This time we are going to write a blog in which we are going to try to show a little bit of the experience lived during the Business Study Tour about the economic models and systems in China. In this first edition of the BST, students from all of ESIC were hosted by the Hogeschool van Amsterdam.
MONDAY
Our week in Amsterdam started on Monday 9 May, and first of all we were pleasantly surprised by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. As soon as we arrived our host Brechtine explained the itinerary we would be following every day and introduced us to AMSIB Dean Roger Busser.
Roger Busser introduced us clearly and concisely to the geographical situation in China and its implications. Mainly we saw how China could be differentiated into two zones:
- Eastern zone, the most economic part of China and the one that has the greatest weight in economic policies.
- Western zone, the less economically developed part. It is from this area that migrations to the east begin in order to carve out a better future for themselves.
In addition, we saw how the fluvial position of the land is tremendously important and how canals and rivers are fundamental parts of their economy. We talked about the Chinese miracle of how human capital, physical capital and external investment.
Today China is focused and pioneering in digital and electronic technology and owns a wealth of natural resource-rich land outside its national territory.
After the class finished at 12:00 pm we went to the university canteen to eat together and get to know each other better. After lunch we set off to visit the headquarters of ABN-AMRO, one of the most important banks in the Netherlands.
During the visit to the bank we were fortunate to have Zijian Wang (Head of ABN-AMRO’s Learning Partners Office) and Summit X. Ji (ING consultant). I personally found Summit X JI’s presentation very interesting as he discussed the evolution of China over the last two decades and showed us many revolutionary facts and aspects that China has. He also showed us how the image of low quality and low price in China is changing and they are positioning themselves as pioneers in 5G technology and the aerospace world.
After finishing the lectures and having a few hours free to visit the surroundings of Amsterdam, Zijan Wang organised a very special dinner for us in one of the best Chinese restaurants in the city, we had the opportunity to dine like real Chinese citizens with all their traditional food (a bit spicy, but very tasty).
TUESDAY
Tuesday morning we woke up a little tired after the welcome party that had been prepared for us. At 9 o’clock Claudio Perotti, a wonderful teacher and communicator, began his lecture and explained to us from his experience the important cultural differences between East and West. He mainly focused on how to establish commercial relations with China, as there are many differences in behaviour between the cultures. It was really useful to know and understand the way Chinese people do business and behave in a business world. For people who want to go into international trade it was a great class. The last hour of the class we changed teachers and started a series of lessons on Mandarin Chinese which turned out to be a lot of fun.
To end the day we went to the Rijksmuseum where we could see traditional Chinese ceramics.
We were also able to enjoy the works of artists such as Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Vermeer, Jan Steen.
WEDNESDAY
On this day, as in the rest of the week, we started the day by attending our assigned class at the university and what we did was «Thinking patterns, open door policy». Economic development of China». On this occasion we were shown a little more about China’s development trajectory and how they have also moved from a model of exploitation and production of goods to a model of services, in which the focus has shifted to the provision of services. In addition, we will once again discuss the three key concepts that everyone wanted to convey to us. From our point of view, we can say that even without having experienced these three concepts in our own flesh, we have a clear idea of what they imply, what they mean and how important these concepts are in Chinese culture.
These concepts were based on the Chinese way of thinking among which we find the concept related to the person’s reputation (Face) as well as Guanxi, which is about the network of business and personal relationships that Chinese executives have and which is a key factor for career advancement.
This same day in the afternoon we visited Huawei, as expected we started the visit with an explanation of the company, a brief description of a great company. Then we had the opportunity to talk to one of the company’s employees, who is currently in charge of a group of people, working and leading one of the projects that the company is currently developing. Personally, and without underestimating the other speakers, it was this one who made us a little more grounded in ideas and shed some light on the possible path that lies ahead for ESIC students, since using his own career as an example he showed us both where we can start from and what we can expect in the first steps of our professional life and where we can get to if we put in the effort, with their respective doubts, stumbles and mistakes.
Finally, we visited the showroom they had set up on the premises where we saw a small sample of everything the company does and what their lines of development are, such as the reduced internet antennas, which take up less space and provide a larger coverage area, and also the server and data transmission technology they had on display.
THURSDAY
This was our penultimate day of class in which we discussed «Sourcing from / Market entry in China. Do’s and dont’s in China». This day we continued our training on the Chinese economy and culture, we learned certain details that we would have to be careful with when in this environment, such as things not to give away in this culture (because of similarities between the spelling of that word and the word death), like umbrellas or pears. On this day we also had our last Chinese class in which we tried to review what we had learned previously and to increase our knowledge of this complex language.
In the afternoon we had a walk along the canals of the city, making a tour of almost all the canals of the city while listening to a guide about the different locations we passed, such as the twin houses, two identical houses that were called twin sisters and twin brothers, and that each pair was located on one side of the canal, the vision of the 7 bridges aligned, the house of Anne Frank, etc. being able to enjoy the city from this perspective a little more interior or immersive.
At the end of the boat trip we were able to take the opportunity to stroll around and do the obligatory souvenir shopping that we each wanted to do.
FRIDAY
The morning of our penultimate day of the Study Tour basically consisted of testing everything we had learned during the week through a series of multiple-choice questions.
In addition to these evaluation tests, there was a sharing of points to improve and strong points of the experience, being able to give our feedback was interesting for future experiences of other companions so that in future trips these improvements can be improved.
After the last class given on this trip we were given total freedom to do any activity we wanted, the teachers gave us a series of suggestions about locations to go to, in our case our choice was the Van Gogh Museum.
This museum contains a total of 1,450 works, including some of the painter’s most outstanding works, such as The Sunflowers, The Bedroom in Arles and numerous self-portraits by the famous painter.
After the visit to the museum and a short stop at the hotel to get dressed, all the MBM students went to a pub in the centre of Amsterdam where we spent most of the evening in good company and with a great atmosphere.
Finally, to end the night we went to a disco called «SCAPE» to finish the experience in style.
SATURDAY
After a long night the various MBM colleagues had to get up early to prepare our luggage and check out at 10.30am, after which we had to say goodbye between the various campuses around the country as each campus had to take a different route home.
This farewell was somewhat difficult because of the bonds we had formed during these days in which we had spent so much time together in such a beautiful and extraordinary city as Amsterdam.
This whole fruitful experience could not have been so fruitful without the organisation of ESIC and the collaboration of Brechtine, who was on hand every minute of our stay to help us at all times.