We arrived to Beijing on July 19th, the day when somebody
decided to deploy a fire cracker in Beijing airport. We learned about it from the
email one of the students received during the flight. I took a picture of our group:
We wanted our friends and relatives see that we are safe and happy. There was
another surprise: No connection to the Blog! Later, we have realized that a few
of us have been cut off our Gmail accounts. Jeff Umscheid became
our connection to the Blog. We all appreciate your support, Jeff. We emailed Jeff
our notes from iPhones, and he posted them on the Blog. Jeff is a very busy
professional: His last posts were time-stamped at 2:45 a.m. Despite all
obstacles and time pressure, Caleb McNary posted a few great stories for us.
The Director of ChinaSense, a company that managed
our business residency, mentioned several times that China is a free country. When
I shared with her our problems with posting to the University blog, she calmly responded
that there are “filters” on the Internet.
We had a great trip which included visits and round table discussions
with the following companies:
·
ChinaSense
·
Young
Entrepreneurs of China
·
Pactera
·
Jun He Law Firm
·
U.S. Commerce
Office at the U.S. Embassy
·
Tianjin High-Tech
Development Center
·
Cessna Beijing
office
·
Beijing Language
and Culture University
It is hard to say which visit contributed
most to our understanding of China success factors. A day spent at the Tianjin High-Tech Development Center was
very important. Needless to say that a big red banner saying “Welcome Friends
from Friends University!” placed above the entrance setup the tone for multiple
meetings in Tianjin. Meeting in Beijing Cessna office and a visit with Kevin Wu, Vice President - North Asia Sales
& Market Development, helped us to understand Cessna’s entrance mode to the
Chinese market. Mr. Wu is coming to Wichita shortly – this is really a flat
world we live in. For many students a visit to the U.S. Embassy was the first experience of the kind. The presentation
and the round table discussion helped us to understand the economic potential
of China. Tammy Davis was happy to receive the contacts her company needed for
doing business with China. All of us were impressed with a round table talk at Jun He Law Firm, one of the biggest law firms in
Beijing. Its clients include Amazon.com, Oracle, Johnson&Johnson, Siemens, IBM,
City, GE, Microsoft, and the list goes on. Ms. Fang He practices in the areas
of mergers and acquisitions, FDI, private equity and IP. Ms. He was recognized
as the Outstanding Woman Lawyer of Beijing for 2019-2011. She represents a new
generation of Chinese professionals with a realistic view on current and future
economic development of her country. Our students employed by Cessna made a
decision to recommend Jun He Law Firm for partnership with their company.
I am very proud of the graduating class of Master of Global Leadership
and Management. The MGLM Friends University students were great representatives
of their University and their country.
