on the mainland. Because Petersen likes to work with the locals, all staff in his division are Chinese apart from himself and one Belgian in Hong Kong who specializes in the sailing boat business.

Being totally positive of what he has achieved over the past two years, Petersen is now confident to plan a little further ahead.

"We have offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai and will have one soon in Nansha to cover the south of China. Hainan is, of course, in the plan. Meanwhile, we are looking at some dealers to cover the north so we can have a network of dealers. Last year, we set the goal of eight new dealers for the next three years. But this could change anytime," he said.

The luxury brands industry in China has been affected by the central government's resolution to crack down on corruption and extravagance. Statistics provided by consulting firm Bain & Co show the growth rate of buying luxury products decreased to 7 percent in 2012, a huge contrast with the 30 percent increase over the past two years.

But Petersen does not show much concern because the company faced the same issues when trying to introduce Porsche into China. He understands that there will be ups and downs. Therefore, the company has chosen to look at the whole industry in longer term, by which time the impact of the government's policy will be less evident.

"For the bigger boats, we are dealing with a very small clientele target group. Someone may be able to afford a boat costing 40 million yuan ($6.5 million). They might be less affected by the policy than somebody buying a luxury watch, if you know what I mean," he laughed.

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