Business AND pleasure

Business Tour and self-guided city tour:

This morning we took an awesome tour of one of the largest Tech companies in the industry and by far the leader in China.  Lenovo had a beautiful complex that encompassed their four branches within their company: R&D, Marketing, Manufacturing and Distribution.  Lenovo is the Fourth largest retailer in the world and has affiliation with IBM.  The tour itself was like a Disney World tour, it mostly encompassed the tour guide pitching new gadgets which I’ll tell you about in a second.  The guide was kind enough to explain some of the company's history (or at least their own interpretation).  The company actually began as a tiny start up on Tsinghua University's campus... remember I mentioned Tsinghua U. is like MIT?  Some interesting facts include that like most other successful global companies in China, the government is a stakeholder.  Also, Lenovo has been commissioned by the Chinese government for things outside of their industry.  For instance Lenovo designed the 2008 Olympic Torch.  Lenovo is also THE official sponsor of the National Basketball Association.  In fact Lenovo beat out an American company who is a direct competition with them for the title; you might know of them.... Hewlett Packard??

Ok as for the gadgets there were plenty, the one the tour guide was pushing the most was their new Tablet, not surprising right?  Lenovo has a tablet that runs on the Android platform; however, they have an accessory hardware style keyboard that the tablet can be connected to.  Once the Tablet is connected to the keyboard it forms a laptop that automatically runs on Windows 7!!!  Pretty sweet huh?  It should be hitting the U.S. market in the next few months.  Here in the states many Americans are still struggling with the exact function and necessity of a tablet.  Well let me tell you, it all comes down to the commute to and from work.  In many Western countries people drive, they have their laptops at point A and point B and that makes sense, even to me.  In Asian countries people commute on public transportation, this gives the tablet a stage.  Tablets make more sense in crowded subway over a bulky laptop.  Whether you agree with the tablet or not, you can count on the market continuing to expand rapidly.

Overall I was most curious about the company's historical timeline and how it directly parallels the growth and quality of life in China.  If you held Lenovo's timeline history up to Apple's it is very similar, Apple has just been ahead consistently by about 10 years.  Also, Lenovo admitted that although their R&D department is certainly pushing boundaries and having strong success in innovation, as a whole the company prefers to focus inward.  Lenovo claims that they would rather be the second or third company on a new product, however get it right or make it better.  A good analogy for anyone my age would be the age old Nintendo and Sega video game analogy.  For every new game console that enhanced the bytes Sega always led the way, however Nintendo would always hold out a little longer and get it right.

The rest of the day I spent exploring with another student and getting more comfortable with the city and my surroundings.  This afternoon proved to be very valuable to gain a little street smart skills and for confidence on getting around town using the taxis or the rickshaws, or even the subway.  I got to talking to an interesting acquaintance at a local watering hole today.  This gentleman named Graham from Liverpool England is a mechanical Engineer by trade.  Graham was about as English as it gets, a pleasant chap he ended giving some good advice about the city.  About 3 times a year Graham comes to China for business.  What kind of business?  Coal mining!  China has significant energy reserves; however they require so much they still need to import energy stocks (1/4^th the world’s population and all).  Graham was soaking in the three days he had to enjoy Beijing before he embarked on a tour of half a dozen small mining towns in the vast Chinese wilderness.  Beijing is a whole different world, however according to Graham the frontier towns of China are absolutely out of this world.  Due to the socio-economic nature of China, although they are powerful and have money, their lack of social wealth fare leaves millions hungry and severely poverty stricken.  Lenovo mentioned that they started to take part in corporate welfare programs, however they didn’t start until 2000 and more than likely is carried out because of their success and large exposure.  Also, their causes have nothing to do with feeding or helping the severely under privileged in their own country.  If you recall right after the Tsunami in Japan this past March, the country of China gave federal aid to Japan.  I remember reading about it in the Economist magazine and them mentioning how it was a really really big deal that China did this because charity is not  a norm in their Culture.

Another GREAT DAY!!