Cal Poly MBA Trip

Sex, Beef and the Quarter Pounder in China

Check out this Wall Street Journal article [subscription required] on McDonald’s Strategy in China. It’s a hoot to read. Who would have thought beef could be sooo “sexy”? Yaaaah Baaabby!

On a serious note, we will try to get you into a KFC, Pizza Hut or McDonalds or two while were are in China and India. This article does a great job laying out some of the differences you will see there in such stores, and why, and how to localize these types of multinational products for an emerging market.

For example, after reading this article, you should better understand why you see chicken (and fish) everywhere in China (and dog in Canton, now Guangzhou), and not as much beef (too expensive for most folks).

Comments?

6 comments December 17th, 2008

Dollar Stores And White Trash

I know some people who consider dollar stores to be beneath them. I have heard elitists mock those who shop as dollar stores as being white trash (WT).

I love dollar stores. So, yes, I guess you can call me WT. Really. Go ahead. It won’t bother me as I have been called worse. I can get lost in a dollar store killing time. I like the people who work there. I like their business model. I also love swap meets. I can take my two young daughters to a dollar store, let them spend an hour running around looking for things (I always frame it as our “own treasure hunt”), I buy them each the promised one item (and resist their screams and pleas for two or three items each), and I come out of the store with only a $2.14 bill — that’s the cheapest baby sitting venue you will ever find (aside from a public park).

Plus, it’s educational in that it teaches my kids to practice their letters, words and numbers by reading labels, boxes and packages, they have to make priority decisions in the midst of a mad scramble to decide what they want to select (as I tell them “girls, only eight minutes left until the bell to go home rings!”), it gives us a chance to talk about where the goods in the store come from, where China is and how far away it is, why pops goes there each year, they learn how to address an adult respectfully and with confidence when they take their item to the cashier, etc.

Here is a great Times Online article (”To China For the Holy Grail: A Price of 99p”) about a day-in-the-life of a British buyer in China buying product for dollar stores (yes, folks, most, if not all of what you buy in a dollar store comes from China). Amazing stuff. Talk about a cut-throat business where margins are tight and the line between profit and going broke is razor thin …

Dollar stores, golly gee. WT, I guess that be me.

4 comments November 25th, 2008

YouTube Videos on India

Post by Professor Jay Singh.

The below videos provide you with foundational information to get you thinking about India, and business issues related thereto.

1. India Rising - (10:14 minutes; ABC News)

An interesting commentary on the reasons behind the emergence of India as a global leader. Check out the comments by Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys regarding the number of applicants applying for IT jobs with the company. The Indian IT industry has a reached a point where they are now starting to employ US graduates. This largest and most diverse democracy is identified as the most pro-US country outside of the US. Comments by Thomas Friedman, the author of The World is Flat, illustrate his sentiments on the peaceful nature of this country as well as the tremendous potential that he sees in the population that comprises of 700 million citizens (that is almost 2.5 times the US population) under the age of 35. The video also explains how entrepreneurship does not bias against the poor in India.

2. India Shining by Colin Mutchler (6:04 minutes)

A narrative by a professor from INSEAD business school with campuses in France and Singapore. He mentions his experiences from a class that included 20 students, 2 professors and several entrepreneurs, business persons and venture capitalists in the cities of Mumbai and Bangalore. Phrases used tro describe India in this video are functional anarchy, chaotic democracy, lumbering elephant, and 20th century head on a 19th century body. It also mentions how the rapidly improving services sector in India is causing a brain gain rather than a brain drain. Up to 70,000 business leaders from the likes of the Silicon Valley are heading home annually to take advantage of the booming economy. The quote at the end of the video very aptly summarizes the professor’s experience.

3. Amitabh Bachchan recites India Poised Anthem (2:13 minutes)

Amitabh Bachchan is the biggest super star the Indian movie industry (Bollywood) has ever seen. He has also had his fair share of successes and failures as an entrepreneur. When he speaks India listens. In this video he truly motivates the Indian population to feel a sense of pride and optimism. He talks of optimism versus skepticism that is India.

4. Taj Mahal (8:31 minutes) (do search noted above)

Should we again be able to add India into the trip one of the treats for all students on the International Business Trip, 2009 will be the Taj Mahal that has recently made it into the 7 wonders of the world. This beautiful mausoleum, made entirely of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones, was built by Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal over 400 years ago. More information on this a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1983) is available here. Enjoy the toe tapping bollywood music in the background.

5. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (8:22 minutes)

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), are an elite group of seven autonomous engineering and technology oriented institutes of higher education established and declared as Institutes of National Importance by the Government of India. The IITs were created to train scientists and engineers, with the aim of developing a skilled workforce to support the economic and social development of India after independence in 1947. Admission is very competitive, given the huge population of India; the undergraduate acceptance rate through JEE has a low ratio, around 1 in 55, with about 300,000 annual test takers for about 5,500 seats. Imagine that!! The IITs were ranked third-best worldwide for technology, after MIT and University of California, Berkeley.

This video gives an excellent overview of one of the institutes.

6. The William Jefferson Clinton Science & Technology Center (6:23 minutes)

While the video titled Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur helps illustrate the high standards of engineering and technology education in India, this video provides an example of the paradigm shift in mass education in the world’s second highest populated nation. Vinod Gupta, an IIT’ ian, moved to the US to seek a career as did a record 70% of his fellow graduates (this is what they mean by brain drain, which has dramatically decrease to about 30% in recent years). With President Clinton’s support he established a school that helps provide cutting edge education in science and technology at high school level to over 550 students from nearly surrounding 31 villages.

7. India ‘Vision 2020′ - A Creative Documentary (7:21 minutes)

This documentary provides a vision of an India in 2020 where:

The annual GDP growth rate will be 9% (presently at 6.8%)
Only 10% of the population will be below poverty line (presently at 25%)

Nuclear power stations will provide 20,000 MWe power
Remote services will contribute $133-315 billion in revenues to the Indian economy

This documentary may have romanticized some of the facts but is not too off from the future that is India.

8. The Simpsons - India Outsourcing (7:28 minutes)

This episode was good enough to cause belly splitting laughter but it appears to have been recently removed. This episode makes light of the outsourcing issues that had the pundits in the US running scared not too long ago. Last heard, Homer was deported from India wonder why …

What are some of your takeaways from one or more of these videos?

Posts filed under 'Misc.'

Sex, Beef and the Quarter Pounder in China

Dollar Stores And White Trash

YouTube Videos on India