Feb. 15, 2006. China Trip meeting

Mr. Wain Beard spoke to the MBA class, and shared his experiences of doing business in China. Mr. Beard's candid honesty was refreshing, and his stories helped me visualize the cultural differences that need to be studied and accepted in order to successfully do business in China.

I thought it was interesting that Mr. Beard forecasts that China will be a leader in technology and innovation in the near future, yet I think many changes need to be made for China to make that step. The lack of intellectual property rights and protection is one of the biggest barriers to innovation and needs to be addressed for China to move forward. However, given the fact that China is graduating many engineers (more than India and the United States) and encouraging foreign companies to employ their workforce, the knowledge base is there but just needs more government support in order for it to fully develop. It will be interesting to see the political changes that China will face.