Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Hanoi


After a five great days in Hong Kong, it is time to start the second leg of my journey. Good morning Vietnam! Gemma, Alex and I headed to Hanoi for the first stop on our Vietnamese adventure, to be met the next day by Laura and Zahra who still had a couple finals to take before letting their hair down on holiday. 

None of us have been to Vietnam before, so our first night's dinner was an adventure. We went to Quan An Ngon, an open air restaurant that has a variety of street food dishs set up in stalls all around the perimeter of the tables. After some sign language and a lot of laughing, we ended up with some really great food. After dinner, we attempted to go to the Summit Bar at the top of the Sofitel where we had heard the view of the city was really great. Unfortunately, we went to the wrong Sofitel and instead enjoyed drinks on the ground floor while an awesome DJ spun for a virtually empty bar. #vietnamfail

After discussing our plans for the day with the super helpful staff at Hotel Rendezvous, we scurried into a cab to make it to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum before it closed at 11. Arriving at 10:45, we were hopeful that there wouldn't be much of a line. It didn't matter though, because in the summer the mausoleum closes at 10:30. Or in the winter it closes at 10:30; is it summer or winter? The conversation we had with the guard was a bit confusing...what I do know for sure is that we didn't get to see a dead guy. Tough loss.

Instead, we wandered around the Ho Chi Minh Museum which is nearby. It was a very interesting museum that pays homage to the former ruler of Vietnam. In three words, I'd describe it as artistic, weird, and propaganda. I left with more questions than I had when I arrived. The three of us walked around reading the Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh Wikipedia articles the whole time to fill in the massive gaps in information provided by the museum. 

After the museum, we wandered through the Old Town towards Hoan Kiem lake for lunch. We enjoyed a great meal at Avalon on the top floor of a building where we had a great view of the lake. After lunch we went to a water puppet show because everyone told us we had to do it. You don't have to do it. Take my advice. That is, of course, unless you're into the flute and weird puppets dancing in a shallow pool, in which case - this is your thing! (This was NOT my thing.)

Once Zahra and Laura arrived, we headed to the right Sofitel for sunset before dinner at Don's. The view was definitely worth a second try. Don's was also a fun rooftop spot overlooking the lake for some western food, live music, and lots of wine. Gemma even got proposed to by an old Vietnamese man! 


Thursday, March 26, 2015

Barcelona

To capture three months In one blog post would be impossible, but it would be unfair to leave Barcelona out of the blogosphere, so I'll attempt to give justice to my favorite places. Having the fortunate opportunity to live in a city like Barcelona for three months is afforded to few and I truly feel blessed that I got to eat, drink, and walk the city every day since January. As all good things do, my time has come to an end, so in homage to the city of Barcelona, I'll leave you with this: My Top 10.

10. Pimientos al Padron

While its bold to give a whole ranking to one food, I feel that Pimientos al Padron are worthy of the praise. Of course, some are made better than others, but they are almost always delicious. These little peppers are wonderfully fried in oil, salted to perfection and will please your senses with just the slightest hint of spice. Also, when you live in Spain, don't eat ham, and give up bread for Lent, they are a saving grace. 

9. Sutton

No list of a Barcelona Top 10 would be complete without at least one club, so rather than boring you with the typical touristy clubs at Puerto Olympico like Pacha and Opium, I'll tell you why Sutton earned the #9 spot. It all comes down to the people, and at Sutton on a Thursday night after IESE’s Bar of the Week, the “people” go to Sutton (or Bling Bling, but that's not important). Anywho, the dancing is great, the drinks are strong and the vibe makes the whole place worth the steep entry fee. 

8. Park Guell

Gaudi deserves some praise as Barcelona’s native tripper. Seriously, anyone who could dream up a park like this must have been on mushrooms. Or maybe, he was besties with Dr. Seuss. Wait…was Dr. Seuss on mushrooms? Sam I Am! The Spanish would love green eggs and ham!

7. La Pepita

It's hard to pick the BEST tapas place in Barca, but in my opinion, this is it. Until dining here, I didn't even know I liked octopus! And, how I do love my pulpo. The staff is super friendly, the food is exquisite, and the atmosphere is super casual and comfortable. What more could you ask for? 

6. Paseo de Gracia

Less for the shopping and more for the scenery, Paseo de Gracia became home to my workout routine as it's the easiest place near my apartment where I could run without stopping at a light every 30 seconds. The architecture along the avenue doesn't hurt. As the “Rodeo of Barcelona” if you will, you could spend your kid’s college fund easily on this street though, so I'd advise leaving your credit card at home and only visiting with running shoes in tow.

5. Cerveseria Catalan

Closeby to Paseo de Gracia is a fabulous place for large groups. As they don't take reservations, we often went there and had a drink while waiting before a fabulous meal of tapas for a reasonable price.  My favorites are the Huevos Cabraidos (literally translated as “Angry birds”) and the Calamarcitos (little deep fried squids). For such a busy place, the staff is surprisingly attentive. 

4. Sagrada Familia

The church that has been in construction….forever. I think they started in 1887, or something. For real. When I came to Barcelona for the first time in 2007, it was completely different so it was worth visiting again to see what has changed. Maybe they are onto something…most tourists won't pay €19 to go to the same place twice. 

3. Calçotada

What a weird tradition! Calçots are essentially a glorified green onion. They are so glorified in Catalunya that they celebrate them during harvest season by hosting large meals centered around - you guessed it – calçots! The onions are charred on the grill before being served. You then take them in your (rubber gloved) hands, dip them in yummy romesco sauce, hold them high above your head and eat them as a dog would if you dangled a treat above its head. Mmmmmm.

2. La Champanyeria Can Paixano

This. Place. Is. The. Best. Okay, I guess its second best, since I didn't make it #1, but it's a close second. With €3 bottles of rose champagne, I don't really feel like I need to explain, but that would be unfair. It's the dive bar of dive bars and yet, it's not even open late. Better yet, the line outside is longest during the day. Spaniards love to enjoy life, and that they do in this locale. There are no tables or chairs, you drop your trash on the floor, and the barmen trust you upon departure to remind them what you've consumed. A-okay in my books!

1. Quilombo

For the piece de resistance, I present Quilombo. Stumbling around L’Eixample one night, we were fortuitous enough to find this little gem. There is live music every night played by a variety of guitarists, but the main event is always this little old man whose face must have frozen in a smile. You sing (songs you don't know the words to), you dance, you eat exorbitant amounts of popcorn, and you are guaranteed to have a blast. It's a toss up between this place and one of my old haunts in Venice Beach, but this might be my favorite bar in the world.

Hong Kong

The time has finally come! For the past term, I've been working diligently at finishing my last few  of the MBA on exchange in Barcelona while intermittently planning the trip of a lifetime (or my lifetime at least). I'll admit that I've traveled quite a bit, but the one part of the world that still remains essentially untouched aside from a trip to Hong Kong when I was 13, Sri Lanka for spring break last year and my recent stint in China in January, is Asia. So, with three months until graduation and all of my courses complete, I hopped on a plane from Barcelona to Hong Kong to start my journey. 

The next three months look something like this:
Hong Kong
Vietnam
Cambodia
Philippines 
Thailand
Malaysia
Myanmar
Nepal

Sadly, I'm missing Laos, Indonesia and a few other spots I'd love to check out further north, but there is always another trip in my future to come back!

Having been to Hong Kong in 1999 with my family, I thought I knew what to expect. This trip showed me how much both the city and I have changed in the last 16 years. Or maybe mostly just me. There is a huge difference between visiting friends as an adult and traveling with your parents as a teenager, obviously, but the city really surprised me this time around. I remember when we were here last, the trip wasn't the favorite family vacation we'd been on. I really had a great time for the five days I was there though!

After arriving on the longest flight ever from Barcelona via Moscow, Laura and Zahra met me at the Airport Express station with some chocolate buns. They have both been studying abroad along with 20 other classmates of mine in Hong Kong since January. Nothing beats a local tour guide! We started the day with some Mexican food (gotta love an international city) before heading to the market at Stanley Beach. After a quick nap to revive my jet-lagged body, we headed to Soho for dinner at Yard Bird. As our table wasn't ready, we had a drink while waiting at Staunton when it started pouring rain out of nowhere. None of us had prepared for rain, so we ended up sprinting down the street to the restaurant in the rain without the cover of an umbrella and arrived at dinner soaked through our clothes looking like wet dogs. That didn't get in the way of a great meal or a fun time afterward at Bibo, a really cool bar just down the street.


The next day, Zahra and I decided to do something touristy and check out the Chi Lin Nunnery. A little planning should have maybe gone into this decision, because we somehow ended up riding the 116 bus the wrong direction. Lost in conversation, we didn't even notice the bus come to a halt when the driver came up to the second level and informed us we had reached the end of the line. Puzzled, we asked where we were and he responded asking where we were trying to go. We told him our destination and he said, "no worries, I'll take you there." We got our own private bus ride! He didn't stop once for the next half hour as he crossed Kowloon Bay and dropped us off right at the nunnery. Upon arrival at 4:15, we saw a sign at the entrance saying that the nunnery closed at 4:30. #hongkongfail

We raced through the nunnery which was a bit of a shame, because it was really beautiful. All of the Buddhas were women which I never knew existed. You go Buddha girl! Afterward, we wandered around the surrounding gardens which on their own are worth a visit. It is a really cool juxtaposition of the hustle and bustle of the new city and the peace and serenity of the past to be in this beautiful place with a pagoda and lotus flowers surrounded by skyscrapers all around.

The next day, after a delicious lunch at Crystal Jade, Simon (another friend from LBS studying in Hong Kong) and I went up to the peak for sunset. The view of the city from the top is incredible and we were extremely lucky to catch it on a clear day. 

This weekend was the Rugby Sevens Tournament as well, which was serendipitous timing for my visit. The Sevens is hard to explain if you haven't heard of it before, but basically, everyone gets dressed up in group costumes, watches (sort of) rugby teams from all over the world compete, and drink a little too excessively. All in all, it was a really fun day. My friends and I dressed as flamenco dancers and matadors - we even had a bull! After partying in the Sevens Village after the games ended, we headed to Lan Kui Fong, a hectic yet fun bar street to end the night.

On my last evening in Hong Kong, Gemma and Alex, who had arrived from London on Saturday, and I headed up to the Ozone Bar at the Ritz Carlton hotel for a cocktail and the light show. Something like 14 buildings have coordinated a light show at 8 every evening where they all light up and put on a sh for about fifteen minutes. To be completely honest, the show is underwhelming. Ozone is worth a visit though! Great view of the Hong Kong skyline from the top.

It seems that the best things to do in Hong Kong are shopping and eating. Just to name a few of the other delicious places I went while I was there, Chachawan was great northern Thai food, Fatty Crab for some sort of Asian fusion, Chicha was mediocre Peruvian, and last but not least, dim sum at Tim Ho Wan, the world's cheapest Michelin starred restaurant. My friends really showed me a good time this week. I look forward to returning to Hong Kong again someday (well, actually I'll be back for a night in 3 weeks).

A Coruña

In Spanish style, I'm writing this on a bus to a different airport than the one I was supposed to fly out of, because...Spain. 

For my final weekend in Spain before my Eat Pray Love experience begins, I went to visit my good friend Lumy who since moving away from Santiago had moved to Spain, gotten married and had the most gorgeous baby boy named Dany. 

Though the trip was short, it was amazing to catch up with her, share memories of our times in Chile and play with her son. La Coruña is in Galicia, a part of Spain I've never been to, so it want hard to convince me to book a flight considering how close it is to Barcelona and how far away we will be once I return to reality in Seattle next fall. 

Her apartment overlooks the Tower of Hercules which is the oldest (and only remaining) Roman lighthouse in the world. While Lumy was tending to Dany and doing whatever it is that mothers do (#nap) this morning, I hiked up the hill to the lighthouse to scale the stairs to the top and see the breathtaking views of the sea. The weather wasn't in our favor, so our attempt to visit the viewpoint at Mont de San Pedro after a fabulous meal at La Mafia ended in a Dany play session in the car while it hailed on us outside. 

Maybe I shouldn't blame Vueling but the forces that will be for the diversion of my flight. We'd planned to go to Santiago de Conpostela for the day, but the weather got in the way. Funnily enough - it is also the reason I'm ending up at the airport there to fly out. I have a feeling this is just the first of many rescheduled/diverted/cancelled/hopefullynotmissingMH370 flights in the next 3 months. 

Always the optimist, at least I can say that I was supposed to go diving at 8 tomorrow morning and (probably the same) weather caused them to cancel the dive. Now I can finish my advanced open water certification with Sarah in Thailand, I am not risking flying outside the recommended 24 hour period and I have a whole day left in Barcelona to buy a pair of sandals (absolutely necessary item in SE Asia which I don't have with me), pack and get some passport photos taken for my Cambodian and Napali visas. Everything happens for a reason!

Friday, March 20, 2015

Budapeshhhhhhhht

MARCH 1 TO 4, 2015

Though my first trip to Europe was at the ripe age of 6 years old when the dollar was strong and I flew for free thanks to having a pilot as a mother, there are still many parts of the continent I haven't seen. Traveling to me is like a contagious flu that I can't get a shot for and so while studying abroad in Barcelona, I have been tempted by my roommates and fellow exchange students, mostly haling from US business schools, to add a few new countries to my list.
Outside Matthias Church
Jenn and Ari, my roommates who attend Kellogg at Northwestern University near Chicago have been on the typical “Eurotour” common among American exchange students covering a different country every opportunity they have a break in classes. For me, having lived in London for a year and a half, my need (and funding) for such travel has been at arms with my desire to explore Barcelona and other parts of Spain I've yet to see. However, when the three of us realized that we all had four days free over Ari’s birthday, the obvious decision was to find a place none of us had ever been, book a cheap (and horrible) flight on Ryanair and head east (Eastern Europe, that is).
Hungarian Parliament from across the Danube River
In class last week, one of my professors lecture on three types of knowledge: things you know you know, things you know you don't know, and things you don't know you don't know. I'd place my knowledge of Hungary somewhere between things I knew I didn't know and things I didn't know I didn't know. Like, for example, did you know that Hungarians came from Mongolia? Or that the largest synagogue in Europe is in Budapest, only second in size compared to the rest of the globe to the one in New York – and that it survived the Holocaust despite the fact that 80% of the Jewish population did not? I definitely did not.
In the garden at the Jewish Synagogue - these are the graves of all the fallen Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust who have been named
Another part of the beautiful Jewish synagogue in Budapest
Our trip began with a late Sunday night arrival just in time to eat dinner at a delicious eatery near St. stephen’s basilica called Menzies . This meal was a great introduction to Hungarian cuisine. We dined on lagyos—a savory fried bread topped with sour cream and grated cheese—followed by goulash, spaetzel and chicken stuffed with feta and sundried tomatoes. AirBNB was a savior once again in terms of lodging choices as the apartment we stayed in was very centrally located on the Pest side of the Danube within walking distance to many sights and restaurants. Judit, the agent, was also extremely helpful proving us with guides to the city, a map and some local recommendations. On Monday morning, we decided on a free walking tour to get the lay of the land. 
In front of St. Stephen's Basilica
 The tour introduced us to St. Stephen’s Basilica which we returned to later in the day, the Chain Bridge, quite a bit of history about Hungarian inventors and Nobel prize winners, Castle Hill and ended at the gorgeous Matthias Church with a great view from Budapest of the Pest skyline across  the Danube. 

Jenn, fully satisfied, in front of Ruszwurm
After the tour, we visited Ruszwurm, the oldest confectionary in Hungary for our first taste of sour cherry strudel. We enjoyed another hearty Hungarian lunch at Hungarian Bisstro   before heading to Mandala Spa for world class pampering. After all that detox, we ate a light sushi dinner at Tokio before celebrating Ari’s birthday with champagne and watching a bootleg copy of Fifty Shades of Grey before calling it a night.
Hot and steamy Szechenyi Baths
Tuesday, we satisfied our curiosity about the reknowned Turkish baths Budapest is known for by visiting the Szechenyi Baths, but not before another goulash meal of course. We toured the Central Market, enjoyed some folk music, paroused the stalls filled with meat, fruit, hand embroidery and lace items, and filled our bellies with more rich food. Obviously, everyone wants to go bathe with a bunch of strangers after fried catfish, sauerkraut and dumplings, right? To say the least, the baths were an experience. To say a bit more, I'm glad I did it to see what the hype is all about, but I don't really need to repeat the experience again. The building was pretty, the water was stinky, and really, whose idea was it to put a giant pool outside in 45 degree (F) weather? Getting in feels great, but getting out is like slowly pulling a scab off. You just hope you can run inside before your really scar yourself by slipping on the wet marble stairs leading into the warmer pools indoors.
Ari blowing out the candles (on no less than our fourth desert)
No vacation is complete without a Michelin star, am I right? Probably not, but since it was Ari’s birthday and the week’s theme seemed to be “treat yourself” we dined at Onyx, an amazing 6 course tasting menu that did not fail to impress.

Shoes on the Danube
For our last day, we scratched the history itch by exploring the synagogue and the Hungarian National Museum along with a stroll along the Danube by the Hungarian Parliament building and the Shoes on the Danube, a monument to the Jews who were shot into the river in 1944 after Germany occupied their allied nation. We were then off to the airport back to Barcelona, but not before one more Hungarian treat – chimney cake, or Kürtőskalács at Molnar's Bakery . One thing I can say about Budapest, it will not leave you hungry!
View of St. Stephen's and the Chain Bridge from the top of Castle Hill

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Tenerife

Making good on my promise, I'll start off the new era of Walking on Sunshine with a most apt trip to the beach. Four friends of mine from school hopped on a dirt cheap flight to Tenerife for four days of sunshine, beaches and a little bit of R&R (as if we don't get enough of that in Barcelona). We spent all day Friday lying in the sun, swimming in the pool and drinking copious amounts of beer, because...when in Spain!

My impressions of the islands fall in line well with what TripAdvisor warned us about. There are a lot of old people here. As in, the average age is ~70. You'd really have a hard time guessing what country you were in if someone blindfolded you, put you on a flight and took it off when you got to the beach. Our first encounter with Igor, the leasing agent who gave us the keys to our apartment in Compostela Beach would be only the first Russian we came across. The signs here are all in Spanish, English, Russian and German. The people seem to be about the same, maybe except for the Spanish part. It's like the island is where European pensioners come to die. Doesn't bother me though! If it's 25 and sunny, I'm happy!

We rented a car on Saturday and drove around the island stopping midday at El Bollullo Beach. It was very secluded and beautiful. As the afternoon faded into evening, we hopped back into the car driving through the windy road in Masca Valley to catch sunset on the beach. We made it back to Playa de las Americas for dinner at Monkey Bar. The guys seemed to love the place for their quality steak. 

Sunday was more of the same blue skies and beaches. I think we achieved what we came for. We wandered down to Costa Adeje for sunset and enjoyed yummy mango caipiroskas at Papagayo Beach Club before dinner at Chunga Changa where I had one of the best spaghettis I've ever eaten. The Canarian wine was great too! With only three days left of the MBA, I feel like I recharged my batteries enough for the final push. Next stop, La Coruña!

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Obligatory China post

As promised, I am delivering a boring post about three days of class in Shanghai where we learned about the way that business is done in China. The course focused on operations, so we visited a logistics company, a warehouse, a port and saw the floor at Nokia's Chinese network headquarters. If this sounds boring, stop reading here. If you are intrigued, read on to find out more about what business school is all about. I promise to go back to fun vacation stories in my next post! 

Day 1
Fresh off the plane from California, I excitedly began my two week adventure in China exploring topics in Managing Global Operations, Corporate Finance in Emerging Markets and China Globalization and the World. First on the docket was Jaume Ribera and Wei Luo’s class on operations in China.
After a brief introduction of the course, Prof. Ribera introduced Weiyin Yang from Chervon Holdings, a company that makes power drills, benches and other tools. He explained the history of the company, how they’ve expanded in China, their own brand products versus products produced for other brands and certain JVs they’ve entered into such as the one with Bosch.
One thing that I found particularly interesting was that the company promotes themselves as an American brand for their EGO and Hammerhead products sold at Home Depot in the US rather than drawing attention to the fact that they are Chinese. The reason for this, as Mr. Yang explained, was that there is a belief that American consumers may not be ready to accept a Chinese tool as a reliable product. Similarly, when marketed in the South American markets, the brands are promoted as popular US brands. Mr. Yang also introduced the discussion about how rising labor costs in China are causing the company to reconsider their production practices, a theme that would recur a number of times throughout the next few days. Chervon has been dealing with rising labor costs by focusing a lot more on automatization to cut costs throughout the value chain. While labor only accounts for 5% of costs on average, each component carries that 5% so it adds up. The company also combats this issue by hiring a number of temporary workers at peak times such as Chinese New Year and Christmas. Though costs are rising, Chinese culture has embedded in it a sense of efficiency which gives them an advantage over other emerging markets like Mexico. While labor costs in Mexico are similar to China, they have a slower pace and less access to the entire supply chain which is centered regionally by industry in China.
Mr. Emilio Salazar from Roca then took over the discussion to give us insights on the globalization of a Spanish bathroom products and sanitization company and his career as an expatriate. Roca truly is a global company with a presence in 135 markets. The interesting thing about the company is that it is still 100% family-owned with nearly 100 years of experience in the industry. The board of directors is in the 3rd and 4th generations of the family.  Roca has grown both by acquisition and organically with the acquisition of Keramik Laufen (Swiss company) really pushing them to becoming a global leader increasing their turnover by 50% and surpassing Kohler in size. According to Mr. Salazar, there are four key drivers to becoming a global operator: 1) complete solutions, 2) internationalization, 3) global brands, and 4) local brands. The company has design teams all over the world based on a frame of several design offices with over 150 multicultural and multidisciplinary designers and engineers. This spurs innovation and a better understanding of market needs across the global portfolio and allows them to adapt better to local markets.
After sharing his insights on globalization from a corporate point of view, Mr. Salazar moved into an interesting discussion about his career as an expat. This was particularly interesting to me, as I have lived for the past four years as an expat myself and plan to continue along this path in the future. Some of the things he said that really resonated with me were his comments about flexibility and willingness to adapt to “other ways of doing.” When I was living in Chile, I quickly learned that I wasn’t going to change the way business was done there, so I had to adapt to the way that Chileans did business or I would never succeed. In regards to career planning, he mentioned that it can be very hard to plan your return. There are too many variables that are out of your control. I couldn’t agree more—that’s why I decided to get my MBA!

The next part of the day included a visit to the Nokia Networks factory. Having spent my summer interning at Microsoft, I was excited to visit Nokia’s factory since Microsoft recently acquired their mobile phone business. It didn’t take long for me to realize that we were at the factory of the piece of Nokia that was not acquired and has nothing to do with Microsoft. Nonetheless, it was interesting to learn about the different quality requirements between products produced for the Japanese market compared to the Chinese market and to see the production line in action. Mr. Jose Menendez who gave us the tour explained to us that the industry requires a decrease in costs of 15% each year due to pressure from operators. As one could imagine, this is quite challenging because they have to be on the cutting edge of technology to remain competitive. The networks industry has a very fierce competitive landscape, high scrapping costs due to technology and demand changes, low forecast accuracy, short lead times, and therefore requires a very flexible supply chain. Sounds simple, right? Despite all this, Nokia believes they can continue growing because on average their attrition rate is much lower than the rest of China and employees are very loyal. Also, the government gives a 50% tax break for companies who invest in high-tech R&D and achieve a High Teach Certification (which Nokia has). The company encourages continuous improvement with Friday session asking for ideas from employees and middle-management which has led to savings of 3.6 million Euros in the last year and rewards employees for good ideas. All in all, it sounds like a great place to work!  Based on what Mr. Menendez told us, it seems that they have a good understanding of the their supply chain, labor in China and the competitive landscape to position the company to remain a leader in the industry for years to come.
The day ended with a discussion with Franc Kaiser from InterChina Consulting. His firm has given the year 2014 in China a great label: “Crossing the river by touching the stones, clear direction with short-term uncertainties.” The notion is that growth isn’t the only priority any more. China needs a more harmonious society with a good balance of unemployment, inflation and GDP growth. Watching the news about Davos last night, the commentator said something very similar about how China’s growth in 2014 was slower than it has been in over 20 years, however this isn’t something to be concerned about. While the country has been growing at an extremely rapid rate in the past two decades, the slowing of their growth (to 7.5%, cough) shouldn’t be alarming. What it really means is that things are beginning to stabilize. Mr. Kaiser’s response to this change is that China’s strategies need to be more responsive; new success factors are being added, while the old ones become even more important. He also discussed at length the automatization tsunami – production costs are really ­increasing; labor costs have reached a tipping point. Companies are beginning to pull out and move their production to Mexico, a theme that we heard earlier in the day. Salaries are still growing at 10% to 15% for blue collar workers. Workers are getting to the point where they are too expensive for China to delay automating their processes. There are also problems with labor availability and retention, which was brought up at Nokia by Mr. Menendez. People desire more challenging work that provides them with better opportunities. Policies toward automation are being pushed in many manufacturing-heavy provinces. Compared with the past, F&B and pharma will provide new emerging opportunities for automation providers. Some of the players to look out for in the next few years are Inovance, SIASUN, Estun Automation, GSK, Invt, and Supcon. If was Mr. Kaiser says is correct, these are the Siemens of tomorrow. I think I might know where I am going to invest my money next!
Day 2
Day two kicked off with a visit to the Yanshang ports, the world’s largest port. We drove there across a 32 km bridge surrounded by turbines out in the water. The bridge and the port were immense. It was really impressive. I’ve been to the ports in Houston, TX, Long Beach, CA, Valparaiso, Chile, and Seattle, WA – all of which are quite big, or so I thought. None of those come close to comparing to the size of the port at Yanshang. On the way there, Cristina Castillo shared some of her research and background about the port, certain regulations and gave us an overview of maritime logistics and its developing challenges. While she was able to explain well the import/export process when things go according to plan, she noted that she is restricted from visiting the port when things are out of line. After visiting the port, we visited the Free Trade Zone nearby. Inside the Free Trade Zone, there was a show room for cars that recently arrived to the zone and a foreign goods market selling all sorts of international products at prices that are much lower than you would find at a market anywhere else in China. The reason for this is because the transport costs haven’t been added on, as there isn’t any middle man between when the items arrive into China and make it into the hands of the buyer. After spending the day yesterday learning about global companies that operate in China, it was interesting to learn about how products move in and out of the country.

After our trips to the port and Free Trade Zone, we returned to CEIBS to discuss the Mattel case. This case gave some interesting insights on the way that people, especially in the US respond to the media. While the real problems that Mattel had which had caused a number of recalls in 2007 related to design of their toys with small magnets that could be swallowed, the media quickly blew things out of proportion blaming Chinese manufacturers for using lead paint. There were far more units recalled from the design problems than the lead paint. Mattel took certain measures to deal with the media storm, first by lumping problems together, then apologizing to China, introduction quality checks and taking better control over their suppliers. China also went on a PR offensive by announcing official inspections, revoking the licenses of certain suppliers (such as Lee Der) and making a public pledge to improve product safety. The main takeaway from the case was that no matter what you do for PR, you have to crack the system—you must ensure the whole chain works. The weakest link in the chain determines the strength of the whole chain.
Day 3
As the course came to an end, our last day began with a discussion of Nokia and how they were able to respond quickly to a fire at Philips while Ericsson lost market share as a result of their failure to respond. Nokia’s success lent from having procedures in place to remedy any issue in their supply chain and a well-planned chain of communication. Upper management heard about the fire at the Philips plant almost two full weeks before Ericsson ever knew about it. This gave them a chance to secure any excess capacity of chips before Ericsson could and their production went out without a hitch. Conversely, Ericsson wasn’t able to meet their release deadline for their next model of phone and their stock price plummeted. What we can learn from this case is that a well-planned supply chain and communication are key to being flexible and responding to any problems that might arise due to issues at any point along the supply chain. You are not immune to the problems of your suppliers!
For our last visit of the course, we loaded back up on the bus and headed to Lifestyle Logistics. I was really excited about this visit, mainly because I wanted to see rooms full of designer goods. J Mr. Andre Suguiura was a very knowledgeable speaker and taught us a number of things about the luxury goods market and logistics in China. Apparently, 25% of the world’s luxury goods market is in China. Chinese customers are now looking for more differentiation and quality than in the past where the label (or as he called it “Bling Bling”) meant more. For luxury goods, there are three distribution channels: direct operated stores, partners and distributers, and e-commerce sites. Traditional retail is characterized by high rental costs and low availability of top locations. There are over 1,000 malls under construction in China, which is also the home to some of the biggest flagship stores in the world. Interestingly, luxury conglomerates are becoming developers to deal with the challenges they face in the Chinese market. E-commerce is really growing in China as well. There are 550 million internet users in China—that’s more than people in the whole US! Of those users, almost 70% of users search for luxury brands each month. Sounds like the luxury brands are doing well here. Such a large interest in luxury brands in China comes with its challenges. Some of these challenges include customs inspections and classifications, China retail labeling requirements, CIQ statutory supervision for imported textile, logistics distribution, and random inspections and sample testing at retail shops by SAIC. Before our tour of the warehouse facilities, Mr. Suguiura left us with some recommendations for retail logistics in China: define a logistics model that will sustain growth in China and consider pretesting swatches in an accredited test lab. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take home a goody bag of defective goods, but I can always hope that someday I will be invited to a “Family Sale” at Lifestyle.
It was a really enlightening three days. I can’t believe how much my knowledge of China has grown in such a short amount of time. I will look at China going forward through a different lens based on the perspectives given by all of the guest speakers and company visits this week. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll follow the advice of Mr. Salazar and volunteer to work in China.

Hiatus

After a long hiatus from blogging, I've realized how much I've missed it. It truly is a lot of work, but also reminds me where I've been and why it was awesome! I wrote a few blogs about Shanghai, Beijing and Budapest recently, but can't seem to figure out where I saved them on my iPad, so when I find them, I'll upload them. Or I won't. Because I lost them.

I do, however have a boring post about some companies I visited in China as part of the course I was taking there. I'll upload it, but you don't have to read it. It's pretty boring. It shows that aside from travelling the world and enjoying every moment of life, every once in a while I actually do attend school and learn things. After you read the next boring post, stay posted for updates over the next three months for my adventures during my last 2 weeks in Spain and my journey around Southeast Asia. It's gonna be a wild ride!