Hello and welcome to the blog of this year’s emerging markets field trip to China which is organized by ZHAW – School of Management and Law.
The purpose of this trip is to:
- Experience the Chinese way of life through real on-site exploration
- Explore the cultural heritage of the country & learn how to do business in emerging markets
- Understand the buying power of China
- Learn the first steps to expand one’s individual business network beyond Switzerland
- Expand the horizon for a future professional career.
The trip of our group, which consists of 25 business school students, one professor and a mandarin-speaking research associate, starts in Beijing, where the Great Wall and its Creative Street will be explored. Also the Swiss embassy, the University of International Business & Economics and a wine dealership called “Cheers Wine” will be visited. After spending 3 days in Beijing, our group travels to Hangzhou by high-speed train where Alibaba will be visited the day after. Alibaba is the world’s biggest e-commerce company. Later that day, our study group will catch a bullet-train to Shanghai, where Huawei (producer of electronic communication equipment), Autoneum (automotive industry supplier), Meyer Burger (technology, especially photovoltaic), Swissnex (aimed to connect Switzerland with big & innovative hubs) and Novartis (pharmaceutical company) will be visited. Also the students will have some time off during the weekend – the scheduled Mandarin language lesson however will have to be attended by everyone. After exploring Shanghai for 5 days, the group travels to Guilin and later to Longsheng in order to hike across the dragon back terrace fields, where ancient rice fields were discovered. Our study group continues to travel to its final destination Hong Kong, where the convention center and Credit Suisse will be visited.
This travel blog will be updated daily and we hope you enjoy reading about our experiences and discoveries during this study trip.