May 03rd, 2018, day one….The learning experience was starting. In our first day, I had the opportunity to watch the Suzhou traditional opera called Kunqu Opera. This traditional kind of art was performed by the Centennial Suzhou professor and his student.
In our second day, we visited Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP). This place is an exhibition of the technology and industrial development in Suzhou in the last 25 years. Suzhou Industrial Park shows how have been developing the city, and what are the main goals for Suzhou. SIP is the place where investors can see how Suzhou is right now, and how will be its future.
Another place we visited was the Hong Couture Embroidery Home, in this place we listened to a presentation from the owner´s daughter. In this presentation, she explained to us what embroidery is, what their target is, and she spoke about the embroidery school that they also have. We had a practical experience in embroidery. We learned from firsthand how to embroider, and also we had some practice.
Suzhou is a beautiful, and have some traditional places. In our adventure to discover Suzhou we visited the Humboldt Administrations Gardens, those gardens are more than 600 years old. In this place, I felt like a movie, with stunning landscapes, beautiful views, and too many people enjoyed it.
The Flip trip goal was how to do business in China, so our itinerary was prepared for this. In that 15 days, we had time to visit some companies that help us to achieve this goal. One of those companies was Canada China Business Council. The council made an amazing and complete presentation, where we can see the main steps to do business in China, and what are the keys to startup. We had an overview of what are the regulations that investors face when they try to enter the Chinese market. This visit was so productive for us, and we can take a lot of information about our project.
Another company was Naked hub, this is a company that shares workspaces with different companies, small business, entrepreneurs, and small startups. They offer all that companies need about spaces and facilities. It is a very workplace to work, friendly and wide spaces. Companies can rent the spaces for a couple of hours or a year. They have an app where they posted information about availabilities and event that they have.
The amazing Flip trip team made an appointment to visit Black & Decker and Samsung. Those companies are astonishing. They have an awesome production line, and they also are the smart factory. We can see in the firsthand how technology and human interaction created a perfect product in just a couple of minutes. Black & Decker work mainly for the North American market because in China they do not have high demand.
In our practice activity, we work with Tongzhou. This is a company that sells lunch bag in Amazon for North American customers. Their CEO made a presentation for us where he showed what is the company mission, vision, and goals. Also, he asked for help. He gave to us an assignment about rewrite some of their Amazon publication. The objective for this assignment was to make the publications more attractive according to the North American customers. We had the chance to work together with Chinese people, and bring some advice for them.
Before finish our Flip, we went together with the hospitality team at W hotel. This is a five starts hotel. It is luxury, fancy, and stunning hotel. In this experiences, we can learn about hospitality, and how details are so important to make a profitable business. The concept that they have is amazing. They are working to make very good experiences for the guests, different styles, and needs.
In our last weekend in China, we had the opportunity to visit Shanghai as tourists. We met some places as Yu Garden & Bazar, The Bund, Shanghai Maglev train, and the Oriental Pearl Tower. The last one was an awesome experience for me. To walk on the glass floor was unbelieve, and unforgettable times.
Closing our trip, we made an entry market presentation. In this presentation, we present one Canadian company to start the business in Chinese market. We can take our knowledge about the Chinese market and their regulations, and take all of that information to create a plan on how to start the business in China. Canadian companies like Tim Hortons, Canada goose, and Saputo took part in those presentations where Chinese student can see what each of those companies need to do to enter the Chinese Market. What will be their partner, in which cities of China they are starting, how will be possible Chinese accept our proposal? We had the chance to learn in real life how to do business in China, and how to put into practice that knowledge and combine them with our program. Thanks, SAGE and Centennial College for this amazing learning experience. Centennial students take advantages about this kind of program and go for it…..
Jennerys Gonzalez – Flip China -Suzhou 2018.
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