Comments on: Today’s Quiz http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/ The MBA Graduate Program at Cal Poly Fri, 18 May 2012 15:33:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Chris Carr http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-669 Chris Carr Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:47:36 +0000 http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-669 Peter gets the prize (Starbucks gift certiciate) because he was the first to answer both right (or the closest to "right" - see below). China's management systems are still pretty rudimentary. For example, to solve traffic congestion in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, the goverment came up with a unique plan: all companies in Beijing close for 10 days and no private cars are allowed into the third ring of the city. How is that compared to any elaborate traffic management programs you have seen. Amazing, isn't it? The time zone question is more tricky. Answers to this question vary. Most people will tell you the PRC does this because having one time zone is easier than having different time zones. (Note though that people in Xinjiang province or Tibet (far west in central Asia) do not start work until about 10 am after it warms up a bit!) Peter gets the prize (Starbucks gift certiciate) because he was the first to answer both right (or the closest to “right” - see below).

China’s management systems are still pretty rudimentary. For example, to solve traffic congestion in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, the goverment came up with a unique plan: all companies in Beijing close for 10 days and no private cars are allowed into the third ring of the city. How is that compared to any elaborate traffic management programs you have seen. Amazing, isn’t it?

The time zone question is more tricky. Answers to this question vary. Most people will tell you the PRC does this because having one time zone is easier than having different time zones. (Note though that people in Xinjiang province or Tibet (far west in central Asia) do not start work until about 10 am after it warms up a bit!)

]]> By: Steve Rodger http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-651 Steve Rodger Mon, 04 Dec 2006 00:26:51 +0000 http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-651 Question 1: Simply put, “strong hardware, weak software” refer to the strong infrastructure, with weak management within China. It is a joke that companies sometimes receive when they’re trying to start a business in China. This is becoming a major issue as certain businesses are finding difficulty finding trusting, creative, high-capacity managers for their companies in China. Unfortunately, China has a history of having weak managers but they are slowly breaking this stereotype. Solution: they should come to the California and earn a Cal Poly MBA :) Question 2: China has not always been on the same time zone. Before the Chinese had their Civil War in 1949, they were separated into five time zones. Now China has the widest spanning time zone. I believe the main reason for a single time zone was to unify China as it becomes difficult to conduct business without a unifying time zone. Also, because a majority of the population of China is along the eastern coast, most of thier citizens are practically in the same time zone anyways. The government probably decided to create a single time zone to help the Chinese economy. For example, in the US, the time difference between New York and California is such that it decreases the time available in any given day to conduct your business activity. Instead of having 8 hours to work with a client across the country you only have 5 hours. With a single time zone, this helps to correct this time issue. Additionally, it seems that the China government tries to control as many aspects of Chinese life as they possibly can. On one hand, creating a single time zone should make doing business easier. It would get confusing in 1 billion people worried, “Am I on Beijing time or Xingjian time?” On the other hand, sunrise and sunset can occur at ridiculous hours in some parts of the country. Also, an interesting note: when you cross from western international boarder of China into Afghanistan, there is a 3.5 hour time difference. It seems this could cause some logistical problems? Question 1:
Simply put, “strong hardware, weak software” refer to the strong infrastructure, with weak management within China. It is a joke that companies sometimes receive when they’re trying to start a business in China. This is becoming a major issue as certain businesses are finding difficulty finding trusting, creative, high-capacity managers for their companies in China. Unfortunately, China has a history of having weak managers but they are slowly breaking this stereotype. Solution: they should come to the California and earn a Cal Poly MBA :)

Question 2:
China has not always been on the same time zone. Before the Chinese had their Civil War in 1949, they were separated into five time zones. Now China has the widest spanning time zone. I believe the main reason for a single time zone was to unify China as it becomes difficult to conduct business without a unifying time zone. Also, because a majority of the population of China is along the eastern coast, most of thier citizens are practically in the same time zone anyways. The government probably decided to create a single time zone to help the Chinese economy. For example, in the US, the time difference between New York and California is such that it decreases the time available in any given day to conduct your business activity. Instead of having 8 hours to work with a client across the country you only have 5 hours. With a single time zone, this helps to correct this time issue.

Additionally, it seems that the China government tries to control as many aspects of Chinese life as they possibly can. On one hand, creating a single time zone should make doing business easier. It would get confusing in 1 billion people worried, “Am I on Beijing time or Xingjian time?” On the other hand, sunrise and sunset can occur at ridiculous hours in some parts of the country.

Also, an interesting note: when you cross from western international boarder of China into Afghanistan, there is a 3.5 hour time difference. It seems this could cause some logistical problems?

]]> By: Bonnie Morse http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-640 Bonnie Morse Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:27:23 +0000 http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-640 1. “Strong hardware, weak software,” typically refers to management styles in China. The country has created great “hardware,” or roads and systems to support business. However, management is still a problem in the sense that it does not think of innovative practices to manage a business. A company doing business in China needs to be aware that while there are strong physical support systems, some people still have difficulty actually managing and developing unique solutions to business problems. 2. China may not change its time zones because it could be hard to communicate the information. Since much of central China is rural, it could be difficult enforcing that every village and business adopt a different time zone. Another reason for not changing time zones is that the majority of businesses are within the same longitude. For instance, on the West coast it is 5:00 p.m. in Seattle when it’s 5:00 p.m. in San Luis Obispo. China’s major industrial and business cities are on its East coast, meaning that if different time zones were implemented it may not benefit businesses at all. The benefits of a single time zone are that it makes it easy for businesses to coordinate activities and increase efficiency. When a person travels to a different region of the country, they can ensure that a meeting at 8:00 a.m. is not really 10:00 a.m. due to time changes. Likewise, they do not have to worry about “losing” and hour when traveling due to time zone changes. The disadvantages of a single time zone are that people may have already adapted to a specific region’s time characteristics, without changing their clocks. Even though it’s technically 8:00 p.m. in Beijing, different regions may stop doing business earlier because the sun has already set. 1. “Strong hardware, weak software,” typically refers to management styles in China. The country has created great “hardware,” or roads and systems to support business. However, management is still a problem in the sense that it does not think of innovative practices to manage a business. A company doing business in China needs to be aware that while there are strong physical support systems, some people still have difficulty actually managing and developing unique solutions to business problems.

2. China may not change its time zones because it could be hard to communicate the information. Since much of central China is rural, it could be difficult enforcing that every village and business adopt a different time zone. Another reason for not changing time zones is that the majority of businesses are within the same longitude. For instance, on the West coast it is 5:00 p.m. in Seattle when it’s 5:00 p.m. in San Luis Obispo. China’s major industrial and business cities are on its East coast, meaning that if different time zones were implemented it may not benefit businesses at all.

The benefits of a single time zone are that it makes it easy for businesses to coordinate activities and increase efficiency. When a person travels to a different region of the country, they can ensure that a meeting at 8:00 a.m. is not really 10:00 a.m. due to time changes. Likewise, they do not have to worry about “losing” and hour when traveling due to time zone changes. The disadvantages of a single time zone are that people may have already adapted to a specific region’s time characteristics, without changing their clocks. Even though it’s technically 8:00 p.m. in Beijing, different regions may stop doing business earlier because the sun has already set.

]]> By: Chun-Te Peter Wu http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-639 Chun-Te Peter Wu Fri, 01 Dec 2006 08:11:56 +0000 http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-639 1) It's a joke that all ex-pats seem to know. “Strong hardware, weak software”. They are referring to management in China. The infrastructure tends to be great, and it’s expanding at a quick & orderly pace. This has been one of the real drivers of the Chinese economy. The flip side of the coin is that management can still be quite weak. At the high end of the scale, Chinese talent has gotten much better, and you can find plenty of high-priced, high-powered Mainland execs who can hold their own with any manager on the planet. The general standards of front-line management, however, have only inched up in the past few years. Lack of creativity and independent thinking are still hobbling the potential of China’s graduates, with or without an MBA. Source from http://www.diligencechina.com/blog/?p=120 2) According to Mr. Ryan Pyle's blog http://ryanpyle.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-time-is.html There are 3 reasons: 1) China likes to be different from the rest of the world as nationalism is high. 2) One time zone allows the same transportation schedule for the entire country 3) Political reasons, different time zones would give excuses for people to be different from Beijing which can lead to claims for independence for provinces like Tibet (Xizang), thousands of miles west away from Beijing. Advantages: It is easier to conduct government and commercial businesses under 1 time zone between the west part of the country and the east since the opening and closing of office will be uniformed for government agencies and office buildings across the country. Makes business travel easier since the transportation schedule is the same. No jet-lag, or time difference adjustments. Disadvantages: People works longer the further west of China because it feels like the day is longer after 5pm. (or close of business hour). For businesses that operates under daylight (farming), the one time zone does not help Not easy for business with neighboring countries (India, Vietnam, Russia...) that has different time zone at the same longitude with China because the times are different. 1) It’s a joke that all ex-pats seem to know. “Strong hardware, weak software”. They are referring to management in China. The infrastructure tends to be great, and it’s expanding at a quick & orderly pace. This has been one of the real drivers of the Chinese economy. The flip side of the coin is that management can still be quite weak. At the high end of the scale, Chinese talent has gotten much better, and you can find plenty of high-priced, high-powered Mainland execs who can hold their own with any manager on the planet. The general standards of front-line management, however, have only inched up in the past few years. Lack of creativity and independent thinking are still hobbling the potential of China’s graduates, with or without an MBA.
Source from http://www.diligencechina.com/blog/?p=120

2) According to Mr. Ryan Pyle’s blog http://ryanpyle.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-time-is.html
There are 3 reasons:
1) China likes to be different from the rest of the world as nationalism is high.
2) One time zone allows the same transportation schedule for the entire country
3) Political reasons, different time zones would give excuses for people to be different from Beijing which can lead to claims for independence for provinces like Tibet (Xizang), thousands of miles west away from Beijing.

Advantages:
It is easier to conduct government and commercial businesses under 1 time zone between the west part of the country and the east since the opening and closing of office will be uniformed for government agencies and office buildings across the country.

Makes business travel easier since the transportation schedule is the same. No jet-lag, or time difference adjustments.

Disadvantages:
People works longer the further west of China because it feels like the day is longer after 5pm. (or close of business hour).

For businesses that operates under daylight (farming), the one time zone does not help

Not easy for business with neighboring countries (India, Vietnam, Russia…) that has different time zone at the same longitude with China because the times are different.

]]> By: Mike Johannsen http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-637 Mike Johannsen Fri, 01 Dec 2006 07:23:09 +0000 http://calpolymbatrip.com/2006/china/your-quiz-for-today/#comment-637 1. In the context of China “strong hardware, Weak software” refers the ability of Chinese companies to design and build high quality electronic hardware. The vulnerability of Chinese firms is there are only a handful of relatively small Chinese firms producing the software to support the hardware being produced. As a result a large proportion of US and European firms are investing into India for their software needs as opposed to China. There seems to be a great deal of reluctance by software firms to do development in China predominantly because of the rampant piracy. A second reason is Chinese companies generally are not regarded for its customer service. One article (http://en.asmag.com/asm/common/article_detail.aspx?c=3&module=5&id=2511) mentioned that many Chinese firms would prefer to ship two extra items for every 100 produced to solve any technical issues. This could potentially be a major area of concern as China grows out of production and into service and other technical fields, where customer service plays a large part in the finished product. 2. China may be as wide as the US, but one of the major factors possibly overlooked is greater than 90% of China’s population (1 billion people) live in the eastern one-third of the nation (http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/ChinaFood/argu/trends/trend_10.htm). With this many people living in such a densely populated area it makes a great deal of practical sense to all be on one standard time. The uniformity and logistics are a great deal more practical with everyone on one time. The remaining 10% of the population reside in the Western portion of the country and are generally farmers who do not rely on the sun not the clock and thus it does not matter what “time” it is. 1. In the context of China “strong hardware, Weak software” refers the ability of Chinese companies to design and build high quality electronic hardware. The vulnerability of Chinese firms is there are only a handful of relatively small Chinese firms producing the software to support the hardware being produced. As a result a large proportion of US and European firms are investing into India for their software needs as opposed to China.
There seems to be a great deal of reluctance by software firms to do development in China predominantly because of the rampant piracy. A second reason is Chinese companies generally are not regarded for its customer service. One article (http://en.asmag.com/asm/common/article_detail.aspx?c=3&module=5&id=2511) mentioned that many Chinese firms would prefer to ship two extra items for every 100 produced to solve any technical issues. This could potentially be a major area of concern as China grows out of production and into service and other technical fields, where customer service plays a large part in the finished product.

2. China may be as wide as the US, but one of the major factors possibly overlooked is greater than 90% of China’s population (1 billion people) live in the eastern one-third of the nation (http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/ChinaFood/argu/trends/trend_10.htm). With this many people living in such a densely populated area it makes a great deal of practical sense to all be on one standard time. The uniformity and logistics are a great deal more practical with everyone on one time.
The remaining 10% of the population reside in the Western portion of the country and are generally farmers who do not rely on the sun not the clock and thus it does not matter what “time” it is.

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