acb2b.com President and CEO Ben Lee of Palo Alto, California was featured in a Boston area newspaper article entitle "Website aims to make small business Global", after visiting company personal in December.

Sentinel and Enterprise
Web site aims to make small business global
By Jonathan Graham
Article Launched: 12/18/2006 10:56:31 AM EST

Small- and medium-sized U.S. manufacturers need to start competing for customers abroad if they are to survive, according to James T. Noonan, an international business professor at Fitchburg State College. And Noonan said he thinks his new venture, AmeriChinaB2B, will give local businesses the help they need to reach the biggest potential market in the world: China and its 1 billion citizens.

"Going to China is a new concept, and (businesses are) going to have to do it," Noonan said at his Fitchburg home Sunday before a meeting with his business partners. "In fact, I'm giving a lecture about it to my students about that." The Web site, www.acb2b.com, will go online in January and will offer U.S. businesses something akin to eBay for larger companies, said Noonan's partner and president of the company, Ben Lee, a native of China who has degrees from Virginia Tech and Stanford University.

Lee, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif., came to Fitchburg Sunday to meet with Noonan and third partner Hon Murphy of Hudson to discuss the business. AmeriChinaB2B will allow small- and medium-sized manufacturers to "generate leads" in China without having to make a large investment, Noonan said. Noonan said he spoke earlier this week about his business venture to Nancy Jackson, North Central Massachusetts' Chamber of Commerce's economic development director. Noonan said Jackson wants to increase local companies' reach into new markets, especially newer ones in the biotechnology and medical industries.
"When she saw what we had, she was very excited about it," said Noonan, adding that Jackson did not make any commitments.

Noonan, Lee, and Murphy are launching the portal after six months of development. The three also have partners in San Diego and China, Noonan said. Lee said bigger companies have already gone into China and are using their profits from there to compete better in the United States."Small and medium sized companies can't afford to do that, they can't just set up a new office in China," Lee said.

Noonan said that while Chinese-made products are certainly cheaper than American ones, there is a growth of "industrial conspicuous consumption," Chinese businesses which want to own U.S.-made products and equipment. Lee agreed, saying that the new business will have a much easier time finding Chinese buyers than attracting U.S. businesses to use the service. "To be the distributor of a U.S. product in China is a very lucrative business," Lee said. "They really want our stuff, but we really need to tell people that they really want this stuff."

The Web site's focus is to help businesses export commercial and industrial products to Chinese distributors, importers and manufacturers, Lee said. "We're normally talking about (U.S.) businesses with 10 employees and revenues of about $1 million," said Lee. AmeriChinaB2B allows U.S. businesses to essentially place postings on the Web site in their specific industries, listing products they have available for export. The company translates postings between its U.S. and Chinese Web sites, allowing distributors and sales agents in China to see what is available for sale in the United States. The web company will also offer a "wide-range of services" to its clientele, including help with due diligence, travel planning and legal services, Noonan said.