"See China in the Light of Her Development"

I'm back in Canada now after a few days in Hong Kong following the end of our study tour in Shanghai. Let me recap the end of our study tour for you...

Thursday May 14th started out for us with a lecture on campus at SAI delivered by Professor Li Tingyu. The theme of the lecture revolved around how economic reforms in China since the late 1970s has led to massive GDP growth and accompanying social changes. Professor Li mentioned that many people in China are eager to share information with us so that we can understand their country better, or in the words of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao "see China in the light of her development". Professor Li shared with us some of the changes that she personally has experienced since economic reforms began. One of the changes that we could directly observe on some level is the massive growth of car ownership. The number of personal vehicles has exploded to 169.9 million, and by our judgement a large proportion of those are new black luxury vehicles, all kept spotlessly polished!

Of course with all of economic reforms individualism in Chinese society is growing and social patterns are undergoing fundamental changes. This all contributes to great social risk, and Professor Li outlined for us methods that are being focused on in order to move modern China from a 'risk society' to a 'harmonious society'. Key to this transition is the goal of decreasing the gap between the rich and poor by expanding the proportion of middle income earners. In light of an earlier lecture we heard at CNSA in Beijing, I imaging that this will be a long and challenging process given that underemployment appears to be a significant challenge.

The afternoon was meant to be filled with our visit to GM Shanghai, which was cancelled. The gap was not able to be filled with an alternate company visit, so we paid a visit to Yu Gardens in downtown Shanghai which is a combination of gardens and bustling market streets. Also, many completed their souvenir shopping (to the under-breath mutters of "you want watch? hand bag?") in the secret back rooms of shops under the neon lights of the famous Nanjing pedestrian road. Being invited into a back room to check out the selection of knock-off goods was quite the experience... especially when it involved sneaking through a secret door concealed by racks of clothing!

Speaking of shopping, on Friday morning we paid a visit to Giordano Group, one of the biggest and most well known garment retailers in the Asia-Pacific region. They are hardly confined to this region anymore though with over 1900 stores in 30 countries around the world, including new stores in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Our host was Bernard (Bernie) Mah, who is an Executive Director of Giordano Group, and a University of Alberta graduate from the 1970's. He still has many family ties to Edmonton and his children are also U of A grads. Mr. Mah described Giordano as the "Asian Gap".

Giordano Group was founded in Hong Kong in 1981 and made their debut in mainland China in the early 1992. However, because of the risky mix of business and Chinese politics, Giordano operations on the mainland were halted by the government starting in 1994. They were not able to be fully operational in China again until 2000. It is incredible that despite their challenges with the government Giordano was able to survive and flourish as a company. I believe that a major contributor to their success in their core focus on quality, service, and "getting things right the first time". In addition, with much of their vertically integrated operations based on the mainland, Giordano has become a leader in socially responsible business practices in China with their focus on fair and equitable treatment of their employees.

After our meeting with Mr. Mah we had the opportunity to visit the Giordano store on Nanjing Road for a bit of shopping. Many items were purchased, especially by the guys in our group who loved the selection of golf shirts! It was great and we look forward to their Canadian expansion! With the tour drawing to a close we had some free time in downtown Shanghai to explore areas including the Bund, an area heavily influenced by European architecture. Though the Bund is under heavy construction at the moment in preparation for the 2010 world exposition (Expo 2010), you can still get a great view of the waterfront and the awesome modern architecture of the Shanghai Pudong district which includes the landmark Perl Tower. We got to get an ever better look at the Shanghai skyline that night when we were lucky enough to have dinner in the Perl Tower's revolving restaurant as the sun went down on our last day in Shanghai. It was spectacular!

The next morning we visited a Buddhist monastery en route to the airport where we said our good-byes, many of us carrying on our travels to other destinations and others heading onto the long flight back to Canada. It was a fantastic trip; we learned so much both about doing business in China, its fast paced change, as well as its people and sights. For me this was an experience I will never forget, and I hope to visit China again someday. I could not have asked for a better way to wrap up my MBA, and I'm a bit saddened that its all over now. But much lies ahead...

Well, this is where I sign off for good. Thanks for reading!