Singapore – Day #6

Today was our final day in Singapore.  We all can’t believe how quickly this week has gone by.  I think we all are leaving with a new appreciation for the opportunities of doing business in Singapore and the greater Asian market.  It is incredible that Singapore is a city-state that is only 48 years old.  It is constantly reinventing itself with new construction, technology and developing of sectors to attract business to this region.  To be here and understand that this geographic region has zero natural resources but is an economic global hub…it is truly amazing.

Our final day was spent giving our group presentations, followed by our last night together.  We went on an incredible Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo.  This was an experience I feel we will all remember.  We had a gourmet dinner among wild animals literally right next to our tram.

 

Singapore – Day #5

This morning we kicked off with a presentation from Dr. Randolph Tan, from the School of Business at UniSIM.  It was a very in-depth and interesting seminar titled: Enablers of Economic Success in Singapore.  The lecture covered the economic situation in Singapore including what is enabling its surge in growth and also potential pitfalls for Singapore’s future.

In the afternoon we headed to Cordlife Singapore.  This is a bio-tech storage organization which is focused on the storage of cord blood and cord tissue from babies for their future use, should the individual need stem cells.  The presentation focused on the growth this business has received in recent years and the limitations they have in marketing to new parents.

Tonight will be spent working on group presentations for tomorrow’s final day in Singapore.

Singapore Day #4

Today we had a very interesting lecture by Arthur Khong on the Tripartite Labour Cooperation in Singapore: Government, Labor and Management.  This lecture gave a high-level view of the labour relations and government involvement in Singapore.  We spent time discussing a recent strike in 2012 of Singapore’s bus drivers.  Prior to this strike, the previous strike happened 26 years ago.

We visited an excellent restaurant for lunch where we had a traditional Singaporean dish called “Pepper Crab”.  Something I learned this week is that Singapore has zero natural resources.  All products consumed or used are imported…but it was still a surprise in the restaurant to see their seafood (especially being on the water) imported from Canada!

In the afternoon we toured Yokogawa Electric Corporation.  It was an amazing tour and presentation by their General Manager.  The tour of their high tech factory was impressive.  Productivity in Singapore continues to rise rapidly and seeing this factory’s operations proved the statistics we’ve seen throughout this week.  Currently, Yokogawa is working on manufacturing and implementing tablets to replace cockpit instruments in airplanes.

Another excellent day in Singapore!

Singapore Day #3

Our third day in Singapore was a busy one!  We kicked off our tour with a corporate visit to Pratt & Whitney where we met with their General Manager, an ex-pat from Canada.  She led us through their operations and talked about the business landscape in Singapore.  Following our visit at Pratt Whitney, we headed to ST Kinetics.  ST Kinetics is a leader in integrated defence and homeland security solutions including: mobility systems, weapon systems and ammunition systems.  In addition, they have a commercial business and build road construction equipment and specialized trailers.

For dinner, we headed to the amazing Gardens by the Bay.  Here we were on a rooftop, surrounded by the incredible Singapore skyline. 

 

Singapore Day #2

Today we visited two companies in Singapore who are big players in the logistics sector in Singapore. The first visit was to Yang Kee Logistics. Yang Keep group of companies launched in 1990 and provides seamless and innovative end-to-end logistics solutions to meet the highly demanding logistical requirements of today’s global marketplace. They have a state-of-the-art facility with over 200 professionals who serve oil and gas logistics, chemical logistics and fast-moving consumer goods.

Our next visit was to Freight Links, a leading logistics solutions specialist in Singapore which launched in 1981.  Freight Links business lines includes international freight forwarding, warehousing and logistics, chemical storage and logistics, document storage and records management services and financial services.  In 2012, Freight Links’ revenue was S$171M – a +14.5% year over year increase.

 

 

 

 

Singapore – Day #1

Our first day in Singapore kicked out with a warm welcome from Dr. Helen Lam and Dr. Terry Beckham along with an introduction from Dr. Lee Pui Mun.  Prior to arriving in Singapore, the students were divided into groups to research various sectors in Singapore including: Logistics, Tourism and Service, Healthcare and Manufacturing.  Each team presented their research giving great insight into each sector.

Following these presentations, we listened to a presentation by Professor Hong Hai from the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technology University.  Professor Hai spoke about Understanding Chinese Culture and Doing Business in the Asian Pacific Region.

Following this presentation, it was enlightening to hear from an AU MBA’09 alumni Helene Blanchette who has been working and living in Singapore for the past 6 years.  She shared her personal perspective on Canadians Living and Working in Singapore.  Helene works for Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific and added an interesting perspective regarding living and working here.

Following Helene’s presentation we had an excellent dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Jiang-Nan Chun restaurant.  This was a seven course meal!!  The food was incredible!

More to come!

Jessica

Hello from Beautiful Singapore!

20th Floor of the Four Seasons Hotel – Singapore

What an amazing experience the past few days have been in Singapore. For those of you reading this, close to 40 AU MBA students from across Canada and the U.S. arrived in Singapore this past weekend for the in-residence portion of our online course regarding understanding doing business in the Asian Pacific Region. For many of us (including myself) this is the first time we have visited Asia. Other students in our MBA group have lived and worked in Singapore or the region providing an interesting additional perspective.

Design & Innovation in Silicon Valley – Day #6

Today was our final day in San Jose and the class kicked off with our four group presentations on our innovation and design projects.  Each presentation was engaging, sticky, and creative.  After lunch at the hotel, we were given free time to explore San Jose before heading to Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California.

We had a wonderful time with Jesse, a.k.a. “the mayor” who conducted a wine tasting for our group.

We had a wonderful time wrapping up our amazing week in Silicon Valley.

Chris McLeod made the journey to San Jose to meet the students in RDIN and welcome AU MBA current students and alumni in the California region who came to the winery event.

A shout-out to Patrick!!

What an amazing week it was in Silicon Valley.  Jill took great care of us and kept us on schedule while we experienced wonderful design and innovation in various forms throughout the week.  Numerous life long friendships were formed!

Jessica

Design & Innovation in Silicon Valley – Day #5

This morning we boarded the bus after breakfast to head back to San Francisco for three very different presentations.  Our first stop was with the start-up Helios Interactive which shared with us various interactive campaigns they have developed for clients like Macy’s, Huggies, Sales Force and Coca-Cola among others which take advertising from a push message to an interactive message.  Helios Interactive designs campaigns and applications which are interactive experiences that are compelling and most importantly – memorable.

 After lunch we headed to a shared workspace called Citizen Space.

Here, we met Laura Paanjanen from ModCloth.com.  ModCloth is an online retail website which sells vintage-inspired clothing from over 1,500 designers, home goods and other kitschy items.  Laura spoke about the importance of understanding your audience and making the online environment for ModCloth.com sticky for their customers.  New interactive tools they have recently incorporated include a “Love” and “Wish List” section where customers can save their favorite pieces for future purchase, a polling area where customers can share their opinions on upcoming pieces being launched on their site and a comment section where customers can share feedback on pieces purchased or ask questions about the designs.  Laura talked about her desire to develop personas to represent their customers as their customer demographics are changing.

Our final presentation was from Dwell Magazine a local San Francisco architecture magazine focused on modern design.  We met with Dwell’s Director of Digital Media who spoke about Dwell’s mission and the goals for the magazine.  Dwell has expanded its business outside of producing a print subscription magazine; they also host an annual modern architecture conference in Los Angeles and are very focused on integrating augmented reality interfaces for customers.

We headed back to San Francisco and had a free night for dinner to work on our final group project presentations.

Design & Innovation in Silicon Valley – Day #4

Today kicked off with a briefing from Dr. Spee and a nice walk to San Jose State University where we met Dr. Joyce Osland with the Global Leadership Advancement Center.  Dr. Osland spoke about why “Cross-Cultural Experience Leads to Creativity”.  Here, we performed an exercise which outlined high-context and low-context communication styles. We were broken off into teams and role played together a situation that embodied the tools which Dr. Osland covered in her presentation to our group. Teams were forced to pay attention to non-verbal cues, be aware of cultural differences and use speech and hand signals to communicate. This was a challenging exercise but very much made us aware of our own individual interactions.

Following our visit to San Jose State University, we had an excellent lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant then continued our tour of San Jose to Cisco Systems.

 

At Cisco, we were greeted by a virtual receptionist in the lobby. This person oversees guests at 11 buildings on Cisco’s campus. It was a great example of Cisco’s technology and how technology can be used. Our visit at Cisco included a presentation by the Vice President of Corporate Affairs who gave an overview of Cisco’s Corporate Social Responsibility.

Our next stop was to visit Fentress Architects located across the freeway from the San Jose International Airport. They had recently completed an expansion project with the airport and have designed such buildings as the Denver Convention Center, the Marine Corps Museum, an expansion of the Los Angeles International Airport along with the Denver International Airport. It was an excellent presentation on how Fentress gains clients through the RFP process and design competitions, creates designs to meet client needs while also reflecting the local and natural landscape.
For dinner, our group headed to Santana Row for a wonderful dinner at a quaint French restaurant called Left Bank Brasserie. Here we had a private room, excellent food and wonderful local wine. Santana Row is a neat area within San Jose full of great shopping and restaurants.

Another wonderful day with an exceptional group of people.

Jessica