Over the winter break, a number of HTC members travelled to China as part of the annual Haas China Trek – a 10-day trip to Shanghai and Beijing organized completely by Haas students. In addition to touring many of the famous historical sites, immersing ourselves in the city nightlife, and consuming way too much local Chinese food, we met with executives from a variety of companies. Most notable corporate visits included Google China, Huawei, Innovation Works, and Tencent. Also, many of us had a chance to meet with government officials at the US Embassy in Beijing – an experience that exposed us to the resources and people that are vital to successfully expanding a business into China.
At Hauwei, we learned how their corporate culture and unrelenting focus on growth has enabled the company to rapidly expand to a $30B USD business. It was interesting to hear the challenges Hauwei faces in increasing its business beyond China. Free market economies that exist in other countries make international growth easier for Chinese companies. However, it was still unquestionably apparent that a full understanding of the local country is a necessary component of international expansion.
Google openly discussed their struggles and triumphs since expanding into China in 2005. Much of Google’s success in China can be attributed to Google’s ability to tailor existing products to the local market and develop new Chinese-targeted products. With over 350M people on the internet (~25% of China’s population), China is clearly a country that cannot be overlooked by technology companies. As a group, we visited Google China just days before Google announced its intentions to pull out of China. Fortunately, a fellow classmate and I had a chance to speak with a Google China director later that day and snap a pic of a memorial students from Tsinghua University had erected outside of Google China’s headquarters to demonstrate their support for the company.
A huge thanks to our Haas classmates that planned the 2010 Haas China Trek and the executives from the companies who so graciously hosted us!