A chance to meet with your companies and give your presentations, today NCET, Lenovo, Quintana, and HP got to present the results of their research project and others got to visit with Bank of China and Hainan Airlines. After that, the forbidden city is no longer forbidden. And in the evening, Tim’s Texas BBQ seemed to be a perfect setting for our alumni dinner. So what are your takeaways from the day? How did your consulting projects go and what did you learn from that experience?
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March 10, 2011 at 5:52 am |
We gave our presentation to Quintana on the 37th floor (top floor) of the China World Tower 1. The view from the tower was amazing, we could see the entire city. It actually seemed so much bigger from the higher vantage point. We had an unexpected surprise in that we presented not only to Quintana but to an executive from an energy company. We presented plans for an incremental growth where we would capture a handful of jobs and build slowing to mitigate risk. Whereas the executive had a much more aggressive view of trying to immediately land a large job and grow rapidly. I think our MBA education has conditioned us to be more cautious and look for reasons why not to do the project.
March 10, 2011 at 6:47 am |
We visited with the Bank of China. I think that many of us found it interesting to hear how similar the segmented Chinese financial markets is to the principles that the U.S. markets were founded on. As the government regulates the challenges of their growth, the have put in place some of the same regulations that the US market has or had. In this way, our 90 minute discussion was more of a highlight of our similarities rather than our differences.
March 11, 2011 at 5:17 am |
Today I was part of the NCET team that presented to the government. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the visit. The building definitely felt “government-ish” but our clients were really nice. I was most intrigued by the fact that they were so open to sharing with us what they are currently doing around technology in education and some of the challenges they face. I had anticipated China to be light-years ahead of the US in terms of education but with regards to using technology they are greatly lagging behind.
March 11, 2011 at 12:20 pm |
I was part of the HP group and was so proud of our presentation. First, that we were even able to get there – we literally had the hotel concierge write some chinese characters down on a piece of paper, and Casey Park and I were at the mercy of the cab driver to get halfway across Beijing. We almost got dropped off at the wrong place, which would not have been a favorable outcome.
Once we got to HP we were greeted by about five HP colleagues, all of which were Chinese natives. You could tell that they were impressed with our presentation because their eyes grew wider and wider throughout. I personally found the discussion after our formal presentation to be the most rewarding, and i was struck by how curious they were into our culture. We gave some consumer insight research into a specific American demographic group and received many follow-up questions on that. It was also interesting to see that like us, about half of the HP folks had iPhones ….
My main takeaway was despite our differences, we’re really not that different. While we have different business challenges and demographic disparities within our respective countries, we are similar in that we try to make the most logical business decisions off of available facts. No one has a crystal ball, and the technology realm is rapidly evolving. HP China seems to be very in touch with the dynamic Chinese market and forward thinking.
March 12, 2011 at 5:38 pm |
I was part of the Lenovo group in the picture and our project went great! I think it was interesting how interactive the presentation was, and also the respect shown to the highest ranking person in the room. We did the traditional business card exchange, which was interesting. I think that our project topic was very interesting and we were hopefully able to add some valuable information to the Lenovo group as they make plans to launch their tablet PC in the US, and specifically in the healthcare industry.
March 13, 2011 at 4:32 am |
As part of the NCET team, we presented our research on technology in US education to government officials. I was expecting our hosts to be very strict, up-tight, and not at all friendly, but I was very wrong. They were extremely nice and open with us. I was surprised at how genuinely interested they were in what we had to say, though I think a lot of it was a bit over their head and they just needed some more time to process the information in order to understand. They also shared with us a program they were doing that had students in a rural and urban school work together to formulate questions, test hypotheses, and determine answers. All in all, the visit provided an interesting glimpse into China’s government.
March 13, 2011 at 5:50 pm |
I was also in the Quintana group, and I was very impressed with their office building. Their operation in China is not too big, but our American contact there mentioned that in order to have Chinese investors take you seriously, you must have a very nice office space – the “face” of the company.
Later, we visited the Forbidden City. I was surprised at both its upkeep and disrepair. For buildings hundreds of years old, the gates and palaces were in remarkably good shape. However, the frescoes and roof tiles were in poor shape in many places. In the US, we would probably pay millions of dollars to restore everything as much as possible, but that level of preservation does not seem as important in China.
March 15, 2011 at 3:01 am |
I was in the Quintana group. After our presentation we were taken out to eat lunch with our contact from the company. During lunch we talked about doing business in China and how it is different from the US. Quintana is a US based company that has a satilite office in Beijing. Therefore, it can be difficult for them to get business from Chinese companies since they are a US company. Every business in China is driven by relationships with the government and other domestic companies, so Quintana tries to leverage its current portfolio of Chinese investments when meeting new clients to gain credibility.
March 19, 2011 at 3:14 pm |
Today we had one setback after another. But by far the most frustrating part was trying to get to our company visit. I’ve been lost in other countries before but I’ve always had some way of communicating. Here it’s really tough when you can’t even write the characters to the place you are trying to go. Our reliance on other people to read these characters for us ended up pretty unsuccessful as well. But we did find that a good number of people were willing to help us out with advice even if they really didn’t know the right directions. I guess in hindsight, we should have vetted our directions better and it was definitely nice to see people going out of their way to help.
March 21, 2011 at 6:41 am |
Building on Cassandra’s comment regarding our trip to Bank of China, I was amazed at how similar the Chinese banking system seemed to Western systems. Our contact, Jeff, was extremely knowledgeable, very well versed in all things banking and financial, very open, and spoke impeccable English. I was shocked to hear that Bank of China is not actually controlled by the Chinese Government! (And if I had left China after the visit, my thoughts would have ended here.)
After talking to more people, both Chinese and American, it seems like a lot of what Jeff told us was not exactly true. It seems the Chinese government does hold a large interest in Bank of China, as it does with all tier 1 & 2 banks in the country. While the bank makes its own day to day operating decisions, the government sets it strategic direction. In all seriousness, I am really greatful to have had the experience of being slightly mislead, if not out and out misinformed, about the goings on in China. I’ll be more careful to be both open and skeptical going forward.
March 21, 2011 at 7:44 am |
I was part of the group that presented to Quintana and was equally impressed by their office building. One of the recurring themes that I found in China was the need for businesses to have a “grand” presence and look the part of a very successful and professional operation. During our presentation it became clear that Chinese firms take a more aggressive growth strategy, whereas American firms are typically more cautious in their approach. After our presentation Ben took us out to lunch and we had arguably the best meal of the entire trip. We then made our way through the gauntlet of security to the Forbidden City, only to find it closed (go figure), maybe another day.
March 21, 2011 at 8:56 am |
Although the day was filled with many problems and setbacks it proved to be one of the most exciting days of the trip. My group started our day with a tour of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Touring both of these sites proved to be extremely challenging as we encountered multiple security check points and we had limited knowledge about where or what we were supposed to do. That being said we made the best of it and had a fun time with the crowds. Throughout the day I was surprised by the lack of western tourists at one of the largest tourist attractions in the country.
My group visit to Hainan Airlines proved to be a bit of a disaster as we had an incredibly difficult time finding the company’s office. However our discussion with the Hainan Airline employees was very interesting and insightful. It was also pretty cool to learn that one of my former clients at HSBC was one of the original investors in the company. The day ended with some good BBQ and discussions with UT alumni.
March 21, 2011 at 10:36 am |
I also visited Bank of China. Taking a slightly different approach to takeaways from the visit – I was most amazed at the talented and well educated workforce in China. The one major caveat here (that we revisited multiple times on the trip) was that we discussed how Chinese people tend to be very focused on execution and replication as opposed to innovation. With that said, I thought Jeff was extremely impressive despite giving us a somewhat muddled view of PRC/BOC interaction.
As for the alumni dinner, it was amazing to meet McCombs alums living in Beijing. I assumed (a slightly uneducated guess) that the bulk of alums in Beijing would be Chinese students that studied at UT and then went back. While there are some of these examples, the dinner at Tim’s gave us a view into another type of alum in China.
March 21, 2011 at 1:49 pm |
As part of the Lenovo presentation, I really enjoyed our interaction with the employees during the presentation. I was the opening speaker for the presentation and probably received five questions by the time we hit slide #2! I think we learned from this that sometimes it’s best to state your solution up front and then present backwards into the evidence for that solution. It was good to hear that they were so interested in our findings though, and overall, I think we at least were able to confirm or refute some of their hunches from their own internal research and that was valuable for them. Before the presentation, it was fun to watch Orlando and the VP in the room exchange business cards, and I learned from this exchange that the typical time frame required for the “business card stare-down” is much longer than I expected!
March 21, 2011 at 4:18 pm |
Today I went along with the NCET group to see their presentation to the Ministry of Education. My best friend from high school now teaches history at our old high school. We often have discussions about the impact of standardized testing on education. Our school had, and still has, a strong emphasis on using history to develop critical thinking and we both agree that this has been a great asset in both of our careers. So I really wished that she could have experienced today with me, oh well just another topic for our five hour long catch up sessions. What I was surprised by today was the lack of statistical information that the government possesses about the population. (Side story: in this meeting with the ministry of education and I asked a about a recent census, with the language barrier they thought that I was talking about censorship, which is not something that you want to say in a government building here, that was a little scary.)
March 21, 2011 at 6:45 pm |
Echoing Dan’s comments, the Bank of China meeting was really informative. The biggest nugget I pulled from the discussion was how the government exercises absolute control over investment options in China. For example they set the savings rate at all banks as well as the lending rates. As a result, the Chinese are reluctant to invest their money with banks and resort to speculation in real estate which for a long time was the only market not strictly controlled by the Party (although this has changed). Also, the lending rate cap results in no competition in rates, but rather forces banks to “compete” on relationships. Reading between the lines, I took that to mean direct links to the Party. It also means there is no real credit market, or risk assessment, in the country. Ultimately this stifles lending as well as new business development.
March 21, 2011 at 6:52 pm |
Today, my group and the Kitco group visited Bank of China. As Dan and Cass alluded to, it was really interesting to see how similar the banking systems are in the US and in China. It was interesting to hear how China controls real estate pricing and limits the number of homes that can be bought. Later, we tried to visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, but we got a little lost and arrived late.
In the evening, we had our alumni BBQ dinner. It was a nice change-of-pace from Chinese food.
March 22, 2011 at 12:15 pm |
Thus far, the language barrier has been fairly easy to navigate given that our hotels all have english-speaking staff and our hotel cards have been helpful in communicating with cab drivers. Today, however, we ran into some trouble. When we got in the cab to drive to our company visit in Beijing with Hainan Airlines, the cab driver seemed to know where we were going. When we got there though, he dropped us off in the “vicinity” of where we needed to be. After asking 4 or 5 different people, getting 12 different responses, and walking back and forth across busy intersections for about 45 mins, we eventually got back in a cab for a 10 min ride to our destination.
Regarding the actual visit with Hainan Airlines, it was interesting to see how many lines of business the company is involved in as we actually met with Hainan Group. In the US, airlines are generally just that, airlines. Hainan Air’s business involves four fairly unrelated business units in tourism, hospitality, airlines, and media. Very insightful visit!
March 22, 2011 at 12:32 pm |
Our meeting with Quintana went very well, and gave off the impression that business in China is more like the boom days of yesteryear in America. The optimism of the Chinese men we pitched our presentation to signaled less aversion to risk than we have been taught, probably due to the constant growth the country has experienced. This lack of hesitation made me think that if China does meet an unforeseen bump in the road in its economic expansion, many Chinese may be unprepared for such adversity. Nevertheless, our McCombs contact with Quintana was fantastic, and had some great insight on doing business in China and the country’s energy future. He took us out to a great meal after our presentation that was some of the best Chinese food of trip. Following this delicious meal, walking the Forbidden City and listening to a faulty audio guide describe the varying levels of harmony made me appreciate the length of the walks the emperors of China’s dynasties must have made to visit their various social acquaintances.
March 22, 2011 at 1:36 pm |
I visited NCET and was surprised by the fact that the employment procedure for a government department seemed pretty normal. I thought it might be more like the Chinese government might hand select the people they wanted working for them to make sure they all thought the same way but the people we talked to were career switchers, just out of college or were simply just interested in education. I was not aware of some of the policy changes in China prior to this visit and how there are many aspects of capitalism now in their society.
The Forbidden City was beautiful and I was struck by the similarity of the architecture, design and colors of the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and most of the historic buildings in Beijing. Even though they might have been built around the same time, there is little variation.
In true Chinese style, they did an excellent job of copying the interior of an American BBQ restaurant at Tim’s; I felt like I was in Texas!
March 22, 2011 at 2:43 pm |
We presented our finding to Lenovo today. I thought our presentation went really well. Lenovo’s executives were very engaged and interested in what we were saying. I had a ton of fun working on the project and it felt great to know that our findings and recommendations could help Lenovo design a winning tablet device. My only concern is that Lenovo seemed convinced that the device should have a stylus pen. All of our researched indicated that consumers hate using devices with stylus pens.
Our group took the subway back to the hotel with Orlando. Jon was very excited to take the subway and the ride did not disappoint. After getting home we headed to Tim’s Texas BBQ. It was great to interact with some UT alums and get a chance to relax with the group. I was so excited for BBQ and yet Tim let me down a little. The base of the potato salad was red peppers. Tim decided to throw in a pinch of potatoes for good measure. The beef was so fat that I think I’m still chewing it now. Still a very fun night.
March 22, 2011 at 2:46 pm |
Our group visited Bank of China – was really impressed with Jack, our main contact. He seemed extremely educated, well spoken and quite insightful on the status quo of the Chinese economic forces. It was a good and interactive round table discussion that I walked away from with some more insight on how the Chinese think about the global economy. I would have like to have toured Bank of China’s facilities, maybe their trading floor, etc. Overall, good visit.
March 22, 2011 at 4:16 pm |
My group and I presented to NCET today. I was very excited to learn a new term in Chinese, Nei Mon How. I’m sure the spelling is wrong but it is a plural hello that is said to those who are superior. I enjoyed opening the presentation with this! We presentated to 3 government members and it was a struggle to make sure I was speaking slowly and in a way they could understand. My favorite part was when they showed us a presentation on how they are incorporating technology into education. I was surprised how much more advanced the United States is with the use of technology in the classroom. When asked what types of technology they are using, the Chinese government said TV and internet.
I enjoyed having dinner at Tim’s BBQ with the alumni! It was interesting to hear about their experiences living in China.
March 22, 2011 at 5:34 pm |
I was part of the HP team and I also thought the presentation went much better than we all expected! We were excited to have about 5 HP employees sit in on the meeting, since our main contact Ryan was calling in from Shanghai. I personally really enjoyed getting to see their offices in Beijing and just talking face-to-face with some of the employees. It was a great learning experience just to go through some of the obstacles in trying to communicate cross-culturally and also just hearing the questions and comments they had for us. They were all very interested in hearing about some of the trends in computer usage and technology in the U.S. and we learned a lot about their products in China also.
March 22, 2011 at 5:37 pm |
I was part of the HP team and I also thought the presentation went much better than we all expected! We were excited to have about 5 HP employees sit in on the meeting, since our main contact Ryan was calling in from Shanghai. I personally really enjoyed getting to see their offices in Beijing and just talking face-to-face with some of the employees. It was a great learning experience just to go through some of the obstacles in trying to communicate cross-culturally and also hearing the questions and comments they had for us. They were all very interested in hearing about some of the trends in computer usage and technology in the U.S. and we learned a lot about their products in China also. Overall, I enjoyed the interaction and the opportunity to “work” in a global business environment even if it was just for a short time.
March 22, 2011 at 8:08 pm |
I was also part of the HP group and we were thrown a loop pretty much every week with our project. So I really didn’t know what to expect going into our presentation. It ended up being a great experience. We got the opportunity to speak with a few product managers about the differences between China and the US for computer usage and adoption of touch technology. All of them were native Chinese and kept apologizing for their poor English (which was actually pretty good). Despite the language barriers, we had a great conversation with them.
One thing I thought was unusual was that about 5 minutes into our presentation, two of them just got up and walked out, without saying a word. Being that it was a small group of us, I thought it was awkward. But they returned a few minutes later with cups of hot water for us. When I grabbed the cup, I expected it to be tea, but it was just hot water. I think we all tried to hold back our surprise as we continued on with the presentation.
March 22, 2011 at 9:41 pm |
We sat in on NCET’s presentation and it was interesting to see a government building (that was run-down yet in a nice business area). I also liked watching the NCET team present as they did a great job overcoming cultural and language barriers which lead to a lengthy discussion at the end of the presentation. I enjoyed our awesome dumpling lunch (day 2 at Ouyang’s favorite dumpling spot) and getting to share that with more people on the trip.
Our adventure to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City was awesome. While we couldn’t walk in the Square we did get to see it as we were quickly ushered into the Forbidden City as part of the masses. The audio tour was interesting as it didn’t mention a lot of the facts that we had heard either from Tiger or read in our travel books. It was a great example of Chinese censorship and its application to their view of history and ways of presenting themselves to foreigners. Had a fun trip home from the Forbidden City as a few of us tried to find a tea house, but ended up walking around the city for about 45 minutes and seeing some fun, local sights.
Tim’s BBQ was great, it was my first of many karaoke experiences in China and the expats were really interesting.
March 22, 2011 at 9:43 pm |
The Bank of China visit was very enlightening and I was surprised that banking system in China operates very similarly to banks in the US. The bank manager, Jeff, was very educated and well spoken. I think everyone the meeting was impressed with his sophistication of finance and general business. Most of our discussion was centered around the Chinese ways of doing business, government policy, fears of inflation in China, and general macroeconomics. I was shocked to hear that the Bank of China was primarily capitalized by private investors and not the Chinese government (not entirely true as we discovered after talking to the alumni at Tim’s and at Intel). Jeff’s assistant, Betty, gave us some advise on local restaurants and pointed us to a spicy joint (Like spicy? “Betty Do”) for lunch. It was delicious but it almost took us down as it might have been the spiciest food I’ve ever had. I had longevity noodles, dumplings, shrimp, and green beans.
The Forbidden City was spectacular and so big. I completely underestimated its size and it seemed to continue to go on forever. Unfortunately my electronic walking tour did not work so I did not learn as much about its history as I wanted but the sights were incredible. I thought the best part was actually outside of the City, a palace that pre-dates the Imperial Palace called Jingshan Park. It sits on top of a giant coal hill above the Forbidden City and has some of the best views of Beijing. The weather was pretty clear so I could see the Beijing sprawl all the way to the mountains.
The alumni dinner was a good time. It was great to catch up with some McCombs alums and learn about their China experiences. The food was decent but it was a comforting familiarity to eat at a Texas BBQ joint. The smells and relics on the wall reminded me of home.
March 23, 2011 at 12:52 am |
My group and I presented to NCET today on the use of technology in education in the U.S. SInce we were meeting with government officials, I expected the building and our clients to be very cold. But, this was not the case at all. They were very friendly and wanted to have more of a discussion. Even though they needed time to process what we were saying, there English skills were great. One of our clients even had a degree in English Literature and used to work as a translator for American TV shows. After giving our presentation, our clients shared with us how they were using technology in education in China. I found it interesting that American companies such as Dell are helping more in improving eduction through technology than Chinese companies such as Lenovo.
It was interesting to speak to Alums at dinner and learn about their experiences living abroad. I was surprised to hear that AJ does not miss the beaches of LA and seems to have adapted very well to the Chinese culture.
March 23, 2011 at 8:11 am |
etting to our HP project was an experience. Our cab driver almost dropped us off at the wrong building but we were some how able to make it to the right office without being able to speak to one another.
Our HP presentation went much better than expected. We had a very interesting dialogue and it was surprising how little they knew about the American market considering they are an American based company.
Tim’s BBQ was a much needed American meal. While I’ve very much enjoyed the local food it was nice to get a little flavor of home.
March 23, 2011 at 8:21 am |
I went to the NCET presentation on this day. I found the whole experience very interesting and the presenting group did a great job. They all spoke slowly and clearly which was perfect for the audience. In the lobby, there were various signs saying that the building was nonsmoking. But, as we ventured in the building I realized we were in an ashtray! Smoking appears to be a much more common workplace activity in China. I was also surprised to see for the first time that most Chinese offices use Lipton tea. Some reason I expected something a little more uniquely Chinese.
March 23, 2011 at 1:12 pm |
The Lenovo presentation today went great. Our team had a productive morning running through the presentation and we definitlely brought it in front of the VP of Strategy and his team. There were lots of questions about the feasibility of a consumer tablet device in the healthcare workspace and lots of constructive learning on both sides of the table. Although Lenovo REALLY thinks the product needs a stylus pen included, so we will see what the end product looks like. Either way, I was really impressed with the rest of my team and thought that we added value for the Lenovo group.
Later that night, we met some interesting alumni at Tim’s BBQ and ate some really fatty brisket, the likes of which I have not yet experienced in Texas, but I was still very tasty and the group had a great time at dinner. We also learned later that night how tough it can be to navigate the streets of Beijing, but saw a great show at the Chocolate club and it was a great way to end day 4.
March 23, 2011 at 5:19 pm |
Company visit hp. Went really well they were very nice. They wanted to know more about the American consumer then we thought. So I wished we had prepared more general information. Bu overall they seemed Very positive. Ryan gave us a strange assignment he assigned each of an executive position in a company and we are to design a product that can compete with apple’s products.