Although the Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) announced on Friday that it was appointing as the company’s Chief Executive in China someone with a Chinese surname, Mei-Wei Cheng, the fact of the matter is that Ford’s operations in China would never be as far along as they are now without having had the benefit of behind-the-scenes personal connections to Chinese business leaders.

Indeed, Ford’s operations in China are already extensive.

“In September, Ford CEO Alan Mulally inaugurated the auto maker's second assembly plant in China in the city of Nanjing, saying the company would continue to look for ways to expand in the world's second-largest auto market,” The Wall Street Journal reported in an online article on Friday.

“Ford's other assembly plant in China is in Chongqing,” The Journal added.

NewsVisual decided to create an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map in order to illustrate the business connections of Ford’s Board of Directors as a method for assessing their knowledge of business in China.

The Knowledge Map shows that the most noteworthy is Ford Director John L Thornton, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institution, who is also not only a Director for News Corp and Intel Inc, but also a Director for the China Netcom Group Corp Ltd and the Industrial Commercial Bank of China Ltd.

Given the value that Chinese businessmen place on relationships as a factor for doing business, Mr Thornton probably plays an indispensable role in helping Ford to do business in China.

The following Ford Directors are also noteworthy for their business connections:

Director Ellen R Marram serves on the boards of The New York Times Co, Cadbury Schweppes Plc, and Eli Lilly; Director Stephen G Butler serves on the boards of Cooper Industries Ltd and ConAgra Foods Inc; and Director Richard A Manoogian is also the CEO/Chairman of Masco Corp.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).