Day 3 – Shanghai Company visits

Our first company visit day. I originally guessed that expected attire would be business professional – shirt, suit, tie – but I was apparently wrong. I suppose that the boom times combined with Shanghai’s heat loosens the dress code – no tie, and some people wore no jacket. Our first stop was at the China Europe International Business School – CEIBS. This is the #1 ranked business school in China, and Forbes listed it as #8 in the world. We got a brief tour of the campus, and an hour presentation on some of the unique challenges facing China today. At one point our host, Claudia Shaffer, a German expat, cited a McKinsey study that said China was short 70,000 MBA positions. And their school has a class size of 190. We then had lunch at their guest dining facilities (which were very nice), and had the opportunity to meet several current students. For me, it was a great pleasure meeting Karthik, Belay, and Kenneth.
Our second stop was at Eli Lilly China. In the lobby of their office we had to fill out and sign a form indicating we were not symptomatic of the swine flu. Apparently this is now standard practice when “pandemics” loom around the world. Our presentation was informative, but generally high level and 75% things I knew already. The specific numbers, such as the money spent per hour on R&D ($1.9M per hour), were new. A final tour and a group shot and we left on good terms.
Our third stop was to be Mary Kay. An interesting choice, but apparently they are doing incredibly well since entering the China market. However, due to their concern over the swine flu – they wanted us to all sign waivers and wear masks – we decided to let them save face and canceled. Yay – free time!
Once again we scattered to the four corners of Shanghai. Workouts, naps, shopping and massages abound. I, however, snagged a cab to the Shanghai Museum. (As an aside – 5 minute cab ride = $1.65) It had a variety of exhibits including pottery works and porcelain, origins and history of Chinese currency, and calligraphy. All in all, it was a very worthwhile hour for me.
Outside the museum two Chinese girls stopped and asked me to take a picture of them. One of them, a Shanghai-neese continued talking with me, interested about the first American she had met. Eventually she and her friend invited me to a tea ceremony at a shop in a nearby mall. For the next 90 minutes I learned a succinct history of 3000 year old Chinese tea culture and sampled six drastically different teas. I so thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the company that I was nearly late for our authentic Shanghi-Chinese dinner at Zen in the French Concession.