Open doors

After a much needed respite from work yesterday it was time to get back at it today as we are leaving tommorrow and still have items that we wish to accomplish before boarding our flight back to the states.

We visited with Donghi Risheng Decoration, a Chinese manufacturing and retailing corporation, to explore the possibility of manufacturing BSN products in China. Like any business, we must look at all options available to produce our products at the best possible price. This will allow us to expand the operation and enhance student learning by getting involved in the BSN curriculum. Additionally, this is yet another "real world" aspect of BSN that is a very valuable lesson to students.

We arrived at the offices of the firm and were ushered into a conference room after noticing a sign in lights welcoming the Denver City Professors. After viewing a short film about the company, it was time to get down to business. It immediately became clear that the Chinese firm was just as interested in becoming a player in the American market as we are in branching out our operations to include a Chinese component. The timing may not be right at the moment as BSN is still growing and the Chinese company is building a new factory that will not be open until October. Nevertheless, we now have a contact that we can use to explore the possibility of manufacturing some of our products here. The possibility exists also that BSN students may be able to design for Dongyi Risheng Decoration.

One other valuable lesson was learned today, and that is the importance of building relationships and contacts as it pertains to business and life in general. Our meeting was arranged by Entrepreneur and Honorary Professor of Tsinghua University, Yu Weifeng. This is the gentleman that we were introduced to and who took us to dinner upon our arrival from the states. Without his contact and influence, it is doubtful that we would ever have been able to meet face to face with the executives from the Chinese manufacturing firm. Thanks again to Mingli He for securing this contact for us.

Tommorrow is time for another long plane ride. We actually get into San Francisco 3 hours before we leave Beijing, although the flight is still 12 hours long. It will give us plenty of time to think about our trip here and ponder the many decisions that have to be made about the doors that have been opened for us by our trip to the far east. For BSN, the door to China has certainly been "opened" and we have high hopes for the future as we walk through this door.

-Brian

Partnership and a well deserved break

After two productive days at the AACSB conference, where we learned some valuable information about working with Chinese Universities and institutions, it was time to get busy on our main mission here: to present the BSN concept to the Chinese Universities in an effort to begin to build a possible international partnership that is beneficial to Metro State and our Chinese counterparts.

Yesterday our first visit was with a school called Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The school just recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, so they are not much older than us. After waiting for our colleague to arrive, we were escorted into the Industrial Design department where we were introduced to three members of the faculty who greeted us very warmly and were excited to hear about what we were doing. We proceeded to the conference room where about 10 to 12 students were also waiting for our presentation.

Ken and Mick did a fabulous job of explaining both Metro State College as well as BSN to the captivated audience. The students in particular seemed eager to hear all about education in America. One student was so eager to lay a foundation for coming to America to study that he had all sorts of questions for Ken to answer, which he did so graciously while giving the student his card and telling him to contact him if he wanted future information! The faculty were fascinated with the student run business concept that is BSN. After a tour of the department, which included a visit to a 3D simulator, it was time to head to our next destination, but not before making plans to explore the possibility of future collaboration through a variety of possible mediums.

Without time for lunch, we headed to Tsingua University, the "Harvard" of China. The University is located right in the heart of the Beijing Technical area, with offices owned by Microsoft, Sun Communications, and others located right outside the main entrance. One gets the feeling these companies want to snatch China's best and brightest before they can get very far from the walls of the University. Once again we were greeted warmly by a member of the faculty, and once again Ken and Mick delivered the goods when it was time to tout the merits of BSN. After answering questions and giving the students a memento of Metro State, a tour of the new facilities was in order. After exchanging contact info for potential future collaboration, it was time to finally grab something to eat.

After three days of extensive work, it was time to take a well deserved break. Today we headed to the Great Wall to see the wonder in person. I'm not sure what was more impressive, the wall, or the amount of people there to see the wall. Actually, we turned into somewhat of a tourist attraction as well, a good number of Chinese citizens wanted nothing more than to have their picture taken with the group of Americans that were ascending the steep slopes of the wall. After a gondola ride back down the mountain, we headed for the Summer Palace, the former home of the ruling emperors of the Ch'ing dynasty. What a marvelous sight it was, certainly it took years to build and even more to maintain, much like the Great Wall itself.

The symbolism of the Great Wall and the Summer Palace fit in perfectly to our mission. These two great structures were innovative for their time, and took years to build and complete. It is a great reminder that for BSN, our mission here is innovative and will take time to build and cultivate. The first seeds and foundation for this were put down these past couple of days. Hopefully they can continue to grow and connect, much like the Great Wall was constructed and connected over years of building and growth. That would be a great legacy for us, for Metro State and for BSN.

-Brian


At the Great Wall of China.


The Team

Conference ends today, present at the 'Harvard of China' tomorrow

Today was the last day of the AACSB International World Class Practices in Management Education conference, which was unusually rainy. We heard many success stories and pitfalls to avoid when establishing international partnerships. The question is no longer whether a college should find an international partner, given the global economy in which we live, but rather how to select the right partner. We made many new contacts, and hopefully some of these will bear fruit.

Tomorrow, we give two presentations to industrial design departments at two prestigious universities, Tsinghua University (considered the Harvard of China) and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Mingli He, our colleague in Mechanical Engineering, arranged these visits for us.

Last night, the conference dinner showcased a series of traditional forms of Chinese entertainment, including musicians, a neat ballet/acrobatic dance between two swordsmen, plate spinners, a magician, a peacock dance, an acrobat who could balance large pots on his head, and a costumed dancer whose mask would magically change whenever he twirled. Suffice to say, it was amazing, as is this trip in total thus far.

-- Mick Jackowski


Packed session



Entertainment



Pot throwing

Relationships and Culture

These 2 subjects have provided all of us with an amazing and unforgettable day. Today was the official start of the AABSC International conference and excitement was in the air. The conference so far has been very informing; from listening to speakers from leading Chinese businesses, to speakers from leading Universities from around the world, to being able to talk to these people which all have gathered in one place with the same common interest; to build relationships with one another.

After meeting up with Ming Li He, another Metro Professor, and being introduced to one of his close friends, Mr. Yu we were treated to dinner by the very generous business man. The time had come to indulge in the city’s most famous dish, Peking Duck. Mr. Yu’s personal driver swept us across town a prestigious restaurant where we were greeted by smiling faces and quickly escorted to a private room where we were sat traditionally by our host. With us all gathered around a massive round table our host did the honors of ordering. We soon heard a short briefing of the dinner process. The first course arrived, bearing the most authentic flavors in the country. From there more, and more, and more food kept arriving.


Conversations were plentiful and quite dynamic as we exchanged cultures across the table. As the casual topic of BSN arose Mr. Yu seemed quite interested. Small talk was made and more
stories were exchanged. In China, when you “eat the duck” you really do eat the duck, the whole duck. Our delicious dinner included dishes such as bitter melon, Chinese onion salad, duck feet, duck legs, duck stomach, duck liver, duck bone soup, and yes the duck itself’ not to
mention donkey. No, that is not a typo. Believe it or not all of the dished were quite tasty and widely accepted.

We had visited the Forbidden City, Teian’an Men Square, and the Temple of the Heavenly. All 3 of these places hold incredible history in the Chinese culture and the World. Being able to experience these places was without a double a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Jared-


Panoramic of the Forbidden City


Tian’an Men Square


Temple of the Heavenly

Finding our way around

Waking up early this morning gave us a jump on the day. First thing was first, Breakfast. After yesterday’s fairly ordinary and rather expensive breakfast at our hotel I decided I wanted to add a little adventure to my breakfast for the day. With no specific destination in mind we headed to the morning streets of Beijing. Moving in the only direction not already explored, we walked about a mile south of our hotel, absorbing the environment of the morning commute for the locals.

We soon stumbled upon a traditional bakery/pastry shop and decided to see what we could get ourselves into. We selected some very random things, not have the slightest clue as to what they were. We ended up eating a sweet-bean dough roll, a cream-ish filled pastry topped with
some type of a berry sauce, which we could not pinpoint, something that represented an “airy” baklava, and some pieces of different flavored light cake. All of them were great and packed with exotic flavors.

At the Innovation Design Center

Moving on through the day we traveled to the Innovation Design Center which as a Design student I was able to witness first hand an amazing award-winning Center working on real world projects. Being able to see their facilities and processes was a great experience and gave me new insight to the field that I am so very interested in.

After being satisfied with how breakfast worked out a couple of us set to the night-lit city streets to find something authentic. Strolling down local side streets and through very dim alleyways in a nearby Hutong (an area housing traditional locals) we found a restaurant and
proceeded inward. We had a traditional meal of “Hot-Pot” in which we cooked out own food in a pot of boiling broths and flavors. The food was amazing, the atmosphere was great, and the bill was minimal. A great dinner, to say the least. Meandering back to the hotel we were able to check out the life of the locals, sitting outside, eating, drinking, and socializing at their very small neighborhood gathering area. This area included street vendors, open air meat markets, home-restaurants, and fruit stands which were mounted to the backs of bicycles. Arriving back
to the hotel we watched the traffic from our 18th-story window for awhile, just before falling asleep.

Jared-


City night



Bean roll











Hot-pot

We visit the Innovation Design Center at Lenovo group

We had a very interesting first day of our Beijing visit that included an exploding rooftop fire visual, giant Pandas at the Beijing Zoo, and exotic city sights of all sorts. Today we were able to address the real mission of our trip-to establish relationships in China that can benefit our students!

We met with Kino Zhou and Qiu Jiayu at Innovation Design Center at Lenovo group, an award winning design facility for a major computer manufacturer here in China. Kino gave us an excellent tour of the facilities and the entire group participated in initial discussions for potential future collaborations. The possibility of providing design input for our students from international design professionals was the primary topic in our conversations with the team at Lenovo. The idea was met with enthusiasm by all parties involved!

The visit was facilitated through the efforts of Metro State Industrial Design professor, Ted Shin who has worked with several of the Lenovo team members on past Design projects. Thanks Ted, the meeting should benefit our students.
-Ken Phillips

Shaking jet lag

Well, after a good night's sleep it was time to explore...

First off, the sun rises at about 5 AM here. I wasn't really expecting that, but it certainly allowed me to get an early start on my day.

All of those that know me know that running is an important part of my life. Since I was unsure as to how safe it is to run outside, I decided to use the hotel's fitness center treadmills. first, I am stuck how different it is here, they have an attendant that hands you a towel on the way in, and gets water for you upon request. Secondly, the treadmills are all in kilometers, so I have to do some mental calculations to figure out how far I went. Still, I am glad to have access to the place, it makes it feel more like home.

After meeting up with the rest of the guys, we decided to take a walk and see what we could see. We need to get prepared for our formal interactions with the Chinese Universities to come and shake off the jet lag that is still pervading our bodies. We visited a park where we watched the roof of a local high rise catch on fire, which drew the same curious and concerned looks from us as it did from the Chinese citizens that were standing in the pagoda with us. I wish I could have understood what they were saying. Then, we went to the Beijing zoo, which was a different experience from what I have seen at zoos in the past. The zoo had some different animals than I had seen, including two pandas, but the upkeep was also not as good as the Denver zoo for example. It is a good reminder that we are in a foreign country here, and while the people are very friendly, there are substantial differences between here and the states.

I had lunch at a KFC, which was interesting because all of the menu was in Chinese, which I cannot read. As familiar as KFC is from home, this may as well been a completely different restaurant because I had no idea what to expect from the combo meal I ordered. The fries and Pepsi were the same, but the sauce on the chicken sandwich was different that anything I've ever had. That being said, KFC is doing well here, the place was packed at 2:30 PM when I went in.

The trip so far has been educational and we haven't even started the "meat" of our program yet. Anyone who has an interest in business could benefit from taking a trip here because the economy is booming, and becoming more "westernized" by the year. Interacting with foreigners can't be done out of a book. I can foresee that any person looking to succeed in business will need to have an understanding of the Chinese and their place in the world as a huge market is just beginning to open up, and will continue to do so in the future. I look forward to our conference as it will give me an even greater understanding of where the culture is headed in terms of international business.

-Brian