This October I participated in the Sauder MBA China Study Tour. We travelled to Hong Kong and Shanghai and met with company executives there, who told us about doing business in Asia, business and market trends and careers in China.
It was an amazing week. Besides amazing insights into this booming economy, we also had the opportunity to network with Sauder alumni and do a little sightseeing there.
Many of the company executives that met with us were Sauder alumni, so it was great to learn about their career paths from Vancouver and into high levels of management there. We met with country directors and high-level executives, which meant that we learned strategic insights. We had both B2B and B2C insights. One memorable discussion was the country director for LVMH, the holding company for Louis Vuitton and other luxury brands. He talked to us about consumer behavior in China and their passion for luxury items. What I found most exciting was to see him explain it from the perspective of the different Chinese generations and how history and politics, as well as economic boom times and global trends, affected their purchase behavior.
It was an amazing opportunity and has piqued my interest in APAC markets. I’m even considering learning Mandarin…
