Meeting with Sage Brennan, Managing Director of Pacific Epoch
Our first presenter Sage Brennan spoke to us today on a wide range of topics from technology and communications to starting a business in China. Pacific Epoch is a business intelligence firm focusing on media, telecommunications and investment opportunities in China. Filling the void of information in the technology sector with a boots on the ground strategy, Pacific Epoch provides customized information to clients, mainly hedge funds and VCs.
One of the challenges in providing independent research in China centers on a general suspicion of answering questions. Companies in China are not enthusiastic to provide market data or trends as would a typical US company selling its story. This requires Pacific Epoch to develop its own market research techniques through polling and surveys. Part of Sage’s job is to sort through which projects best add value to the company and can be used in follow on research. One off projects with no follow on application are not the best way to leverage the assets of their small office.
Sage touched on the business strategies for Pacific Epoch as they grow and expand their product offering. Training and hiring is another challenge of operating in China. Most hires are from local universities and have a passion for technology. Innovation and out of the box thinking was the attribute most difficult to find in China and part of the training challenge going forward. As a provider of information it was refreshing to hear that censorship has not had an impact on their operation except for some minor technical difficulties on their server. In a reversal of sorts, Pacific Epoch’s only problems with intellectual property rights violations occur in the US a result of unauthorized distribution of newsletters and reports.
Always a hit with the crowd was the experience as an ex-pat living and working in China. Sage was able to provide insight into the ways to start working in China through his unique experience. His outlook on tech in China was enthusiastic with many opportunities still available.
Meeting with Altcatel’s Kang Wuping, VP of Human Resources
Alcatel is a leading telecom company based in Paris, France with 57,000 employees across 120 countries. Today we met with Kan Wuping, the VP of Alcatel Shanghai Bell, a subsidiary of Alcatel. Alcatel has a 20-year history in Shanghai and has been in a great position to watch China’s recent the economic development and capitalize on it. In 2002 Alcatel China merged with the state-owned company Shanghai Bell to form Alcatel Shanghai Bell. Alcatel’s recent merger with Lucent has transformed the company from a telecom product company into a full telecom solution provider.
Alcatel Shanghai Bell’s shares are 50% +1 owned by ASB and 50% owned by the Chinese government. This means half of the board of directors are government officials, but it would seem as though the relationship with the government is productive and non-confrontational. ASB’s market is mostly in China but they are also a global hub for Alcatel R&D (earning the most patents of any Alcatel location globally in 2005) and also house one of Alcatel’s four manuracturing facilities (consolidated from 100+ just a few years ago).
Alcatel’s core values are 1) Customer Value, 2) Innovation, 3) Teamwork, and 4) Accountability. Fortunately, Shanghai Bell shared three of the four Alcatel core values when the merger took place, and as a result the merger went smoothly and efficiencies were realized quickly.
ASB takes pride in it’s responsibility to the local community. The company has given back large sums of money to the local community for school, SARS research, and to promote a Green Culture.
The key motivator for ASB employees is career management. For this reason, ASB has focused a tremendous amount of resources on developing rigorous career path programs designed to retain employees, accelerate high potential employees, and build broad experience within the relatively young employees of the company (the average age of an ASB employee is 30). Accreditation programs are a key piece of the career management program at ASB and help measure competencies and justify salary and responsibility increases. ASB’s program management system is one-of-a-kind within Alcatel and Alcatel’s Paris headquarters has realized the value and is considering replicating this kind of system across more of it’s regional offices.
After our discussion with Mr. Wuping, the students went on a tour of Alcatel’s Next Generation Network (NGN) showcase center where video conferencing, IP-based phone systems, and data-voice convergence technologies were demonstrated.
