Things to think about from the NUS-ZJU

Summary:

Here’s some interesting insights that I have gained from the NUS-ZJU trip. I will like to share them in my blog…

Prof Yu Xiaofeng, 余潇枫 is a Philosophy researcher. Prof Yu gave an interesting lesson on Chinese history and culture for us. 哲学是一个挺有趣的学问。挺多人生大道理可以学。 Do check out Prof Yu’s interesting blog.

Prof Lai, 赖存理, is a researcher in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). He works in the Chinese government sector, formulating trade policy and regulation for foreign investors investing in China.

Q & A Discussion:

Case (1):

YSF: 孙子兵法与易经相比较，哪个更历害?

余潇枫：会孙子兵法的人是 clever，但会易经的人是 wise. 我想答案很明显了吧！！！

Case (2):

YSF: Do you think that having too many FDIs may be a bad thing for China? (Singapore’s case was brought up as an example where its economy relied too much on MNCs.) 

赖存理： FDI 有很多好处，例如引进科技技术和创造工作机会。 但是太多 FDI 也不是一件好事因为我们基本上是在替外国公司打工。我们也不能一辈子替人打工。中国必须要有自己的国际公司，要有能打出国际的品牌，但这须要时间。

Prof Lai’s reply left me pondered over many things. In Singapore, we are no. 1 in many things such as airline, sea port facilities, semi-conductor manufacturing output and mobile phones manufacturing output etc. Many things may be designed and made in Singapore. But how many products are actually Singapore brand? Made in Singapore, designed in Singapore but not branded in Singapore- is that what we want? Singaporean has been brought up to be taught that the best talented people in Singapore will end up getting a scholarship and work in either the civil sector or at MNCs. Probably a handful of them ever has the idea of setting up a company.

Case (3):

Bjorn Lee: When Singapore government first invested in the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), there were several problems and losses were made… 

赖存理: When Singapore first invested in the SIP, agreement was only made between the Singapore government and the state government. However, there was no other agreement made between Singapore and nearby state government so it is not surprising if other states would emulate a similar SIP-clone to compete with SIP. If Singapore government wants to succeed with this project, agreement must be made with the centralised government to prevent other states from emulating. 

YSF: (My Thoughts) The China market is indeed a tricky market. It is obviously a trap for the Singapore government. If the Singapore government had foresight that other states might be emulating a similar SIP and discussed with the centralised government before building the SIP, do you think the project would still succeed? Probably, the same thing might still happen unless the centralised government sent an official message to all state government. The centralised government will probably say, “Don’t worry, this won’t happen!”  

Case (4):

YSF: What advice will you give to foreign investors who wants to invest in China? How can foreign companies prevent their intellectual property from being copied?

赖存理: You need to have people whom you can trust. For handling of IP, you can have multiple staffs to handle it such that each staff only knows one portion of your IP but not letting any of them getting the overall full picture. This will prevent IP leaking out of your company from your staff. 

Case (5): 

Bjorn Lee told me this before: “It’s difficult to find people to start company in Singapore. But in Silicon Valley, the scenario is reversed. The Americans will say why not we gather people together and start something big.” 

Some interesting Quotes:

余潇枫：什么是学问？学问是有问才有学。

余潇枫：什么是理论？理论是要用自己的语言表达自己的思想来解决问题。

赖存理：真正的企业家需要两点：一， 出主意。二， 用人。 

赖存理：想简单化。很多数学模式解决不了商业理论。

赖存理：朋友像镜子。有什么样的朋友，就有什么样的人。

赖存理：与君一席话，胜过十年书。

Think about it: “Isn’t the University the best place to be a starting platform for networking and establish relationships?”

我在中国也买了很多华文书。

1） 丰田生产方式  (Chinese version of Toyota Production System, TPS)

2） 易经的智慧     (the greatest book of Chinese wisdom)

3） 三国志           (Classic historical book of the Three kingdoms) (Two vol) 

Below are the four books that I bought in China.

Very inspiring 16 Chinese characters.

勇于开拓 – Have the courage to seek opportunities and find new markets.

Face-to-face interaction with the entrepreneurs. We drink tea everytime during our lessons.

This trip has enable me to understand Chinese business better. The word, ‘Guanxi’ (关系) is important too in Chinese business world but I shall not elaborate anything on it. There are too many things I can share about this trip but it’s impossible for me to put everything in my blog.

Hope you enjoy reading and find something meaningful from this blog.