Last day in Shanghai

Our last full day in Shanghai concluded with a manufacturing facility visit, where we heard from two groups of speakers. First up was David Williams, Managing Partner at Asentio Design. David took us through several case studies and showed how innovation and design is being done in China. Where most of these firms have traditionally been located in the US and Europe, now the shift is causing many of these design firms to be housed closer to the manufacturers in China. A few key take aways included learning more about how China is no longer just a manufacturing nation; now much more innovation and design is moving to this region.

After a short coffee break, we heard from Russ Schroader and Cao Wei who are the founders of Far East Sourcing, a manufacturing company where we conducted our discussion. After their talk, we toured the facilities and watched Dell computers being manufactured. This was a great complement to our trip because we were able to see first hand how production is conducted in China.

Overall, I have taken a lot out of this China trip to Beijing and Shanghai. It has opened my eyes to how much China is changing, and how there is still so much opportunity in this nation. Not everything is perfect, there is still a lot of progress to be made, but overall, China is accelerating, and I feel that we have a better understanding of what that acceleration looks like.

This concludes this blog. It has been a pleasure keeping you up-to-date with our journey, and if you have any questions about this trip, please feel free to contact me at dharmon1@nd.edu.

At 8 o'clock in the morning we boarded the buses and made our way back over to the Pudong district of Shanghai for our meeting at the Shanghai International Convention Center. The day's list of speakers included Bryan Stiles from HSB, Mark Lavalle (ND alum) from KPMG, Michael Askew from the Chinese bank UCB and Thorsten Giehler from the German Development Cooperation. The four speakers covered a range of topics from banking in China to micro financing as a means for poverty alleviation and providing loans. The major themes of the discussions included the unique structure of China's national banks, which dominate the banking market, the growing presence of international banks, even though they only have roughly 2% market share in the country and the unique challenges of implementing micro financing solutions for much of China's population. Having just finished a banking course at ND, I was interested in seeing much of the same criteria for issuing loans being used in China. However, I was a little surprise by many of the speaker's uncertainty of the Chinese banking markets, stating that when implementing new branches there are a lot of unknowns when penetrating into new markets. It was interesting to learn that the Chinese government has a lot of say with the international banks that are in China, where the government limits the number of new cities the international banks are able to expand to each year. Many times, the government allows the international banks to pick one city and then the government chooses the other city that the bank is allowed to expand into.

After a morning session of financial speakers, we had the entire afternoon and evening to ourselves. Some students stayed on the Pudong side of Shanghai to explore more of the city, including taking up the elevator into the Pearl Tower.

About ten of us decided we wanted to see Suzhou, China, which is known as the Venice of China. So we hired a driver for the day and made our hour and a half journey to this region of the country, joined by one of our guides from Shanghai. On our way we could see how China is growing, with new construction being built along the highway for many miles.

Once in Suzhou, we went to the Suzhou Gardens which are famous in China. Many of the typical Chinese buildings could be found in this garden, along with ponds and lotus plants. It was peaceful to walk around the grounds and take pictures.

After our journey through the gardens, we walked toward the canals and hired two boats to take us through the canal system of Suzhou. What started off to be a peaceful journey down the canal changed when two Chinese school children thought it would be funny to throw rocks and splash our boat. I took a picture of these kids and posted it on the blog's picture section. If you visit Suzhou, be sure to stay away from these two because they are trouble!

We then walked through the streets of Suzhou and admired the developed parts of the city. During many of our presentations, we have heard about Tier 2 cities, which are those that are smaller than the Beijing/ Shanghai cities of China. Suzhou falls under this Tier 2 category, therefore is listed as one of the smaller cities, but the amazing thing is the city is still home to over 6 million people!

The day ended with our ride back to the hotel, where we split up for various dinners and excursions around Shanghai.

Today's topic was sustainability and our group traveled by bus to the other side of Shanghai for our meeing at the Aurora Plaza in the Pudong area (the financial district of the city).

First to speak was Rich Brubaker who is the Founder and Managing Partner of China Strategic Development Partners, based in Shanghai. Rich gave an overview on a range of topics, speaking to the environmental impacts of China's rapid expansion to how the country is experiencing a shift in mindset toward how the environment should be better protected. Rich used examples, such as a lake in the region that has experienced algae blooms due to the chemicals running into the water supply, to highlight how pollution is directly impacting the livelihood of those in China. These events, Rich mentioned, have caused the Chinese population to demand better standards. Even though some improvements have been made, Rich mentioned there is still a long way to go.

This theme was continued by Jim McIlvenny, President, Asia Pacific & Greater China for The Dow Chemical Company. Jim echoed many of the same topics Rich discussed, but was able to show how business is not as usual for new developments in manufacturing and chemical processing plants. Jim said that the Chinese government is now demanding much more stringent regulations on where plants can be built and is enforcing some regulations now. However, again Jim mentioned that this is still much more room for improvement. One of the benefits of Jim's talk was he provided insight on what Dow is doing to ensure that is contributing to sustainable practices in China. Their new factory being designed is targeted to have zero discharge in its operations. Though they still have some more work to do to achieve this goal, Jim used this as an example to show that much progress is being made by muti-nationals that are operating in China.

The afternoon session was on our own and a group of us ate lunch at a local Chinese restaurant right across the street from our hotel. It was fun to have everyone order a dish or two and then be able to sample all the different foods. If you have ever seen the opening scene to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, there is a scene where Indiana Jones is at a nightclub sitting around a table that has a spinning circle in the middle. Most of the Chinese restaurants we have dined at have this same spinning circle, which makes it easy to pass around the different dishes. Overall, it had great food and we found ourselves eating at this restaurant again for dinner.

After lunch, we walked to the Shanghai Museum, which houses Chinese art and artifacts. Many of the artifacts dated back over a thousand years, so it really put in perspective how long the Chinese culture has been developing. The walk through the museum also provided us the opportunity to see many of the traditional masks, which were housed at the museum.

This morning started off with a light breakfast at our hotel. We had the traditional bacon, eggs and toast available, as well as several chinese dishes, including fried pumpkin, which is very popular around Shanghai.

Being Sunday, the Unversity of Notre Dame arranged for a trip to mass service at the Dong Jia Du Catholic Church, which provides an English-language service. Those that went were greeted by the priest who provided a special acknowledgement for the Notre Dame students during the mass.

My roommate and I decided that we would get some shirts and suits made. After flagging down a taxi and a daring ride through the narrow streets of Shanghai, we found ourselves at a fabric market, that was three or four stories high, packed with tailors that could make any garment you can think of. After about 10 min of negoiating, I was able to settle on a great price for 10 custom-made shirts, a suit and a pair of tailor-made pants. The price on these was amazing, and I got the entire package for less than I would have paid for one custom-made shirt in the US!

Arriving back at the hotel, we a few moments to get ready for our trip to the YuYuan Garden, which was near a market that sold all types of trinkets. The garden itself was nice and was calming to walk through. Lots of traditional chinese architecture and several small ponds that made for a nice setting.

Tonight we had one of the best experiences of the trip, which was a river cruise on the Huangpu River, the main river that runs through Shanghai. We had a group dinner on the boat, where we were able to sample all types of chinese dishes. After dinner, the boat set out on the river and we were provided with some spectacular views of the city, including the Pearl Tower, the Bund (which includes a lot of British architecture and the world's thrid largest building, nicknamed the Bottle Opener for its distinctive shape). I've provided a bunch of pictures on the blog to help capture how neat of an experience this was.

Shanghai Arrival

This morning we were greeted to an early wake-up call for our bus ride over to the airport. After a quick breakfast, we loaded up our two buses and were on our way.

The flight from Beijing to Shanghai was close to two hours, so not too bad of a trip. Once we landed in Shanghai, we could notice a big difference from what we had seen in Beijing. Wheras Beijing has been built up a lot for the Olympics, and much of the infrastructure was brand new, Shanghai had more of an older look to it, mixed in with many new skyscrapers that line the center of the city.

Our bus ride from the Shanghai airport was great; our tour guide for the week was a former chinese opera star and acted as if he were on stage the whole ride to the hotel (this week is shaping up to be pretty entertaining). Wheras we were in a brand new hotel in Beijing, the Shanghai one is a little bit older, but overall good for a hotel its size. The location is great; we are within walking distance to many of the main parts of town (however we learned that Shanghai land wise is the size of the state of Deleware and has the population of the state of Texas, so there is a lot to this city!).

After dropping off our bags, we meet up with Francis 'Chip' Peters, Commercial Officer, United States Consulate General Shanghai. Mr. Peters presentation focused on the US Commerce Department, and how they are involved with aiding companies with business operations in China. Mr. Peters covered a range of topics; everything from the import/exports business to the manufacturing facilities lining the cities around Shanghai. Having worked in the intermodal side of a freight railroad in the US, I was very interested in this discussion, because Chip Peters brought up many topics (such as how the port of Shanghai is one of the largest in the world) that I had been hearing about for years.

The afternoon was on our own, and we wandered the streets of Shanghai to see the sites. Again, I could see a big difference in this city compared to Beijing. It feels more like China here, with much more of the traditional shops and alleys that one associates with China. Even though I had been hearing that Shanghai is much more international than Beijing, I still get the sense that the Olympics propelled Beijing to the point that it is much more inviting to Westerners. It is still early in the trip, so it will be interesting to see if my view of the city changes as the week goes on.

I am heading out to dinner with a group of students, so I am looking foward to seeing the Shanghai night life.

Free-Day in Beijing

Today was our last full day in Beijing, and we had the entire day to ourselves. Some chose to do an organized tour of either the Great Wall, biking in the countryside or a shopping/massage excursion, however I chose to revisit some of the city sites and go to the last remaining temples that I had not yet visited.

After sleeping in and a nice long breakfast, I jumped on the subway (which has a stop about 25 yards from our hotel) and rode it over with a couple of friends to the Forbidden City. When we first visited this site, we were on a time crunch, so we didn't have much opportunity to learn about the history and really see all of the grounds. So this time, my buddies and I hired a tour guide named Charlie and went to each of the buildings and went in depth to the particular meanings and history of each. Our tour guide was great and told us he was a former professor that is retired and now gives tours of the major sites in Beijing. I was impressed with how he was able to talior the tour around our interests, and brought in a lot of US history and described how events in the US and the rest of the world impacted China and the goverment structure throughout history. Overall, I was glad we came back because now I feel that I have a much better appreciation for this historic site, and really enjoyed having Charlie show us around.

After our 2 hour tour, we jumped in a taxi and went to the Lama Temple, which houses the largest Buddha statue that was carved from a single tree. It was enormous, and must have been at least 5 stories high. This was the first time I've ever been to a place like this where I could see people worshiping at the various temples, and I could see the Buddhist monks chanting and mointoring the religous sites.

For our last dinner in Beijing we went to a very authentic resturant...The Hard Rock Cafe! A group of us wanted to have an American dinner, so the Hard Rock hit the spot. There was a live band and it made for a great atmosphere.

The morning theme was the media, where we had the opportunity to meet with Alan Paul, who writes "The Expat Life" column for the Wall Street Journal, and Maureen Fan, the Beijing Bureau Chief for The Washington Post. Both provided insight to their experiences covering news events in China for the American press. They were able to describe recent events, such as the earthquake that happened back in May, the Olympics and the recent milk scare, and both provided a unique outlook on how the stories were covered locally and in the American press. Some of the key take aways included how the chinese media is controlled by the government, and how the majority of censorship occurs with the local and national media, not so much with the foreign media correspondents. In addition to their professional experiences, Alan and Maureen were able to talk more about what it is like to live in China, Alan which described his experiences raising a family and Maureen spoke about how she has had a unique experience being a Chinese-American without having ever learned the chinese language growing up. This was a great way for us to learn more about how information is distributed in China and it was a neat opportunity to meet with those that are on the front lines covering the news events out of China.

The discussion took place at Xin Dong Chen Contemporary Art Space in an area called Factory 798. After the presentation, we were able to have some free time to explore the area, which is one of the major art districts of Beijing. As we sat at a cafe for lunch, we could see in the street next to us a group filming a scene in a movie. So if you see a big blockbuster come out of China in the next year, look for us in the background sitting at the cafe!

After lunch we boarded the buses and went to the Olympic Green, where we were able to take pictures of the Birds Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. Both were as impressive up close as they were on TV, and it was neat being able to see where the various events had taken place.

The afternoon tour included a stop at the Summer Palace, which is a must see if you ever visit Beijing. This was the get-away residence for the emperor, and is situated next to a lake. The entire area was great to walk around and we must have spent two hours enjoying the grounds and sitting near the lake. Off in the distance we could see the dragon boats that were shuttling people back and forth across the lake. For me, this was the best "Old Beijing" site that we have seen so far.

This evening a group of us went to see an acrobat show that was about a ten min walk from our hotel. One of our guides told us that the acrobats we watched were some of the most talented in Beijing, and had been training in the art since a very young age. The show was fun, and it was impressive some of the stunts and acrobats that we viewed.

For me, this week has been packed with activities, so I am looking forward to the free day that we have tomorrow. I think I'll visit some of the last sites that I have not seen yet, but not sure what the exact plan will be. The one thing I know is that I'll be sleeping in tomorrow to get caught up on some needed rest!

Our third full day in Beijing started off like the last two with breakfast at the hotel. I bring this up because our hotel offers the best breakfast, including pancakes, pastries and all types of fruits. Its always refreshing to wake up to a good meal, plus it helps provide the well needed enegry for the day's activities.

The first stop we made was to the Alliance Francaise Auditorium, where we heard from a panel of speakers that work in the intellectual property area in China. Our list of speakers included James Luo, Ray Moroney, Eric Priest and David Wolf. The key take ways from this panel discussion included the transformation in IP protection that is occuring in China, the challenges of enforcement and the continuous importance of IP rights for both companies in China and forigen based companies wanting to do business in China. The conclusion was mixed, with some progresses having been achived, whearas the rampant examples of counterfit products shows that there is still a long way to go.

This discussion was an interesting precursor to our next stop of the day, which was to E-Plaza Electronics Mall at Haidian. Having just learned about the rampant counterfit goods (and how often times even the vendors don't know if what they are selling is counterfit) we were a little nervous buying any high-end electronics during our shopping visit. However, it was still fun to see the diffrent stores and try to fact find on what was real and what was counterfit.

After the shopping visit, we became tourists again, and went to see the sights of Beijing. The Forbidden City is one of the best places we have been able to see thus far. The history of this area dates back to the 15th century and most of the buildings that make up the Forbidden City dated back to this period. I was impressed with how massive the grounds are, covering a large portion of the center of Beijing. After our hour visit, we boarded the buses once again and half of us chose to go back to the hotels while the other half went to a tea ceremony.

The tea ceremony was interesting. We gathered around two tables while one of the servers performed the ceremony, in which she went through several steps in preparing the tea and explaining how women and men hold the tea cup diffrently. Women hold the cup with thier fingers out, while the men do not. Overall, it was a neat experience and provided a great way to see a diffrent side of chinese culture.

If you watched the Olympic coverage on NBC this past summer, you probably saw the clips of The Night Market, where food vendors prepare and sell all sorts of items, including scorpions, beetles and other things that I won't meintion by name on this blog. A few people from the group were daring enough to eat the scorpions. To my knowledge, they are all still okay.

My personal take on the day is that Beijing has a lot of culture to offer. I was speaking with a few of my fellow classmates and it seems that everyone is surprised by how much Beijing has to offer. In addition, I have been impressed with the infrastructure of the city; everything from the subway to the city's skyscrapers are amazing and are all on a scale that is much larger than anything I have seen before. From what I hear, Shanghai is suppose to be even more modern, so I am looking forward to being able to compare the two cities in a few days when we head to Shanghai.

This morning we started off having some free time, where diffrent groups chose to go for a morning walk through a near-by park, visit shopping districts or catch up on sleep. After the free time, everyone gathered back at the hotel to hear Mr Bai Chengyu, Secretary General of China Association of MicroFinance talk about how his organization has been investing in private businesses that otherwise would not have access to traditional banking services. The major topic discussed was how microfinancing is helping alleviate poverty in China, and he provided the group several examples of sucess stories that he has seen through microfinancing.

The afternoon session included additional speakers, but this time we were able to go off location from the hotel and visited the American Club, which was about a 10 min bus ride. The club provided a great view of the city, and for the first time I realized how big a city we are in. One could hundreds of skyscrapers lining the surronding area for as far as the horizon.

At the American club we had three speakers, all of which I really enjoyed. The first up was James (Jim)McGregor, who was the previous CEO of Dow Jones & Company in China and the bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal in China and Taiwan. Currently Mr. McGregor is the CEO of his JL McGregor & Company and also writes books, such as One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China. Jim McGregor spoke to us on a range of topics, including his personal experiences in China over the past several decades to how the current financial crisis is impacting the role that China plays on the world economy.

Second up was Joe Tavares, Vice President of Business Development & Customer Hospitality UPS Beijing. Mr. Tavares was a dynamic speaker who outlined UPS's strategy of being a sponsor of the Olpymic Games in Beijing. I had not realized that prior to the games, UPS had a small presence in China. Joe outlined for us how the Olympics has allowed UPS to further develop their presence in this market. If you watched the Olympics this past summer, there is a good chance that you saw many of the items that UPS shipped and stored both during and after the games. All the uniforms that were used in the opening and closing cermonies were shipping in by UPS. In addition, the majority of the logistics was provided by UPS. Joe's personal role in all of this was overseeing the negotiation, development and execution of many of the business development initiatives including service contracts with the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXiX Olympiad ("BOCOG"), the Intermational Olympic Committee and all other Olympic Family members, Olympic sponsors and suppliers.

Last up was Chris Renner, a ND alum and the President of Helios Partners in China. Mr. Renner also played a big part in the Olympics, where from May 2006 he has overseen his own Beijing-based consulting agency, which specializes in providing strategic sports marketing expertise to major companies like Coca-Cola, Addidas and Johnson & Johnson. Joe is no strager to the Olympics, where he has worked on past games since 1992. The major take-away from Mr. Renner's discussion was the fact that some companies, like Coca-Cola were able to launch a successful marketing platform during the games, where other companies fell short of making much of an impact through their sponsorship attempts. It was interesting hearing how complex it is for companies to make an impact, and the various steps that each company takes to make sure they are providing and capturing the most value possible. Creativity is key within this area, and Chris discussed how companies that were able to connect with the Chinese population were most sucessful in building their brands.

After the speakers at the American Club, we boarded back on the buses and made our way to Xiao Wang Fu Restaurant for a group dinner. The food was excellent and we were provided a variety of dishes including fried rice and Peking Duck.

That sums up most of the day. Yesterday I promised to upload some pictures which I am still working on, so hopefully I can have those up soon to show you more of the city and the various sites we have been able to visit.

We're in China!

We're in China! Our group arrived around 11 o'clock last night, and despite the length of the journey, the trip was actually not too bad. Once we arrived in Beijing, I was very surprised how easy the customs process was and how quickly we were able to get our bags. Once we had everything, we proceded outside, where we were greeted by a University of Notre Dame sign that pointed toward our bus to the hotel, The Grand Milennium in the Chaoyang District.

I must say, our hotel is awesome. Not only is it located in one of the nicest areas of Beijing, it has every gadget you can imagine, including power window shades, a flat screen tv and this computer that I am typing on right now!

After a good nights sleep, we were back on the buses, ready for our first trip of the day. The first stop was the Great Wall of China. According to our tour guide, there are three main areas that tourists go to see the Great Wall in Beijing. We went to the site in Mutianyu, which is about a 1/2 hour drive from our hotel. I did not know what to expect (beside what I had seen on tv), but found myself amazed at how massive the structure is up close. To get to the top, we rode a sky bucket which flew us up the mountian side to one of the wall's towers. Once at the wall, we were able to walk along the structure, going between the diffrent towers.

We had about an hour to explore the area, then loaded back ont the bus for a trip back to the hotel to meet with our first speaker, James Hexter, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company in China. Some of the key take aways from this discussion include the transformation China is experiencing and how that momentum is to look going forward. At the end of the presentation, students were able to ask questions about sustainability, leadership structures in Chinese management and a host of other questions. Mr. Hexter was able to draw upon his years working in China, as well as the research he has conducted as a writer.

After our meeting with James Hexter, we were able to see some more of ancient China, including the Temple of Heaven. Built in 1420, this area was used by the Emperor for seasonal sacrifices to the gods. At the center of the grounds, there is a circle where it is believed that those who stand on it will be able to absorb the energy of the place, so it was comical to see everyone trying to push their way to the middle of the spot.

Our last stop of the day was to the shopping district, where we were able to buy everything from pearls to leather bags. Negoiation was key in this market, and often times we were able to talk the vendors down to 40% of the orginal asking price. I was able to pick up a new suitcase, which will come in handy as we visit more shops during the visit.

I think that pretty much covers the main things that we were able to experience today. Tomorrow I will try to upload some pictures to give you a better perspective.

On our way to China

Welcome to the University of Notre Dame MBA Fall 2008 China Trip Blog! Over the next few weeks, I will be keeping you up-to-date with our journeys throughout Beijing and Shanghai, so be sure to check out this blog frequently to see the new posts.

Today we are about to board several planes and start our trip towards Asia. The route my group is taking includes South Bend--> Detroit --> Tokyo and finally Beijing. Going toward Asia, we’ll actually lose a day, so even though we depart on a Saturday morning, we won’t arrive in the Beijing airport until Sunday evening. It’s going to be a long trip, so I’m glad I purchased that travel pillow!

On the next post, I’ll let you know how the trip went and what it was like to arrive in China!