Trip Reflections

For the past eighteen days I have been traveling around Asia, seeing the differences between the two up-and-coming economies: China and India. These two countries are often compared and I was looking forward to seeing their similarities and differences firsthand as we arrived at our first stop, Beijing. The first thing I noticed about the city was the smog. It hung over the city like a blanket, covering everything and giving the city a very dull look. The smog, of course, is an unfortunate result of China's booming economy. With each new factory and each new car, the city fights a losing battle to keep the pollution down. As the Olympics approach, China has a real challenge before it. We visited the Olympic Bird's Nest on one of our days in Beijing. It was so smoggy that we could barely make it out from about 200 yards away. As we looked at this great structure that is poised to show off China's greatness this August, I wondered how on earth they were going to keep the smog down enough to make sure that the worldwide audience could see the Bird's Nest - and the athletes.

Despite the smog, Beijing was my favorite place we visited. It has rich history, which you can see in the Forbidden City, the many temples around the city, Tienanmen Square, and, of course, the nearby Great Wall. Shanghai, on the other hand, was much more of a city - tall buildings make up its skyline and the traffic is much worse (though part of the reason for this may have been driving restrictions in Beijing in anticipation of the Olympics). Shanghai seems to be where the business happens. Our group visited more businesses and began to settle into our routine after having more time off in Beijing. One of the visits that really interested me was Subway. After hearing about Subway's entrance into the Shanghai market a few months ago at Cal Poly, I was looking forward to seeing it for myself. They showed us four locations, each location having a different reasoning behind it. Some locations did better on the weekends and some during the week; some depended on the weather. It was interesting to hear how they dealt with each location and how they marketed such a foreign concept of food to the Chinese.

As we began our journey to India, we encountered the many issues that can be presented when traveling by air. The remnants of a typhoon grounded our flight, delaying us by five hours and making us miss our flight from Hong Kong to Delhi. The challenges of dealing with this problem are magnified when you are in a group of 46 people, but I was impressed by everyone's willingness to go with the flow. There weren't too many complaints and people even found ways to entertain themselves with mini flying helicopters and wheelchairs. This is just the reality of doing international business - sometimes things don't work out as planned, but you have to move forward anyway. We missed our free day in Delhi, but were still able to see the city, attend business meetings, and, most importantly, see the Taj Mahal.

The city of Gurgaon brought to life the quote about India that was posted on our information sheets: "There are two India's in this country, one India is straining at the leash eager to spring forth and live up to all the adjectives the world has been recently showering upon us; the other India is the leash." The quote is by Amitabh Bachchan, a Bollywood celebrity and entrepreneur from India and after seeing India firsthand I think this quote is right on. Amongst the brand new shiny buildings bearing the names of Dell and American Express were dirt roads, shanties with blue tarp rooves and cows wandering the streets. It was the strangest sight, something we are not used to in America. It was as though India had taken off, while at the same time leaving many behind, but both were living together. The wage gap is obviously huge in India, which was even more apparent on our visit to a local developer. Their new development focused on India's elite. It will take them away from the poverty on the streets and into their own protected haven. Hearing from a local developer was very interesting in a country where the infrastructure is so lacking. One question asked of the developers was regarding whether or not they are required to help with road upkeep around their sites. The answer they gave was vague, but it was clear that that was not required.

Infrastructure is the most apparent difference between China and India. It is also the main reason for the differences in types of industry that come to these countries. China is known as the manufacturer of the world, while India is the world's call center. A phone company we visited had a factory in India and my question to our host was if this was the only place they had factories. The man laughed and answered that they also had factories in China. I can see why, it would be a challenge to transport large quantities of goods all over the world from India's rough roads.

India has many challenges ahead of it as their economy grows. Unlike China, India's democratic government cannot move quickly enough to keep up with it's growing economy. This makes India appear as if it is far behind China. While China's cities are beginning to resemble those of the West, India's cities are still inhabited by wandering cattle and old rusty bikes that take up the road and slow down traffic.

China's government, on the other hand, has been able to make things happen to keep up with their economy. A great example is the new Yanghshan Deep Water Port on an old fishing island outside of Shanghai. When they realized they would need a better port for Shanghai, China simply moved a whole village of fishermen and built a new port that can hold several large ships bound for places like California. These are just a few of the apparent differences between China and India.

Yet, if you look below the surface, these two countries are not all that different. This is very apparent in the way they do business. Business in these places is about who you know. As an outsider, you will most likely need a local contact to really do business and be successful. You also need to know the local etiquette as senior members are treated with the utmost respect, much more so than in America. If you do not make an effort to understand these cultures, doing business here will be a challenge, but more importantly, you will be missing out on what makes China China and what makes India India.