Hello everyone! In a few short weeks I am going to be traveling to London for the semester and I am thinking of writing a blog like the one I wrote last summer when I traveled to China. Not sure what the blog will be called, but once I do I’ll post the URL or on Facebook for whoever is friends with me on there! Also lastly I’m apply for some scholarships about blog/travel writing so if you get anymore notifications just ignore. Thanks 🙂
Final Summary
Ethical Issues in My Profession: Â Â Â Â
Doing business with China is a must in the Smartphone industry and a necessity if a company wants to reach a global position as well. There are a lot of differences between the two countries that makes doing business a little more different than if it was domestic. Some of the things we learned about and saw in China that would not happen or be considered to be an option. For example China is able to have large amounts of factories that enable them to be this huge part of the supply chain process, but for this to transfer over to the U.S seems unlikely. Marjory of up incoming workers in the U.S do not want to be in the factories and doing assembly line jobs. There is the issue about workers and their treatment in China that has continually been addressed and was explained to us in bits and pieces. While visiting one company they said that they cannot fire any of their employees even if they are being counterproductive. Also the people are not making enough money to keep up with the growth rates/inflation rates making it hard to afford apartments in the cities (which can get quite expensive) and these results in a lower standard of living. There is an obvious reason to why companies opt to manufactures in China because it is more cost efficient and would allow the company itself to make more money in the end. Ethically this may not be the right way to conduct business in certain situations, but there is not change since companies believe cost wise they are better off outsourcing.
Educational Breadth as Professional Development: Â Â Â Â
There is most definitely a need for an expansion of knowledge of both China and the U.S in education. I believe that students should understand the similarities and differences between what these two countries are doing in regards to smartphone supply chain and just electronics/supply chain in general. While traveling on the program most of us were introduced to new concepts and technologies we were not previously aware of. I think to be more experienced we should expose ourselves to other cultures and their way of thinking to make doing business and working cohesively with countries like China easier and so that it is not so new to us all. A few of the lectures that we had on the trip described things such as doing business in China and learning about Chinese culture in general. The average student in the U.S probably was not exposed to the idea of face and what an influence that is in Chinese culture and business. We have to be aware that other countries do not function and think in the same way we would here in the U.S. The sooner students are able to learn these ideas that better and so that we can have no problems communicating and interacting globally.
Lifelong Learning, Continuing Education as Professional Development: Â Â Â Â
Looking back on the trip and the different companies/employees we met majority of them said the same things. Almost all (if not all) said that they continually had to learn new things each day/week/month/year to keep up with the fast pace world of technology—in the sense of technologies they were producing and the technologies they introduced into their company. While at school you can learn the general information and know the technical side of what the job entails, but until real life kicks in the only way to learn is by experiencing the job. Many of the people we talked to had to wear many hats in their jobs as well as moving around to different areas of the company. Most of the jobs people will have or move on to have not been created yet and that’s a huge reality in the technology companies. In some cases people originally got a degree in engineering but now they’ve moved on to a management position or something that the company just created and needed development/help on. What we learn in school is the first step to learning how to do the jobs we will eventually have and give us that initial push in the right direction.
The Social Environment of Professional Life:
From what I saw different aspects of professional life in China transcend into their personal lives as well. What I mean is the aspect of respect and how they are not abrupt and rude with others. In the U.S it’s not that we are rude, but I believe that we do speak more freely in certain situations. When understanding issues in China vs. China knowing what is going on in the U.S there is a huge difference. It’s not just with current events, but with knowledge of our country in general. In school we got to know very little of Chinese history and their culture and we forget that other countries know a lot more about us then we do about them. I think it’s important that we (us as students and us as a country) begin to move towards keeping up with current events in other countries—especially in China. Eventually many of us may have some involvement with China and knowing what is going on with them can be a benefit in business, communication, and other things as well. One thing that I was not aware of before the trip was the government’s involvement in businesses and things of that nature. Knowing what is going on in the government can be a key thing with doing business in China.
Functioning on Multi-Disciplinary Teams:
At first I was not sure how the mix between the business students and engineer students would go, but in all actuality it could have been a better fit. There was at times when I had no idea what was going on during the more mechanical and technical side of the trip, yet people were able to explain to me the process so I was able to get a better understand of the information that was given to me. The same goes when they didn’t understand the supply chain side of things. I think that this group was a perfect fit for Smartphones and Smartphone supply chain. In the beginning I was overwhelmed by the large amount of content given to us and I thought to myself how are we all suppose to communicate our ideas if we’re not sure of what we are talking about. For example when my group was coming up with ideas for our presentation I was not completely sure how the technology we wanted to provide would exactly work and I would have to connect my own dots so I was able to communicate with my team members what my idea was. In the end all of us found the best ways to use each other when needed and learning new things different from our typical field of study.
Day 14
This is it. Today is the day this crazy adventure is coming to an end. Two weeks feels so short compared to all of the amazing things I have done and all of the wonderful people who I got to spend it with. It sounds sappy to get emotional, but being put in this situation together made the majority of us bond very quickly. Valerie, Marisa, Kelsey, Matt, David, Mike, and I made a plan to be able to see each other in the summer again before we get to school (because 4 months is way too long!). It’s nice since the majority of us live in the same area, but we will make a trip back to Pitt so we can see Mike and Kelsey. Arriving to the airport some of us went our separate ways heading back to our home towns. The nice thing is a lot of us are from “outside Philly” so we got to spend some more time together before going back to real life. We made it to San Fran no problem and the flight wasn’t that bad, but our connecting flight from San Fran to Houston was a little delayed so we got off the plane and bored the plane for Philly right away. I was trying really has to beat jet lag and not sleep on the two connecting flights…but that did not work out very well for me. I’m hoping that I can get a good night’s sleep and slowly adjust to being back at home. Getting through to baggage claim was easy after getting off our last plane together and we all slowly went to say goodbye together until we would see some of each other at Pitt in the fall. I can’t believe this is all over, but I am thankful that I was able to enjoy this experience with all of the people I did.
Photos from Day 13
Day 13
On our last full day in Hong Kong (and in China) we went to see Victoria Peak after a lecture we had on doing business in China. The peak is approximately 400 meters high above the city and is one of the most expensive parts as well. At this point in the trip everyone is past the point of exhaustion from the mix of all the traveling and from constantly doing something whether it’s getting to know the city, company visits, or cultural visits. After we saw the peak we traveled back down to the city to have our farewell dinner. It was so sad to know this was our last night and that it might be awhile until I see everyone again. During the dinner each of the 5 groups made a presentation about a possible business/product that they could create from the information that we learned on the trip. Our company was called Ivy Tech and we wanted to provide an app for traveling in taxis and it would be able to translate addresses and have the address be drop from your phone to the drivers by Bluetooth. Also we wanted to add a map feature for people who had access to cellular data or to Wi-Fi in the moment. Once each group presented Ivy had made a PowerPoint of all of the photos we took during the trip (some were very embarrassing but all in good fun). It didn’t take long to get back to the hotel and for the last night we just decided to pack and hang out together. For Saturday we need to leave by 7:30am for the trip to the airport.
Photos from Day 12
Day 12
Thursday was our last day of company visits and we got to see Modern Terminals and the Science and Technology Park as well. First we say the terminals which was surreal to see. At one point in the visit we went up a building to see the terminals from a higher view. I was able to see all of the shipping containers and the machines they use to move the cargo. For Modern Terminals they have about 1,200 people working in that specific areas. We asked one of the employees how much each container can hold and they told us about 20 tons and that each crane machine can carry 4 of those containers. I also was interested in knowing if the process was the same for each of their terminals and the reply I got back was yes for about 90% of the work and the other 10% was minor things that differed from each terminal. Before we headed to the technology park we went to Hollywood Plaza which was a mall with a large number of shops and had a food court so we could get lunch. Around midafternoon we made it to the HKSTP where we had an introduction to what they do and also had 2 different companies speak with us. The park is funded by the government to help out startups in Hong Kong and they will provided office space for a period of time. The one company that talked to us about an app they are developing which enable students in Hong Kong to learn other languages like mandarin and English. They also looked into setting up online classes with former professors to help improve students reading and speaking abilities in some of the languages. After the technology park we came back to the hotel and got ready to go explore the downtown area of Hong Kong.
Photos from Day 11
Day 11
I woke up with a Charlie horse in the morning so that was a little annoying, but we are traveling to Hong Kong today so I am very excited. Getting to Hong Kong from Shenzhen is not that long of a drive, but going through immigration and customs took forever. We had to do it once to leave China and then for a second time when we entered Hong Kong. After all of the craziness we finally made it to our hotel (which is insanely nice and beautiful) and hung out for a little before we went to see some of the sights in HK. First we went to Lantau Island where we saw the big Buddha which is 25 m tall and 220 tons. It was so breathtaking to see that as well as the temples they had on the grounds. The one temple has around 10,000 Buddhas in the room which was beautiful as well. After this visit we went down by the Victoria Harbor because we were going on a mini boat ride to see the skyline and watch a laser light show. The light show wasn’t as good as I thought it would have been, but I was still pretty content with the view of HK. We finished that around 9ish and made it back to the hotel a half hour later. Once in our room we started to do our project that we were going to present on Friday. My group did a good job with coming up with an idea right away and implementing it so we finished the project in a timely manner.
Photos from Day 10
Bedesem Plus 3 China 