Asia Magazine #8

A bulletin by Chalmers students in Asia

asiabulletin no8

2006 11

/japan - just in time /welcome to gรถtheborg in shanghai /tokyo game show 2006 /korea, manufacturing heaven? /laos - rural development/

/want to succeed in asia?

asiaContents Editorial

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asiaOffice Life and times at the office

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Representatives Autumn 2006

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NCTU Europe

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asiaReport

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Japan - Just in Time

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Want to succeed in Asia?

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Welcome to Götheborg in Shanghai 12 Tokyo Game Show 2006 13 Korea, manufacturing heaven? 14 An engineer’s playground 15 The Thai market in a Swedish perspective 16 Laos - rural development in a South-East Asian backwater 17 Shanghai international automotive city 20 The leading issue 21

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Sino - Swedish campus at Fudan University, Shanghai 22 From imitation to innovation 23 Chalmers in Asia 24

WHAT IS CHALMERS ASIA? Chalmers Asia was opened in March 2003 and is the result of a bilateral exchange agreement between National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) and Chalmers University of Technology. The Chalmers Asia office is strategically located at NCTU, near Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park.

PURPOSE - Increase awareness at Chalmers about the development in East Asia, with focus on Taiwan.

- Support mobility of students and staff between NCTU and

Chalmers - Enhance Chalmers’ visibility in Taiwan and the neighbouring region

THE CHALMERS ASIA BULLETIN The purpose of this publication is to increase the awareness of Asia among the students and the staff of Chalmers. The articles are written by the Chalmers exchange students in Asia.

Editor in Chief, Design: Fredrik Ramberg fredrik.ramberg@asia.chalmers.se Anders Perntz anders.perntz@asia.chalmers.se CONTACT Chalmers Asia National Chiao Tung University 1001 Ta-Hsueh Rd. Hsinchu 300 Taiwan, R.O.C.

web phone

fax

www.asia.chalmers.se +886 (0)3 573 73 69 +46 (0)31 780 41 55 +886 (0)3 573 74 69

Letter from the editors What are the future opportunities for a Chalmers student in Asia?

One year ago we asked ourselves this question and in this bulletin we are trying to give you some hints about the answer. As you will see there are many ways of becoming successful in Asia, but what we have learned during our short time here, is that the number of opportunities are infinite. A good start for a future in Asia is to study your fourth year here. Take the chance and apply today!

Letter from the head of office So there I was, sipping fresh fruit juice in the Taiwanese sunshine and studying strange looking characters. It was the end of June and this one year adventure in Taiwan was just about to start with a six week summer course in Mandarin.

Before we started to work with the bulletin we asked ourselves the question, “to whom is this bulletin dedicated to”. We came to the conclusion that now, the readers are different from before. Last year was the first year that this bulletin was printed in 500 copies and published at Chalmers for the students. Previous years, this was just a bulletin published in 30 copies and read by the staff at the Chalmers head office. The conclusion was that we have to change the content to be more interesting for a Chalmers student. So, in this bulletin we have an additional topic, “to report about the opportunities for a Chalmers student in Asia”, as mentioned above. But we still have the old theme left, “to analyse Asia from a economic and technological perspective”. We have tried to mix these two topics to give the bulletin a wider and more interesting coverage.

We have also worked hard on making the articles more easily read, no matter of your background.

Taiwan, the independent economy off the coast of China, has seen a great economical development over the last few decades. Originally a mass producer of low end products, Taiwan is today world leading in the semiconductor industry and is also putting great efforts into biotechnology. Chalmers saw the importance of being present in this booming part of the world. Therefore, our university started up an exchange program and an office managed by Chalmers exchange students at National Chiao Tung University.

After a summer in good company and with lots of fun, we started up the fourth year of Chalmers Asia – Taiwan Office, this time with a little different approach then before. We want all Chalmers students and staff to be aware of the great possibilities of Asia and help those interested in taking a closer look at the region.

Considering the layout, our focus has been to make the design more alive with adequate pictures in the articles. Comments about the Bulletin are always welcome and we would like to hear what you think of this issue. If you have any topics you would like to hear about in the next issue, please let us know.

The Chalmers Asia Promotional film has just been finished, and will be out in November; showing you all the best of what one year in Taiwan has to offer. The film will be published at the new Chalmers Asia website, which contains a lot of useful information. The website has recently been redesigned, so if you are interested in studying in this region, interested in doing your thesis here or if you simply want to see a great film, do not hesitate to visit www.asia.chalmers.se.

When summarising all the articles, we see that the following countries are represented: Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Korea and China, in total eight interesting places with a lot of opportunities.

Our hope is that after reading this bulletin, you will have become inspired by Asia, and that those of you with interest in coming here have gotten some information on how to realise your future in Asia.

fredrik ramberg anders perntz

KAJSA TORRING

editor in Chief Design

Head of Office

asiaOffice

Life and times at the Office

The Chalmers Asia team of this autumn is finally complete here in Taiwan. For the reader who is not familiar with our office, we would like to give you a brief introduction.

Afterwards, we will tell you all about our activities so far this autumn.

The official name is “Chalmers Asia - Taiwan Office”; it is located in the campus of National Chiao Tung University, in short NCTU. NCTU lies in Hsinchu, a town similar in size to Gothenburg, not far from Taipei on the north-eastern coast of Taiwan. To be more precise, the office is a beautiful, spacious room inside NCTU’s new library building. We, the seven students from Chalmers taking part in the exchange between NCTU and Chalmers, manage the office during our exchange year. We have a bunch of computers here, a small exhibition of Chalmers-Gothenburg-Sweden posters and artifacts, a small meeting room and a couple of sofas and armchairs.

The office is open to everyone three afternoons a week. During these times, at least two of us are in the office working and gladly welcoming all visitors. However, as the office also serves as our refuge and meeting point, we spend a lot more time here than those three afternoons. This is very appreciated by students, teachers and other visitors from Taiwan and afar that happen to stop by.

First big event to take place was the official inauguration of September 28. A few small speeches were held, and then all our honoured guests were treated to Swedish specialties such as salmon dainty sandwiches, Swedish chocolate, sweets and cookies. Being our first official event, we were all happy that our careful preparations and hard work was well received by the visitors.

Among the many things we have done so far, our main effort has been put into making a promotional film and a new website. This film and website is directed to Swedish students in order to inform them about Chalmers Asia and Chalmers’s exchange program at NCTU in Taiwan. In addition to this, we have welcomed and informed students and teachers from different universities in Taiwan about us, Chalmers and Sweden. We have helped an NCTU-professor setting up a meeting with a Chalmers teacher and a visit to Volvo Cars, we have visited the Swedish Trade Council in Taipei and we have received a group of visitors from an Indonesian university. We have been preparing for the reception of “Chalmers Fastigheter” and “Innovationsbron” in October/November and we have also been preparing to help the next batch of NCTU students about to go to Chalmers. Last but definitely not least; together with other Chalmers students in Eastern Asia we have created this bulletin.

In order to give you a deeper insight in Eastern Asia, we at Chalmers Asia have the opportunity to travel all over the region. In September, three of us went to Japan, in October, two others went to Hong Kong and Shanghai. November brings a planned visit to Indonesia and the Philippines. Unfortunately, the Asiabulletin is not big, Eastern Asia is. So, we have not had time to go everywhere, yet. However, a new issue is already in the making, coming to you in the spring of 2007.

asiaOffice Anders ANDERS

Marcus MARCUS

REPRESENTATIVES AUTUMN 2006 Fredrik KAJSA Kajsa FREDRIK

Yeu-Fwu FWU

Axel AXEL

Lars LARS

KAJSA TORRING, Head of Office, is a student at NCTU’s

YEU-FWU HUA, representative, is part of the Project Report

Management of Technology department and has a background in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers University of Technology.

and Corporate Relations group and is primarily responsible for the Chalmers Asia contacts towards companies in the region.

Yeu-Fwu is a student at NCTU’s Management of Technology department and has a background in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers University of Technology.

AXEL JANSON, Deputy Head of Office,is a student at NCTU’s

Management of Technology department and has a background in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers University of Technology.

MARCUS LINDEBERG, representative, is part of the Academic

Exchange and Alumni group, he is also webmaster of the Chalmers Asia web site. Marcus is a student at NCTU’s Electrical Engineering department and has a background in Engineering Automation and Mechatronics at Chalmers University of Technology.

ANDERS PERNTZ, representative, is part of the Project Report and

Corporate Relations group and is and is primarily responsible for the making and the layout of the Chalmers Asia Bulletin. Anders is a student at NCTU’s Electrical Engineering department and has a background in Engineering Automation and Mechatronics at Chalmers University of Technology.

FREDRIK RAMBERG, representative, is part of the Project Report and Corporate Relations group and is primarily editor in chief of the Chalmers Asia Bulletin. Fredrik is a student at NCTU’s Electrical Engineering department and has a background in Engineering Physics at Chalmers University of Technology.

LARS ANDRÉN, representative, is part of the Academic Exchange

and Alumni group. Lars is currently working on his Master thesis concerning Event Marketing at the Computer Science department at NCTU. He has a background in Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology.

NCTU Europe’s Column

asiaOffice NCTU Europe is located at Chalmers in Gothenburg, Sweden, and is run by exchange students from NCTU. NCTU Europe has many missions. First of all, it promotes and supports the exchange of staff and students between Chalmers and NCTU. In addition, it enhances NCTU’s visibility in Sweden and other European countries. Moreover, it provides interested students with information about National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, and introduces recent development in technology in Taiwan. Furthermore, via NCTU Europe office, Taiwanese companies can expose themselves to Chalmers and other institutions in Sweden.

To achieve our goals, NCTU Europe members arrange many activities. To support the student exchange program between NCTU and Chalmers, we hold an information evening to provide information about opportunities for Chalmers students. Apart from this event students are welcome to our office for more information every weekday lunch. Furthermore, we aim to deepen the knowledge of the Taiwanese culture at Chalmers through activities linked to Taiwanese holidays. To enrich NCTU’s understanding of Europe, the members also report to NCTU about the recent development in Chalmers, Sweden and Europe. We also identify opportunities in both ways between NCTU and Chalmers. To enhance NCTU visibility in Europe, the members establish contact with different academic institutions and industries. We also publish a bulletin on NCTU Europe’s official webpage to let everyone at NCTU know what we are doing and what is happening in Europe.

On September 14th, NCTU Europe held its 2nd anniversary celebration. Many Swedish students and faculties in Chalmers joined and had fun with us on that day. We had a short introduction about Taiwan and served Taiwanese food, which everyone seemed to enjoy. We were glad to show them the beautiful scenery and prosperity of Taiwan and we also shared differences between Sweden and Taiwan, both cultural and academic, with them.

Yes. We always do our best to be a bridge between NCTU and Chalmers, additionally, between Asia and Europe. We hold many activities in the campus every year, and every day from 12:00~13:00, we are ready in our office with passion to welcome everyone who is interested in Taiwan.

In addition to improve the connection between two countries, we, the members of NCTU Europe, learn knowledge by heart in our majors, and improve our English ability. We are lucky to have this opportunity to be exchanged students in this beautiful city. We will treasure this experience to broaden our horizon to the world.

NCTU Europe Chalmers University of Technology Hörsalvägen 7 412 96 Gothenburg Sweden web phone e-mail

www.europe.nctu.edu.tw +46 (0)31 7722588 yuanting@student.chalmers.se

Opening hours Monday – Friday 12.00–13.00

asiaReport

Japan - Just In Time

BY MARCUS LINDEBERG, ANDERS PERNTZ

For many years the production system and management of the Toyota Motor Corporation has been a hot topic in universities all over the world. Marvels regarding the effectiveness and precision of the production have been mixed with criticism of the hard working conditions. Have these impressions created an image of Toyota that might be false? Are the working conditions that much harder compared to western companies? Is it the culture in Japan that allows Toyota to be so efficient? A key factor to the success of Toyota comes from solid suppliers, competitive prices and quality control. What makes the bond to suppliers so strong and just-in-time so effective? Toyota strives to reach the whole world but do they have contacts with international universities? What do you have to consider when establishing your company in Japan? We went to Toyota to get the answers about their production and The Swedish Trade Council for additional information on general economic conditions in Japan.

A couple of hours south of Tokyo, in the heart of Toyota City, lies the headquarter of the enormous Toyota Motor Corporation. The city has a population of 400,000 and is famous for being built around and named after the, by far, largest employer in the city. The impression an outsider get from coming to the city is the major role Toyota seems to play in the everyday life of the people in the society. There are not only sports centers for the employees at Toyota but even schools, hospitals and other amenities.

Not very far from the city center lies the headquarter and several of the manufacturing plants. After an extensive factory tour through one of the assembly plants and an interview with Mr Daigo Umeki, a group manager at Toyota, several of our questions were answered.

The widespread image of harsh working conditions in the Toyota factories seem to be a common misunderstanding.

According to Mr Umeki, the factory employees work for eight hours, not more.

The night shifts have been taken away and additional breaks have been added all for the sake of the employees’ health. Condi-

tions as good as these would probably be hard to find in many Swedish factories.

To the question of whether it is the Japanese culture that allows Toyota to be so efficient or not we got an interesting answer. Apparently the culture plays a noticeable role during the introduction phase of new employees. Mr Umeki says that compared to a western factory worker a Japanese factory worker often show a higher level of work discipline in the initial phase. However, this changes when employees are introduced to, and taught about the production philosophy of the company, The Toyota Way. According to Mr Umeki, when it comes to effectiveness and precision it is all about the company culture.

“The widespread image of harsh working conditions in the Toyota factories seem to be a common misunderstanding”

Toyota is very dependent on relations with their suppliers and that is one of the most important factors contributing to its leading position. Mr Umeki explained the necessity to fully incorporate the supplier in the Toyota Production System to maintain production balance. A strong connection means control, and that is what Toyota is aiming to achieve. Toyota is not winning by itself. It is winning with its supply chain.

There is a huge lesson from Toyota on how to manage supplier relationships. The winwin situation is created with mutual understanding, and is not derived from Toyota pushing their suppliers against the wall to cut their costs. Suppliers are seen as a part of the Toyota family and sometimes Toyota has ownership stake in the supplying company. To ensure control and just-in-time delivery most of the first tier suppliers are located within 15 minutes by car from the Toyota plants.

As a part of its efforts to foster human resources for the future, Toyota supports and works together with overseas educational institutions. A co-operational center has been established in China and a research exchange program in South Korea for students taking on issues related to Japan. Mr Umeki said that Toyota run their own schools and universities in Japan to enhance the bond between the countries.

As a Chalmers student interested in lean production it would be highly desirable to gain experience by writing a Master thesis or work as a trainee at Toyota. However according to Mr Umeki there was no such program to enroll in at the time being.

A visit to the Swedish Trade Council in Tokyo put Toyota and general economic conditions in Japan in a wider perspective.

As trade commissioner Johan Rugfelt told us; the Japanese economy has been rising since 2002. Swedish design has gained popularity among the single most important customers, young Japanese women, making it easier for Swedish companies to establish their business in Japan. Key factors to success are good Japanese partners, high quality, the will to modify the product/service

asiaReport

Meeting with Keisuke Ryu at STC Tokyo. towards Japanese standards, sustainability and devotion to the market and previous experience of export.

During a meeting with Keisuke Ryu, a senior project leader at the Swedish Trade Council, we were given an example of what the consequences for not paying full attention to the needs of Japanese companies might be. In the mid-eighties a Swedish company introduced a new unique machine to Toyota, fulfilling needs of the company’s production. The machine was soon incorporated in the manufacturing process but a number of errors occurred shortly.

Corrections were made by the Swedish company but without leaving any documentation about the origin of the problems to Toyota. Toyota requested documentation to prevent the errors from happening in the future but the documentation never came. The Swedish company lost its hold of Toyota and because the business was not profitable enough at that time, the Swedish company decided to withdraw from Japan in 1991. After several machine stops and no adequate technical support, Toyota

engaged a Japanese company to try to develop an equivalent machine. Lack of understanding the minor issues and not showing devotion became a great loss in market share for the Swedish company. They tried to get back into the Japanese market and Toyota in 1993 without success.

Seeing and hearing about all the Toyota operations and working conditions, often lectured at Chalmers, strengthen the picture of a highly effective, organised and profitable company. Unless you, as a foreign company, understand the striving for perfection or have a unique product, the Japanese market will refuse your offer. In order to fully understand that reliability and bonds to suppliers, vendors and customers is vital, there is no better lesson than going to Japan.

Anders Perntz majors in Engineering Automation and Mechatronics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

Email: anders.perntz@asia.chalmers.se Marcus Lindeberg majors in Engineering Automation and Mechatronics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

Email: marcus.lindeberg@asia.chalmers.se

asiaReport

WANT TO SUCC Here is the way

BY AXEL JANSON, FREDRIK RAMBERG

Axel Janson and Fredrik Ramberg from Chalmers Asia Office had a mission to find out how a young Swede can become successful in Asia. So they went to Hong Kong and Shanghai to see some company representatives, not to learn about the corporations itself, but rather meet the people behind the every day business. In these articles, these professionals will share their hottest tips on how to start your carrier in this part of the world. You will meet a trade lane manager in Hong Kong, a Chalmers student doing his Master thesis in Shanghai and a former Chalmers Asia student who have been working in Beijing and Shanghai for about four years and recently became an entrepreneur.

Fredrik Nyberg BALtrans, HongKong Meet Fredrik Nyberg, who seven years ago sold all his belongings and moved to Hong Kong to look for a job.

Fredrik had an IT company in Sweden for six years but when the IT crash 1999 destroyed the market he wanted to start his life all over again. He sold all his belongings moved to Hong Kong and put everything on one card. Fredrik could live in his friend’s house for the first three months, so that was the time he had to get a job and find a place to live. When we asked him whether this was the right thing to do, his answer was clear, “I was sure! If you are fully motivated everything will turn out well”.

We meet Fredrik at his current job at BALtrans in Hong Kong, were he work as a trade lane manager for Scandinavia and is in charge of all the traffic concerning Scandinavia. BALtrans Group was founded in 1982 and is one of the largest Asia-based freight forwarding and logistics companies. They have an international network spanning all key markets in Asia, North America, the UK and Germany. It is headquartered and listed in Hong Kong and have more than 1,700 employees in over 51 branches.

“It is not what you know, it is who you know.”

Fredrik Nyberg about business in Hong Kong

We asked Fredrik some questions about his experiences from seven years of work in Hong Kong: What’s the difference between doing business in Sweden compared to Asia?

-This is a more fast paced business environment compared to Sweden, where decisions can take a long time.”

What mistakes do Swedish people do when they get here?

-We are to trusting.

What’s the biggest culture difference?

-Face value is very important here, it should never be underestimated. Here, you are loyal to a person not to the organisation. There is a lot of hierarchy here, but the subordinated titles do not mean that much, the highest boss still decides everything.

How much does people in Hong Kong work?

-Much more than in Sweden, but the output compared to the working hours is not necessarily high. The hours at the office and to be loyal to your boss can be more important then how much work you actually get done.

What kind of person do you have to be to work in Asia?

-You have to like challenges, have good social competence and be intrepid; you have to speak for yourself, you get nothing served here.

What advice would you like to give to Chalmers students which are interested in working in Asia?

-You need some work experience, it will be hard otherwise. Visit www.asiaexpat.com and you will get a lot of information.

What do you think about going to Hong Kong and look for a job once you get here?

-You need to be prepared to take a low income job the first year and then you can start to build your contacts, since contacts are very important here. The easiest way to get a job here is through headhunters. Write a CV and let a headhunter sell you as expensive as possible.

EED IN ASIA? to do it!

Peter Abramsson NCC, Shanghai Meet Peter Abramsson, a 25-year old student from Civil Engineering at Chalmers currently doing his Master thesis at NCC in Shanghai.

We meet Peter at the NCC office located just beside Nanjing Lu in central Shanghai. The view from the office is really nice and Peter seems to be happy about the situation. We start by small talking about Chalmers, Shanghai and our evening plans, then we start the interview:

Ok, tell us about your master thesis: - My Master thesis concerns evaluating Vietnam as a potential supplier of construction materials. The country is interesting because you can find almost the same materials as in the rest of the world, but to a better price together with lower labour costs.

How did you get this opportunity to work here?

-Well, I did not get it for free. To make a long story short: I started to plan for my Master thesis about a year before I had finished at Chalmers. I worked for NCC during two summers and got to know a few people who knew a person who I thought could help me. I called and e-mailed him for a while

and I even visited him in Stockholm. Then China?

I talked to his boss, who said definitely no. -You have to be able to work independently.

After that, I talked to loads of people and I Do not expect someone to take care of you. even went with some NCC persons to a con- There will be no schedule, you have to get struction exhibition held in Canton, a trip started yourself. The companies down here which I paid for myself. I wanted to show are often newly established in this market that I really was interested in these subjects and they simply do not have time with some and eventually I got to know the people who Master thesis student. Because of that, you could fix it for me. have to help them from the first day on, not But you were focused on getting to NCC the other way around. And you even have China all the time? to be ready to work with things that do not -Absolutley, I think you have to be focused necessarily concern your specific master in some way if you want to succeed. thesis.

Did you specify the subject yourself?

Do not expect to get paid or to get an apart-No, I said I wanted to work for NCC in ment arranged for you. If you want to get China. compensated in What is your advice those ways, they “The master thesis itself to Chalmers students companies can easit the thing. This is what who wants to do their ily pick a local stuI believe in and then you master thesis in Asia? dent before you. have to go for it !”

-Do not give up! You The Master thesis ithave to work hard and self is the thing. This do not take no for an answer. Remember, is what I believe in and then you have to go nothing comes for free. It will take some for it! time and you will get many no-answers. I -Is it hard to get an apartment in Shangthink I got a NO for about four times before hai?

I finally got a YES. No problem. Once you get down here, you You are just back from a business trip to simply go to the different apartment brokers Vietnam. What did you do there? in the city and choose your pricing level -Well, I lived in a taxi sort of. My goal was when it comes to the rent. It should not be to meet as many suppliers as possible and any problem. see what they had to offer. I visited all kinds Would you like to stay in Shanghai? of “plants”, from big production lines to -I would definitely like to stay. I am working garage-style production facilities. The com- on it, but it is not finished yet. Shanghai is munication was an interesting task, in some the place where lots of things are happening places English worked, sometimes I wrote at the moment, and I will not look at it from down what I wanted and sometimes you outside. This is a very nice city to live in. But simply had to point to what you wanted. do not get me wrong, there is a lot of hard What kind of person do you think you need work once you get down here. There is no to be in order to do your Master thesis in such thing as an ordinary 40-hours working week!

Daniel Hahn, entrepreneur, Shanghai Meet Daniel Hahn, a 31 year old Chalmers Asia alumnus who has been living in China for many years. We meet him over a few drinks in an elegant apartment at the 24th floor, with the wonderful Shanghai skyline surrounding us.

After a while we find out that Daniel is not the kind of person you need to push in order to get answers. When we asked him about his background and how he ended up in China, he talked for ninety minutes straight. Here is his story: -Well, I started at Chalmers Mechanical Engineering and went there for two years. Then I did my military service as a technician and I became elected representative for my unit. Later on I got in contact with something called “värnpliktsrådet”, an organization that represents the conscripts, and I got elected for one year to be vice chairman of that organisation. During my time there I had the opportunity to meet many interesting people with different backgrounds, as compared to people I had met at Chalmers. We also had meetings with important people like the Minister of Defense and the Commander-in-Chief.

Then, after being away for two years, I got back to Chalmers. At this time, I had also started my BS in Business Administration at Gothenburg School of Economics. This was in 2000 when there was this IT-boom, so I got involved in lots of side events concerning venture capital and entrepreneurial stuff.

All this made me more interested in doing business and work with those kinds of questions.

Some people suggested that I should be the project manager of CHARM, the annually company exhibition at Chalmers University. I hesitated for a while, since I already had been away for two years, but then I decided to do it. My vision was to rearrange the whole thing, so I recruited an almost totally new crew to the CHARM-team. We found out that the schools of economics

charged their costumers more than Chalmers, so I raised the prices and gave the companies less space in the exhibition. But they were still interested in Chalmers students and the whole thing sold as we hoped, bringing in a lot more revenue than previous years.

So far I had always wanted to become a management consultant like many other students at that stage in their education. But during the CHARM project I got the opportunity to visit many large corporations and I realised that they had many interesting tasks to offer. Working for these corporations also gives you the opportunity to go global.

Anyway, the CHARM-fair of that year attracted some attention at Chalmers and it was at this time the headmaster’s adviser Jörgen Sjöberg asked me if I was interested in starting up Chalmers Asia in Taiwan together with some other students. The university’s aim at that time was to start up three international offices.

I wanted to go abroad in those days, so I could not resist this offer.

And Taiwan was of course an interesting and challenging place to go. I did not get to pick my crew this time, but we were a good team that started the work with setting up the office. I arrived to Taiwan in the summer to attend a summer course in Mandarin. We had few directives about the office, which was a good thing since that gave us freer hands in our work. We pursued studies at the university in parallel with the office work throughout the whole year.

We sat down and came up with three main tasks for the office, namely: • Support the exchange of staff and students between Chalmers and NCTU. • Analyse the technological and economical development in the East Asian region with focus on emerging technologies.

• Create possibilities to cooperate, mainly with companies in the region.

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asiaReport As often when you start up something com- ing hardware, produced not only in China, pletely new, lots of things went wrong. How- but also in Europe etc. I really got a lot of ever, the office was not meant to open until responsibility from the first day on. As an March so we managed to keep the deadline example a main task was to develop busieven though it was tight. At the opening ness models for cost migration, in this case ceremony everyone was there, including moving whole business areas to China. In Chalmers Headmaster, NCTU Headmaster, in example, a project could concern movthe Hsinchu mayor as well as a Taiwanese ing the business area “processing lines” to TV-team.

China. So the international customers buy

During my time in Taiwan I got the business out of China instead of Germato know Swedish expatriates working there ny for instance. They will then buy a whole and in China, and later on I got in con- plant from China in terms of engineering tact with a man at ABB, who was later to and hardware.

Another interesting thing was become my boss. He was in charge of the Automation and Process Automation busi- when we started up an engineering centre in ness in the company. I did my Master thesis Novosibirsk. In order to get a more operafor ABB together with tive experience, I also another student, begin“A night in Beijing, he told worked as project ning in March. It all me that he would offer me manager setting up started with a feasibility a job as executive officer to a steel plant. It was study and then we went a tough but instrucvice president” to China to finish the tive experience to be project after the sumin a project like that mer. from the very beginning, and to see the plant

My boss asked me what I wanted emerge.

Then I realised that I wanted to do to do after that project, and I told him I wanted to be something like executive offic- something new and get my own profit loss. er’s adviser. One evening a few months later, So currently I have two projects in the pipe. when we were sitting at the club Thousand The first one concerns a business selling furAnd A Night in Beijing, he told me that he niture. The concept has turned out well in would offer me a job as “executive officer to Norway so I will try to introduce it in Swevice president”. I started right away. den. Hopefully, the first shop will open in

Part of the job at ABB was to cre- Januari - Februari 2007. Visit www.isaklife. ate value through engineering and by sell- com for more information.

On the way to the interview, Shanghai.

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The second idea is about letting Chinese employees create 3D sketches of Swedish apartments here in China, and then send them to costumers in Sweden. It is almost standard today among the estate agents to be able to provide their clients with some sort of 3D-sketch of the apartment.

Oh, so that is the way to do it! So finally, what are your tips to Chalmers students wishing to work in China?

-Well, it is a lot about coincidences. But if you look for the opportunities there is a much greater chance you will find them.

When you are down here, try to think: Can I make a business out of this?

Another thing that you get to hear all the time is to widen your network. But it is really very important to know a lot of people. You should go global; in the dynamical world we live in there will always be opportunities. Be positive and do not be afraid to go hard in business, you might get punched in the face sometimes, but in the end it is all worth it!

Axel Janson majors in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

Email: axel.janson@asia.chalmers.se Fredrik Ramberg majors in Engineering Physics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

Email: fredrik.ramberg@asia.chalmers.se

A day at the Races, Hong Kong.

Welcome to Götheborg in Shanghai

BY ERIK JANSON, GUSTAF LJUNGMARK Shanghai, one of the most futuristic cities in the world.

Thousands of skyscrapers rising all the way to the horizon. Shiny buildings with famous multinational logotypes on the tops. Almost 20 million citizens and stuck in the streets between the masses are 45 000 cabs! But at the quay of the Huangpu River there is something that remarkably differs from this modern city.

The Bund is the most impressive mile in Shanghai. As a part of the Zhongshan No 1 Road the Bund stretches along the Huangpu River, the city’s mayor river. One of the most popular things to do is to amble along the elevated riverside promenade.

This offers all the tourists and visitors the best possible view of Shanghai’s skyline.

Toy sellers, photographs, coin operated telescopes and hundreds of people are packed on this promenade. Always when I am walking on the Bund I am astonished by the view of this city. Right now however, just north of the Bund, an old ship has moored and catches the eye by falling out from the rest of the city. This contrast makes it look like a ship from “Pirates of the Caribbean” if it was not for the huge Swedish naval flag. We are walking along Huang Pu Road and banners are starting to show up saying “Welcome to the Swedish ship of Götheborg”. After a few more minutes walking we are at a gate leading out towards the river and the ship. It costs 30 Yuan to enter the area and additional 50 to actually enter the ship. There are quite a lot of people there, surprisingly, because today is a national holiday (when most Chinese people travel home to their parents).

The first thing we encounter is some “Stockholm influenced” fake buildings probably meant to set the right atmosphere!

Then the walk towards the ship is lined with different souvenir shops and Swedish company representatives. Just next to the

ship there is a big poster telling the story about the East India Company written in English and Chinese. Onboard the ship you will need to hand over your ticket as well as deposit your passport or id. This makes sense since once you are onboard the ship you are on Swedish territory.

We run into two Swedish volunteers Lisa and Dennis at the quay. They have been on the ship all the way from Canton.

What do the Chinese people think of this event?

-Well, honestly they do not know too much about it or the story behind it. And even if they do we are having a hard time to communicate! Some have asked us which country we are from!

So they might miss the reason why this ship is here?

-Well ordinary visitors might not be so interested, but then we have companies and sponsors booking the ship and these people are more aware of the story etc. So I am sure these events are good promotion for Sweden!

Alright, so how was the welcome here in Shanghai?

-Good, but it has been a lot of struggle with the bureaucracy. People were not allowed to enter the first days due to paperwork. When we were in Canton things were easier, our visit was probably a bigger event for the city of Canton than it is for Shanghai.

What sort of people are visiting the ship?

12

-All kinds of people but mainly families.

The kids seem to be so excited!

Ok, so what catches the interest of the Chinese people onboard this ship?

-Oh, that is probably standing at the steering wheel or the cannons, ha ha!

Have you had any fun questions from the visitors?

-Surprisingly many have asked how this ship is powered. When you say that it is powered by the wind they seem to be really confused!

The visit onboard the Götheborg was interesting, however the impression was that most of the Chinese visitors came there to see the ship itself and they were not really interested in the background.

Although I think the crew could have been a little more enthusiastic and helpful. This would make the experience much better.

At least one of the crew members could have 19th century clothes, this would be greatly appreciated by the visitors.

Overall the event does not really build up a historical atmosphere, but the Chinese visitors seem to be satisfied anyway!

Erik Janson major in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers and is currently a Chinese Language student at Fudan University, Shanghai.

Email: erjan@itek.chalmers.se Gustaf Ljungmark major in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers and is currently a Chinese Language student at Fudan University, Shanghai.

Email: ljungmar@itek.chalmers.se

Tokyo Game Show 2006: New Excitement.

New Sensations.

A New Generation.

asiaReport

BY YEU-FWU HUA Today’s video and computer game industry has become a huge market. During the past ten years, it has become large enough to compete with the music and movie industry. This year was the 10th anniversary of the Tokyo Game Show (TGS), one of the major annual game shows in the world. Chalmers Asia Office attended the show to observe the game phenomena first-hand in the land of the rising sun.

Located at the giant convention Makuhari Messe, in the outskirts of Tokyo, this year’s show was the biggest game show ever in regards to number of visitors. With an impressive count of 192,411 attendees over three days, it outdid both the Electronic Entertainment Expo (60,000 attendees) in the USA and the German GCDC (183,000 attendees). The theme for this year was “New excitement, new sensations, a new generation” - with a shift to a new generation of gaming platforms, it was a perfect description of the show. Sony showed off their Playstation 3, Microsoft continued to impress with the Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s revolutionary console, the Nintendo Wii startled the attendees with its uniqueness.

The first thing we noticed about the exhibition hall was its size. We were doubtful that a place of its size could fill up but a moment later the exhibition hall was packed with people. It was breathtaking to see the massive crowd craving for the stimulation offered by the hundreds of software titles displayed at the show.

So what about the games? The sheer amount of people there made it difficult for us to approach the games – only a few games had lines with a waiting time below one hour and many had well beyond that. The longest line was for Capcom’s

Devil May Cry 4, which spanned an aweinspiring 3 hours and 40 minutes. Second place was taken by Gyakuten Saiban 4, a lawyer simulation game for the Nintendo DS, with an impressive waiting time of 3 hours and 20 minutes. Although we were not able to play the most crowd-attracting games there were plenty of other games, trailers and booths available. Sony set up a big theatre-like booth showing trailers for upcoming Playstation 3 games. Nintendo Wii titles, such as Sega’s Bleach Wii and Konami’s Elebits, were demonstrated and Square Enix displayed their upcoming line-up of games at a giant private theatre booth. Games for mobile phones, geared to the high-tech Japanese and Korean markets were a plenty, as were PC games.

13

The show was dominated by domestic exhibitors, but there were many representing other regions. Most notable were the game pavilions which hosted exhibitions from the same regions, such as the Canada pavilion, Seoul City pavilion and the Taiwan pavilion. Besides game developers and publishers, several domestic game schools attended to exhibit their work in the area.

All in all, there was a great mix of exhibitions from different regions and for different platforms. Leaving the show was a sad experience, but the desire to try all games was overcome by the weariness of an entire day’s worth of navigating the crowded show floor.

Yeu-Fwu Hua major in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

Email: yeufwu.hua@asia.chalmers.se

KOREA

MANUFACTURING

BY JACOB LINDMARK In our attempt to spread curiosity about Asia, our attention has now come to a country in the far east, South Korea. With the currently huge hype about China it is important to remember that there are also other countries in East Asia. Chalmers Asia has chosen to take a closer look at what the pros and cons with operating in South Korea might be. We visited Korea in May 2006 and gained some intelligence by visiting Volvo’s manufacturing plant for excavators and by talking to experienced representatives of embassies and universities in the country.

HEAVEN?

,

Many Swedish companies are present in Korea; some with both produc-

tion plants and of course many more with sales offices to target the Ko-

first noticed is that the labour costs are much higher in Korea. However,

rean market. The major reason why the Volvo factory caught our inter-

the Chinese business environment is very complicated and not yet well

est was that it is the largest excavator factory that Volvo Construction

regulated. For many companies interested in buying a part of produc-

Equipment uses and the final products are shipped all over the world

tion as a service, so called outsourcing, or moving their own production

giving Volvo a third place worldwide in terms of market share for ex-

unit to another country, off shoring, it might be better to choose another

cavators.

country than China. This is especially true for companies that demand

When comparing Korea to countries like China, the feature

In 1998 Volvo AB bought Samsung Heavy Industries and

extraordinary quality. Japan and the Asian tigers (Singapore, Hong Kong,

formed Volvo Construction Equipment Korea. The facilities are located

Taiwan and South Korea) are all industrialized and offer smoother op-

close to the harbour in the city of Changwon in the southeast part of

erations than the more recently developed economies. In short, there is a

the Korean peninsula. There we met Kim Kil-won and Yun Heon-jong

trade-off between low labour costs on one side and higher reliability and

who showed us around the facilities. We were free to choose what we

a more educated workforce on the other.

wanted to see and had full access to all the production facilities. This

openness and hospitality, it should be noted, is not shown in all compa-

Seoul, complaints from Swedish companies about the Korean business

nies and usually motivated by security reasons. It was obvious that Volvo

society include a complicated regulatory environment and weak enforce-

has tried to diffuse its business culture also to its units far away from

ment of intellectual property rights. He stresses though that the Korean

the headquarters in Sweden. Wherever we were, whether in the office

workforce is highly educated and has high morale and work ethics. The

or in production, we were met by large signs saying “We must repay our

country also has an attractive location in East Asia. From Seoul you can

customers for our employment with superior quality products” and “Our

reach both Shanghai and Tokyo in about two hours.

core values: Quality – Safety – Environment”. The signs were written in

both Korean and English.

tense relation between the two neighbours on the peninsula. The current

According to Anders Backman at the Swedish Embassy in

However, a factor that of course cannot be forgotten is the

We explained to Mr. Kim and Mr Yun, how an engineering

state of these relations must be observed and evaluated before investing

Master thesis is done in Sweden and asked whether it would be possible

in South Korea. The case of Taiwan has shown that as long as the country

to perform one with them. They were positive about this but seemed to

is not at war, the economic society can prosper in spite of threats and

believe that the purpose is to get a general knowledge about their opera-

tense relations. Even if Korea might not be a manufacturing heaven, it is

tions. We draw the conclusion that it is probably possible to do a thesis at

an alternative well worth considering.

their facilities, but it might be hard to make them understand what you want to do. If you want to do your thesis at the Changwon plant you are

Jacob Lindmark majors in Engineering Physics at Chalmers and studied

advised to go through the headquarters in Sweden. Other representa-

in Taiwan 2005/2006.

tives of Swedish companies expressed that the language barrier is a big

Email: jacob.lindmark@asia.chalmers.se

problem. In most companies only a few speak English and thus it might be very hard to do a thesis in Korea unless you speak Korean. It should not be neglected though that the experience of doing a thesis abroad might be very valuable so even if the quality might be a bit lower than if it was done in Sweden, it can still be worth it.

14

AN ENGINEER’S PLAYGROUND

BY ERIC LINDBOM Hong Kong is a city based on the idea of creative destruction, which makes it a nightmare for those trying to defend the heritage, but a playground for architects and engineers. In this article we will have a glimpse of what has happened in the last decades with the stress on skyscrapers and the new airport.

With the airport situated in Kowloon, strict

carrying both road and railway traffic (Kap Shui

height restrictions limited the development of

Mun) and the world’s first major four-span ca-

high-rise buildings on the Kowloon side. Situ-

ble-stayed bridge (Ting Kau) were constructed.

ated on reclaimed land in the harbour, with mountains and densely populated areas next to it, the airport had one of the most spectacular and challenging landing approaches. Some passengers claim they could see the flickering of televisions inside apartments during the approach.

When the airport was built in 1924, it was far away from the populated area. In the end of its

Even though the administrative centre has

usage it was more or less in the middle of the

always been located on Hong Kong Island, during the last decades what is to be considered as the “real” centre of Hong Kong has changed a few times. In the 70’s, the flourishing so called Golden Mile on the Kowloon peninsula was the

NIGHT SKYLINE

place to be, but that was to change in the 80’s.

Although the first skyscraper in Hong Kong was finished already in 1935 (replaced in 1985), it was now things really started to happen. Skyscrap-

The project is the most expensive airport project ever, and has been voted one of the top 10 construction achievements of the 20th century.

The construction of the new airport made

HONGKONG TODAY

it possible to lift the height restrictions in Kowloon and allow high-rise buildings. Today’s busiest construction site is in the reclaimed part of

city. Apart from that, the airport had since long

the Kowloon peninsula. On top of the Kowloon

run out of capacity and was finally replaced.

Station, a new urban centre takes form with a

The new airport of Hong Kong opened for

490 meter tall skyscraper as its most spectacular

commercial use in 1998, and was built outside

part. The 102 storey skyscraper, called ICC (In-

Lantau Island on an artificial island. Two small,

ternational Commerce Center) will be the tallest

but hilly, islands became one big, flat, island

in Hong Kong and the third tallest in the world

when Hong Kong increased its total surface

when finished in 2010. Together with 2IFC it will

area by almost 1%. However, not only was there

form a gateway to Victoria Harbour and once

ers were growing up like mushrooms, moving

an island to be built. To reach the new airport,

again displace the city centre. It is not likely and

the city centre back to Central on Hong Kong

new infrastructure was needed. The rail- and

not intended, to take over the role of Central,

Island. Since then, hundreds of skyscrapers have

highway link to central Hong Kong demanded

but to complement and let both sides of the har-

in an accelerating pace been built on Hong Kong

further major land reclamation (the size of the

bour shine equally strong.

Island. Today, the city’s skyline is world famous

Kowloon peninsula was increased by one third).

and houses four out of the top-15 tallest build-

In addition to this, a new cross-harbour tunnel

ings in the world, with the 2IFC (Two Interna-

(Western Harbour Crossing), bridges including

tional Finance Centre) as the currently tallest

the world’s sixth largest suspension bridge (Ts-

with its 88 storeys and 415 meters.

ing Ma), the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge

HONGKONG 1978

15

Eric Lindbom majors in Civil Engineering and is currently studying in Hong Kong.

Email: v02lier@vtek.chalmers.se

The Thai market in a Swedish perspective

asiaReport

BY TOMAS BJÖRKLUND With its beautiful white paradise beaches, Thailand is mostly known to Swedish people as a traveling destination perfect for escaping the darkness and the biting cold a northern European winter. But for Swedish companies, Thailand is much more than that.

Talking with representatives for the large Swedish companies Volvo, ABB and Ericsson another picture emerge.

As Thailand always has been a country very open to foreign influences, Swedish companies have had a long presence there. ABB, for example, has sold equipment to Thailand from 1913 and has had a local office in Bangkok since 1973 (then as Asea and before the merger with the Swiss’ Brown Boveri).

Now they employ 5-600 people in their office and their factory that manufacture transformers. They not only serve the Thai market, but most of Asia. To do that, Thailand has a very unique advantage.The manufacturing cost is that of an Asian country, but in a customers view, the quality is that of a western country making it possible to charge corresponding prices. If the manufacturing had been taken place in China instead, the prices would have to be set much lower.

Like many other Asian countries, Thailand has taxes premiering locally produced goods. These taxes make it virtually impossible to import, for example, foreign vehicles. This has forced most car manufacturers to set up shop in Thailand. For example,

Volvo has an assembly plant in the northern suburbs of Bangkok where they put together cars and buses. From manufacturing plants outside of Thailand, parts arrive to the factory where each vehicle is put together by hand; the volumes are too small to use robots on the assembly line. But even though having the plant in Thailand reduces the import taxes dramatically and the personnel cost being around one tenth of the Torslanda plant in Sweden, everything included, a car has to be sold at twice of what the same

car would cost in Sweden. As much as a Volvo is a car of the middle class in Sweden, it is only a car of the very wealthy in Thailand.

In Ericsson’s case they have outsourced most of their manufacturing to Flextronics and in Thailand they only have a sales office. Still, most of Ericsson’s R&D is done in Sweden but they realise this has to change eventually so as not to loose out of all the knowledge existing in other countries.

Moving down from the employers viewpoint to that of the employee, one realizes that there are hardly any Swedes, or foreigners in general, working in these companies. Most often, only the people in the very top of the chain of command are Swedish.

This is not by accident. There really are very few benefits of having foreign personnel around. It is possible to move in foreign personnel, with salaries from their home branches, but only for short periods. In the long run they have to be given local contracts, with local salaries. Understandably, this is not very attractive for someone used to earning many times more doing exactly the same job.

Some branches are even moving to having local people on all levels of the organization but this does not seem to be the norm. As useful as it is to have people in the head office with international experience, having a few people with the language and culture of the head office abroad is also very valuable. Taking this into account, it is not strange that the trainee programs of many large corporations include giving the participants the opportunity to go to a foreign country and prepare themselves for culture shocks.

Concluding, Thailand is a very important market for foreign companies to participate in. To reap the benefits however, one needs to understand what makes the market unique and use that as an advantage. It is clear that ABB, Ericsson and Volvo has done just that, and are now doing very well indeed.

Tomas Björklund majors in Engineering Physics at Chalmers and studied in Taiwan 2005/2006.

Email: tomas.bjorklund@asia.chalmers.se

16

Laos - rural development in a South-East Asian backwater

BY LARS ANDRÉN Hoping to do something challenging and meaningful in the future? Interested in working with development? As a Master’s level student of any discipline in Sweden, you have the opportunity to write a thesis concerning development issues on location in a developing country. This can be done in cooperation with your university or a non-governmental organisation, and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) provides a scholarship for this particular purpose. Furthermore, your future employer could be one of the several Swedish companies and governmental organisations that operate in developing countries handling development problems, among them SIDA, Sweco and Ericsson. In this article, we will try to give you a small insight into the workings of rural development aid in Eastern Asia.

Outside the famous high tech metropolises of Singapore, Hong

asiaReport

Facts about Laos Population:

est. 5.9 million

Ethnicity:

65% ethnic Lao, 35% minorities such as Hmong, Akka, Chinese

Capital:

Vientiane

Neighboring nations:

Thailand, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma

Languages:

Official languages are Lao, French and English, but several ethnic languages are also spoken

Av. life expectancy:

55 years

Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo, many places in Eastern Asia are far behind; places where people are struggling against famine, draught and oppression.

Landlocked in old French Indochina lays remote and mountainous Laos, one of the least developed countries in South-East Asia, a land with a turbulent history.

Land of a million elephants In the 14th century, a prince of the ancient Khmer empire welded together a kingdom consisting of northeast Thailand and present day Laos. The king named his kingdom Lan Xan – “Land of a million elephants”. On the day of his marriage, the king of Lan Xan was given the sacred Pra Bang statue from the Khmer court, after which the capital was renamed Luang

Prabang. In the 18th century, Lan Xan was laid under the rule of Thailand.

Following a war with France in late 19th century, the Thai king ceded large territories to the east and south of the Mekong River to French rule in order to maintain the independence of Thailand. This territory makes up today’s Cambodia and Laos, and along with Vietnam formed French Indochina at that time. During the Second World War, Japan took control of French Indochina, and the French fought back by equipping and training

Percentage of population without pure water supply: 57%

aboriginal Hmong-tribesmen in Laos as guerrillas.

Laos was granted full sovereignty in 1953, and the French withdrew totally from Indochina one year later, following their final defeat to the

17

BNP/capita 2003:

340 USD (Sweden 2005: 33500 USD)

Seasons:

Dry season October-May, rainy season June-September

communist Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu. In the sixties, Laos was dragged

are lost that way. What people should worry about is the amount of money

into the Vietnam War. USA had then previously picked up where the

spent on aid that is lost through all the levels of administration in the EU.

French left, supporting the non-communist regimes of Cambodia, Laos and

Is it difficult to work with development aid in an undemocratic country?

South Vietnam in their struggle against each nation’s communist rebellion.

In Laos it is not, as there are not as many laws and regulations as in Vietnam

In order to fight the Laotian communists, the CIA further equipped and

or China and corruption is not as widely spread as in Cambodia. Laos

trained the Hmong-tribesmen, even providing them with their own air

is more dynamic, like Thailand. For instance, your final tax, compared to

force. Finally, in 1975 after the fall of Saigon, the Laotian communists

western countries, is not a set figure; it is negotiated.

controlled the whole country, and established Lao People’s Democratic

In which order should different development problems be prioritised?

Republic.

One must bear in mind that it is the very basic necessities that are generally needed in rural development. The most basic form is relief, such as UXO-

The complicated path into the 21st century

clearing. Without that nothing can be done. Following that in descending

For many years after the founding of Lao PDR, Laos was kept isolated

order of importance is road access, water supply, a school, irrigation,

from the rest of the world. As the Vietnam War wound down, peace did not

livestock and finally vaccinations and general health care, such as mosquito

reach Laos. Following the departure of the Americans, the new communist

nets and education on how to use them. Road access allows the villagers to

regime persecuted and massacred thousands of the Hmong minority that

travel into larger towns and sell some goods, a pure water supply is vital for

had been enlisted by the Americans. The more remote Hmong villages

health reasons. Irrigation reduces the risk of famine during the dry season

were attacked from the sky with poisonous gas. In some areas the civil war

and livestock provides the village with a “living bank”; an investment that

continues still; up to this day there is still a Hmong guerrilla fighting the

gives both profit and further growth. The villagers themselves often think

government. The Vietnam War has in some areas left another legacy in the

that a school is most important; the chieftain of one of the villages here told

form of vast amounts of undetonated bombs (also known as Unexploded

me they want to give their children a better chance than they themselves had

Ordnance, UXO), that maims and kills many people every year. A local

in life.

interpreter for a UN UXO-clearance squad in the very heavily bombed

How and when can changes be seen in a village that you have reached?

Plain of Jars in the northeast told us that there are an estimated three

In only a couple of months you can see improvements for the villagers; the

undetonated bombs for every square meter of the country; the highest

most immediate result is less skin diseases and less coughing that are due to

UXO-density in the world.

the lack of a pure water supply.

How many people are working with this

For decades, foreign investment

was minimal, and development was

project?

lacking in most areas. Today, Laos is open

50 people are working with the project.

to foreigners, and was visited by close to a

There are six Europeans in total, two here

million tourists in 2005. However, in large

at the main office in Luang Prabang, four

parts of the country, people are living

younger ones in the districts. In addition

very much like they did hundreds of years

to this we also employ 44 Laotians for

ago. Different nations and organisations

various tasks.

are helping the nation with various

Could you say something general about

kinds of aid; clearing of unexploded

rural development projects such as this

ordnance, road building, water supply

one?

etc. Among these donors is the European

The complexity is very high. This project

Union, who is currently financing a rural development

project,

called

“Micro-

projects Development through Local

is involved in the management of some Three brothers on their way home on a dirt road constructed by SIDA.

Communities”. This project, now in its

900

individual

“microprojects”. An

example of a “microproject” could be the construction of a bridge or a school. Each

third stage and region, aims to alleviate poverty in mountain communities

of these projects goes through four or five phases, gathering a workforce,

of northern Laos, a region containing many villages of several different

getting materials, the construction itself, maintenance afterwards and so

minorities. The central office of the project is located in the old royal

on. Adding to the complications is that our target villages are inhabited

capital of Luang Prabang, and the European director of the project is Dr

by different minorities, so we sometimes have to use one translator for

Frank Bolton. Dr Bolton has a long background of working with rural

that particular minority’s language to Lao, and another one from Lao to

development for several commissioners in Eastern Asia, and has been

English.

working on different projects in Laos for some years now.

How is the administration of a project such as this managed from above?

Some people may have the impression that money spent on

We are to write reports every three months, and at different intervals we are

development aid is wasted since great parts of it simply disappears through

visited by people from the EU-office in the Laotian capital of Vientiane,

corruption and fraud in the target countries, is it?

people from the EU-office in Bangkok and finally by people from Brussels.

Although fraud and corruption exists, only a few percentages of the money

This is obviously a terrible waste of money, caused by the EU-bureaucratic.

18

asiaReport Most of the monitoring from above is pointless anyway, as the monitors are going to say that everything is fine, since that is the only thing the donors are

Minor Field Studies (MFS) scholarship

going to listen to.

– one way to get a taste of working with development aid

So in your opinion money is not as well spent as it could be?

No. Out of the 10 million euros assigned to this project only some 20-40% of the money reaches the people it is meant for. Right now we are able to reach 84 villages with this project. Without the extensive EU-bureaucracy, I believe we could reach all of the 200 villages in the area. I think it is better when a single country finances development aid, like Sweden through SIDA. It was very different when I was working on a project that was directly financed by the British government on Sri Lanka; the British administration is based on trust and honour. In my opinion, the European Union is based on mistrust and fear.

On the far shore of the Mekong River across from Luang

Prabang lies the small village of Xiengmaen and in the project’s regional office we meet Richard Humphrey, one of the four European Technical Advisors placed in the target districts of the project.

How can one get into development aid?

It is quite hard to get into when being outside any organisation. I myself started out working as a volunteer in the pacific for two years, and I am now employed by a consulting company that staffs the EU development aid projects among others.

What kind of qualifications is necessary in order to work with rural development like this?

The primary thing is previous experience in working with development aid in some form. Your educational background has a meaning as well, but in my position it is more important to be able to get material and people

MFS is a scholarship program for undergraduate and graduate students at university level, financed by SIDA. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide students with the opportunity to gain knowledge of developing countries and development issues. The MFS scholarship is spent on the travel to and from, and expenses in a developing country when performing a minor field study that will be the foundation for a thesis. The administration of the scholarship is decentralised and applications for the scholarship are handled by the approved institutions.

Further information on application procedures www.programkontoret.se/templates/ProgramPage____2002. aspx Swedish organisations or branches, of interest to engineers, operating in Laos and Eastern Asia ABB Skanska Ericsson www.ericsson.com/ericsson/corporate_responsibility/ericssonresponse/ SWECO LO-TCO Swedish International Development Agency, SIDA Medecins sans frontiers (Läkare utan gränser)

together in order to construct a small bridge, not being able to know the theory of building a skyscraper.

How is the actual construction of, for example, a school performed?

We, the ones employed by the project, act as the general managers of the construction; providing the building materials and some skilled labour, such as carpenters. The target village is responsible for providing unskilled labour. The villagers will also be told how to do some maintenance in order to take over the responsibility of the construction when we have left.

How is management at your level done?

All European Union aid is based on so called co-management, meaning that there has to be two people for every major decision, both have the right of veto. It has been like this for many years, but this will change in the future though. The reason is that with this system, the EU will have to pay for more Technical Advisors in the field. They don’t want that, and will employ more bureaucrats instead.

Do you share Dr Bolton’s view on the EU-bureaucracy?

It is a bit restraining at times. For example, anything that costs more than

In Luang Prabang, the ancient royal capital by the Mekong River, French colonial influence is highly visible in both architecture and food

.

5000 euros has to be approved directly from the EU. A school with two classrooms, the smallest ones we build, costs more than that. Once we had to wait 18 months for a single payment to be approved, and you can imagine how frustrating that can be. However, on a brighter point, this project is having a visible effect. We are actually reaching many villages, and we are helping to improve life for the villagers.

19

Lars Andren majors in Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers and is currently working on his thesis in Taiwan.

Email: lars.andren@asia.chalmers.se

Shanghai International Automotive City

BY ERIC ZOTTERMAN Shanghai aims to create a perfect environment for the development of the automotive industry that will attract local and foreign investors; Shanghai International Automotive City, or “Chinese Detroit”.

At this city, one of Shanghai’s biggest technical universities, Tongji University, is building a new campus, which was visited in May 2006 by students from Chalmers Asia. They met Professor Hui Chen, who said “We have the benefits of developing our auto-industry from the start, at a time when there are a lot of new promising technologies available. We will take advantage of that and try to avoid being caught in an old thinking that is not environmentally sustainable. “

Bachelor and Masters Degrees in marketing, electronics, materials, logistics etc; all with a focus on the automotive industry. When the new campus is finished the college will host around 10000 students and researchers.

In May 2006 students from Chalmers Asia where invited to visit

Tongji University’s new Campus. Mr Hui Chen met us at the Campus main gate and guided us through the campus driving us in his car. The whole campus area with classrooms, testing facilities, laboratories, dormitories, administration buildings and dining halls was brand new and mostly empty. We passed a huge building that was still under construction, and Hui Chen explained that “This is our library building. It will have twelve floors when finished”. “The building of this campus started in 2004 and everything is going as planned”, he assured us. We stopped at the Clean Energy Automotive Engineering Centre where Hui Chen is a professor.

Hui Chen explained that the research facilities of this department was

In September 2001 the Shanghai government presented the

already up and running. They had been given high priority since they had

Shanghai International Automotive City (SIAC) as one of their key

worked on a project that was on a tight time schedule.

projects in the new five year plan.

The automotive industry had been selected as one of Shanghai’s industry

and showed us prototype cars that were based on an old Volkswagen

bases and will together with petrochemicals, microelectronics and steel

model. It looked just like an ordinary car on the outside, but the inside was

form the cornerstones of Shanghai’s industry in the future. To support the

different. The cars used hydrogen fuel cells to power separate DC-motors

industry, the government had decided to build a city entirely devoted to

in each wheel of the car. The steering was controlled by wire, and there was

the automotive industry. By gathering all the functions of the automotive

no mechanical connection between the wheels and the steering wheel.

industry in one city, Shanghai aimed to create a perfect environment for

The aim of this research project is to have a first generation of these cars

the development and growth of an industry that would attract local and

ready to show at the 2008 Olympic Games in Peking. Two years later, the

foreign investors. The city was chosen to be located in the Jiading-district

cars will be used at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai for all transportation

30 km west of Shanghai’s city centre, where Volkswagen and some local car

to and within the Expo area.

manufacturers have been located since the mid 80’s.

Since the start in 2001, the new city has been nicknamed

Hui Chen. “But there are still very few cars here if you consider our big

“Chinese Detroit”, and has gone though a period of intense construction

population. We have the benefits of developing our auto-industry from

in the last five years. SIAC now has a new business district with a trading

the start at a time when there are a lot of new promising technologies

area, an R&D area and a golf course to make business run smoothly. The

available. We will take advantage of that and try to avoid being caught in

first Chinese International Formula 1 circuit opened in SIAC in 2004, and

an old thinking that is not environmentally sustainable. “

a new car museum has been built close to the racing circuit.

In the new production zone foreign and local companies have opened

any plans to start regular education in English, and therefore has very few

manufacturing facilities, and a residential area has been built to host the

exchange students. But they are hoping to attract more in the future.

people working in the industry. The residential area is named “Anting New

“There are some foreign doctoral students doing research at our college

Town” and is patterned after traditional German cities with architecture

and many of the professors are old professionals that have been working in

created by German firms. When finished, the town will host some 50 000

Germany and USA and therefore speak good English. When this campus

residents.

is fully up and running we will have world class testing and researching

In SIAC’s educational park, one of Shanghais biggest technical

universities, Tongji University, is building a new campus that will host their

He then took us to one of the research facilities of his department

“The automotive industry is growing rapidly in China” says

So far Tongji’s college of automotive engineering does not have

facilities, and I hope this will attract foreign students and researchers”, says Hui Chen.

College of Automotive Engineering - a college that is entirely dedicated to the automotive industry. Rather than focusing on a specific educational

Eric Zotterman majors in Mechanical Engineering at Chalmers and studied

discipline, this college focuses on a specific industry and offers a variety of

in Taiwan 2005/2006.

Email: erik.zotterman@asia.chalmers.se

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The Leading Issue

BY MARTIN EKSTEDT

Singapore is somewhat of a contradiction. The country has strong bureaucratic tendencies yet a reputation for innovation.

It is also a place where east and west, collectivism and individualism, and different leadership styles collide and mix.

Singapore is an island located just below Malaysia. The country is populated by Chinese, Indians and Malays. It was occupied by Japan during the Second World War, and was once a British crown colony.

Singapore is conveniently located along the seaway to China, which has brought foreign trade from overseas ever since the Europeans started roaming the oceans. Singapore was also one of the earliest South East Asian countries to adopt what is commonly known as western capitalism, and has had an early mover advantage in the competitive game of nations compared to its neighbours. This constitutes an interesting mixture of cultures.

So what about the school? The National University of Singapore (NUS) boasts Asia’s top business school, and the seventh best engineering school in the world according to the practitioners of the uncertain art of university ranking. It is one of the prides of Singapore, and draws some of the brightest minds from all of Asia.

Singapore is maybe the most “western” of all Asian countries, and it is easy to see it as somewhat of a haven on the border between east and west. This is also a place where the Asian collectivism collides with western individualism. Singapore is also well known for laws and regulations that encompass all aspects of life, the $500 fine for spitting on the street being just one well known example. This has also inspired other organizations to create their own rulebooks. One effect of this is that rules tend to replace common sense. If there is no rule regulating something, there is no reason to

Construction workers standing in attention for morning inspection.

refrain from doing it. Take the following example: A Japanese teacher in one of my courses recently defined the difference between eastern and western leadership. He said that “in western leadership style people are given orders. With eastern leadership nothing is voiced but things happen anyway. If you have to tell someone what to do you both lose face”. I have seen this leadership in action, but I have also seen it fail. I particularly remember a lecture where a classmate of mine was speaking on the phone, loud and clear and seemingly calm to the fact that the lecture had started. The teacher paused, stared at him but said nothing as he finished his phone call. Needless to say

“Asians do not believe in psychology. Therefore we do not tend to pay it much attention” there is no rule against making phone calls during lectures.

Singapore is currently taking a great initiative to boost entrepreneurial spirit and leadership skill, and wants to be associated with cutting edge innovation in areas such as medicine and biotechnology. Foreign companies doing R&D in Singapore have greatly benefited from this. But are the Singaporeans themselves disposed to take advantage of these initiatives? Management schools, leadership institutes and business incubators pop up all over town.

How does this fit with the bureaucratic red tape encompassing most aspects of life?

In another of my courses we talked about societal culture. Singaporean culture was established as having low tolerance for error, and therefore preferring a strict bythe-book approach to ensure adherence

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to standards, minimize risk of failure and avoid breaking any rules. Now imagine a childhood where leadership was something distant and unquestionable which asserted itself through rules, and where you were encouraged to stay in line, not take risks and never stick your head out. Imagine living with your parents until age 26 because a heavily regulated market makes it virtually impossible for young unmarried people to get an apartment. Perhaps such a childhood is not the most fertile soil for an innovative spirit or for visionary leadership. Perhaps it does not help to go to the best leadership schools later on in life. The study of leadership has its roots in psychology. Any psychologist would agree that a personality is largely shaped during childhood, and that leadership qualities and outof-the-box thinking are parts of an individual’s personality. So why are such opinions not voiced? There is one academic field in which the universities of Singapore are behind. When I asked a professor about psychology at NUS he said that “Asians do not believe in psychology. Therefore we don’t tend to pay it much attention”.

So what about the bureaucratic management thriving in Singapore? Is that not leadership? Harvard leadership guru Professor John Kotter once defined leadership as “Creating change, inspiring and motivating people through charisma and vision” whereas management is concerned with “creating order and stability through planning, control and supervision”. The last description rings a bell, and we come to the realization that Singapore is a country of many skilful managers but fewer leaders.

Where the opportunities for Chalmers students lie I leave to the reader to conclude.

Martin Ekstedt majors in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Singapore.

Email: mareks@itek.chalmers.se

Sino-Swedish campus at Fudan University, Shanghai

A brand new opportunity for studies for Swedish students has now appeared in China, in China’s largest city; Shanghai.

The Sino-Swedish Campus at Shanghai’s Fudan University, inaugurated October 2005 is an innovative platform for research and education collaboration between Chalmers University of Technology, Karolinska Institute (KI), KTH (the Royal Institute of Technology) and Fudan University. The campus has been founded to promote academic excellence via Sino-Swedish collaborations and explore innovations of joint education. The campus will provide educational programs at Bachelor of Science and Master of Science levels as well as tailor-made courses and joint Ph.D. training. It aims to be a base of future technical leaders and entrepreneurs that will accelerate the process of “research to business”. The Sino-Swedish Campus at Fudan will also be a platform for joint research initiatives open to Chinese universities, research institutions and private businesses.

Top: Signing the papers.

Bottom: Selling books outside Fudan University.

An International Master’s Degree Program in Electronics is offered through the Sino-Swedish Campus. At the moment there is only one program available through this collaboration, but more are coming. The one currently available is called “International Master’s Degree Program in Electronics with specialisations in System-on-Chip Design and Microelectronics Technologies”. All the specialisation courses will be given in English, and the main location of the program is located at Fudan University in Shanghai, P.R.C. However, a number of exchange students from Fudan will study at KTH for 6-12 months. KTH takes responsibility for 50% of the total specialisation courses, the rest will be taught by Fudan’s top professors. The program aims to annually enrol 60 students with a Bachelor of Science Degree from all over the world. Should you be interested in applying for this program, contact Ms. Lovisa Yang at the office.

Contact information Location:

Room 229, Administration Building, Fudan

Zhangjiang Campus, 825 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai

200433, P.R. China.

Contact Persons: Ms. Lovisa Yang

hy_yang@fudan.edu.cn

86-21-55664269

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Mr. Cris

hanslindh@gmail.com

86-21-61355038

From imitation to innovation What you get when mixing Louis Vuitton, a homemade version of Versace medusa and Burberry.

BY KAROLINA NORSTEDT Large parts of Asia have long been the factory of the world. Moving from country to country, from cheap to cheaper, cost cutting has been the driving force for companies to establish production facilities in the East. However, being cheaper only takes you so far, as price, and even quality, has shifted from being order winners to merely being qualifiers.

Not long ago, the belief was that innovation was culturally determined, that Confucian cultures could not innovate. They were said to be too hierarchical and too rigid in their educational system to produce anything new. However, innovation can be taught, look at Korea, now a leader in digital displays, electronic gaming, and wireless telecom. Many parts of Asia show that they can indeed do better than to just imitate.

The threat of competition from low-cost countries like China worries Western executives in virtually every product and service industry. Up until now, the chief concern for most has been the impact of cheap Chinese manufacturing and Indian services on global pricing. The reality of today however, is that Asian countries are no longer merely a source of comparative advantage based on low-cost labour; they are quickly becoming a source of competitive advantage based on innovation. Asian design teams grabbed a quarter of this year’s gold awards in the Best Product Design of 2006 awards, showing their remarkable investment in design and strong wish to build global brands.

It is easy to get carried away in the Asian hype that has had companies rush en masse to chase the first mover advantages in the East, and that has filled Chinese classes all over the world with students eager to make it big in Asia in general and China in particular. The performance of these economies has indeed been remarkable, but the gap between an economy like China and the the economies of the West in terms of ability to create innovation is still large. China indeed accounts for key inventions, like the compass and gunpowder, but has failed to develop the scientific and educational foundation to permit a solid stream of innovation. The country is weighed down by an education system that has traditionally encouraged rote learning, and by the lack of intellectual-property protection, which effectively reduces the incentive to innovate. Still today, Chinese firms are by and large followers and imitators rather than innovators. The country’s R&D

expenditure of about 1% of GDP is low by developed nations’ standards, though it buys more, given wage levels for scientists, and is growing with the Chinese economy.

The issue of creating innovation is troubling academics, business leaders and politicians throughout Asia. The Chinese government is undertaking educational reform and is enticing the best and brightest among its overseas graduates and scientists to return home. However, inventions are useless unless commercialized, what China needs is a whole support system to ensure that inventions are successful in the marketplace. In China, as in many other countries that have built their recent success on imitation, or OEM/ODM contracts, marketing is seen as a cost and not an investment. To be able to successfully build innovative companies and global brands, China, and many of its Asian neighbours, need to couple their inventions with the right marketing organization.

It is unlikely that China will have much luck in producing Nobel Prize winners in the near future, despite a promising outlook, but putting things in perspective, with a per capita GDP of less than $1,000, and so many still living in deep poverty, China may settle for being a follower if they can maintain a good pace of economic growth to meet the challenges posed by the huge population. To sum up: Nobody can predict the future. A successful transformation into an innovation economy will mean that China may become a global leader in certain technologies. Failure will entail continued dependence on foreign investors, who account for the bulk of China’s technology exports.

Karolina Norstedt majors in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers and studied in Taiwan 2005/2006.

Email: karolina.norstedt@asia.chalmers.se

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Chalmers in Asia

Studying at Chalmers does not limit you to Gothenburg, Sweden. Through many exchange programs Chalmers students are given the opportunity to study at a range of Asian universities. Likewise, students from many different countries are invited to study at Chalmers in Sweden.

Sendai, Japan Tohoku University

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Institute of Technology

Shanghai, China Sino-Swedish campus at Fudan University

Hsinchu, Taiwan National Chiao Tung University

Hong Kong, China The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Singapore Nanyang Technological University The National University of Singapore

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SÖK

CHALMERS ASIENPROGRAM 2007/2008 Ekonomierna i östra Asien har visat en enastående ekonomisk utveckling under 1900-talet. Japan har fått sällskap av Kina bland världens ekonomiska giganter. Regionen är intressant, dynamisk och utmanande. Allt fler med teknisk utbildning kommer att i sitt yrkesliv ha kontakter i hela området från Japan till Singapore. Därför har Chalmers utvecklat ett specialprogram som ger studenter möjligheter till studier och erfarenheter från dessa ekonomier.

Programmet består av följande delar: • Intensivkurs i kinesiska, 6 veckor i juli – augusti 2007. Kursen är förlagd till Hsinchu,Taiwan.

• Kurs i Ostasiens ekonomi och teknik, som planeras till våren 2007.

• Studerandeutbyte med National Chiao Tung University i Hsinchu,Taiwan.

• Utbyten med andra partneruniversitet i Asien: Japan, Singapore och Hong Kong.

Sista ansökningsdag 1 december

AN asiaOffice PRODUCTION

National Chiao Tung University en sån riktigt god skola

now on www.asia.chalmers.se

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Chalmers University of Technology SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden Phone +46 31 772 1000 Internet www.chalmers.se

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