Nothing really happened. If you can't say something interesting why say it.
The global business class is over with yesterday's presentation. I think our group did very well. We were proposing to build a water park and resort somewhere in Russia, and I think we've managed to bullshit our way through successfully. The exercise was, of course, feasibility study more than anything, but I think we've did a good job convincing everyone present that it was feasible. Couple of interesting points. We ran simulated numbers, based on US data (hard to find Russian data) :
1. It takes anywhere from $35 to $75 million (USD) to build a water park (indoor/outdoor) and a hotel.
2. Construction takes approximately 3 years.
3. You can expect profitability by year 4, if everything goes to plan.
One of the other teams proposed a venture of producing condoms locally in Brazil (the biggest importer of condoms in the world). Everything was fine, until somebody started to talk about "units", "end users", and finally "market penetration", at which point any resolve to keep mature mood in the classroom had dissipated.
Excellent class overall. Fairly easy, although four presentations did put a strain on my schedule. It is also very educational in the way how cultures are different (DUH!) and most global and international businesses, especially those ran from the US soil are ignorant about that (DUH!)
One of the more interesting things that our professor talked about is how westerners and easterners approach business, life, and everything in between.
While it may be his opinion, but I've read this in books, as well. Westerners pursue the truth, Easterners pursue harmony. When I think about how some of my colleagues approach projects it makes perfect sense, and gives lots of pieces to the puzzle of doing business with Asians.
The idea behind this little rant is this - Try to understand before judging.
The global business class is over with yesterday's presentation. I think our group did very well. We were proposing to build a water park and resort somewhere in Russia, and I think we've managed to bullshit our way through successfully. The exercise was, of course, feasibility study more than anything, but I think we've did a good job convincing everyone present that it was feasible. Couple of interesting points. We ran simulated numbers, based on US data (hard to find Russian data) :
1. It takes anywhere from $35 to $75 million (USD) to build a water park (indoor/outdoor) and a hotel.
2. Construction takes approximately 3 years.
3. You can expect profitability by year 4, if everything goes to plan.
One of the other teams proposed a venture of producing condoms locally in Brazil (the biggest importer of condoms in the world). Everything was fine, until somebody started to talk about "units", "end users", and finally "market penetration", at which point any resolve to keep mature mood in the classroom had dissipated.
Excellent class overall. Fairly easy, although four presentations did put a strain on my schedule. It is also very educational in the way how cultures are different (DUH!) and most global and international businesses, especially those ran from the US soil are ignorant about that (DUH!)
One of the more interesting things that our professor talked about is how westerners and easterners approach business, life, and everything in between.
While it may be his opinion, but I've read this in books, as well. Westerners pursue the truth, Easterners pursue harmony. When I think about how some of my colleagues approach projects it makes perfect sense, and gives lots of pieces to the puzzle of doing business with Asians.
The idea behind this little rant is this - Try to understand before judging.
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