The roller coaster one year MBA ride is now more than 2/3 complete. I am now into the elective phase of my MBA and I can finally choose what I wanna really study. As part of the elective study ,I am in Shanghai, China for the 6 weeks in what is the module C of my MBA. The experience of Shanghai has so far been mixed. Seeing the infrastruture in the country gave me reality check on the state of infrastructure in my own country-India. Economists and politicians always compare India -China and talk of they being in the same league. However I would say China is atleast 20 years ahead of us much like the US is atleast 50-60 years ahead of us in terms of quality of life and infrastructure.
However I find it astonishing that China still has not yet learnt the ropes when it comes to the language of doing Business - English. Vast majority still do not have the basic english skills and restuarants( even in the decent ones )don't have english Menus. Mind you these are my first impressions of China and this could change as I continue to explore and get awed by this country. So to survive in China means that we should know atleast some basic Mandarin. I am in the process of acquiring the Survival mandarin. I do not want to end up eating scorpions thinking that I am having a chinese delicacy. Scorpions of all things........no way.......
I will not make the false promise that I will write more about China in the next few weeks. This is simply because I am unaware of my schedule right now and will b able to write more only if I have appropriate time for doing so.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Changing Perceptions About Countries
Blogging after a really long time ............. essentially have been busy with my MBA work and the studies (and of course partying) has been really hectic........ anyway got some leeway today after a long haitus .. thanks to the IT management class getting postponed. So no reading for tomorrow .. Yeppie!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After about 6 months in the MBA, an interesting aspect playing around in our class now .When I first came to Hult International Business School , I had some pre-conceived notions about certain countries. People from China arent good (partly because of my India-China war legacy), people from France are way tooooo formal, Europe is a very unfriendly continent etc etc. Similarly I think the same is true of the others in my class who had some notions about India. For example "In India, we see cows on the roads, we have snake charmers , elephants etc etc."
However many of us have now changed these perceptions about countries and the culture associated and have learnt lots of lots about these countries. For example, today when I ask my classmates from other countries about India, they unanimously talk of our "IT" power and growth India is experiencing as one of the BRIC economies. This change can be partly attributed to the way media in United States is splashing news about India. (Check out Wall Street Journal as an example). But we cannot also deny the impact we as Indians in the class of August 2008 are having on our classmates by projecting the right image and the bringing out the various cultural dynamics of my country.
Similarly we have lots of other representatives from countries like Zimbabwe, Columbia, Nigeria who are enlightening us with the facts and facets of their respective countries and it is really fascinating to learn certain aspects of these countries. For instance, how can one understand the experience of living in a country where the inflation rate is close to 10000% ? or how can to experience the city of Sao Paulo sitting right here in Boston ?
To learn and assimilate so much of knowledge about the various countries (not to mention the MBA coursework of Finance, Operations, Strategy) has been a once in a life time experience. I have 6 more months to go and have a lots of more learning to cover. I hope I keep going ............
PS: Will try and be more regular in my updates from now on. Has been really difficult so far to manage the coursework and also blog!!. On some days , I have read nearly 100 pages in preparing for 3 hour session starting at 8 am . Don't ask me how I managed to do it . Just about surviving it.
After about 6 months in the MBA, an interesting aspect playing around in our class now .When I first came to Hult International Business School , I had some pre-conceived notions about certain countries. People from China arent good (partly because of my India-China war legacy), people from France are way tooooo formal, Europe is a very unfriendly continent etc etc. Similarly I think the same is true of the others in my class who had some notions about India. For example "In India, we see cows on the roads, we have snake charmers , elephants etc etc."
However many of us have now changed these perceptions about countries and the culture associated and have learnt lots of lots about these countries. For example, today when I ask my classmates from other countries about India, they unanimously talk of our "IT" power and growth India is experiencing as one of the BRIC economies. This change can be partly attributed to the way media in United States is splashing news about India. (Check out Wall Street Journal as an example). But we cannot also deny the impact we as Indians in the class of August 2008 are having on our classmates by projecting the right image and the bringing out the various cultural dynamics of my country.
Similarly we have lots of other representatives from countries like Zimbabwe, Columbia, Nigeria who are enlightening us with the facts and facets of their respective countries and it is really fascinating to learn certain aspects of these countries. For instance, how can one understand the experience of living in a country where the inflation rate is close to 10000% ? or how can to experience the city of Sao Paulo sitting right here in Boston ?
To learn and assimilate so much of knowledge about the various countries (not to mention the MBA coursework of Finance, Operations, Strategy) has been a once in a life time experience. I have 6 more months to go and have a lots of more learning to cover. I hope I keep going ............
PS: Will try and be more regular in my updates from now on. Has been really difficult so far to manage the coursework and also blog!!. On some days , I have read nearly 100 pages in preparing for 3 hour session starting at 8 am . Don't ask me how I managed to do it . Just about surviving it.
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