China

Pain in Chongqing

June 4, 2012

Hello Again,

We left Chongqing for Beijing Today. I find it interesting that I can tell people how modern and huge Chongqing is, but it really is something one must see to believe. Jones, Lange, and LaSalle classify it as a Tier 1.5 city, because of the tremendous growth that is presently occurring. The city reminded me of Rio in many ways in that you can feel the energy and excitement of a place that is becoming more developed and a people that are embracing the changes. In Rio I said that I could almost feel the city breathing and Chongqing felt the same. I imagine that cities in the US felt similar at the turn of the century.

One thing I could have done without this weekend was the side effects of my Chinese healthcare massage. I went with the girls to get a $30 two hour massage in Chongqing. During and immediately after I felt great, however, the next day I woke up feeling sore and tired. My back felt bruised and as I was getting dressed I noticed that I actually had bruises down my spine. Apparently my massage went from relaxing to a very painful experience overnight. After arriving in Beijing things got worse as I found myself with a fever and more muscle aches to add to my already sore back. Tylenol helped get rid of the fever and aches, but I’m not sure that I will be getting a Chinese healthcare massage in the near future.

In terms of company visits in Chongqing, I was excited to visit Minsheng Shipping Company. Minsheng is a Chinese owned company fou ded in 1925. The company was very proud of it’s history and founder. Employees have vey high respect for the origins and history of the company. I found thito company to be very interesting in that I drew many comparisons between it and UPS. We had the privilege to meet with the CEO, Mr. Xiaozhong , who gave us a clear picture of where he sees the company going. The began as a shipping company that provides services that fit their Chinese customer’s needs. In the future they want to become a logistics company with an integrated supply chain that includes all forms of transportation. My immediate thought was of UPS’s current marketing campaign “We love logistics”.

UPS respects it’s history and ability to evolve over time as it looks at their core competencies and customer’s needs. I found it interesting that Minsheng is going in a similar direction especially as they prepare for the release of their IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange. We also found that the government supports the company. All of this made me wonder if their ultimate goal would be to take on the likes of UPS and FedEx in the Chinese market. It seems like it wouldn’t be far fetched in that Baidu the Chinese equivalent of Google has basically crowded Google out of the market. Because China is at a critical stage in development that requires them to develop industries and domestic demand it would make sense that development of Chinese owned companies would be a priority.

Impressions of Beijing still to come.

Stephanie

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