2010-03-15 West meets East (Rick post 8)

Today, we visited two companies with markedly different corporate cultures: C-Trip and Kuehne + Nagel.

C-Trip was our first stop of the day. It's essentially a by-phone travel agency catering to China and was the only Chinese-owned company we visited. It the largest travel agency in China and one of the largest call centers in the world, employing more than 6,000 people at its Shanghai headquarters. C-Trip's primary philosophy is taking care of its customers. In fact, Customer Service Department General Manager Eric Liu said "the customer is our god."

Visiting C-Trip was an interesting experience because it really drove home the fact that companies are shaped by their markets. It's hard to imagine C-Trip succeeding in America, where many of us use sites like Expedia and Travelocity to make travel plans. But we learned that many Chinese people do not use the Internet for shopping and they feel more comfortable making purchases over the phone. C-Trip has been extremely successful at catering to this demand.

We noticed C-Trip employees were allowed to dress casually, but ate lunch at their desks and seemed to work long hours. The office also included a game room for employees to relax with foosball and pool tables. The C-Trip executives took us on a tour (which inexplicably included a stop in the parking lot), but did not actually show us their call center and seemed somewhat loathe to discuss the specifics of their business.

I noticed something at C-Trip that seemed to be a reflection of Chinese academic culture and that I found rather odd. Prior to our trip, we learned that many Chinese schools publicly post students' grades and rank them. C-Trip also had some method of granting "points" to employees and posted little cartoon drawings of the employees on walls. I get the feeling this wouldn't fly at most U.S. companies.

After leaving C-Trip, my classmate Brittne and I attempted to stop for a quick lunch at a Korean BBQ restaurant. No one at the restaurant spoke English, so we just pointed to random items on the menu that had good looking pictures. I had not traveled outside of the U.S. before and had never really been in a situation where I couldn't communicate with someone. It's a humbling experience, particularly when you're reduced to using crude charades before your food has even arrived to explain you need a box because you're going to be late for your next meeting.

We went to Kuehne + Nagel after lunch. This global logistics company arranges international shipping for its customers all across the world. We met with the Shanghai branch's Sales and Marketing Manager Stefan Enneking and Training & Development manager Ken Wu.

In contrast to C-Trip, which caters only to China, K + N is a global business with more than at more than 900 branches in more than 100 countries (including an office in Alsip, IL). We discussed the shipping business and learned Shanghai is a particularly important city for shipping companies because of the massive Yangshan Deep Water Port.

We learned that K + N places a great deal of emphasis on employee development. The company recognizes that its employees are a valuable asset and makes a serious effort to educate them and groom them for higher positions within the company. In fact, K + N even founded its own MBA program in Hamburg.

I think this taught me something valuable about the modern global business environment. There are a lot of opportunities out there if you're willing to travel and step outside your comfort zone. It can pay to be flexible, particularly during a troubled economy.

The weather in Shanghai has been exceptionally humid and overcast so far. We're all hoping for a nice sunny day! Also, I tried a century egg at breakfast today. I've liked most of the Chinese cuisine so far, but not this. Oh well.