Bukky Final Post - China Trip

The International Business Management trip to China, Shanghai and Beijing, will certainly be remembered for quite a while. I am personally very grateful for the experience to visit the country and experience first hand the people and their culture. Certain perceptions turned out to be untrue and new perceptions were developed both good and bad.


Our group left Chicago via United Airlines on Friday March 12th, 2010. It was a 14 hour flight to Shanghai. It was a long and somewhat uncomfortable flight but we landed safely in Shanghai. We were met by our tour guide Molly and the bus driver. Molly was a very effective tour guide and she regalled us with different stories about the Shanghai woman which were very interesting and funny. She adapted to our style and was very helpful in many situations. My first interaction with Chinese Immigration was a bit unexpected. They must have thought I had someone elses passport because they spent some time staring at my passport and then staring at my face in order to reconcile both images. They even had me sign my name as shown on my passport. The thought going through my mind was that if and when I decide to relocate from the US, it would certainly not be to China so I have no reason for trying to enter the country illegally.


My first view of Shanghai was a bit surprising. I was caught a bit off guard by the modern buildings and high rises. In the shadow of the high rises were shanty, dingy buildings and the contrast was a bit stark. The hotel in Shaghai was also much better than expected, it had been drilled into me by everyone that I know that had previously visited China that the pictures on the website were much better than the actual hotel. This turned out to be the case for the Best Western hotel in Beijing though.


SHANGHAI EXPERIENCE:


Broadway Mansions: The experience was very positive. The hotel standard exceeded my expectations. I loved the bed, very comfy. The location was a bit depressing cos there was so much construction going on. The water in the river was very murky. The sight of the buildings near by and across the river was not bad especially at night with all the lights. The staff seemed courteous and somewhat helpful. Seemed to have a better grasp of the english language and this made communication easier. The breakfast area was abit roudy, with people cutting in front of you and there did not seem to be much organization. The quality of the breakfast was average, at least it filled the belly for a few hours.


McDonalds: The visit was very interesting and positive. Quite impressed with the Dean of the Hamburger U from Hongkong. Very articulate, well spoken professional. The staff was very friendly and seemed to take pride in their work. They had a different attitude from the regular US McDonald employee that we are used to. The quality of the food was a little better and cheaper. You can get a value meal for $2. The environment was very clean though there were some people with their heads on the table taking a nap. This seems to be a common occurence in China as a whole. The district manager indicated he had been promoted about 9 times since joining the company, this was impressive. The use of a translator was also very professional. The quality and caliber of employees we met was very good. Though our experience at other McDonalds as casual visitors was not as positive, the visit to this particular establishment was quite positive for us. I liked the children's ice cream in the little cones and the freshly made spicy chicken was delicious.



CTRIP: Indeed a trip. I am very glad we had the opportunity to experience the culture, atmoshpere, environment and way of doing business in a traditional Chinese company partly owned by the government. I was very grateful when the visit was over. My impression of the company is that it is a factory style business located in a nice office building. Right from the start, the conference room we sat in on the first floor was cold and the chairs were very dirty. Not the type of impression I would want to give to business visitors cos it is a representation of the company itself. The visit with the HR manager has left a lasting impression with me. We were shown videos about the company that did not really tell us much about the company, their goals, visions, accomplishments, corporate responsibility and so on. The HR manager was not very willing to answer our questions and would not permit us to take pictures of the employees or the company. When we requested to visit the Call Center, we were given a tour of the parking lot instead. That was quite puzzling. It seemed everything was very secretive and they were overly cautious. Our contact Frances did not want the HR manager to be aware that we had already met with one of their other managers before meeting with her. There just seemed so much attempt to cover up and they were not very straight forward.

The company was filled with young workers who seemed to be required to work long hours and the benefits may not be very good. One thing that resounded with me was that the HR manager kept saying they reinforce (program) to the employees that the customers come first and it was almost like a drill or brainwashing. I was sincerely happy when the visit was over. In a way they fit the mold of what my expectations of a Chinese company would be like, so I guess I was not dissappointed.



Kuehne and Nagle: The visit to this German owned and Swiss based company was one of the best visits we had. We had the opportunity to directly compare and contrast side by side the management and communication style of a western trained manager and a Chinese trained manager (Ken Wu). Steffan, the German trained manager had a communication style similar to what we are familiar with in the US, free flowing and interactive. The Chinese HR manager's style was very structured and detailed. He did not seem to be able to operate outside the structure he had already put in place. Each time he answered our questions, he needed to revert back to the 270 page slides he had prepared to support his answers. It kind of reinforced the fact that the Chinese are very monochronic, structured and not very creative in their communication style. The information provided on the company was very informative though it was detailed and lenghty. I personally really enjoyed the opportuntiy to meet steffan and I like his communication style which was casual, charming and informative. The company was very open and there was not the atmosphere of secretiveness and oppression that we experienced at CTrip.

Grainger: This is an American based company that started operations in China in recent years. Jeffrey Yen the VP and GM of the China branch is American trained but Chinese born and so his style was a mixture of both cultures. On first apprearance he seem very stern and disciplined and I thought he might not be too responsive to our questions. He may have been a little upset about our being late to the meeting as a result of the high traffic congestion. We were given a tour of the warehouse by Brian Lawson who is also American trained but probably Chinese born. The warehouse was quite impressive and the number of products Grainger carries was quite high. As with most companies that set up in China, the cost savings comes in the form of low labour costs and Grainger was also taking advantage of this benefit.
Jeffrey met up with up after the tour and spent time giving us an overview of the company and answering our questions. Though he was trained in the US, you can tell his first allegiance is to China. He also told us how well China is doing and coming right behind the US and would probably over take the US in economic growth soon. I sincerely hope not. Altogether, an interesting operation, company and visit.

OTHER:

I enjoyed the opportunity to eat at the persian restaurant and the neighbourhood the restaurant was located. I still laugh out loud when I remember our first experience with Chinese fake products - the purchase of the Samsomite luggage. The flight to Beijing was uneventful except for the lack of confidence in the maintenance program of the Chinese. My fear was that perhaps their planes were not well maintained and the flight was suceptible to a crash as a result and they would cover up the details and no one would know what happened to us. Other than that, I was able to take a long nap.

BEIJING EXPERIENCE:

Landing in Beijing brought us in contact with Nelson our next tour guide. He was not as adaptive as Molly and he really typifies the non creative, inflexible Chinese person. Nelson thought we had too much freedom because we tended to freeflow and do things on our own. He wanted us to operate within a more structured environment where we followed him and listened to him and waited for him to tell us what to do. His solution was to not be as helpful as Molly and sort of give up on us by allowing us to do our own thing after instructing us to make sure we first follow Nelson.
My first impression of Beijing was gloomy skies. The air polution in both cities really got to me. I had to wear the surgical mask to protect my respiratory system. Beijing did not seem as cosmopolitan as Shanghai and the people were not as friendly. Most could not communicate in english and half the time were down right rude. The store clarks need to be given sensitivity and customer service training and the citizens as a whole need to be given ettiquette training. The spitting of mucous right in front of you on the streets was horrible, the stench from the pit toilets was nauseous, the peeing on the streets or on the side of the bridge was terrible and the smoke from chain smoking Chinese people was a killer.

Shanghai was a pleasant experience and a pleasant surprise. Beijing on the other hand made me ready to come home.

ABB Voltage: I was very happy this was the company assigned to me. Turned out the president was a woman. I am a big fan of successful professional women becos I aspire to be one too. The visit with ABB was remarkable. We were met by Jackie Xiao, the product manager for the company. The tour of the facility was very intersting and informative. I don't think I have ever experienced a manufacturing plant closely. One notable event during the walk through was when we were at the Robotic arm. The robotic arm tests the products for defect and re-routes back for repair of the defect. Madam Wang stepped into the conversation to clearly state it was not because the products were defective that they did not pass the test but because they were some minor adjustments that needed to be made to the products based on their rigorous standard before it could be moved along to the next stage. It seemed like she felt it necessary to clarify their technology was very good and the quality of their products was very high.
I really enjoyed the questions and answer session especially Madam Wang's response to my question about her leadership style and the challenges she faces as a women in a men's world.
Her response was she was always willing to learn from everybody, responsibility for self and others, work hard and add value.
This was the only company that presented us a gift in retun. Though they were all Chinese and probably Chinese trained, their communication and management style was a bit similar to the western culture. It may be because this is an European company and the corporate culture supercedes the social culture.

Allied Pickford: Scott was very informative. Our conversation seem geared more towards the the Chinese culture and the people. He was able to give us insights into the country from the perspective of a foreigner which we could all relate to. He was honest about the difficulties of doing business in China, the challenges and the rewards. It seems most of the single expatriate men end up marrying the locals. This raises the issue of racial assimilation. My understanding is that the Chinese are very prejudiced especially towards races of a darker skin tone. With different groups of people coming over to look for business opportunities, there will be mixing with the locals and there is a need for them to become more accepting of people different from them. Per Scott, most of Allied Pickfords business comes from the expatriate market because is has been difficult to convince the Chinese they need the services of a moving company. Most Chinese on assignment abroad simply travel with a suitcase full of clothes and adjust to their new environment. Maybe it is because they are used to a hard way of life unlife the westerners who like their comfort and are used to having their comfort.

Climbing the Great Wall was the highlight of my trip. That was an accomplishment for me personally. I was almost derailed by fear and overcoming that fear marked a new chapter in my life. I enjoyed the visit to the Forbidden city, Tianemen Sq., Temple of heaven and the stadium because it was fabulous to be standing in places I have only seem on TV or movies and never thought I would visit.

Altogether, a wonderful trip well worth the time and money. It was a one time experience for me as I do not see myself visiting China again. When I go back that way, it will be to Hongkong.
I appreciate the opportunity to have had the direct cultural exposure and to have seen the way foreign and local companies do business, manage their employees, the communication styles and the various leadership skills they possess. Some of the encounters met my expections, some were below and some were above. Indeed a life changing experience that I will not be forgetting anytime soon.