Office Summary Part 2

Hangzhou & Suzhou
- Suzhou Industrial Park: Judging from the picture of a clean room personnel holding a wafer on the main page, the park is supposed to be a technological area similar to Silicon Valley.
1) Where do the knowlege workers come from (a nearby univeristy perhapse)?
2) As the Industrial Park grows, is the city prepared to build additional infrastructure and increase city planning?
- Carrefour: Carrefour is the second largest retailer world-wide after Wal-Mart. They have had a presence in China since the 1990s. Their hypermarket store format makes Carrefour a one-stop shopping store. Carrefour carries food, furniture, house wares, and clothing.
1) Now that Wal-Mart has outbidded Carrefour in purchasing Trust Mart, does Carrefour have plans to purchase a different chain?
2) Despite having fewer stores than Wal-Mart in China, Carrefour is still more efficient per square foot (in terms of sales). How does Carrefour plan to improve on this?

Beijing
- 21 Manager: From the website alone, I can not determine what the nature of the business is. It looks like users must login first. The website also has a link to a blog.
1) How does the client and consultant find a match? What happens if both parties realize that it is not a right fit?
2) Is 21 Manager involved in the salary & benefits negotiation? Or is the company's only purpose to match consultants/managers to clients?
- Center for International Business & Ethics: This is a non-profit research facility that is trying to integrate ethics into business strategies. The center wants to increase awareness of business ethics among businesspeople in China by offering classes, lectures, and training programs.
1) Does the center expect ethics to become an important part of the cirriculum in business schools in China?
2) What do most of the participants expect to learn about ethics?
3) What are the different courses available? (are they tailored to industry?)
- Thomson: This company has six business divisions: Financial, Healthcare, Learning, Legal, Scientific, and Tax & Accounting. It looks like they provide training, software, and consulting services.
1) How is their tax & accounting services different from the large accounting firms?
2) How are all of their divisions tied together (core competencie--it appears to be software)?
- Lenovo: Lenovo started as a small PC company in China that competed on price. The company grew by acquiring competing PC companies. Recently, Lenovo purchased IBM’s PC division and is now growing the company’s brand recognition.
1) Does the company expect to become a world-wide recognized brand after sponsoring the 2008 Olympics?
2) Did any of IBM's large clients swtich providers after Lenovo purchased the PC business unit from IBM?
3) How is Lenovo leveraging the IBM brand?
- Beijing University: Beida was established in 1898 and is one of the best universities in Asia (ranked 14th in the world). There are about 15,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students. The university has 30 colleges, 93 undergraduate majors, 199 master degree majors, and 173 doctorial degree majors.
1) Does the University have a counseling center for students who are need counseling services? Is there a suicide prevention center/hotline? (I imagine there to be a need for this since there is immense pressure on the student to succeed and not lose face for him/herself and the entire family)
2) Usually firms only want to hire the students with the best grades. What typically happens to the students with only average grades?