In addition to an interesting self view of Lenovo’s vision for its future, as this picture shows, part of the fun of visiting Lenovo was the tour of the innovative center and the production facility. To show that perseverance pays off, we then headed over to the temple of heaven, a miracle that they let us in. Then we ended the official part of the day with our Peking Duck dinner.
What did you learn from today’s visits? Any new impressions or take-aways?.
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March 8, 2011 at 7:09 pm |
I really enjoyed the Lenovo visit (especially because I am working with them on our consulting project). I found it interesting that, both at Lenovo and around Beijing in general, English seems to be very prevalent. Our hosts were very adept at the language and seemed to enjoy speaking with us in it. We also got to see the torch that was the model for the Olympics, which Lenovo sponsored. I also learned the traditional way to eat Peking Duck, and found the restaurant we ate in amazing – levels and levels of personal dining rooms and patrons enjoying duck!
March 9, 2011 at 5:50 pm |
I think today was our first real introduction to ridiculous Beijing traffic. It took an hour and a half in the bus to get out to Lenovo, which was only about 10 miles away. I enjoyed the tour of their innovation center, which was very similar to one I had been to at Samsung’s complex in Suwon, Korea, and the factory tour was pretty sweet as well. You could tell that Lenovo is really proud of their history and their innovation. I think a lot of us were shocked at the “grapes” method where the supervisor in the Lenovo assembly plant publicly evaluated each of their employees every day with a colored-in “grape” showing their performance in each of the days in the month– red for bad, blue for good, green for great. That would never happen in the US.
March 10, 2011 at 5:43 am |
Being a propeller-head (Williams words), my favorite part of the Lenovo trip was getting to see their components inventory room. I was amazing by the sheer scale but I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t see it in motion. I enjoyed Peking duck dinner especially the duck tacos. Although, I had a faux pas when I accidently broken a dish at Peking Duck and told the waitress “Shey Shey” meaning thank you instead of I’m sorry.
March 10, 2011 at 6:41 am |
To echo Mike – I am forever amazed by the traffic in Beijing but I also find it to be an interesting topic to think about given the recent events in the Middle East. With the amount of regulation on cars and driving in the city, one would think that the traffic wouldn’t be this bad. That said, the fact that there are so many cars on the road shows that even with a government that is more dictatorial than the US (and therefore should be faster in responding to things) when you have a billion people determined to do something, they will still outsmart the authorities.
March 11, 2011 at 5:14 am |
I enjoyed the visit with Lenovo and the tour of the facilities was my favorite part. I was struck by the fact that everywhere we went they mentioned that it was women’s day – it seemed like a really big deal! The women even got the day off – how cool! The factory tour was very interesting and the tour guide talked about how efficient their operations were – it was neat to see that firsthand. The Peking Duck dinner was great too – I think we’ve got this Lazy Susan thing figured out!
March 11, 2011 at 12:08 pm |
One thing I noticed while we were in transit to and from Lenovo was a stark difference in cab etiquette between our two cultures. In the US, most everyone would first attempt to sit in the back of the cab, and if the backseat was full of passengers you would then sit in the passenger seat. It appears to be the exact opposite here in Beijing, and I’m curious to see if it is just a Beijing trend or if it is like that in all of China. In every cab I saw (and there were a lot) that had one passenger, the lone passenger was sitting up front with the driver.
Note to self – hit the gym hard when we’re back in Austin. I was walking like an old lady all day because my legs were so sore from the Great Wall hike! In fairness to us though, the Great Wall was incredibly steep and an intense hike!
March 13, 2011 at 4:24 am |
I enjoyed the visit to Lenovo and seeing what obstacles a Chinese company faces when trying to expand globally. We often hear about US companies trying to ‘get a piece’ of the China market, whereas Lenovo is the exact opposite. I also found it interesting the parallels between Lenovo’s and US firm’s globalization challenges – establishing distribution channels seems to be the most difficult part. It was great to see the factory lines, the warehouse, and the ‘grape’ rating system (though I thought it was strange that there were no red grapes…). And the Peking Duck dinner was delicious.
March 19, 2011 at 3:14 pm |
Lenovo was definitely an interesting company to visit. It was sweet to see their new phone and tablet products and the museum of their company history was certainly a treat. I was a little surprised that they are going to launch their own operating system. With Apple, Microsoft, Android, Palm and Blackberry already fully invested, I’m not sure if this is the best investment…perhaps a better strategy would be to fully compatible with each OS?
March 21, 2011 at 6:32 am |
Really enjoyed the temple of heaven! I thought the temles themselves were beautiful, and also noticed that the use of space around the temples was really interesting. The long walkways around the temples and the hight platforms on which the temples sat really served to give the place a feeling of both grandure and calm. The Duck restaurant was incredibly large – things being incredibly large is already a recurring theme in China – and it was great to have dinner with the whole class. I was unable to really work the Lazy Susan with my arm still in a sling, but everyone was very helpful and I didn’t leave hungry.
March 21, 2011 at 7:35 am |
I really enjoyed the visit to Lenovo, it was interesting to see the challenges facing a large Chinese firm. The visit to the manufacturing facility was a great introduction to working conditions and management practices in Chinese plants. Unfortunately, the plant was not running due to Women’s day, it would have been great to see the production lines in action. I wonder if Lenovo’s assembly plant is similar to most in the country? The traffic in Beijing has definitely tested my patience, but Peeking Duck was a great way to end the day.
March 21, 2011 at 8:37 am |
The Lenovo visit was very interesting. I was surprised by how much time and effort Lenovo put in to our visit. Their presentation included four employees and they provided multiple tour guides. I would be surprised if Dell would deliver a similar experience for a McCombs class. During the tour of the Lenovo facilities I was amazed by the company’s inventory warehouse. I had no idea of the size and automation that is required for a large inventory warehouse. I was also shocked to learn that Lenovo is able to charge suppliers a fee to store inventory in their warehouse. Finally I enjoyed our Peking duck dinner and I am starting to improve my chop stick skills.
March 21, 2011 at 9:54 am |
The Lenovo visit was very well done. They provided many different speakers and tour guides, and we got to see quite a bit of their operations. I particularly like the tour we got to see the history of Lenovo and all of their new products. In the evening, we had our peking duck dinner, which I felt was decent. The restaurant decor and service was amazing, but the food was sub-par.
March 21, 2011 at 10:28 am |
While the Lenovo Innovation Center was something to awe about, the Temple of Heaven was the shining moment of the day. From the jaws of defeat (being too late to enter) we arrived at the Temple just in time to see it as the sun set. I was taken aback by the classic Chinese architecture and the grandeur of the Temple of Prayer for Good Harvest. After researching the Temple for my in class presentation, I was expecting something spectacular, but I was struck by the amount of effort and emphasis ancient dynasties put on these buildings and their significance to the culture.
Lastly, the Duck dinner was curious. It was awesome to see how the duck was served and to learn from the waiters how to eat this famous dish. My favorite moment had to be the Soap/Soup moment. When asked what was in the small dish, Ouyang responded that it was “Soap” to which we were warned “DON’T EAT THE SOAP!”
2 minutes later Ouyang was eating the “soap” much to our surprise. “Ouyang – why are you eating the soap???”
“This is…soup!” Laughter ensued until Laura exclaimed, “I just washed my hands in it!” Laughter erupted! This was one of the funniest moments on the trip and an internal LESCANT moment.
March 21, 2011 at 1:42 pm |
Since I was a part of the Lenovo project team, I was very excited for this visit. Overall, I was really impressed by what an progressive organization the company has become over the years and also at how innovative their products are. I never knew that they designed the torch for the Beijing Olympics, and I didn’t consider the company to be as design-oriented as say, Apple, but it just goes to show how differently Lenovo is perceived in the U.S. versus in the rest of the world. I also enjoyed hearing about the company’s support of Women’s Day and noticed lots of other signage around Beijing celebrating Women’s Day as well. Considering the fact that the Chinese have historically been known for placing such a high value on male offspring and male emperors, etc., I found it refreshing to be in the country while it was celebrating the other sex!
March 21, 2011 at 4:04 pm |
Our tour guide at Lenovo was adorable. When we would laugh at something that she said she would get flustered and asked if we were laughing at how honest she was being. This comment about honesty struck me a bit later when we walked by the charts that tracked each employee’s performance. Stephanie, our tour guide, explained that each day the employee’s performance was given a different colored grape. Blue was for the best performance, then green, followed by red. However looking at the charts they were all blue with the exception of two greens. It made me pause and think, with all of these employees was it possible that not one of them had a bad day in the whole quarter? Were we getting the real truth? It seems like a small thing but it made me remember that we are in China and that I will be looking at these visits with a critical eye, trying to determine if what we are seeing was the whole story. Not that this is only a China thing, in my old job when we would have visitors everything would be perfect, but the real story is always so much more interesting.
March 21, 2011 at 6:35 pm |
Got the feeling Lenovo is pretty clueless when it comes to international markets. Hopefully they can remain the leader in China cause their margins outside of China are near zero and shrinking and I highly doubt their ability to “innovate”.
The Temple of Heaven was pretty sweet. The sun was setting and I was able to snap a few great photos of the open round platform with the shadows thown off by the rock posts.
March 22, 2011 at 11:01 am |
At the Lenovo visit, I was impressed by the fact that all of the employees we met seemed so proud of their company and proud to work there. This is a characteristic that you do not always see in the US. Maybe it has to do with their team focus or the fact that they feel so fortunate to have a job (job competition is even more intense than in the US).
The Temple of Heaven was the first example of the architecture that I associated with China. I love the vibrant colors and traditional pagoda roofs. Architecture has such a large impact on the impression of a city. Downtown Beijing is so moder that it almost doesn’t feel like a foreign country. The Peking duck was a memorable meal, very authentic and delicious and I am glad we did not have to see the head on the duck!
March 22, 2011 at 11:55 am |
My favorite part about the Lenovo visit was definitely the Innovation Center where we got to play with all their new toys (products). I don’t think I realized the extent to which Lenovo is very much like Google in the US in terms of continuous innovation and cutting-edge technology that everyone wants and attempts to emulate.
Today was the first real exposure to Beijing traffic, which can only be described as truly insane. Staring at a wall of cars in front of you for miles was incredibly frustrating. I don’t know how they do it every day!
March 22, 2011 at 11:59 am |
Having a Lenovo group in our class, I had learned a good amount of the company beforehand and had wondered what the company’s offices would look like. We received an impressive tour, although I was most interested to hear the company’s take on its purchase of the IBM personal computer division. Particularly with McCombs’ proximity to Dell and our knowledge of the company’s struggles in the past decade, I wondered if Lenovo would be able to explain its desire to enter the personal computer market when it appeared to have such low margins. Through different answers by company executives, it appears that part of Lenovo’s strategy was to get its name to be well-known outside of China in preparations for its other products, including smart phones and tablets.
To see the Temple of Heaven was a treat, and we arrived right before it closed so we were able to have the Temple basically to ourselves for twenty minutes. Despite the aforementioned traffic, we finally arrived for our official welcome dinner where we had Peking duck for the first time. I wasn’t as impressed with the duck as I was expecting, but I could not get over the size of the restaurant and kept debating if it was the largest in the world (to only find out, go figure, that it wasn’t even the biggest in Beijing).
March 22, 2011 at 2:21 pm |
As a member of the Lenovo consulting team, I was very excited to visit the company and see one of its production facilities. Unfortunately, the factory wasn’t in production due to Women’s Day. In the U.S., we don’t celebrate Women’s Day, however, I’m pledging right now to celebrate the holiday next year and to continue to celebrate women each and every day.
Jon and I learned another valuable lesson today. We were late for the bus because our cab driver got lost returning from Lisa Custom Suits (a must visit on any trip to Beijing). Once the cab was lost we had absolutely no way to communicate with the driver other than to continue to show him the same address we had shown him when we got into the cab. The cab driver drove us by every major hotel in the Beijing and would make a weird clicking sound with his tongue each time he pointed at the wrong hotel. The taxi driver drove more aggressively than Jason Bourne did in Moscow in the Bourne Supremacy. It was an incredible experience. I was happy to escape with my life, my four custom suits, and a gorgeous cashmere overcoat. I also got a standing ovation when I got on the bus. Completely unnecessary, but thanks again.
Partially due to traffic are partially due to our tardiness we were told that the group would miss out on the Temple of Heaven. That’s when Tiger and the Lion (me) went to work. I let Tiger do most of the talking and it worked. We were able to get the group into the Temple of Heaven, which was beautiful and awesome. So glad it worked out and sorry again for the stress everyone.
March 22, 2011 at 2:43 pm |
To be perfectly honest, the presentation by Lenovo left a little something to be desired. It was fairly flat and very cursory…nothing that I couldn’t have read in a 10K. Having said that, the questions by the group were very good and insightful, provoking thought and discussion. The factory visit was great. It was nice to see the VMI warehouse which was flat out impressive.
Peiking Duck was interesting. My first experience and while I am glad I tried it, not sure I would go out of my way for it again.
March 22, 2011 at 3:43 pm |
I especially enjoyed seeing how involved Lenovo is in the community. It was interesting that they designed the Olympic torch. I really enjoyed the factory and was in awe of the size of their warehouse.
The Temple of Heaven was great to see. We arrived right before sunset and the light glistened off of the gold decorations. The top platform provided an amazing view of the city and really showed just how expansive Beijing is. On our way to the Temple of Heaven, we learned that the Chinese believe that heaven is round while the earth is square and we could really see this in the shape of the buildings at the site.
The Peking Duck was a fun experience. The chef came out and carved the duck in front of us. A good chef should carve it into 108 pieces. I tried to track how many pieces our chef carved but I lost count after 20…
March 22, 2011 at 5:46 pm |
As a few other people mentioned, I was also surprised to hear how often “women’s day” was mentioned since I didn’t realize that was a holiday at all in China. The Lenovo offices did seem very quiet and somewhat empty, I’m not sure how many female employees they have but it seemed like a lot of people were gone? We went to the mall afterwards near our hotel for a dumpling lunch and we were amazed at how packed it was. It seemed like all the women were relaxing and taking the day off to shop!
I also found the org structure of Lenovo’s leadership interesting because they really stressed how diverse and global the company is. I thought it was impressive considering they are a native Chinese company, but they seem to be adapting very well to the changing and modern business environment
March 22, 2011 at 8:43 pm |
I enjoyed the Lenovo visit, particularly the getting to see the factory. I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to see them at work building computers, but instead it was a chance to see a different side of their culture since the women had the day off for Women’s Day, something that we don’t put as much value in in the US.
I was glad we made it into the Temple of Heaven at the end of the day. With the sun just starting to set as we left, it was a beautiful setting for pictures. I also loved doing some people watching just outside the Temple. There was dozens of groups sitting along the railing playing cards with crowds of friends gathered around watching the games. I thought it was an interesting meeting place since it wasn’t all that warm out and there wasn’t a lot of table space. In comparison, my grandmother also used to play cards with friends regularly like this, but she would never be caught sitting on a railing in a park.
March 22, 2011 at 9:10 pm |
There is a lot of talk here about Women’s Day, so I though I would share something I was so kindly told at the pearl market the day before by a purse saleswoman. Women’s Day is only for married ladies. Apparently this holiday is not inclusive of all women, haha. That made it even funnier the next day when the place was deserted.
March 22, 2011 at 9:31 pm |
I enjoyed seeing how a Chinese-owned company operates and was impressed with their manufacturing and warehouse facilities. I thought the integration of a Chinese computer producer with the sold-off laptop division of IBM was an interesting dynamic. Although the company’s presentation illustrated Lenovo’s growth plan, I am a little skeptical that they can make a leap from a manufacturer to an innovative designer. In my opinion, their strategy should focus on their core strength, which is manufacturing and distributing at scale economies while getting the innovation and creativity from someone else.
I enjoyed seeing the Temple of Heaven and learning a little about Chinese architecture. The artwork of the Temple seemed to be carefully crafted with each color, shape, and statue contributing its own significant meaning.
The food at the Peking Duck dinner was a little underwhelming but it was good time getting to know new classmates at dinner. The restaurant was 8 stories tall and right next to the Parliamentary buildings close to Tiananmen Square. I’ve come to realize that I prefer the food at smaller, more local establishments than the large, banquet style restaurants. Good times nonetheless.
March 22, 2011 at 9:35 pm |
The Lenovo visit was interesting as we could see the different technology trends in China versus other markets, I always enjoy seeing how different companies adapt to local markets as they expand globally. I enjoyed the presentation, tour, and factory tour though I do wish we had seen the factory in action. One key takeaway was the poster at the end of each row in the factor that showcased the motivational tactics of the factory managers…I thought this was representative of the Chinese culture as it values “saving face” and working collectively and speedily. Managerial motives behind the chart are to increase productivity, it appears as if the leadership teams have a deep desire to improve each individual through personal attention (but in the States one would not be called out on a public chart if his or her work needed improvement).
I thought that our Temple of Heaven trip was worthwhile as we got to see the Temple at sunset with clear skies over Beijing.
March 22, 2011 at 10:39 pm |
When I mention working collectively I mean it in context of working quickly to finish a product to get it to market. I actually witnessed more examples of individual achievement in China than collective achievement.
March 23, 2011 at 12:36 am |
I enjoyed the Lenovo visit and found the innovation room to be fascinating. It was interesting to see the evolution of their products and their newest products, especially since they’re the market leader in China and not in the U.S. I was also impressed by our hosts English language skills, and thought it was interesting when some things did not translate and one of the hosts did not understand why we were laughing. I guess the Chinese are more direct and honest.
I am glad we were able to see the Temple of Heaven. It was nice to finally see the traditional architecture you would expect in China as opposed to the coldness of most of Beijing. I thought the circle and square structures which symbolized the connectedness of Heaven and Earth were stunning as well as the bright colors of the buildings.
It was great to finish up the day with an amazing Peking Duck feast!
March 23, 2011 at 8:10 am |
Lenovo was our first company visit of the trip and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had been on the career treks where we did many company visits and I imagined it would be similar but I was hoping for more. So when the visit included a tour of the factory and experience center it was a pleasant surprise. Very interesting. My only wish was that the assembly line was in progress while we were there but still very interesting.
The Temple of Heaven was great and our first look at that type of architecture. I’m glad we were able to make it.
March 23, 2011 at 1:07 pm |
Lenovo was a great company visit. It was really cool to see the proliferation of computer technology in China and how it mirrored the proliferation of computer technology in the US, it just lagged the US by a few years. It was also interesting in that Lenovo is really the industry leader in China and has such a massive footprint there, but it really lacks a consumer identity in the US. It is also interesting that the leaders of Lenovo, as discussed in the company presentation led by Melissa Herb, seems to be content with being a smaller player in the US market and instead choosing to use China as their test marketplace and expand into other emerging markets. Highlights were also the innovation center, the 3D imaging computer, the Yao Ming basketball game, and the replica Olympic torch.
Later in the day, after a harrowing taxi ride that took us to the wrong hotel and the attempts to overcome clear Enligh/Chinese language barriers finally paid off, Jeff and I made it to the bus with minutes to spare to go to the Temple of Heaven. We made it to the site and were able to tour the magnificent Temple and surrounding grounds. The 360 degree view of Beijing was great and it also exemplified how massive Beijing was and how there were medium sized apartments/office buildings spread out for miles around this amazing city.
The Peking Duck dinner was great as well, although it turns out the Bone Soup does not double as a hand-washing liquid. Another great day in the books.
March 23, 2011 at 3:00 pm |
Lenovo was very clean and efficient. Everything in the manufacturing facility was very explicit and regimented. Lanes 1, 2, and 3 with sections A, B, C and D, etc. They also kept close track of every employee with the grape system. It was clearly a closely watched facility.
The Temple of Heaven is where i could first grasp just how large Beijing really is. If you stand next to the temple and look and around 360 degrees you notice that in every direction there are endless amounts of buildings and high rises. At no point can you see the city end. It was a shock to see a city so large and with the nice weather we had it was possible to see a long way.
March 23, 2011 at 5:21 pm |
This was definitely a long day wasn’t quite ready for that. What was interesting in our visit to Lenovo was that we learned it was women’s day. A holiday for all the women where they did not have to work or got at least a half day. Lenovo was interesting seeing a factory that was similar to my experiences at Samsung but so different at the same time. I was interested to learn that they do jit inventory with their suppliers similar to dell also in the presentation the talked about how they saw innovation in a broader sense as the was forward to keep making money in the computer business. Due to the price of computers becoming very comdidized. So they do things like innovation forums and drive a culture for innovation.