China

Ni Hao (translation: hello)

The 10 days I spent in China were unlike anything I have ever experienced before.  Traveling to a foreign land that is so rich in history and ripe with opportunity helped me realize how limited my world perspective is (according to travbuddy.com prior to China I had only visited 3% of the countries in the world).  Coming out of the trip, I have a much stronger desire to see more of the world as I believe it will make me a better leader and a better person.  Below are some of my key takeaways from the trip.

Diversity is Essential

This trip was a capstone to a 7-week course called Global Enterprise.  The course was designed to provide an overview of the issues faced by global organizations and the trip provided an opportunity to gain practical experience with global teamwork.  This opportunity came in the form of a case analysis and presentation to be completed in teams of six (three students from Johnson and three students from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing “CKGSB”).  The case centered on the marketing/endorsement challenge Nike faced in 2008 after Chinese sprinter Liu Xiang pulled out of the Summer Olympics in Beijing due to Injury.  Xiang’s injury disappointed many Chinese fans (and potential Nike consumers) as he served as the beacon of national pride and was presumably going to grace the medal stand as a hometown champion.  The case was further complicated by varying responses from Xiang’s other sponsors.

Digging into the case is where the variance in opinions and approaches between Johnson and CKGSB students were most apparent.  The Johnson perspective was highly influenced by what we know and see in America, while the CKGSB students offered a local perspective to help us understand why many of our Americanized recommendations would not work in China.  Once we agreed on our recommendations and action plans more diversity of perspective came into play concerning the layout of the presentation.

The CKGSB students wanted the presentation to be very structured and write a ton of text on every slide, whereas we preferred using more visuals and less text to tell a story that could be spoken to more easily rather than read from a slide deck.  Ultimately, we worked it out and were able to compromise in order to develop a presentation that was very well received and we all felt good about.

The experience really helped me understand diversity in a broader sense.  The CKGSB students attend at a top business school in their country just like I do.  They were every bit as talented and capable as me or any of my classmates.  Despite these similarities, our differences caused us to see and approach the world very differently and engage in healthy debate about why we believed our respective viewpoints were right.  As a result of our divergent perspectives we were able to come together and produce a product that was better than either of us would have produced without the perspective from the other group.

The Power of Branding

On a personal level, as someone who is going into brand-management it was fascinating for me to see the how different brands go to market in China.  For instance, I was highly skeptical when my professor informed us that we would be spending three nights in a Howard Johnson in Shanghai.   My last experience at a HOJO was after my high school prom and I seem to recall maroon carpet, moldy fridge, and a close proximity to a Wendy’s drive-through.  I was pleasantly surprised that in China HOJO has established a much more modern and luxury persona.  I would put their accommodations on par with any of the hotels I have been put up in for internship and full-time recruiting.

Other brands, are just as you see and experience them here in the U.S. (at Dairy Queen they turn your blizzard upside down to show you the thickness before serving you just like the states) with a few modifications to account for local tastes and preferences.  Taking in all of the different go-to-market strategies and brand personas in China reminded me of the power and opportunity marketers have.  If you and your brand can get it right in China you can impact millions of people, and make millions of dollars in the process.  That’s a ton of power let’s not abuse it as marketers.