Shanghai - through the eyes of a Hult MBA
This May , after the class of 2008 has completed Module B in Boston, a student group of 71 traveled to Shanghai to start their campus rotation module– where they would take two to three elective courses over six weeks in shanghai.
The six weeks in Shanghai, Hult students will do their elective lectures, and team simulation projects. Besides, they will have the opportunity to learn Mandarin and participate in the networking events with multinational corporations to gain insights about the China economy and global business trends.
Luzy Amerell, a student from the class of 2008, has shared her adventure about the trip in Shanghai. Luzy has worked in Human Resources, Project Management and Business Development with extensive international experience in countries like Germany and Mexico.
Luzy is keeping her diary of the experience in Shanghai. Read on to discover China through the eyes of a Hult MBA.
Afraid of needles?
Some might think that traveling to China is like traveling to other cities in their own countries, or even to the States. “We are going to a healthy and safe environment, taken care by the school, eager to learn and experiment”… “I am going to have fun and I’m definitely not getting sick!”
You have to stop for a moment and think about the implications of traveling to another country, particularly one where, if you come from the west, might be completely different to yours. One of the biggest concerns is health. The state of Massachusetts does require international students to present proof of the Hepatitis B immunization. However, it doesn’t require you to take yellow fever or malaria injections.
Okay, okay… that was an extreme. Health is a big concern for the school. Because of the different nationalities we have in our class, and the specific health requirements in China, the school thought it appropriate to invite a doctor and nurse to the school to talk to us about the most common illnesses foreigners suffer from while in Shanghai. They gave a small presentation on common sicknesses. They also gave everyone present a list of recommended shot we should take before departing (like Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Tetanus, and yes… yellow fever).
At the end of the presentation came the moment of truth! The nurse was prepared to give the shots to whoever wanted to get them. They offered a discount to the students and gave the brave ones their International Certificate of Vaccination. Not everyone has to get all the shots. It varies according to nationality and medical history. However, it is always better to be prepared. If you are afraid of needles, be brave for 40 seconds, which is what is takes to get the shots. You will have a better face in China!
Choosing the Electives
The Shanghai program has been running for two classes now. For most of us, this will be the experience that will define our MBA. Let’s be sincere… Shanghai can give us a unique competitive advantage that we will not get from anywhere else. How many times can you travel to China as a student?
If you are coming from the US or Latin America, this opportunity may only happen once in a lifetime. How can we make the most of it? First, I had to remember why I was going to China. I chose to do an MBA to enhance my career, and to improve my quality of life; so the electives I chose would be very important for me.
Choosing two electives for the Shanghai program was no piece of cake. The Registrar’s office asked us to submit our preferences early in April. This was both convenient and confusing. We had been pressuring the school to let us know what subjects would be offered in China and given all the schedules… we needed to make a lot of decisions. We wanted to get prepared for the courses, but we also wanted to make sure we would have enough time to explore the city and to travel. Whatever the reason, it took a lot of consideration to select the electives if you wanted to specialize in one area or simply work more on a particular subject.
I chose Leadership in the Global Village and Doing Business in China. Let’s see if I made the right choices…
Insightful and Powerful
I arrived in Shanghai on a Friday night. I thought I would have enough time to adapt to the new environment. I had anticipated that I would be jetlagged and prepared for my first elective: Leadership in the Global Village.
However, I was informed that the orientation would take place the following day at 8:30 a.m. Of course, a survival kit was provided, but we had no time to relax and the class would begin on Monday.
I had just arrived in China and already had to work?!?!?!
On Monday, I got onto the bus to the campus and waited impatiently early in the morning, and I was not ready for my new class.
What a surprise when I stepped into the class! Professor Zif is grandiose. From the moment she started the class, I was captured by her spirit, strength and energy. The course focused on what made a person become a leader. Although there were discussions that a leader was born and not made, she made very clear that we could work on any of our attributes and abilities, model them to the point of perfection.
The class went for two weeks. During that time, we had the opportunity to work on our weaknesses. She helped us to recognize if we were more analytical than social, or more passionate than focused. She guided us to analyze if we were too attached to different aspects of our lives, or if we needed to empower those around us. We worked on our creativity, time management, vision and interpersonal relations. Professor Zif offered us an insight that you rarely get in a professional environment. She helped us to explore ourselves and the people around us and ultimately allowed us to work on our leadership skills.
I always believed I was born to be a natural leader, Professor Zif helped me to recognize my flaws and work on them. Yes, a leader can be born, but he can also be modeled. I was convinced I would have to perform on top management positions; Hult prepared me to be a business leader.
In the end, the Leadership course made my whole MBA experience worthwhile.
Ni Hao!!!
Learning Mandarin… easy! Yeah, right!
The prepared ones brought a dictionary. The smart ones learned the basic words before arriving. The rest… Well, we just rolled with the flow.
Learning Mandarin is not easy. Starting week one, the school provided us with Mandarin classes. You take a deep breath and struggle with the tones and finals, pronunciation and conversation. Christine, our Mandarin teacher, presented herself the first class and was able to keep our attention throughout the whole time. As with any other language, practice is the key to master it. Repeating pronunciation and formulating conversations take most of our classes. Vocabulary is a must, and our everyday experiences enrich the class. Christine is very open to questions, and she always finds time to help people with special requests.
Because classes are not enough to help us through China, we were provided with a translator. The people are amazing, they spend their days at the dorm lobby assisting everyone that need any sort of help. If you need help with instructions, directions, recommendations and even reservations the local affairs coordinators are the ones to see first. With computer at hand, they search the web for addresses, options and destinations. I found that they often went out of their way to make us feel comfortable.
Only 1.6 billion people speak Mandarin, so why shouldn’t we? The job market is booming in China. We, as MBAs, have a unique opportunity if you plan to apply to jobs in Asia, China is a strong candidate. However, most companies ask you to speak at least a little Mandarin. So translators are not going to cut it long term…Learning Mandarin will.
Zàijiàn!
Shopping!!!!!
Imagine what you can do with 7,000 RMB (or Yuan)!!!! Well, that’s how much $1,000 dollars are. For every dollar, we get seven RMB. You might not think it’s a big deal, but you quickly forget to control your expenses.
First, we don’t really know how expensive life in China might be. We often hear is cheap, but is it really? How much should you pay for a meal? Or a pair of shoes? Or a jacket?
We often find ourselves calculating how much a shirt is in dollars. They tell you 200 RMB for a scarf and you quickly divide it by seven. Then you remember that that is exactly what you paid for it in your favorite store in Boston! Then, why do people say China is so cheap???
The secret is bargaining…
You can bargain in most markets. Stores have fixed prices, especially big ones. The prices there are similar to the ones in the States. If you go to the markets, however, you will always find space to bargain. There is always a debate how low you might go with the price. Some friends went as low as 5%, but more often than not, the store owners were annoyed. You can get very cheap prices, but it depends on what you are buying and where. Fancier markets will open the door to negotiation, but will only go so far. Other will close the doors very quickly, while with some, you will get your way. I found that walking away always does the trick. When they think you are leaving they will ask you to make an offer and start negotiating again… this time more to your advantage. Good places to get cheap stuff are Nainjing Road West, Pudong, and Suzhou.
But cheap prices are not always good! The lower they go, the more you have to look at the quality of what you are buying. Why would they give things away, right? There has to be a catch, and there often is. Remember that price, after you bargain, might be a good indication of quality.
The second and most serious outcome is that you will lose track of your expenses. It is easy to go crazy the first couple of weeks. Then, you will find yourself counting dimes towards the end of the trip. The best strategy is to look around. Compare prices and quality. And then go crazy. You can always renew your wardrobe three times in the last two weeks!
Stuck in a department store
With all the nice shopping malls, brands, and warehouses I had to walk into a toy department store.
I’ve always liked the Disney characters, but I have no idea why I was so inclined to look around at a toy store. I walked into this particular store on Nanjing Road with my best friend, and we decided to go over every single collection.
As we were walking around the last floor we started to notice that the employees were changing clothes behind the counters. Some were putting their things in the bags and some were changing their shoes. Suddenly this nice young lady came to us and in her very best English, said: “Open, close… open, close”. We thought she wanted to practice her English. So we just smiled and turned around. Determined to get her point across, she pulled me by the arm and said it again: “Open, close… open, close…”
This time we thought she was crazy. The alarm went off suddenly, like in a story, the employees started to run to the emergency exit. Grabbing their belongings as fast as they could we saw at least one hundred women ran to the exit. The lady was trying to make us understand the store was closing. Apparently we would spend the night in the store if we didn’t leave.
We ran to the exit and started going down the stairs. Every level was more crowded. As we went down, more employees would join from the emergency exit. I was shocked to be sharing the stairs with at least 600 ladies in an over employed department store.
And then we saw the light. We were literally spat to the street. We could only look at each other in surprise. We had just experienced the closing time of a store in China.
The Perfect Ending
Doing business in China was scheduled to be the last elective course in the Shanghai program. Although it was not very popular with my classmates, the school decided to open it to the eight chosen ones…
If I may say: what a mistake. The others have no idea what they missed!
Four professors were invited from Fudan University, one of the top universities in Asia to teach us. Ranging from politics to law and economics, all four proved to be experts on their fields, and have very extensive international experience. Each professor had two days to enhance us about their areas of expertise and enlighten us with what China is about, and not what it is believed to be.
Starting with the basic background, we quickly went over the country’s economic development, social dynamics and political structure. Debating over intellectual property, unemployment and turnover, and the financial market made the class so much more interesting.
Offering the class at the end of the program was a great move on the school’s behalf. Since the time we arrived to China, we were surprised with its growth. We were amazed to see half the country was under construction and we quickly learned the ways of ordering food, taking taxis and negotiating. Experiencing China first hand only created more questions in our heads. Doing Business in China taught us how China‘s machinery revolves. It broke most of the myths we had about its “miraculous” growth, and it invited us to understand its culture and traditions.
For me taking this elective was the perfect ending for my Shanghai trip. It cleared the image I had of China and allowed me to understand how such a powerful and distant nation is only around the corner. Like I said: the perfect ending!