To adapt to globalization, a company needs to meet international professional standards, catch up with international counterparts, join relevant international organizations and actively participate in their activities in a persistent way. Only by doing so, can it be possible to gain the right to speak in the international arena.
Liu Ping, founder of China Star, joined SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Excellence) in 2005. She is one of the earliest SITE members from China and has introduced more than ten peers into the society, including 5 China Star employees. Liu Ping was elected as the SITE international board director for two consecutive terms (2008-2014), and is the first international board member from Mainland China in SITE's history. One year later in 2006, Liu Ping joined MPI (Meeting Professionals International), and is one of the few MPI members from mainland China.
In 2008, China Star joined International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and became its corporate member. In order to strengthen global cooperation and increase the company's international competitiveness, China Star and six other PCOs (Professional Conference Organizer) in Asia jointly founded the “World PCO Alliance” (World PCO Alliance, hereinafter referred to as WPCOA) in 2009. The membership of WPCOA has exclusivity, which allows only one member per country or region. It currently has 22 member countries and regions. The alliance aims to support each other, share resources, and jointly deal with the challenges of competition.
Joining industry associations should not be a mere formality. Instead, members should actively participate in the association's annual meeting and various activities, network with industry friends, keep track of the industry's global development trends, learn new technologies, new theories, new skills and make unremitting efforts, which is the only way to achieve a bumper harvest. Since its establishment, China Star has persisted unswervingly in internationalization and professionalization, and investing in the international MICE market. China Star is actively exposed in the international MICE industry, gaining more and more recognition and increasingly spreading its high reputation.
During the period of 2005 to 2010, China’s insentive travel and meetings industry started to use terminology like MICE (meeting, incentive travel, conference and event), DMC (Destination Management Company) and PCO (Professional Conference Organizer). These terms are from the western world and are now widely applied in China’s insentive travel and meetings industry.
In China, there is no market segmentation for MICE industry. DMCs usually register in the name of travel agency while PCOs in the name of travel agency, conference company, or even public relationship company. China Star separately registered two companies, a DMC in the name of travel agency and a PCO in the name of conference company in order to meet the financial requirements of all sorts of enterprises and government departments.
