We(2nd year students) are just back from the China trip. I was the last trip in a series of three visits around the world. The first visit is to Paris in the second semester. The second one was to Argentina in the third semester. And we finish up with a trip to China in the fourth and final semester.
All of us are currently taking the Asia-Global Leadership course. The focus is on India, China and other major Asian economies. Prof. Biteman prepared us well for the field trip to China, and we had a good understanding of the Chinese culture, history and current economic policies before the visit. Although I had heard about the infrastructure in China, I was still awed by the roads, building and other construction going on. The government may still be communist, but the economy has rapidly moved towards a capitalistic model in the last few years. We had a talk by Mr. Weinmann who is trying to start his own business in China. The impression we got was that the local provincial governments are very eager to get in new businesses and foreign capital. We also had an interesting lecture on Chinese culture and history. One of the highlights of the trip was a lecture by Mr. David Li, who was recently appointed to the monetary policy committee of PBOC. He gave an interesting and insightful lecture on Chinese economy.
I visited ICBC and Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing. ICBC is the largest bank in the world by Market Cap. The 4 state owned banks in China are in the top 10 in the world in all parameters. The sheer scale and size of these banks is mindblowing, and they are projected to grow at a rapid pace for the next several years. The last visit was to a SOE, which are government run enterprises but are undergoing significant reforms.
In the near future almost 25 percent of the world’s business will come from China, and it is crucial that every business student understands the Chinese economy, history and mindset of the government. Tulane has prepared us well for the future!
Sincerely
M.Karthik kmahadev@tulane.edu ; mkarthik01@gmail.com ;
+1-260-527-0123