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Day 6 was a half-day of sorts, with the first four hours of the day split equally between Strategy and Finance. The second half of the day was dedicated to optional corporate and cultural tours.
During the prior three residencies, I took these corporate tour afternoons off. In London, it was a simple mistake; with all of the details to take care of before starting the program, I just neglected to sign up. After London, however, I realized how great having an afternoon off could be, and strategically decided to take the Dubai and Delhi corporate tour afternoons off as well. What can I say, I enjoy a good nap!
For China, I had originally signed up for the Zhouzhuang cultural tour, as I wanted to see the “Venice of the East”, but at the last minute, I decided to change my plans to instead take a tour of the Bank of Communications. As one of the top five largest commercial banks in China, visiting the BOC provided an opportunity to listen to top Chinese officials discuss the issues and opportunities surrounding the banking system in China.
The “discussion” started with a PowerPoint presentation that lasted about 90 minutes; I put discussion in quotes, as the presentation was in Mandarin, and subsequently translated into English by our Duke MBA counterpart in China. Although this made the presentation a bit tedious, on the bright side it was a good experience on what a business meeting might look like when Western executives discuss a partnership with a Chinese company. However, throughout this presentation, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were getting the true story, or just the story the officials were looking to tell.
All issues to be solved point to increased transparency
For example, when asked for an opinion about revaluing the Yuan, the presenter stated that it would be devastating to the Chinese economy, adding “Chinese factories currently have a gross margin of only 1-2%; revaluing the currency would lead to serious unemployment throughout the country.” Maybe that’s true, but I find it extremely hard to believe that China’s dominance in manufacturing is only 1-2% away from a wholesale move to a lower cost, new developing country environment such as Bangladesh.
After a handful of tough questions from us know-it-all MBA candidates, the presentation came to an abrupt end and we moved on to see the Bank of Communications museum on an upper floor of the building. We were able to see a lot of historical documents, currency and notes, and even the original seal of the bank made from copper. Pretty cool.
All in all, taking the tour of the Bank of Communications was a worthwhile endeavor. Being in the financial services industry, it’s good to hear opinions from other bankers how they view the current state of the global economy. China is poised to take a much bigger role in the global financial economy in the coming years, and it will be interesting to watch how China’s banking system assimilates Western financial standards and methods such as transparency, risk management, and customer-centric products and services.
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