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Profile: Michael Hackler

GLP Shanghai Blog

Michael Hackler, Business Administration

Blog 5

Monday, March 23, 2009

We got home at 2:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon, even though we left Shanghai at 2:00 p.m. I love how the time zones just mess with my mind. The jetlag is having a big effect on me and I’m up late into the nights (Shanghai is 15 hours ahead of Los Angeles). Having classes throughout the day doesn’t help the situation either. Nevertheless, I’m convinced that our GLP trip to Shanghai was the best Marshall spring trip. All of my peers have already posted their pictures to Facebook and people are busy tagging themselves and their friends. The anxiety and energy even after the grueling trip home was simply amazing!

In reflecting on our weeklong adventure, there are a couple of highlights I wanted to outline:

Business Visits

  • Ingersoll-Rand
  • Wingtec
  • Bao Steel
  • GreenTree Inn
  • Lotus Supermarket
  • 2010 World Expo Shanghai
  • USC Alumni Panel
  • Market Research at the Super Brand Mall

Meal Time

  • Banana Leaf
  • Howard Johnson Hotel Buffet Lunch
  • Sofitel Hyland Buffet Lunch
  • Sofitel Hyland dinner with students from JiaoTong University
  • Dinner with friends overlooking the Bund

After Hours

  • Exploring the knock-off markets and learning to haggle
  • Acrobat show
  • Subway rides
  • Adventurous taxi rides
  • Searching for Western food
  • Socializing with the staff who accompanied us
  • Early morning breakfasts at 6:30 a.m.

Thank you, Marshall School of Business, for making this trip a reality for the sixty of us who traveled to Shanghai. The significant financial and logistical support provided us the opportunity of a lifetime. Not only did we learn about international commerce, the growth of Asia and the world, but we also learned about ourselves and made friendships that will surely withstand the test of time. Learning to navigate the city on our own, hailing cabs and cramming into the subway really helped all of us to bond very quickly. Knowing that I already have a good friend in at least one or two of my classmates will make the first day of class less nerve-racking.

I can’t think of a better way to have spent my spring break.

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Blog 4

Sunday, March 22, 2009

After a long week of business visits, the weekend finally came! After visiting the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center on Friday afternoon, several of us headed to another knock-off market. We all had clearly become addicted to haggling with the local vendors. Not finding quality products, we headed back to where we were familiar shoppers – the underground subway station market. Many of the vendors recognized us and didn’t bother haggling with us; instead they offered us good deals from the start! That’s a good reputation to have.

Saturday morning, Tina didn’t give us a break on the early wake up call. We were supposed to meet on the bus at 7:30 a.m., but one of our classmates could not be found, so we didn’t leave until 8:15 a.m. Professor Wang made him apologize on the bus microphone and he received an ovation and collective laugh. Tired from a long week, everyone fell asleep quickly for the long bus ride to Zhujiajiao. This was an old village town, some 600 years old. Simply amazing.

After exploring a local market (complete with pig heads, chicken feet, live chicken killing, toads and snakes), we were led to the traditional town where we explored the narrow streets and the winding canals that reminded me of a Chinese version of Venice (albeit much more crowded, dirtier, cramped, less colorful and less vibrant). We were provided a traditional Chinese lunch. When I say traditional, I mean traditional and many of the students’ stomachs couldn’t handle it any longer. Luckily, Professor Wang allowed us to excuse ourselves and visit the KFC right around the corner. Thank goodness, because I would’ve starved!

After returning to the Nanjing Road shopping district and our hotel, a group of us decided to return to the markets for one last time. I needed a new bag in which to take all of my purchases home. I had two suits tailored for me, so I definitely needed the extra room. Although we were tired, we took a taxi to the Bund later that evening as many of our peers recommended seeing the sights before leaving Shanghai. We stumbled across a restaurant in the top of one of the buildings along the Bund and decided to stop in. By far the priciest dinner of our trip (USD $35), we had a nice burger and fries while enjoying a spectacular night view of the Bund. The eight of us had a nice final dinner.

Wanting to sleep on the plane ride home, we collectively decided to stay up very late Saturday evening so that we would be extremely tired on Sunday for the flight to Seoul and Los Angeles. After packing my two bags, I met up with the rest of my friends. We made it to about 6:00 a.m. and then fell asleep for a few hours before we woke up to take our bags down to the lobby and eat a hearty breakfast.

Our trip was finally coming to a close. Exhausted from so many late evenings, early mornings and busy days, everyone was ready to return home. I, for one, longed for late morning wake-ups and not having to deal with the hustle and bustle of Shanghai life. Prior to the trip I was critical of the Los Angeles smog, but Southern California pollution is paradise compared to the Shanghai skies! By this point, I wanted a gulp of clean air and a good western meal. Just a few more hours…

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Blog 3

Friday, March 20, 2009

It’s now Friday and I feel that our trip is slowly but surely coming to a close! I’ve become so used to waking up early in the morning, going to sleep late at night and being busy for the entire day. Waking up isn’t hard when cheerful Tina, our guide, is smiling as we trudge up the motorcoach stairs at 7:30 in the morning. Boarding the buses has become a routine for most of us. Now everyone has their own section of the bus, so there’s no rush for certain seats. Everyone gets along with each other and I am making many new friends that I hope to keep in touch with when we return to USC in a few days. Interestingly, I’ve met a few guys who live in my building or next door but I have never met this entire year!

Wednesday morning, after a 90-minute drive, we arrived at the largest campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, one of China’s most prestigious institutions. Forty of their brightest students mingled with us. We traded experiences and presented four different reports that groups had planned prior to the trip. We explained our culture and schools while learning about theirs. The university also graciously offered us lunch and a campus tour to round out the busy morning.

In the afternoon, representatives from the Lotus Supermarket chain provided a detailed presentation and Q&A session in one of our hotel ballrooms. The Sofitel Hyland Shanghai’s beautiful ballrooms made the activity so much more special. Many of the students enjoyed listening about global conglomerates and globalization. Lotus is China’s version of WalMart, so it was very interesting to hear how WalMart’s entrance into China has affected their business plan.

Dinner was one of the best of the trip. Instead of the small portions we had become accustomed to, we actually got full this time with the wonderful Thai-Chinese fusion cuisine. Additionally, they had some fun entertainment. Although none of us were able to figure out how the entertainers’ costumes related to the restaurant’s theme (one was a policewoman, another was a cowboy and most of the songs were American and Mexican tunes), it was very fun as they pulled us up to dance and be goofy in front of the class, our university student guests, and the other diners in the restaurant. The best part of the evening was hearing the entertainers play American pop songs and witnessing Professor Manegold boogie with one of the dancers. How fun!

Thursday, the wake up call came much earlier than I wanted because we had spent the previous evening at karaoke and exploring more of Shanghai’s nightlife. We went to Baosteel, a government owned steel manufacturing plant that is physically larger than Macau! They gave us hard hats so we could walk inside one of their factory buildings where we witnessed a 2-meter thick piece of steel being flattened into sheets three centimeters thick and coiled into rolls.

Lunch was the best time of my life. We had lunch at the Howard Johnson hotel (which unlike America, is a very luxurious hotel in China). I ate three times what I should have because my stomach had been deprived of Western food for the last four days. I had not seen so much meat the entire time we had been in Shanghai. Following lunch, we attended an alumni panel and mixer where some of China’s finest USC Marshall alumni talked about their experiences in China, how their education helped their career development, and how to get ahead in world business. Following the panel discussion and Q&A, we had a chance to collect business cards and informally mix with the alumni over coffee and tea.

Thursday evening, we attended the Ritz-Carlton acrobatic show. It was 90 minutes of pure fun and excitement! I never knew that an 8-year-old boy could contort his body into a circle! No wonder China has such good gymnasts! There was also a woman who balanced dozens of glasses on her forehead and a man who was a professional plate spinner. We were also treated to an exciting performance by acrobats who flew through the air in a dramatic love story.

Following the acrobat show, we were free to explore on our own. We visited a couple venues and found that Shanghainese taxi cab drivers are unreliable. The Sofitel provided cards with its address in Chinese because most cab drivers cannot speak English. However, we had to beg ten different cab drivers to take us back to the hotel because most of them won’t pick you up unless the drive is long enough for them to make good money. Eventually, we got back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.

Today, we woke up very early to head to a neighboring province to visit an air compressor plant, Ingersoll Rand. After picking up our stylish safety glasses, they led us through the various phases of assembly. Ironically, they use products from Baosteel, which we visited yesterday. A long question and answer session followed the tour and gave us valuable insight into conducting business in China as well as how the economic downturn is affecting their business.

Later today, we’ll be visiting a museum and then spending time on our own to explore. Today was our last day of wearing suits, so everyone, especially the guys, is excited for the next three days in casual clothes!

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Blog 2

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Our first three days in Shanghai have been amazing! However, getting here was an adventure! Our journey started in the overcrowded international terminal at LAX. We were scheduled to fly into Shanghai via Seoul-Incheon; the first leg to be in tandem with the GLP students flying to Beijing. After being bussed to the plane, we sat for a good two hours as they fixed a mechanical problem. This was my first encounter with language difficulties. All announcements were made first in Korean, then English, followed by Chinese. All of us had to try hard to understand the crew’s broken English.

Anyway, we finally took off and after a grueling 13 hours in the air, landed in Incheon for our shortened layover. Where did we eat breakfast? KFC! Some nice chicken wings hit the spot at 6 am in the morning! Shortly after, we boarded our connection to Shanghai-Pudong. We had the entire back portion of the plane to ourselves on the very empty flight, allowing us to stretch across rows and catch up on sleep we didn’t get the night before.

Professor Shiing-Wu Wang, who had flown to China two days prior to us, was waiting for us after customs. Our lead tour guide, Tina, and her crew took our bags and led us to the MAGLEV train station (magnetic levitation tracks). The quick 7 minute journey reached a peak of 430 km/hour and whisked us from Pudong Airport into the city where our two motorcoaches awaited us.

At this point, I wish we had time to sleep, but that was just a dream. Tina and Stacy, our two well-spoken tour guides, hustled us off the bus at the hotel, only to remind us we had to be back on in just twenty minutes. Yikes! We were then driven to the Old Town of Shanghai where we looked forward to our first street market time. At first, the stench of the place overwhelmed us and everyone experienced a large sensory overload. We were miserable. But soon enough we began to get the hang of being in Shanghai.

We quickly learned to work in teams to bargain with the salespeople. Their catchphrases like “you’re killing me,” “I lose money,” “I can’t eat with that,” and “no joking” soon became a familiar echo. We learned to simply walk away and soon, they would be grabbing our arms, willing to negotiate lower. Since then, we’ve become expert negotiators! “Rolex” watches now? Just twenty bucks!

Monday brought a new host of challenges. In the morning, we visited a cell phone factory and in the afternoon, performed some serious market research. Our group decided to use our money to buy two Cinderella outfits and have two boys prance around the shopping center and see how people reacted. Our video was presented to the class a few hours later. Other groups sought to examine different types of electronics, clothing, and accessories.

Monday night, we had the pleasure of dining with students from Fudan University, one of the premier universities in Shanghai. Their students had very good speaking skills and were very gracious. This was also the first night we took the opportunity to explore the night scene in the city. Taxis are very cheap, so we decided to team up in pairs of four to explore. With the help of our English-speaking classmates, we were able to have a lovely evening.

Tuesday, we visited GreenTree Inns, a budget hotel chain owned by an USC MBA graduate. We gave a presentation about how they could improve their website. Then we listened to the CEO’s presentation and toured the corporate headquarters and some sample hotel rooms. In the afternoon, we visited the headquarters of the 2010 World Expo that will be held in Shanghai. The whole area will be transformed with pavilions for each nation. I hope I can return to see the finished exposition grounds!

Tuesday also happened to be St. Patrick’s Day! Interestingly, Shanghai sure does know how to celebrate St. Patty’s. USC’s undergraduates made sure that the university was represented with class and dignity in many of the festivities held throughout the day. We might even be featured on a promotional video for one of the venues we visited!

That’s it for now! I’ll keep this thing updated as much as I can with what little time I have!

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Blog 1

Monday, March 9, 2009, Los Angeles

So we leave in four days and I couldn’t be more excited! Professor Shiing-wu Wang, the faculty member accompanying us on the trip, just e-mailed us the official itinerary for the trip – it looks like it’ll be hectic, but full of fun adventures!

The Global Leadership Program has been one of the highlights of my first year at USC. Since Dean Ellis’ colloquium in the fall and Professor Wu’s seminar in the spring, I feel that I now have a better grasp of business today and look forward to finding my niche in the global business world.

At our last seminar, we practiced our group presentations for different portions of the trip. We also brushed up on some simple Chinese. The highlight of class was receiving a large manila envelope that included our air tickets, Chinese visa, Shanghai guidebook, and other fun information. The buzz that filled HOH2 was amazing!

I still have a midterm exam to take and paper to write before we leave on Friday, but I am already creating my packing list and deciding what I need to take with me. The weather report says that the temperature in Shanghai ranges from the low forties at night to upper fifties in the day, so it’ll be a bit chillier than here in Los Angeles – a great opportunity to wear those thicker jackets that I have stuffed in the back of my closet!

Anyway, I anxiously await our departure for Shanghai! From what I’ve heard from past GLP students, our week-long adventure will be one of the most memorable experiences I’ll have at USC. I’m sure this year won’t disappoint.

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