CHINA TRIP Day 14: "I got permission."

-Professor Noble

Monday, May 31

After being in Beijing and mainland China for about a week and learning about the various difficulties of operating businesses under a Communist government, I was looking forward to today’s lecture and hoped it would help explain why some foreign companies, such as KFC, were so successful in China, while others, such as Google, failed to get their foot in the door. However, the lecture was geared more toward the evolution of China’s economy and how marketing has gained importance as China heads toward a more open economy. The lecture was still interesting though and since China’s markets are still developing and various areas of the economy are in different stages, it is vital for anyone doing business to understand the stages. The thing about China that makes it really different from the West is the type of economy. Every modern country has gone through their own industrialization and modernization processes that have resulted in consumer-oriented economies. However, despite going through modernization itself and opening up to international trade, China has still strongly remained a saving economy. This just makes marketing in China a little more difficult.

Marketing is also tricky in a country where most businesses are state-run and where intellectual property isn’t protected. Getting people to spend their money in an ethical manner seems to be the overall biggest challenge that we would eventually face should we choose to conduct business in China in the future. I was a little disappointed in the lecture but only because I was really looking forward to learning about different marketing techniques and methods being implemented and developed from both within China by domestic companies and outside China by foreign companies. At least we know that marketing techniques are being looked into and the educational materials come from outside of China. Within the next ten to twenty years, I’m positive we’ll see a China that embraces more Western ways of conducting business.

I wasn’t sure what our visit to IBM Research would really entail since I had a feeling that IBM’s purpose in China wasn’t exactly computer-related, especially after our guest lecturer last Friday said she was doing research in rural areas gathering information on the use of various types of technology. A representative came and spoke to my Marketing class this past spring semester and he explained how IBM no longer makes computers and sold that process to Lenovo. Many Lenovo products, however, still bear the IBM logo, which I realized during our tour at IBM Research. Considering IBM’s change in focus I wondered what they could be doing in China, where many computer parts were produced cheaply. The presentation we listened to before the tour helped clarify a lot of the questions I had. It was interesting to see a real-life example of some of the things I’ve learned in my classes. For example, it is well known in the business community that international accounting standards are slowly becoming the norm everywhere, even in the United States. These international accounting standards report research and development as separate units. This new process has not taken full hold across the US, but IBM Research, at least in this particular China branch, has already adopted that process by separating those units entirely from the get-go.

IBM, as my marketing class’s guest lecturer described it, moved from making computers to selling hardware and software and more client-based services. I wasn’t entirely sure what this really meant since I still associated IBM with computers. Aside from Microsoft and Apple, I don’t really associate certain software products with big companies so I was unaware of any of IBM’s product line and services. Of course, we were visiting IBM Research, not IBM, and so our presenter described the kind of work that they do. I was impressed by how much they emphasized academic-based research and pushed higher education in key subjects. I appreciated their efforts in promoting education through their outreach programs. I know it’s important even in the US that more students study subjects in the math and sciences but I didn’t know it was also a prime concern for China as well to the point where IBM would gear their outreach toward these subjects. I also think their vision for a “Smart City,” while very ambitious, is an attractive concept, especially with regard to China, where there is ample opportunity for growth.

The tour helped complement the presentation and so I didn’t leave feeling as though I was just fed a bunch of words with no real support. However, I wasn’t as impressed by the tour and their various projects in development. The live English-to-Chinese and vice-versa translator was interesting but it wasn’t very accurate. I wasn’t sure if the lackluster technology was due to the facilities’ location and operations being in China or if it was because US technology in general was not as developed overseas. I just remember visiting LG and SK Telecom in Korea last summer and being extremely impressed by all their projects and hoped I would see something similar at IBM Research.

After IBM, the girls wanted to get pedicures and we ended up going with Professor Noble to the area that used to be a thriving “Koreatown.” I was excited when I heard about this because I did miss Korean food and I was surprised to observe a multitude of Korean influences throughout the city. I noticed at UIBE there were quite a few Korean students around and I believe one of the professors later told us that majority of the “foreign” students at UIBE happened to come from Korea. I don’t know if China has the same “economy of the future” appeal to Koreans as it does in the West but nonetheless it was nice to see familiar building structures and non-Chinese writing I was able to read (though there had been a decent amount of English wherever we went).

The Korean restaurant we went to for dinner with Professor Noble and his wife was excellent. The food for the most part matched basic restaurant standards and the atmosphere was nice as well. I wondered if it would be authentic with Korean-speaking staff, but that wasn’t the case so I was a little disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing everyone use Korean chopsticks as well, but the restaurant’s chopsticks were a little less than authentic. They were metal and about the right width but not the length or thickness. It was fine though; I got to eat Korean food so I don’t have much to complain about.

After dinner we headed off to meet up with a few of the boys at Houhai. I wasn’t sure what to expect at all because the reviews I read online and the things I’ve heard from different people didn’t exactly paint a complete picture. Houhai did have a lot of energy but it was somewhat confusing because of the lake. At times it felt serene and relaxing to walk along the lake but then the business of the street and all the merchants coming after us ruined that atmosphere. There were people selling things on the street, much like we’ve seen at Olympic Park and the Forbidden City. The restaurants, shops, and bars made the area seem very tourist-oriented. Growing up in Hawai’i and generally avoiding Waikiki because of its focus on tourists, I wasn’t very attracted to Houhai. We walked around the lake and looked at all the shops before heading back.