IBSM 07 post-trip full time report

Humble apologies to all, this is my first time blogging. Therefore, if the content gets boring/lousy english/weak attempt at blogging or whatever, please understand that im just a noob writer. thanks all.

I will write about things that are interesting and do impact me on the days we have spent in the Pearl River Delta region. It will sort of be like chronological order. Basically, this blog will be about uncovering NEW things and how it affects me.

So I will Not list down all the places I visit because there is simply too much to cover, and I don't want people coming to my blog, reading an "encyclopaedia". My objective is to showcase my learning experiences that I think are enriching and interesting. If you want to read encyclopaedia, I can lend you my journal though. heehee.kidding.

OK. In this International Business Study Mission (IBSM) trip. We will be travelling round the Pearl River Delta. Starting from

• Hong Kong (Messy Orient Pearl)
• Shenzhen (One Hit City Wonder)
• Dongguan (World's IT factory)
• Guangzhou (Wholesale Centers and Trade Exhibitions. Go there)
  
• Foshan (Ceramic products and Wong Fei Hung)
• Shunde (Private enterprises' breeding ground and Self-made Furniture)
  
• Zhongshan (Birthplace of China's modern father. Excellent place to live in too)
  
• Zhuhai (Science and Education city. Home to many high tech co.)
  

99% of the pictures and videos are provided by my dear mates Joyce, Jasmine, (Weixuan-Benson). you might be wondering why is there a dash between the names. Thats because both of them shared the job of taking videos. Once again, i would like to thank their efforts in capturing those memories. I also took some of Mr Wong's photos, heehee. Thanks once again.



Siao bo!! HK residential buildings are even more dense and power than Singapore's ones, about freaking 50-60 storeys. The cost of an apartment costs up to HK$ 3-4 million, about 600-800k Sing dolllars. Astronomical and crazy price for such a small and high place.

Same for any type of property built in H.K. Since land is limited, the prices are high, hence companies especially manufacturing ones relocate them to nearby Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhongshan or Zhuhai to reduce their operating expenses. They also make use of the cheap workforce of the Chinese people. This trend is very prevailing as businesses can save costs and earn more profits

The 1st day was cool. After landing at the airport, we had our first group meal a.k.a 8 dishes 1 soup which were to repeat itself all the way to the end of the trip. I am not picky about food, hence im cool with it. But for the rest of my mates, hehh, they got quite tired of the routine meals and came up with a creative name to represent it. BA CHAI YI TANG. 八菜一汤。

My Very dear group mates. Group 1. always no.1. and im not kidding.

We were whisked to the Trade Development Council near Wanchai, facing the Victoria Harbour. That building reminds me of the ESPLANDE because of its proximity to the city area and water (Singapore River)

This sweet lady from the HK TDC briefed us through on what is TDC all about, it's history, why is it established, how it impacts the HK economy. But she just couldn't answer our questions. lol. What a pity. Our main focus is on the TDC and we have prepared many mind-provoking questions, i would say, waiting to be answered by our hosts. It's alright, we shall find the answers ourselves. George looks serious which is unusual, maybe he is also a little lost?



Yesss. H.K nightlife is not to be missed unlike Singapore's night life culture. Every night including weeknights, the place will come buzzing to life, in the picture seen here which is Mongkok 旺角. The streets would be closed to traffic to allow people to walk freely. Things like finger food, boutiques, electronics... you name it, they've got it. Singapore can do much better in terms of creating a vibrate night lifestyle mood, and so far, it has not improved much.

Very awe-looking buildings. Its surroundings are very well balanced with a touch of nature amidst the high rise office buildings. The picture below is the Guangdong Development Bank.

I visited Shenzhen back in Dec 1997, back then,i recalled seeing many construction sites. It was not as developed as in now. However, in today's Shenzhen, you can so many high rise buildings, which are either government, commercial or residential.

Shenzhen, I would say, is the biggest success of the 4 special economic zones (SEZ) set up by China back in 1978, in an effort to attract foreign investment. SEZ offers special tax incentives, less bureaucracy in doing trade and is a market-driven economy.

Down the years, we can see many wholly-owned foreign companies like McDonalds who came to China to establish their own brand. Other entry modes like joint partnership, of local and foreign enterprises. Some of the foreign companies that came to the PRD to invest are Honda, UPS and Shell.

We also visited the South China Materials City, 华南城. It is also something very new to me, having a centralised location for purchasing of raw materials, ranging from textile and clothing, leather accessories, plastics, paper printing products and electronics accessories.

It acts like a centralised location where buyers can buy all their various types of raw materials in one location. It is like a wholesale centre, but at a much bigger scale with wide-ranging products.

Different companies from various provinces like Zhejiang, Anhui, Guizhou, Sichuan, Fujian have travelled all the way to the place. Even foreign buyers flock to the 'city'. This shows how important is the PRD region as a wholesale centre for the whole world.



After visiting tourist attractions in Shenzhen, we moved up north to Dongguan, where we will visit Aztech. A Singapore-based company, whom set up manufacturing operations in the PRD region. It happens that the managing director of the company, Jeremy Mun, was at the factory, so he entertained us in the conference room.

Aztech started off producing sound cards, hence a direct competitor to Creative Technology back in the early 90s. But for now, its main business comes from producing modems (ADSL routers) and internet telephony (Skype Phones).

When Mr Mun showed us around his factory, we managed to find out an interesting fact-the workers' salary. Predictably, most of the workers are rural people who come from other provinces to seek a better life. He said that the minimum monthly wage is 690RMB (S$140), most of the workers earn between 800-1500 RMB (S$160-300). Furthermore, cheap materials to manufacture modems can be easily found in Dongguan.Its because of the low cost of production (low labour costs, materials cost and transport cost), those factors attract Aztech set up its manufacturing operations there.

Aztech have their operations in Europe, U.S and Singapore but they put their main operations is in China whilst their headquarters is in Singapore.

First day in Guangzhou!! We visited the Guangzhou Pearl River Brewery, established in 1985,it is the 2nd most popular beer in China, after the renowned Tsingtao Beer, commendable feat for such a young brewery!!

We also took a sample bottle back to enjoy. Being one of the few responsible to distribute the beer, I got a huge harvest when some of the non-drinking girls gave their bottles to me and Ah Ben. heehee.

In addition, the very cheeky-alcoholic Yinghui a.k.a LaPi will be eyeing those extra bottles to take some for himself




After lunch in the restaurant, IE Singapore South China director, Mr Nee came to talk to us about what they do. IE Singapore is a government agency that helps Singapore companies to look for bigger markets, like China, India, US and Europe, in this case, South China. It acts like the TDC but IE helps Singapore companies specifically.



Grandeur looking pianos, oh sorry, its a Grand Piano and it's made by the Pearl River Piano Company, Number 1 piano maker in the world, they produce 76,000 pianos every year and that is quite alot!

We may think a manufacturer that focuses on the quantity would compromise on the quality, but this may not seem to be the case. Their pianos are very well received in Europe and U.S and they have set up offices there so as to market their pianos globally.

Workers are sent to training to (love music, feel it, differentiate good/bad sound), and when workers have a passion for music, the quality is likely not to fall short.



Pearl River Pianos are relatively cheap compared to the other brands like Yamaha, Baldwin, Cristofori. One grand piano only costs 30,000 RMB (S$6000) compared to the other brands selling for S$10,000 and above. Pearl River intrinsic workmanship has been laudable as it is starting to get popular around the world in US and Europe.

Picture above shows the Leather Wholesale Centres left and right of the road.This place is where i learn one of the most important lessons. Learning how to negotiate through with people, at least in business. We were thrown to a leather wholesale centre and asked to buy things. Prior to this, I know how a wholesale centre works, that you must buy in bulk and not just one or two items, otherwise, the shopkeepers would not pay much attention to you.

Unfortunately, some of my mates did not know of the fact and some even got scolded by them. For myself, I learnt some new ways that you introduce yourself that can help you leverage to get fantastic deals. Below is just a case example

Buyer (me): Hi, this is my name card

Seller: Oh hi, here is my name card too

Me:I represent my company which is a huge organisation back at home, we are looking to purchase gifts for our annual dinner, can you sell me 1 or 2 samples, and if my boss likes it, we will order another 600 from you, so can you recommend me some?

The seller will immediately be alerted to this potential piece of business and sells you the samples when you just want to buy for your personal usage. If it doesn't work, then try the others! There are so many stores and this means competition amongst them, so they are more likely to grab on to any business opportunity

One more tactic which I have learnt, is to bring a large suitcase, this will show them that you are there for serious purposes, and not some leisure tourist looking for souvenirs to buy. This way, the shopkeepers will give you more attention. Isn't it what people say? " Life is all about illusions"




All of us will get cheated sometime, even if your IQ is 200, you will still get cheated, that is an undeniable fact. Why do I say that?2 words, Unfamiliar Environment.

For example, do we know that a can of coke that sells in the night market for 50 cents is considered expensive in China, that is after you realise that you can buy for it only 20 cents. Because a can of coke costs 1 dollar in Singapore, we don't seem to mind. But the reality is that we got cheated of 30 cents by some enterprising bugger.

It happened to me in the night market(not Coke) and i'm sure the rest will get cheated too. Anyway, it's the experience that makes the process enriching,so its fine, as long I don't get cheated repeatedly!!




We went to the China International Furniture Fair held at Guangzhou trade centre. It was one of the highlights for me too. Upon reaching the place, you could sense that the structure is enormous.




We are there on the first day, and on a Sunday too, so a huge crowd is expected. You know when you compare this exhibition centre with Singapore's Suntec or even Expo, it is 小巫见大巫， this means that the size of the Guangzhou centre is so mucchhh bigger than the ones in Singapore and the number of companies that participate far outnumber the companies who set up booth in Expo or Suntec exhibition halls.

Some eye candy to share with you all, not the other type of eye candy though. Its amazing how much effort they put into one booth, so as to capture the eye/attention of a potential overseas buyer from around the world






Shunde-Zhongshan-Zhuhai. My favourite place of all the places I have visited is definitely Zhongshan. Named after the GuoFu of China, Mr Sun Yat Sen's name, Zhongshan's cleanliness, low crime rate, low pollution has enough qualities to get me attracted to the place. It was said that as Zhongshan carries Mr Sun's name, the Chinese people has gave respect by not polluting, committing crimes. Mr Deng, our dear tour guide, has told us that Zhongshan is a very nice place to settle down, at that moment, i was thinking about retiring there in the future!!!



Basically, in the latter stages of the trip, we had fun mostly, I just add some pictures of us having fun.Heehee.

My coursemate Denise and myself in one of Zhongshan's night market

Winnie and Andrea showing that they are photogenic indeed!!
Zhuhai cable car trip




Tzekee is clearly enjoying every moment of it!!
Peak, Hong Kong Island

Post Trip Evaluation
Dickson in a Hong Kong eatery. He's a great guy with colourful character.heehee

I was just looking for something to do during the March/April holidays, so I had a few alternatives, but in the end I chose IBSM. I expect the trip to be an eye opener for me, and indeed it is. It has broaden my scope on the International Business and to be able to experience on-site has been a big bonus for me. It is definitely one of the highlights of my NP education and I would strongly recommend it to my other contemporaries in NP.

With alot of lovee
Nicholas