Another gap in time

Apologies for the unexplained gap in blogging, but four of us decided to take advantage of a rare clear night in Shanghai to take in some of the sights. Before I tell you about that experience, however, I have some catching up to do.

Our second day in Shanghai consisted of two planned business visits. The first was to Kuehne & Nagel, a well-established logistics company with a history in the city of over 40 years. K+N first started in Beijing forty years ago and has expanded into over 36 locations in China. It continues to grow: the company is number one in sea freight globally, forth in air transport, and number 3 in contract logistics globally. K+N is also number seven in Europe in overland transport. The presentation mainly overviewed the company as a whole. However, the presenter, Peter Dangel from Germany, also stressed the importance of studying the global environment through firsthand experience rather than from textbooks. The presentation also described the challenges that the company has faced in providing logistics to China, and what strategies the company has used to address these issues. Topics included the costs and benefits of various means of transport, infrastructure difficulties in regions of China, and meeting the rapidly expanding growth in staffing at the company.

After lunch, the second business visit was to the Coca Cola manufacturing plant in Shanghai, the second largest plant in all of China. The company visit consisted of a presentation, followed by a tour of the bottling plant. The presentation discussed Coca Cola's relationship with its three bottlers in China, how the company advertises in China, and how Coke seeks to maximize its potential in the Chinese market. The presentation also discussed how Coke segments the Chinese market into four different age groups, and how the company feels it is important to practice corporate citizenship in China and around the world. After the presentation, our group then toured the bottling plant by looking over the floor from a second story through a glass wall. What I should probably mention is that no pictures were allowed of the manufacturing floor, as is the case for any business we've seen. I think the group particularly enjoyed watching how this popular product is bottled and packaged from start to finish.

After the second business visit of the day, the majority of us attended a dinner at a hot pot style restaurant, which gives the customer a wide variety of food to throw into a hot pot of boiling water to cook. Unfortunately for us, we had no idea what the majority of this food was, and I also didn't want to experiment with how long it took to cook each item. Let's just say I didn't eat much at this meal. This wasn't a problem, however, as I went with three other students to McDonalds afterwards, and followed the fast food with a trip to an area of the city with the tallest buildings in the world.

This journey was the reason I was unable to blog last night, but we had to take advantage of the clear night to see an amazing view of Shanghai. The building we went up had 88 floors, and we were allowed to go the 87th floor for free. This building is the fourth tallest in the world, and it's the tallest hotel in the world. It also provides a stunning view of the Bund district of Shanghai, which is known worldwide, and is a pretty sight to gaze upon at night all lit up. The building next to the one we went up will also be the tallest building in the world when the construction is completed. To be in a place with such massive buildings was amazing, and to say that I've seen the tallest building in the world is quite a statement. After getting back we got some rest to prepare for another day in Shanghai.