China Apprentice

“If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of everyone, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it.” - Thomas Jefferson

Photo by Fatty Tuna

China is often admired for its vibrant variety of cuisine, a long and enchanting history, delicate ceramic, silk, and other cultural arts, not to mention, a vibrant street market of cheap copied DVDs, pirated software, and fake designer clothing. The dichotomy of rich cultural heritage based in Confucian and Daoist doctrine paired with an almost flagrant neglect for characteristically “western” values for intellectual property rights (IPR) can surprise the unassuming visitor. The fakes, the poor product quality, and an apparent disregard for IPR make foreign governments and businesses unsure of China’s innovation potential. Understanding the past, present, and future of China IPR is key to successful business in China.

Foreign media consistently overwhelms the international community with impressive statistics of China’s growth. That growth is enthusiastically fueled by continual investment from the world’s multinational corporations in the new “socialist economy with Chinese characteristics.” Depending on the source, China’s GDP growth hovers at just a fraction under 10% year-on-year – a record for a country’s development by almost any standard. The so-called “gradualist-reform” inspired by Deng Xiaoping’s famous Southern Tour in 1992 and subsequent opening of the economy that led to China’s eventual inclusion in the World Trade Organization in 2001 has attracted a frenzy of foreign direct investment and an overall global rush to enter the China market. Annual factory growth, though slowing in recent months, holds steady at around 17% while export growth hovers around 20-30% . It wasn’t long before the world recognized China would become the “factory of the world”. The technical competitive advantages of companies opening facilities in China rolled in on waves of technology and intellectual property transfer. Literally millions of China’s poorest citizens were trained to operate all manner of machinery in order to manufacture anything the world ordered.

The more Gucci pocketbooks and James Bond movies China’s workers manufactured, the more local people realized they might like one or two themselves. After all, a fake Rolex from one of the original Rolex factories really didn’t seem so different from the real thing sold for thousands times the price in downtown London. Fakes and counterfeit products are good export moneymakers too. In fact piracy and counterfeiting has been consistently on the rise since China took the title from Taiwan, Russia, and Southeast Asia. The Geneva Chamber of Commerce claims that 7% of all global trade is counterfeit goods. Estimates put foreign firm’s losses at $20 billion annually with two out of five companies losing more than 20 percent of their local revenue sometimes reaching as much as $150 million annually. And this isn’t just fake CDs and DVDs. Half the motorcycles sold in the China market are imitations of Japanese Yamaha and Honda. 97% of 1300 synthetic medicines produced in China are copies. High-technology items, such as microprocessors, are knocked off as well, modified to accommodate pirated components in video game consoles or computers thereby creating a value-chain based on piracy. There’s often no way to reliably tell if a product is real or not. Of course, most people probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that the “US-based Business Software Alliance claims that 96 percent of China’s software is illegally copied.” A CD of software on the street sells for less than a dollar and legitimate stores are virtually nonexistent. The processes for mitigating the mass IPR problems are weak at best. It can take five to six years in China to successfully remove a bad-faith trademark that violates IPR. Counterfeit products take up valuable Chinese domestic market share and are also aggressively exported overseas creating a real problem for both Chinese and foreign companies trying to leverage corporate intellectual property in China. (more…)

I’m excited to take part in this year’s Lingnan Sun Yat-sen INDUSTRAT competition. Though the course may be an elective and I’ve already taken the required number of MBA elective courses (actually well over the required three), I was compelled to sign up. I’m interested to see what a “capstone” course for an MBA could be all about. I’m also a little scared to think that this intense four-day simulation could test all the things we’ve learned in this MBA over the past year and a half. A guest professor in from Hong Kong coupled with a famous simulation program developed by the great minds at one of the world’s best business schools, INSEAD, makes me more than a little curious about the 2007 Business Strategy Simulation.

I remember it was a mad rush to register for the class when it came available. A new online registration system at Lingnan like any new online system, didn’t work when it was supposed to let us sign up for the course. With suspense building, when the course finally was released to the Lingnan masses, it was a swift dash to find an open cable port for the student’s laptops and log in to the system. I slipped in the course just two people from the course limit.

And I’m glad I made it. It was enough to pique my interest when I first received the preparatory course materials for this course – 孙子兵法 or The Art of War by Sun Tzu (full text translation). A longtime enthusiast of Chinese philosophical thought, I was delighted to learn this strategy course wouldn’t be all about western ideas but would focus on possible the father of all strategic thought, Sun Tzu.

I’ve advocated before that I think Lingnan should focus more on some of the decidedly Chinese contributions to management theory and practice. The emphasis these days in MBA programs is so much focused on the ideas of a bunch of gray-haired white guys. The world is waking up slowly to the fact that China has a lot more to offer to the greater education community. This course is just one example.

The professor, 赵越 Oliver Yue, got me interested the minute he walked in the room and started to introduce himself. I was particularly inspired by what he claims is a theme in his life stemming from the repetition of a particular Chinese radical in his name, 走 which means to go or walk or otherwise indicate movement. Whether inherited from birth or motivated by the aspirations of his parents, Dr. Yue, makes a point to live his life reflecting a common Chinese proverb, 读万卷书，行万里路 or read 10,000 books, travel 10,000 miles. I don’t know about the books (though a PhD probably gets close), but he’s certainly made his round of travels. He’s been to all seven continents and snapped some fantastic photos along the way. Now, a man who lives by such mantra, enjoys the art of photography AND studies the application of ancient Chinese philosophy to modern business is a man of interest in my book.

In fact, not only do a frequently quote the same Chinese proverb and take gazillions of travel photos, but it was just yesterday that I gave a very similar final presentation in my Strategic Management class on the management interpretation of The Art of War. I was surprised to learn that the Dr. Yue’s lesson preparing us for the first day of simulation drew some very familiar connections in strategy with Sun Tzu.

In many ways I agree that a war’s battlefield can be much like the business environment （孙子管理思想？）. Perhaps Sun Tzu’s most famous line 知彼知已者，百战不殆 epitomizes the importance of having valuable information both about your own company and your competitors (to include customers, users, key actors, suppliers, etc.). To evaluate yourself, your enemy and the environment, Sun Tzu tells us凡此五者，将莫不闻，知之者胜，不知者不胜.

There is no general who has not heard of these five factors. Yet it is he who masters them that wins and he who does not that loses. When assessing the outcome of a war, compare the two sides in terms of these factors and appraise the situation accordingly.

The five factors he refers to are now often quoted in business strategy texts. 故经之以五事，校之以计而索其情：一曰道 – The Way, 二曰天 – Heaven, 三曰地 – Earth, 四曰将 – Command, and 五曰法 – Doctrine.

Modern theorists (relatively modern that is compared to 300 BC) have developed strategy frameworks that conveniently match some of The Art of War’s basic ideas. 天者，阴阳，寒暑，时制也. Dr. Yue highlights the relationship between Master Sun’s factor of “heaven” and David Baron’s market and non-market environment summarized in the acronym PEST – political, economic, social, technological not to mention the public and the media. Not only do these aspects affect the “business climate” represented by the heaven factor but we can also consider Michael Porter’s 5 Forces - Suppliers, Buyers, New entrants, Substitute Products, and Competition.

Modern theory coincides even more with Sun Tzu’s famous work. Henry Mintzberg’s Five P’s, Perspective, Position, Ploy, Pattern, and Plan match almost perfectly with Sun’s 5 factors, respectively. 道者，令民与上同意也。故可以与之死，可以之生，而不畏危. The Way can be compared to modern corporations’ core competencies and social responsibility. 地者，远近，险易，广狭，死生也. The idea of Earth representing distance, terrain, land, and place can be related to the company through internal analysis of resources, labor, capital, transportation, etc. Jay Barney uses such a resourced-based view to evaluate a firm’s financial, physical, human, and organizational capital thereby helping companies capitalize on resources with value, rarity, imitability, and organization. 将者，智，信，仁，勇，严也. Command, on the other hand, is the ability of the company leadership to implement strategy using the five characteristics of a general that also apply to any organization’s leaders:

Wisdom – recognize changing circumstances, active involvement in planning process
Sincerity – towards employees for soliciting their feedback and input
Benevolence – incentive system
Courage – no hesitation to make decisions which capitalize on an opportunity
Strictness – discipline for self and others

法者，曲制，官道，主用也. The last of the five factors, doctrine, is modifying the structure of the organization to facilitate strategy. This must happen at all levels of the organization: corporate, business, and functional. Though Sun likely didn’t have common business-level strategies in mind when he penned his words, concepts of specialization, diversification, integration, outsourcing, and strategic alliance are found in cryptic form throughout the text. Gary Hamel’s idea of Business Concept Innovation (BCI) is but one way to create a unique strategy that creates competitive advantage over competitors.

Sun Tzu tells Generals to evaluate the competition with the five factors by asking a series of questions. These questions can be directly related to key business strategy concepts:

Vision/Core competencies - Which sovereign possesses more moral influence?
Leadership - Which general is more capable?
Market/Resources - Which side has the advantages of heaven and earth?
Organization/Structure - Which army is better disciplined?
Competitive advantage/training - Whose troops are better armed and trained?
Incentives/Vision - Which command is more impartial to meting out rewards and punishments?

Even though we may evaluate our company today based on these questions and factors and then create an ideal strategy, tomorrow the environment could change. 夫兵形象水. 水因地而制流，兵因故变化而取胜. As the water changes its course in accordance with the contours of the terrain, so a warrior changes his tactics in accordance with the enemy’s changing situation. A business must have similar flexibility to realize strategy is fluid and ever-changing.

It’s amazing a text from over 2000 years ago still holds such significance in world affairs. The interpretations and applications of this little book are very practical for any business, small, medium, or large. I look forward to analyzing this simulation more and finding inspiration in this ancient wisdom.

An analysis of the space tourism industry using Porter’s Five-Forces Model
A relatively new industry called Space Tourism is proving that motivated private investors paired with creative and talented engineers may now be able to accomplish what only governments were previously capable of. In 1961, supported by massive government funding, research, testing and operations, the USSR successfully launched the first human, 27 year-old Yuri Gagarin, into space on the Vostok-1 spacecraft. The world watched as this previously earth-bound human ventured into a truly heavenly place where no man had gone before. This journey caught the adventurous spirit of billions back on the planet. Now almost 50 years later, people are yearning for their own space experience. Private corporations are making this possible through what they hope will eventually be a profitable industry in Space Tourism.

Stephen Hawking, the famous physicist known for his work in space-time theory, has warned that,

Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers … I think the human race has no future if it doesn’t go into space.

Several entrepreneurs with seemingly bottomless pockets and unwavering determination seem to have heeded Dr. Hawking’s cautioning, and are now working with fervor to make a bit of money off what promises to be an eventual mass migration into the cosmos.

Wealthy multi-billionaires are financing what is now turning out to be a new commercial space race. First governments were in on the act. In 2001, the Russian Federal Space Agency sent the first private citizen space tourist, Dennis Tito, up for a ride in the Soyuz craft with a stop at the International Space Station all for the modest price of $20 million. Then in 2004, backed by Microsoft’s co-founder, Paul Allen, and led by aerospace guru, Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites launched and landed the first private privately-funded manned space flight subsequently winning the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

That was just the beginning. Since the inaugural Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne flight, the company has been acquired by Northrop Grumman and is now in cooperation with eccentric British millionaire Richard Branson and his company Virgin Galactic. Virgin has reportedly attracted up to 200 clients who are each paying $200,000 for a short weightless ride in SpaceShipTwo, Mr. Rutan’s new 6-seat spacecraft. The Washington Post reports that “Virgin Group expects to invest a total of $240 million by 2013” in the company’s bet on space tourism.

Space tourism market still suborbital

Allen, Branson, and Rutan are by far the most visible in the still very “virgin” space tourism industry. There are a handful of other wealthy entrepreneurs that are all vying for their piece of the potential market. Among them, Amazon.com founder, Jeff Bezos, with Blue Origin, Jim Benson’s Space Company, as well as other companies like Space Adventures, Space Island Group, and Bigelow Aerospace. Traditional government-funded efforts still haven’t folded their cards yet either. Boeing and Lockheed recently signed a monopolistic “United Launch Alliance” to supposedly cut costs in the rocket booster industry. NASA created Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreements with several companies to spur private sector R&D. The Russian Federal Space Agency is still sending tourists into space like the first privately-funded Iranian-born Ms. Anousheh Ansari. Also, the European aerospace agency, EADS Astrium, “unveiled plans this summer to develop its own four-seat space plane, with tickets to sell for around $150,000.”

What investors and potential market entrants are now predicting is a rapid market “explosion” in space tourism. Although skeptics say these companies “will merely provide rich people with a good view of the atmosphere that their carbon-hungry trip has just helped to destroy - the ultimate 4×4 experience”, others are betting on a larger, more mainstream tourism market.

In the years 1908 to 1912 the world went from a grand total of just ten airplane pilots to hundreds of airplane types and thousands of pilots in 39 countries. It is hoped that the X-Prize [is providing] a similar jumpstart to the space travel industry.

The difference is that instead of leaving the development of this new industry to slow, risk-averse government organizations, risk-taking private investors are providing the much-needed venture capital and corporate vision. The cumulative investment of $1 trillion that has been made by governments in space technology development has yet to earn a commercial return. NASA currently spends $100 million or more per space launch and many of those don’t even carry humans. Perhaps the forward-looking business strategic environment that focuses on cutting costs and turning profits is what could bring a sense of purpose to the often criticized over-budget NASA.

What’s different today is we have more millionaires and billionaires than ever before, and we have the analytical tools, computational tools, where a single individual can finance it, and a team of 20 can design and build a spaceship that used to take a major first-world nation to support.

Taikotourists

The market worldwide is certainly growing. As people see the prices come down from the millions to the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands, the demand will continue to outpace the supply. According to research by Patrick Collins presented at the 1997 IEEE Aerospace conference, “some 80% of young people up to the age of 40 would like to [travel to space], and even some 30% of people in their 60s and 70s say they would like to … a majority of those in favor say they would pay 3 months’ salary; about 1/4 say that they would pay 6 months’ salary, and some 10% say that they would pay 1 year’s salary or more.” Those statistics reflect a welcome climate for potential investors. The European Tourism Research Center says that “perhaps most exciting speculations about future travel involve the idea of space travel becoming commercially available to the public.” Futron, a market research firm, predicts that “as many as 14,000 space tourists will be heading into space each year by 2021, generating annual revenue of more than $700 million” says the International Herald Tribune. Demand is expected to grow to more than 1 million passengers/year if the cost can be reduced to around $20,000 per person.

And if there’s a significant market, we can be assured that the world’s most populous nation will be interested in the business. Merrill Lynch reports there are over 300,000 millionaires in China. In fact, Hong Kong businessman, Jiang Feng is reported to be paying $100,000 to take a suborbital flight. Just recently, an undisclosed entrepreneur in Zhejiang province became the first mainland Chinese to sign up for a seat onboard Mr. Branson’s ship. Chinese technology and companies may also even be players in the space tourism market before long. According to Wired News magazine, “Space Adventures will consider the Chinese Shenzhou vehicle once it has proven its reliability.” Realizing the potential for domestic interest in space flight, NASA administrator, Michael Griffin, predicts “China will be back on the Moon before [the U.S.]” (more…)

This entry was a work in progress that finally got finished. I left out the part about Eastern Europe. I’ll get back to that in a later post.

Finally back in Guangzhou after a couple long flights and a night on the floor in the Dubai airport surrounded by the buzz of sheiks and Africans all apparently buying gold necklaces. Apologies to anyone who may have been keeping track of our travels. I seem to have lapsed in writing for a couple weeks. My only excuse is an intense last portion of our journey punctuated by many long train rides, very hot weather, and an overdue bout with food poisoning. This post should make up for a long span of missed ones.

In case you haven’t noticed, I try to get myself in quiet inspirational settings when I write these posts. Could I ask for better in China. Well, probably yes. How do you get away from all the people, you ask? I’m currently relaxing close to the registration building on Sun Yat-sen University campus as I wait to sit down with the professors and convince them to let me take classes. Southern China takes a siesta (小觉 or literally “small sleep”) after lunch till about 2:30. This always allows me some extra time. Classmates ask me why I don’t sleep insisting that it’s good for my health. I tell them it’s because I don’t stay up till 3:00 am like them doing homework or playing video games. That’s how it works – no nap = regular sleep schedule. But Chinese still believe that the nap is a necessary part of the day so schools and businesses duly respect that.

And that’s just fine by me. The worst of the Guangzhou summer is passed and now the days are comfortably bearable. I found a spot next to a tastefully preserved brick building from Sun Yat-sen University’s better architectural days back when it was all Lingnan property. The building ironically stands next to an open pit of rubble where buildings like it were recently toppled to clear way for more dormitories or classrooms. It’s a starkly beautiful scene to wait out the 午觉.

In fact that leads me into the first topic of this post - an Eastern Europe/China comparison. Damn! Screw the aforementioned beauty of this place – the mosquitoes are still going strong in Southern China – I’m moving to the library! Pick this up later…

Never made it to the library. I managed to get a copy of the class schedule and in fact it has been some time now since registration. I spent a good week sitting in on various levels of Chinese class trying to find the best fit for my abilities/interests/goals. Students and teachers kept asking me which class I was supposed to be in and I kept saying I hadn’t decided yet. I told them all I was just “sitting in” to try out their class. There didn’t appear to be any other students doing this. At Jinan it was standard drill for the first couple weeks of class. Inevitably in this way, the better teachers all attracted the most students. It’s the free market approach to Chinese course selection. It’s a fun way to take tastes from the buffet selection of courses available. Anyway, I finally decided on a study approach that has been a part of my strategy throughout the first two years of learning this crazy language. I opted for challenge.

Sounds trite but let me explain. My entire experience studying Chinese in China has been characterized by discomfort. And ironically, I mean this in a good way. From day 1, I didn’t speak any Chinese. My wife and I landed in this amazing country not even knowing how to introduce ourselves or tell a cab where we wanted to go. With that foundation, I enrolled in the “Speedy Chinese Course”. I’ve pontificated before about my experience in that class. It was essentially all overseas Chinese students who had grown up with Chinese in their home but had never taken the time to formally learn it in an academic environment. This was a challenge for the greenhorn beginner. I was always behind. I always had to work really hard to keep up with my classmates. It was the brute force approach to Chinese study. And it worked.

After 4 months at Jinan University I jumped from Speedy Beginner class to Intermediate class (most students need an entire year before that move). I was in a hurry to learn and had grown accustomed to the discomfort that comes from being behind and needing to catch up. It’s this sort of challenge I think that works really well when learning a foreign language. If you’re the smartest one in the class and the teacher loves you because you know all the answers, it’s time to change classes. I’ve never been that guy.

So as I try to juggle MBA courses and Chinese classes this semester (only two more to go in the MBA program), I have again chosen challenge and I just hope I can hang on again. That’s ok, I like hanging. But I noticed, whether it was my study approach or the level of instruction at Jinan, I find the overall product delivered at Jinan is better than that at Sun Yat-sen. Feel free to argue with me on this but I think the biggest difference in the caliber of students that the two schools produce is the effect of one little teaching method called the 听写. Jinan has ‘em, ZSU doesn’t. These little vocabulary spelling bees are the key to learning Chinese characters and actually remembering them for years to come. I’ve written about them before and how much I hated it. But they worked.

I’m taking a mishmash of courses from the 高级班 and 本科 levels. These are the two highest levels in the Chinese department. One is simply called “High Level Class” and the other is the 4-year undergraduate course for those that major in Chinese. Both are probably above my everyday street conversation level but I find I can follow what goes on in class and, more importantly, I’m very interested in the subject matter. Finally, I’m using Chinese to actually learn something! It seems like it takes so long to get to a level in Chinese where you can read a newspaper about today’s news (not a watered-down textbook version), watch a TV show from last night (not a dialogue crafted for foreign students), write a professional letter (that doesn’t sound like a 5-year-old), or read a scholarly paper about Chinese history, culture, or current events. The courses I’ve chosen focus on all of these. Finally I feel like I’m not just learning Chinese but actually using the Chinese language as a means to learn other things. Finally.

Schedule conflicts aside, highlights this semester should be Chinese Culture, Business Writing, Business Conversation, Chinese History, Intensive Newspaper Reading, Ancient Chinese, Chinese Poetry, and Television Watching (if only college kids in the US had a class like that!). Granted, I’m still at the undergraduate level here but just to kick it up a notch, I enrolled in the graduate Chinese Economics (oh yes, it is different from the Western version) class. I’m trying my best to keep up – learning hundreds of new words every day. As a wise China hand who had studied in China for several years once told me, “quite possibly the best thing to study in China - is Chinese”. Now I think I know what he meant. There is so much to “Chinese” that goes way beyond just the language itself. If you really want to study something authentically Chinese, then Chinese – the language, the history, the people, the literature, the thought, the culture and so on are it. Most everything else is non-native and has been adopted/translated from abroad. At least for now.

I get really excited when my professors at Lingnan bring out a case study that they personally developed from their research in China. I love it that some of the professors have published their own textbooks and now teach from them. I think it’s the cat’s pajamas when the professor tells stories and gives experiences from his own work at companies in China. That is what makes studying a Chinese MBA in China special. That is what I’m here for.

Running in Guangzhou?! When most tourists come to Guangzhou, their first instinct is to turn around and run away! Can it really be possible to run/jog/walk for exercise in the third largest metropolis in China?!

In a former life, I was a runner. And a biker. And a swimmer. And a guy that liked outdoor activities. I used to do all these things for fun. In China, the first two are almost exclusively forms of transportation. Few people would consider outdoor movement as a benefit to health unless of course it involved getting to and from work. I consider riding a finicky red Chinese bike 10km to school one of the most dangerous activities I’ve ever done (more so than skydiving, motorcycling, and a Chinese buffet).

But things are changing. The Olympics are approaching and in an effort to boost government controlled media coverage of general Chinese population fitness, outdoor sporting events are growing. I spotted one such event advertisement in my apartment building elevator just the other day. The event was called the 安利健康跑 or “Health Run” sponsored by big names such as Amway and 7-11. Interested in joining this new Chinese 热浪 in outdoor health, I gave them a call. A week or so before the event and several phone calls later, I received the same answer - registration was full! Knowing well that in China when things are closed, full, or unavailable, negotiation is name of the game. I paid a visit to the main sponsor - Amway - on the 43rd floor of the tallest building in Guangzhou (they actually occupy three of the highest floors). I strolled in with my school backpack wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I asked to talk to someone important regarding the upcoming event their company was sponsoring. A friendly woman met with me and again explained that the slots had all been taken and I would just have to wait till next year. Huh?

So, I decided to just show up and register the day of the race. I walked over (I live just minutes from the sports center in Tianhe) this morning at 0645. The race was to start at 0730. I scoured the expansive sports center grounds looking for just one booth where I could potentially register for the race. No luck. I asked race staff personnel. I even asked competitors if they had any extra race T-shirts. I failed. I resolved to just run the race sans registration.

People gradually filled the sports center till there were thousands surrounding me. I didn’t see another white-faced foreigner - they were obviously way smarter than me to know not to show up on a Sunday morning in downtown G-town for a run. Anyway, we packed in like sardines at the starting line (actually a human chain made by red-shirted volunteers restraining the pulsing crowd). Everyone surrounding me was probably an average age of 16. At this point I started to realize what may have happened with “registration”. In an effort to promote outdoor sports and healthy lifestyle, the government powers-that-be had obviously partnered with Amway (for big foreign money) and handed out free T-shirts to all the local college/high school students. They said, be there, clap your silly hotdog balloons, and represent your city/country - we’re putting on a good show.

In fact, most of the performances/shows/表演/concerts I see in China seem to be more concerned with putting on a good “show” than actually entertaining the guests. This “race” was no different. Before we got started (not at 0730 as advertised but an hour later at 0830), there was the obligatory public officials’ speeches. Anyone who thinks they are important has to say a few words - usually consisting of several long sentences first welcoming all the VIPs and then some carefully chosen philosophical 成语 to help everyone know how clever this particular public official is. All this is delivered in a dramatic tone of speech with the voice rising to almost shouting volume three or four times during which everyone bangs their clapping balloons together - the teenage crowd not quite sure what was just said because the speakers are turned up to max volume and distorting the important guy’s yelling. After several people in a row deliver their long-winded speech always ending with “健康跑开始”, we started.

Racing. Chinese style. Guys in loafers and dress pants. Girls in mini-skirts. Jeans, heels, suits, but certainly no hats - no one wears anything on their head (except for the two random folks in the photo above - but I think it was just them and me). A mass push forward and competitors in green and white 健康跑 shirts are all tripping over each other to get to the end for the lottery give-away. Out of shape, hungover, and a little fat, I passed all of them - except for the token fast guy at the front who will be in the paper tomorrow. Everyone had to stop from sheer exhaustion. All these teenagers who should be in the best shape of their lives (at least from all the basketball and soccer) threw their hands up like they’d been running a marathon and hit the Great Wall. The course wasn’t long. It followed a circuit around the sports center tracing the four major roads that encircle it. Though police had blocked off part of the road, cars and buses still screamed by. I almost hurdled a lady getting out of a cab. As I passed the finish line and watched people walking in behind me, I looked around for some refreshment. Not a water bottle or Gatorade to be found. Then again, I hadn’t registered anyway.

So, being so pitifully out of shape, I was exhausted. I walked home and picked up a Subway sandwich on the way. The masses hung around for the ceremony that I knew would just be another “show”. Honestly, I’m not so sure I can say I feel “healthier” after the “Health Run”. Occasionally when I run outdoors in China, I develop a nasty cold that only attacks my nose and throat. It never really develops into a sickness but I’m convinced the pollution has something to do with it. Nothing quite compares with a jog through Guangzhou CBD where the sun is blocked out by smog at 0800, buses belch exhaust in your face in a plume of smoke and heat, rotten vegetable garbage puddles splash at your feet, and raw sewage odors fill your huffing nostrils. That’s one (un)healthy race down for Fall 2007. Can’t wait for the next.

Seriously though, if you’re reading this post to try to figure out where and how to run in Guangzhou, I have a few suggestions… (more…)

A long summer has passed since the dragon boat races in June. Many of the foreign exchange students have left for their schools/jobs back home. Many of the Chinese members of the team even left on their own overseas exchange program in various countries throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. The rest of us have returned to Guangzhou and are getting back into the rhythm of the first semester of our second year in the Lingnan MBA. It’s tough to come back after a long summer of travel, internships, and relaxation.

We all remember what a powerful experience we had preparing for the dragon boat competition. What made the training even more special was the company of a tireless news crew from Life of Guangzhou, an excellent resource for Guangzhou news, events, and places to visit. They joined us for every practice and were there to film, interview, and just generally observe the entire process. The delightful and friendly Carrot Chan was the lead reporter on the subject and was there every practice, rain or shine. She and I had many wonderful conversations exploring the life of an expat student in China. She and her cameramen shared in all the emotions of the dragon boat experience.

Carrot’s articles about the team and the competition can now be found online here. Also a talented photographer, Carrot took countless photos of the team and can be seen here. In addition to her poignant and observant portraits of select foreigners on the team, Carrot also published a feature article about a unique team member, Pierre, an overseas Chinese classmate who came back to China to study for a semester at Lingnan. Finally, Life of Guangzhou’s parent company, Dayoo, released a documentary about the team created from the fantastic videography of Carrot’s accompanying cameramen. Many other news agencies supported us in promoting our team and our sponsor, Gatorade - you can read more from them on the Dragon Boat page. But, Life of Guangzhou certainly went the full 9 yards by being with our team from Day 1 and encouraging us daily till the bittersweet competition on the 23rd of June. Thank you LoGZ! We had fun and hope you did too! Hope to see you soon!

A five-day boot camp of team-building, problem-solving, charity, and fun! Proceeds from this year’s Charity Bazaar competition and Charity Gala went towards the students of Meizhou city in Guangdong province. The children were forced to stop their studies when their town and schoolhouse were ravaged by a massive flood back in June. Funds raised due to the efforts of the Lingnan classes of 2006 and 2007 allowed the students to return to school. Some photos here of the outdoor portion of the orientation.

Tristate Co. in southern China is truly a revolution in manufacturing. When you think of where the polo shirt off your back may have come from, you might envision a dimly-lit, sweaty factory floor somewhere in southern China where thousands of tireless, young, uneducated workers toil 24 hours a day spinning your stylish duds from threads to fashion. In fact, ABD witnessed just about all of that. Except, operations at Tristate Co. take place in a enormous spotless factory with ample lighting and sufficient cooling - all the while expertly organized using some of the latest operations management techniques.

The workers at this plant may not be working any less harder than their compatriots at neighboring factories, but they’re doing it more efficiently and likely with greater incentive. The mastermind behind the radical changes is the Hong Kong CEO and his protégé and VP in Guangzhou. Together they are turning this factory around and churning out some of the world’s highest quality brand-name products. In fact, Tristate is the leading manufacturer for such famous brands as Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, and Gap.

The changes started three years ago when Tristate’s CEO decided his factory wasn’t going to be like all the others in Guangdong. Tristate management instituted a famous operations management system called the Toyota Production System (TPS) that is now affectionately known by employees as the “Tristate Production System”. (more…)

Superior SCM at Li & Fung Ltd.

The goal of effective supply chain management is to “gain competitive advantage through optimizing flows within the enterprise”. The Hong Kong listed company, Li & Fung Ltd. represents one of the world’s best examples of achieving this goal. The company financial history clearly tells that story. Just last year, L&F saw profit attributable to shareholder increase by 23%. In fact, over the past 14 years, L&F has seen steady compound annual growth rate of 22%. Not bad performance for a small family company that started in Guangzhou in 1906 trading silk and porcelain. In 1937, L&F moved its headquarters to one of the world’s most efficient seaports, Hong Kong, a move that would have a critical impact on their supply chain management. The L&F Group now has three main business groups in trading, retailing, and distribution. Garments make up the major portion of L&F business also including fashion accessories, furnishings, gifts, handicrafts, home products, promotional merchandise, toys, sporting goods and travel goods.

L&F is a leading company in supply chain management. Its success over the past two decades has made it one of the premier knowledge centers of research and experience optimizing a company supply chain. Several case studies have been done on the company touting it as an ideal business education example of supply chain management success. L&F continues to augment its supply chain knowledge through an in-house Research Center that scientifically analyzes how to optimize supply processes even further. They are developing models that keep L&F on a continued trend of industry leadership. L&F also partnered with the Chinese University of Hong Kong to share some of its knowledge with the world via the Li and Fung Center for Supply Chain Management where they publish journals, give presentations, and offer consulting services.

So what gives L&F their advantage in supply chain management? (more…)

Dragon boating lessons in leadership and management

I have always been fascinated with outdoor sports. Something about getting out there and exploring a new running trail, scaling a route up a new rock, or steering a mountain bike down a new path. It’s exciting to see nature’s scenery from behind a sweaty brow and a rapidly beating chest. Moving to China limits the opportunities. The crowding factor caused by four point three billion reduces the opportunities. Then came the dragons.

Every June in southern China is the duanwu festival. An ancient legend of a desperate poet and a mourning village is the history behind the festival. The modern reincarnation is a lively day of glutinous rice, thrashing water, and finely-tuned muscular bodies. Oh, and the boats. 端午节 or the Dragon Boat Festival carries on customs that have been around for Chinese millenniums. Most exciting of all are the exquisitely decorated and unbelievably long dragon boats 龙舟. They parade back and forth on rivers and lakes all over south China beating their enormous drums as hundreds of men (and now women) paddle and propel the dragons forward with each synchronized arm rotation.
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