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To Follow the BLOG in a chronological order, I would recommend that you start reading from posts that were posted in May (Click Here) (Day 0)and then make your way up to June.

General Observations, Conclusion, Finally..., Thank you!

General China Observations

• I saw several women bus drivers in Beijing which made me think about the men-women equality. After some questioning around to people around, I got to know that women have been in the work-force for quite some time and they have almost the same rights as men. Very impressive.
• Women entrepreneurs at the Shopping markets
• Friendliness of waiters at restaurants and shops
• A number of foreigners in Beijing – How do people feel about them? Are foreigners welcome? My impression was that they are welcome. Are foreigners from a certain country more favorable than the others? Do shopkeepers prefer certain nationalities over others?

Conclusion

• After this trip to China, I think that India has much more opportunities to grow, and I will go back immediately after the completion of my degree. But the question is: should I get a working experience in the USA or get on the field experience in India and understand the market personally.

• The Government control can drive the growth and at the same time, tie the country down and have a negative impact on the people, economy, and the environment.

• Amongst the local Chinese companies (Beijing Capital Tire and Wahaha) - common thing is the inefficiency in production due to the lack of managerial skills. This is a common problem for many local companies, but these companies understand the local market very well so that works as an advantage.

• Chinese people are more brand conscious than one would think. Example of Wahaha having restaurants, water, soft drinks, clothes, etc. Diversifying under the same brand name is a very common practice in Asia. Japan is already a mature and developed market and can be excluded from this generalization.

• Western things work here in China. Strategies are the same but the implementation and the tactics are different and suited to the local market. Examples are Siemens and DuPont.

• MNCs and locals need to learn from each other. The market is big enough for both the players to co-exist at the same time.

• China has undergone severe westernization and its youth live by Starbucks, KFC, and McDonalds and visit clubs that play western music.

• IP issue: local firms copy now and then they innovate later on. This will force the Chinese governmentt to protect the local companies. This will benefit the local companies and the MNCs who need to protect their IP. This can be explained by the pharmaceutical industry in India and other industries in Japan.

• As pointed out by several speakers, building relationships is one of the most important and critical factors for success while doing business in China. Relationships with the government at the local, state as well as the federal level, relationships with local experts who understand the market, as well as relationships with customers can go a long way in sustaining and growing the business.

Finally …

The entire world has set its eyes on China for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Words cannot describe enough of what we saw in the entire 16 days. The Olympics might be a good time to portray a positive image which the government is trying real hard to build. I guess I will have to buy an HDTV next year to immerse myself in the true Chinese experience.

Thank you Prof. Lin, Prof. Eng and Prof. Ali for making this a memorable trip by sharing your knowledge.

Thank you Cathi and Anie for logistics and handling.

Thank you to Team Babson for sharing knowledge, asking questions and moreover being great friends during the entire trip.

Day 16 - June 6th Wednesday

It is time to go home (albeit 2 days earlier than planned due to completion of paper-work for internship). A fun-packed, adventurous, stimulating an moreover eye-opening trip of China has come to an end.

Day 15 - June 5th Tuesday - CITA

Clothing Industry Training Authority (CITA) – Prof. K.W. Yeung, Director of CITA

CITA was setup by the Hong Kong government to provide training courses for the clothing industry. They also have a “labs” with state-of-the-art equipment and technology to provide local companies learn and experiment and come up with new and advanced products.

From today’s talk and the garment factory visit yesterday, the growth of giant retailers such as Walmart, Target, Carrefour is putting additional pressure on the garment industry in China. However, the domestic market has opened up and consumerism has spread across the country allowing for the creation of local brands.

Day 14 - June 4th Monday – Garment Factory

We visited a garment factory located on the outskirts of Shenzhen. The factory was located in trade development zone. I was really impressed by the facilities provided to the employees in the factory, namely, dining hall with subsidized food, air conditioned work area, and dormitories for un-married employees. The factory had recently installed a sophisticated computer system to track orders proving that it has been doing great business and well on its way for future growth. Additionally, a company has to constantly adapt to the changing world and improve efficiencies. It was also seen by the use of computer aided design tool to cut fabric into garment shapes so as to use every inch of fabric. After the visit, I had several unanswered questions. How can a garment company in China continuously grow its business in the face of increasing competition from other low-cost countries such as Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan? I guess relationship with customers, quality, timely delivery and word of mouth recommendations play a big role in keeping and growing the business.

We spent the evening on a bus ride into Hong Kong.

Day 13 - June 3rd Sunday

Today we spent the day traveling to Shenzhen.

Day 12 - June 2nd Saturday

Today was a leisure day. After 11 days of hectic traveling and information overload, I decided to sleep in till the afternoon. Evening was spent visiting Yu Garden, an old part of the city. It was amazing to see such an enormous, small city-like, neighborhood in the middle on Shanghai. Traditional Chinese architecture, surrounded by small stores, dumpling food-stalls, Starbucks (it shows the penetration of a global powerhouse), Temple were sights that will always remind me of China.

Day 11 - June 1st Friday (Delphi, DuPont)

Delphi – Clifford Kang, Country Manager, China

Delphi is another MNC that we had a chance to visit. Delphi prides itself on innovation and technology. It has been facing severe competition from global and local competitors primarily on cost and technology. It is also facing IP issues from local companies and thus technological innovation plays an important role in the growth of such a company. Delphi, like other Chinese companies, is also faced with a problem of attracting talent and retaining them. I guess this is a growing problem in many developing countries. India is facing similar talent crunch and high turnover rates. I wonder if these impede the overall growth of the economy.

DuPont – Jason Yu and Eric Carlson

On our way to DuPont I noticed that, DuPont was located in the Free Trade Zone in a newly developed area which had several Biotech, Pharmaceutical, and IT companies. It almost seems that they chose the location strategically based on the tax sops given by the government and more importantly locating closer to their customers.

DuPont is facing several challenges for its operations in China. It is facing severe competition from local, regional, national and global players in all the industries that it has its business units. On the other hand, its broad range of customers is allowing DuPont to create a niche in certain markets. It has local, regional, and global customers for the products that are manufactured in China. However there is confusion about the quality, standards and the specifications for the Chinese market. I have observed a similar concern in the Indian markets as well. Indian manufacturers seem to produce a lower grade and lower quality for the local market, while exporting the higher grade product which will get them higher margins. Although this trend continued for a long period of time, the Indian consumer is now getting more quality conscious and would not want to compromise on quality, standard and specification of the desired product.

Even after the presentations I have a few more questions. How is Du Pont able to manage the vast number of products? Is their marketing strategy in China different from the one in the USA?

Day 10 - May 31st Thursday (GM, Boston Scientific)

General Motors - Chin-Lim Ong, Product Research Manager

Car manufacturers are having a hay day in China. The demand has been growing rapidly and the market has never been so strong. However, there are many hurdles that the car companies have to surpass. Educating the customer is one of the biggest challenges that these companies are facing since many car buyers are first time buyers. These buyers have never owned cars and this is one of their big-budget purchases. Hence they want to make an informed decision before buying their dream car. Two of the biggest product attributes that these consumers look at before making the purchase are cost and quality. Cost is very high on the list and quality is further down the list. Auto manufacturers are also facing severe IP issues from local companies that have had a joint venture with several foreign players. These local companies are now spinning off their own companies and using the technical know-how from what they learnt from their joint-venture partner. Several speakers discussed about the brand conscious of the Chinese customer and it is highly evident when they are purchasing cars.

Boston Scientific – Shankar Kaul, China Country Manager

Mr. Kaul gave us a great overview on the Chinese medial device market. This was one of the visits that I was extremely excited about since I was going to an internship in a medical device company in USA. Mr. Kaul spoke about the shortage of trained doctors and nurses and how that is affecting patient care. Additionally, there is a shortage of education programs in the medical field which is adding to the scarcity of trained medical professionals.

Boston Scientific China has taken some drastic steps in China to break away from the traditional distribution model. This has allowed them to lower the cost to their customers (hospitals). However, they experienced negative profits for the first 3 years, but since then the profits have grown. This shows that China is made for longer-term strategies rather than short 2 or 3 year strategies. Companies that are planning to make an entry into the Chinese market need to keep in mind that realization of immediate profits might not be a practical strategy.

Reference to government relationship was raised again and Mr. Kaul’s statements agreed with our previous speakers. Boston Scientific has been very successful in maintaining and building new relationships with the government over the last several years.

A question on IP was asked since Mr. Kaul did not talk about it during his presentation. He acknowledged that IP was an issue but it was a common issue for several companies in China. I believe that rather than fighting against companies who copy IP, one must constantly innovate and move ahead of the copy-cat.

Day 9 - May 30th Wednesday (CEIBS)

CEIBS – Lydia J. Price, Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean

For companies to succeed, they need to have people that are well trained. The managers should be able to identify and utilize business opportunities, solve complicated business problems, develop organizations and moreover motivate people. This has been a challenge for companies in China. Local companies as well as global companies are fighting against each other to attract talent to their organizations. Business schools such as CEIBS play a vital role in the rapidly changing economy to train managers and fulfill the demand for business leaders.

CEIBS is a China-based leading international business school that focuses on the economic development of China by offering to MBA students, managers and senior executives of companies, current international management experience and trends. Prof. Price pointed out that there is a great opportunity in management training, project management, environmental sustainability experts, agricultural experts, and micro-finance projects. However, due to the shortage of supply of quality and well trained managers in these areas, companies are putting premiums over the current supply. This is causing the salaries to go up and managers are constantly being “poached” by competing companies.

Prof. Price also spoke about how the Chinese students traditionally resist taking on responsibilities, and lack decision-making skills. This comes from the hierarchical structure of their families or work-place. They do not feel comfortable to express their creative due to their upbringing. They are also less likely to express ideas that deviate away from the norm. This probably explains the behavior of some Chinese classmates in Babson who typically are soft-spoken and shy away from speaking in class. However, they interact animatedly when they are outside the class where their actions are not under anyone’s scanner.

Carrefour Supermarket

Due to the inflow of multinationals, the Chinese consumer is becoming more and more brand conscious. Companies are trying to woo their consumers by introducing new products where earlier a single product would work for years. When customers walk into retail stores, they know what brand they are looking for and are willing to spend an extra dollar to get quality and reliable products.

Maglev Train Ride

How can a visit to Shanghai be complete without the Maglev train ride? This train goes at a top speed of 431km/hr, but it does not seem to be going that fast when you are actually sitting in it. This train might seem practical, but there has been severe criticism over its need and purpose since its inception. The train ridership has been below expectations and the costs associated with its operations are very high. However, this is a great tourist attraction that will be very busy during the Olympics next year.

SunRise Duty Free - Fred

The super-fast train ride brought us straight into Pudong International Airport where we saw the Sunrise Duty Free Shops. These shops were not different from the duty free shops that we see at other airports. However, Fred, owner of these shops, was highly optimistic about acquiring future license to continue running these shops. I wonder if his bid was approved.

We proceeded to Ramada Hotel where Fred hosted a dinner and spoke about his life in USA and China. During his talk, Fred said that as a culture, Chinese are very money oriented. You need to pay people to get work done. For them, individual compensation trumps their team compensation followed by their yearly bonus. However, they are very loyal to their companies. The turnover rates are very low and employees have a sense of ownership to the companies they work in. He also reemphasized the point that Government contacts are very important. If one wants to be a successful entrepreneur in China, creating and maintaining contacts with people in the government will bring fewer hardships. Finally, as we have heard in several conferences and from numerous successful entrepreneurs, personal sacrifices are an important part to being an entrepreneur. If you want to be successful, be ready to undergo sacrifices at the personal, family, and social level.

Day 8 - May 29th Tuesday (Wahaha)

Wahaha Group Company

The visit started off by showing us the bottling plant.

Initial Impression: The plant was very clean and all the workers were in a uniform. Most of the workers were working with bare hands (no gloves or any other protective equipment). The line seemed to be efficient and running at capacity.

Next Impression: Some of the machines were dropping the bottles. At certain steps of the conveyor belt, there was a liquid that was sprayed on the belt. I was of the opinion that this was to prevent the bottles from falling over since they were plastic and light weight as opposed to the glass beer bottles at the Nanjing Beer Factory.

We were then taken into the “Tourist Reception Conference Room”. where we were shown a video explaining the history, product lines and the future strategy of Wahaha Company. A question and answer session followed the video.

My Questions and Observations: When in the bottling plant, I started to think how the company would be able to survive the inflow of the foreign players in the market. It seemed that the Wahaha brand had a great following amongst the locals. One of their key markets and strategies was to start building up from rural markets. The question that comes up is did Wahaha face distribution problems sending their products to the inner parts of China? Based on the response from the PR coordinator, Wahaha has set up factories in rural areas so that they are closer to the customers and distribution is hence not a problem. However attracting customers in rural China can be more complicated than increasing sales in urban areas. Wahaha has an advantage over a foreign player due to its local roots.

After the acquisition of Wahaha by Danone, will we see the name Danone on the products or will they continue to leverage the Wahaha brand name. This is reverse from Lenovo acquiring IBM ThinkPad and marketing the product under Lenovo. So the question that Danone is faced with is to decide if they want to continue using the Wahaha brand name or leverage on the global “Danone” brand name.

On the other hand, can Wahaha expand its brand name globally? An Indian bottled water manufacturer “Bisleri” created a market of bottled water in India when there was no such concept as “bottled water”. The name Bisleri became synonymous to clean bottled drinking water. Is Wahaha a sensation in the Chinese markets? Do people in the rural areas call all bottled water by the name of Wahaha? Recently, Bisleri has indicated its intentions to expand its reach and brand name into Europe and Asia. It will be very interesting to see a similar move by Wahaha

Longjing Tea Village

The visit to Longjing Tea village was very unique. I admit that I have visited several tea estates in India; Longjing was a very unique experience. The tea village was beautiful, peaceful, and vast. A striking feature of the village was the plush houses that belonged to the local farmers. All the houses had relatively brand new cars parked outside the homes. This shows that the growth in the economy is not only restricted to the big cities, but the smaller towns and villages are also experiencing a boom and making the most of this growing economy. While we were exploring around the village, we met a local lady who took us to her home and served us hot tea. They made us feel very welcome and were very hospitable and humble. We had communication problems since neither Ben nor I spoke Chinese. It was a true adventure of going to the house and looking at their living conditions.

(Above are pictures in the house of the tea farmer and a walk through one of the bylanes of their small village – This visit was definitely one of the most memorable events on the entire China trip.)

Travel to Shanghai

After the Longjing Tea Village visit, we started our Bus journey to Shanghai. I was really impressed by the long and developed highway system. If I compare the Chinese highway infrastructure to India, China is leaps and bounds ahead of India. One of the things that are going to impede India’s growth in the long run is the development of highway system to connect cities and allow for a smoother flow of logistics, supplies and people.

Another thing to note along the stretch from Hangzhou to Shanghai was the numerous billboards dotting the highway on both sides. There was extensive advertising for products, both, local and foreign. Cars, computers, clothes, medical equipment, banks, etc were fighting for space and user attention. These billboards were set up in the farms allowing the farmers for additional revenues. As we were getting closer to Shanghia, we had to maneuver through severe traffic. But this gave us an opportunity to sulk in the midst of hundreds of skyscrapers around us. Shanghai truly is an international city and I am not afraid to admit that it is far more developed than many Western cities that I have visited. The picture below explains it far beyond words.

Day 7 - May 28th Monday (Zhejiang University)

Zhejiang University – Dr. Xiaobo Wu, Professor of Management, Vice Dean

Hangzhou was the first city we visited outside of the Chinese capital Beijing. One thing that I quickly noticed was the special lanes for two-wheelers.

Zhejiang University is one of the oldest universities established in China. It receives a third of its grants from the government and the remaining two-thirds from corporate sponsorships. This is opposite of other big school in China where most of the grants come from the government. Prof. Wu spoke about the rising private economy and entrepreneurship. These points reemphasized what we had already heard about from the previous speakers last week.

Another topic that was discussed was the entry of foreign players in the Chinese economy. Infotech companies such as Infosys and Tata are located in Hangzhou. Some South Korean companies (or other foreign companies) are coming into China and disrupting the local economy. Thus eventually, this is going to be a hot bed for M & A activities in the near future.

After the presentation, we were given an aerial tour of the campus. No wonder Zhejiang University is ranked one of the Top 5 Universities in China. We had lunch at the university restaurant with current MBA students. The interaction provided a glimpse in the lives of these students and provided some understanding of the educational system in China. The students joined us for a boat trip to West Lake. I got to talk to a student named Richard and was able to find out about the lives of the prince and princesses that these students have grown to be. The one child policy has created some social elements that might come back to haunt the policy-makers.

Day 6 - May 27th Sunday

Travel to Hangzhou

While in the plane, we had an interesting conversation with Damon and Jennifer B. Damon started talking about the documentary he saw in the morning on the train system in India. He was really surprised to find out the crowded train systems and the infrastructural problems in India as compared to China. This clarified my thoughts and impressions on the infrastructural advancements made by cities across China as compared to cities in India. Thereafter our discussions went about discussing the various topics from the “National Business systems” class and comparing China, India and to some extent USA. The topics such as education, healthcare, religion, politics, poverty, wealth, etc…raised interesting contrasting opinions. Questions such as “Is the level of education an important indicator of managing and assessing risk or are more educated people more risk averse”, “Does religion play an important role in the politics and well-being of the economy?”, “What factors play an important role in the development of the country and the prosperity of its people?” were thrown around.

Day 5 - May 26th Saturday

Today we visited the Great Wall of China. I was awestruck at the architectural splendor of the unending wall, parts of which were initially built as early as 770 B.C. The only other man-made wonder I have visited is the Taj Mahal, but the Great Wall is in a completely different league. In the days when computer aided models and 3D imaging were things that were never imagined, the vision of these designers and engineers surpasses any modern day computer. A few things that I noticed while on the Great Wall were the uneven heights of the steps. One explanation for this could be that the King wanted to confuse the enemy if they ever climbed the wall. Some sections also had steps that were sloping in one direction, probably for the same reasons as earlier stated, or simply for easy water drainage.

On our way down from the wall, we took the Toboggan Luge ride. I was wondering if this was a smart decision by the authorities to set up a Luge ride at a location that is monumental and timeless. How can they sustain the wall and not impact the environment around it. However, a logical answer might be to generate funds that can be used to restore sections of the wall that are taking a toll due to time.

Day 4 - May 25th Friday (Tsinghua University)

Summer Palace

We got a chance to pass by the site of the Olympics on our way to the Summer Palace. The under-construction National Stadium looks really impressive and futuristic. Summer Palace was really beautiful and large. It was also well-preserved considering how old it was. Similar palace and gardens in most other developing countries would not stand the test of time. Again, I hate to bring up India; however, some of the palaces and gardens built much after Summer Palace are under ruins and the Government of India seems to be overlooking this fact. This makes me think that does an authoritarian government succeed in preserving its history and culture much longer than a liberal one?

(The Olympic Stadium Under Construction)

Tsinghua University – Jian Gao, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Chair of Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Prof. Gao spoke about a very important phenomenon that has become very evident in modern day China. He said that in recent years, entrepreneurial activities in China have surpassed other Asian and global countries. I am not surprised by this fact since it is highly evident from the success of companies such as Lenovo, Huawei, Haier and Chery. Entrepreneurship in China has moved from being necessity-based to opportunity-based. Entrepreneurs are no longer feeding the needs of the people; they are going above and beyond and providing products and services not only to the local market, but also the global market.

Fidelity Asia Ventures - Daniel Auerbach, Managing Partner

I loved the way he started the presentation. “Riding the giant wave” was such an apt way to put China’s current status. In some aspects, it seems that the wave has just begun and there are plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs. However, he also pointed out that cash is flowing into China and there are very few deals exchanging hands causing asset valuations to spiral upwards. I also liked his analogy of using a “platform” based approach when looking at new deals. One needs to have a strong base that is flexible enough to customize based on the current requirements. Dan’s interactive discussion based presentation made me think of going back to India immediately and start riding the wave in its initial stages.

Day 3 - May 24th Thursday (Beijing Capital Tire)

Beijing Capital Tire (BCT)

Beijing Capital Tire is a State Owned Enterprise at the provincial level. It is one of the 24 state important tire manufacturers in China. BCT adopted machinery, technology and know-how from Pirelli in early 1990 and since then it has been manufacturing tires under several brand names. Initially, they were making 30 products from this tie up with Pirelli, but today they make more than 100 products, some of which have patents that are the IP of BCT. I was surprised to see that 45% of their sales come from the global market considering how fast the local Chinese market has grown in the past few years. I think that BCT has a great potential to serve the Chinese market by collaborating with car manufacturers and being an OEM partner. Now that the car buyers have been using cars for a few years, they feel the need to change their tires and BCT has a great potential to serve the after-sales tire market.

The visit to the production plant made me think of my family’s new production plant in India. When it was built, everyone thought that it was one of the most advanced and well-planned factory. However, this tire factory changed my views. I was under the impression that out clothes would get spoiled since we were visiting a tire factory that uses rubber (black carbon). But I was wrong. All the workers were dressed in smart blue jumpers and were working on machines and handling materials with their bare hands. C’mon they can at least use a pair of gloves to protect their hands from getting dirty and black. But again, I was to be proven wrong. There was no dirt, grease or any dark material on their hands. This certainly shows that the machinery in the factory was hi-tech and safe.

My only disappointment with the factory tour was that we were not explained the processes from start to finish. We had to make our own interpretations and do guess-work to move through the various steps in the art of tire-making. I understand that a group of 50 people is impossible to handle in such a huge factory, maybe we could have spilt in two or three smaller groups and given explanations at each step. Nonetheless, the engineers in the class helped me understand most of the processes.

Later in the evening, we got to visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. These places are of tremendous historical significance to China and the rest of the world. I have no recollection of the events that happened on June 4^th 1989. I am not sure if this has got to do with the censoring of media in India during those times, or maybe I was too young to understand the word around me. Forbidden City was magnificent and the history associated with it would take at least 2 days to understand.

Day 2 - May 23rd Wednesday (Siemens and Yanjing Beer)

Siemens

I was really tired from previous night due to the lack of sleep and was looking forward to a good 8 hour sleep. However I was still jet-lagged and barely slept for 6 hours. This gave me plenty of time to get ready and charge myself with some good heavy breakfast. Today, was our first company visit at Siemens. Siemens has been a very successful company in China with products ranging from medical devices, cordless phones, lighting products, power generation, communications, building technologies, etc.

First, we were introduced to Mr. Waldemar Kolodzeij, General Manager, Siemens One China. The common thread between him and Babson students was the TechMark experience. His presentation started off by giving a brief background about China and the opportunity that it presented. I was not surprised by the fact that he reiterated about China and India being the giants of the future and that Siemens, like other multinational companies, is focusing a lot of its attention in these countries, especially China. To be a successful global competitor, a company needs to align its global strategy in countries that present a successful potential. However, it becomes very difficult for a company to focus its attention in two (China and India) or more fast growing countries at the same time. However, in this case, companies like Siemens are at an advantage since the markets in China and India are similar and they can achieve the benefits of scale.

Next, a market manager gave us a presentation on Siemens Medical. I was really interested in this topic, since it was a related industry to my summer internship that I would start once I return to the USA. She represented a true “Modern Chinese Manager” who was young, intelligent, knowledgeable about the industry, hard-working and moreover a potential leader. She covered topics that ranged from the new Siemens initiatives in the healthcare arena in China to Siemens’ new location in the Shanghai International Medical Zone. The discussion also brought forth the topic of providing healthcare to the Chinese people. Like India, most of the Chinese people pay for healthcare from their own pockets. This puts an immense pressure on the healthcare system to provide low-cost and subsidized treatment to the patients. Moving up the value-chain the health providers (hospitals and doctors) have to keep their costs down to be able to pass on the savings to their patients. Thus, companies like Siemens Medical have to provide medical solutions and technology at costs that are attractive to the decision makers and competitive with the local Chinese companies. Quality assurance does become an issue since we are talking about life and death of patients. Hospitals and doctors cannot afford to compromise on the quality and thus will buy high-end and reliable products.

China is also faced with an aging population and more and more people are suffering from chronic diseases that need treatment in hospitals. The trend of using traditional Chinese medicines is no longer working its charm for such chronic diseases. So the question that the Government of China is faced with is how to support the aging population and the increase in the disease burden and make it affordable to the general population.

After the presentations, we were given a tour around Siemens campus. Most of the buildings around the campus were modern. Siemens realizes the importance of global warming and the conservation of energy. To keep itself as a responsible foreign company in China, their new under-construction building has intelligent technology that will allow them to consume one third less energy than other comparable Chinese office buildings. They are also going to reuse some of the water used throughout the building.

Yanjing Beer

The journey to Yanjing Beer was a long one. We passed by several other construction sites. It almost seemed that all of the world’s cranes were in Beijing to build skyscrapers at breakneck speed. When we arrived at Yanjing Beer Company, it looked like a King’s palace. The buildings were huge and expansive. Green lawns, water fountains, statues, and the sheer size of the factory was a spectacular sight. I admit that I had never seen a factory this gigantic, especially for a state-owned entity. I have always imagined that state-owned entities as inefficient, unprofitable, and bureaucratic. However, after taking the tour of the production plant, that was not the case. The factory had state-of-the-art machinery, highly skilled workers, efficient and well-planned assembly lines, and continuous operations.

It seems that the state-owned operations in China are actually efficient unlike the ones in India. The frustration levels in India have gone to such extreme levels, that the government has started to privatize some of the heavily state dominated industries such as airports.

During our regular bus discussions, someone asked the bus driver about his thoughts on Mao Zedong. The bus driver replied saying that Mao was a bad person and he was responsible for the deaths of several Chinese people, however, he has also done good for the country. He gave people a sense of independence and gave a sense of united China. Was Mao’s role in building China similar to the one of Mahatma Gandhi in India when he united everyone to fight against the British?

At night, Raj, Dileep and I decided to watch “Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu”. The martial arts show was eye-catching, action-packed and it showed the true culture of China.

Day 1 - May 22nd Tuesday

Today is the first official day of our trip. I barely slept may be because it was a new place or just simply jet lagged. We had to meet in the lobby at 9am and proceed to a restaurant owned by the Wahaha Group nearby to our hotel for the first official meeting of our trip. It was a rainy start to the trip and most of us had to borrow umbrellas from the hotel. We walked past several small stores and roadside fruit vendors. This brought memories of India. I almost felt like I was in India where the roads are full of people walking on the streets, people riding their bicycles, cars zooming past pedestrians waiting to cross the streets, buses honking to get the right of the way, and policemen helplessly trying to stop pedestrians from crossing the street when it is not their turn to cross. Just before reaching the restaurant, we passed by a small lane that had small shops on both sides. The shopkeepers were just opening the shops and placing the wares on the shelves. One could clearly see that they wanted to sell the products to us, but they were still trying to set up the shop.

The first meeting started with excitement, enthusiasm, and a sense of inquisitiveness amongst the students. Several logistics related questions were answered and we were given a list of dos and don’ts that we had to follow for the rest of the trip.

We were supposed to go to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in the evening, but the plan did not materialize due to the rains. Not wasting time , we made our way to the Pearl Market. Coming from India, I should have been prepared for what we were going to see in the Pearl Market. However, I was shocked to see the knock-off clothes, electronics, shoes, bags, and jewelry. These knock-offs closely resembled the originals and would fool the smartest eye. I thought that the shop keepers were true entrepreneurs. They had the passion, enthusiasm and a well developed marketing strategy to sell the products. They knew their customers well and would cater to the needs of an individual customer. If one had never taken a course in bargaining or negotiations, then expect to shell out a lot of money. My Indian origin really helped me since I had shopped in similar markets in India. I had been used to the concept of bargaining and thought that I was much better at it than my other Babson counterparts. I admit on getting some really great deals but I also paid slightly more than what I should have actually paid for a few items.

Day 0 - May 21st Monday (Arrive in Beijing, China)

Welcome to China! We arrived in Beijing, China by Continental Airlines at around 2pm. On our way out of the airport after immigration, we were greeted by hoards of people of which some were holding placards with names in Chinese and English to welcome their friends and relatives. Cathy, who was our Chinese representative, was with hundreds of other people holding a huge Babson College logo. We were very delighted to see someone from Babson to welcome us. Right behind these people was shops and restaurants (which were not astonishing) but what intrigued almost all of us was Starbucks and KFC. We felt as if we had not left USA and were arriving at a domestic US airport.

On exiting the airport we proceeded to the bus and started our journey towards the hotel. I was really impressed by the first sights in China. The roads looked new and pothole free, traffic was well regulated and people were driving in the designated lane, most of the cars looked in relatively new condition without any scratches or dents, and overall no display of road-rage or rash driving.

The entire airport atmosphere was surprising as I come from India where the scene would be completely different from that of disciplined countries like USA and China. Let me present how it would be like if you arrive in India for the first time. Just before leaving the customs area of the airport, you might be pestered by airport workers that will promise to make you pass through the customs without being caught by officials if you are importing any electronics, liquor, chocolates, or any other foreign good in the country. This was clearly not the case in China. Chinese officials did not really care about what people brought in the country as long as it was not a prohibited item. Once past the customs area in India, just like in Beijing, you would see hundreds of people standing outside to receive their family and friends. At the same time you will see people with placards (mostly in English) waiting to receive business people. You might not see Starbucks or KFC, or for that matter any other shops or restaurants. You will also find some taxicab owners asking if you want to get a taxicab. These are people who have jumped the hour long taxicab queue to get passengers. Again, none of this was evident in China.

The bus trip to the hotel was about 45 minutes. On the way, I was surprised to see all the construction activity that was going on in Beijing. My initial thought was that of a growing economy, but the preparations for Olympics seemed like a most apt answer. Beijing was really gearing up for the Olympics and was firing all guns to get up to speed before the crowds start pouring in next year. I was also taken aback by the number of skyscrapers in the city of Beijing. I had not expected so many state-of-the-art buildings, all of which looked relatively newly constructed.