Today I spent my day studying. Feels good to be catching up with studies.
There’s something I want to share with all my fellow NUS juniors out there,
who are interested in NOC about what I have learnt so far! So that I don’t
just keep it in my mind about China! especially Shanghai!
Issue 1:
When I was still a bumpkin back in Singapore, I hear businessmen saying:
"China has 1.3 billion people, if we are able to capture 10%… blah blah"
My take:
True. of course there is 1.3 billion people. BUT! within china, this one big market
is actually divided into many many smaller pieces, akin to the different countries
in the different parts of the world.
The only good thing is that it is considered one country so licensing wise, its
easier for a 1.3 billion market. But then again, consider the red tape in a
communist country. you have to exercise caution.
Issue 2:
The manufacturing costs in China is cheap! why think so much? Invest!
My Take:
I think this is commonly known as the "China Price" as I would quote business week.
If R&D is a big market in the western world then C&P is a big market here in China!
with 1.3B people, talent is not too difficult to find.
These Talents uses C&P (Copy and Paste) technology that MNCs bring into their
China factories to lower costs. These talents in turn, share the technology and starts
to produce these to the market, at a lower price (maybe of equal or lower quality).
Think long term and short term costs.
Issue 3:
You would have learnt that its not only what you know, its also WHO you know.
It’s applicable everywhere in the world! and why would China make a difference?
How is 关系 (relationship / Guan xi ) different from that ?
My take:
Well, after my 60+ days in Shanghai. I got to learn that actually the entire Shanghai is
divided into different districts and each district may have slightly different interpretations
of the same law and these different interpretations can make or break your way around
here.
How different are their interpretations? That depends on how well is your 关系 with them.
Get it? That’s Guan xi for me. Still learning though. =)
Issue 4:
So how exactly do I build that 关系 You have mentioned?
My take:
Ever heard of trailers (预告篇)? Stay tuned till I have more updates! haha!
Thanks for reading! =)
