Thank God for Shanghai

The previous night’s travel made us all miss something right off the bat about the town we were in – Shanghai is great!

An anonymous source told me that Shanghai is what Beijing wishes to be once it grows up. And when I wake up in the morning, I start to see why. Maybe it’s the fact that I finally got a night’s sleep, but the sky here is brighter, the mood more cosmopolitan, the flow of people and information much smoother.

We have a meeting first thing in the morning with Siemens AG, the German global infrastructure corporation that give my company, GE, a solid bit of competition.

Siemens is located on a stylish and austere (I did say German, didn’t I?) campus an hour’s ride away from our hotel. We’re met by Roland Utz, who talks us through the facility’s history. It’s a brand new facility, a stab on Siemens’ part to compete in the growing CT / MRI sector. This facility is both and R&D center, and a factory where the low-end CT / MRI scanners are made. And by low-end, I’m still talking about 3 million dollars machines.

He walks us around the plant and shows us the factory floor. Then he takes us into the showroom and walks us through some of the company’s new products, lines and strategic initiatives. And finally, he walks us through some macro issues regarding China that led to Siemens making this move in China.

China has 1.3 billions folks – we’ve said that already. But China, while it has 15,000 hospitals, only has about 400 that can really deliver the kind of quality care we’re used to in the U.S. In fact, when you visit your average hospital in China, the place is packed with people helping patients. But, from what I'm told, those people aren’t hospital employees; they’re the patients’ families! That’s right, when you go to a hospital in China, your family has to play the team of nurses. They load you into an x-ray machine, they cart you up and down the hall to surgery, and they clean your bedpan. Unless you’re lucky enough to afford, or unlucky enough to require, being sent to an "M1 hospital", the type that can serve your needs fully. The further out you are in the sticks, the worse off you are. But that’s relative.

Also, in China, 80% of the populace is health insured, mostly through government programs extended to the general populace, further evidence of the People’s Republic.

Now imagine that you are a medical supply company. And, in particular, a medical supply company of the size and scope of a GE or Siemens. This market needs your products. This market is in a growth spurt (expected to double by 2020, eclipsing every western economy but the U.S.). And, as people start to make more money, and real incomes rise, and people start to invest in taking better care of themselves, you’ve got a prime opportunity, if you can be there when it happens.

And that’s the key question; Can Siemens be there when it happens? When asked, Roland confirmed that Siemens has set a target of double GDP growth year over year, or will consider this China play a failure. With China’s GDP growing in the upper single digits (8-9%, don’t quote me, it’s a rough memory), that’s expecting to see roughly a 20% return every year from this venture.

Another hour's ride back into the heart of Shanghai, this time for lunch. We’re all starting to dig Shanghai, but especially once we sit down to this lunch. The difference in the food is astounding. People suddenly are enlivened, as they finally feel like they can eat again. Sure, there’s some dishes we just won’t touch (Beijing ruined soup for most of us for a very long time), but overall, the food is tasty. We chow down. Our tour guides, Edwin and Shan, walk by and we could just about kiss these two. They’re a god send, undoing some of what we’ve just been through in Beijing.

Back in the bus (are you seeing a pattern here?) and off we go for another hour’s drive (still don’t see the pattern?) to Sino-American Shanghai Squibb, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s joint venture in Shanghai. BMS has been a player in Shanghai since 1982. SASS is a manufacturer of different BMS products for the Chinese market, but is especially excited about Baraclude, a treatment drug for chronic Hepatitis B, which is most common in China. It’s a nice little campus (they all are) in a kind of secluded part of town.

The team walks us through a presentation including SASS’ history, their product lines, their growth projections, etc. Then, they allow us to walk into the factory, in groups of 15, while the rest of us stay behind and pepper them with questions.

I’ll say this – It’s embarrassing to me that I could not retain more of the Chinese I’d been trying to learn in the past few weeks, especially when I hear the folks here at SASS speaking English in very well-constructed sentences, and using words like "cascading", "cardio-pulmonary", and "molecular patent". I am an ugly American, for sure.

Back into the bus (pattern, anyone?), and back to the hotel after an hours’ ride (don’t tell me you don’t see the pattern already).

Shanghai’s nightlife awaits, but I’m forced to measure the cost-benefits of risking feeling worse. I decide we have one more night, so best to take it slow and ensure my recovery. I cannot overstate how hard it is for a Westerner to breathe normally here. As the days go on, there are more of us coughing and wheezing. The sheer number of people who’ve sworn off sleep to party isn’t helping, but even the "expats" we meet and talk to all make mention of the difficulty in acclimating to the pollution levels.



So, instead of looking for trouble, I rally up some of the ladies for dinner. We’ll walk out to Nanjing Road (where I understand you can find all sorts of stuff) and find a place to eat.



So where did we choose to take in some fine dining? Pizza Hut. We were just too full of Chinese food to stomach it again. And it’s cheap.



A bunch of the guys from our cohort end up walking in and taking a long table next to us. They tear into the Tsing Tao and get set for a night of fun. We leave them there after a bit and head towards the Bund to see the infamous skyline. Along the way, it’s a challenge to keep from being sold something. Denise’s Turkish roots kick in and she starts to haggle. She and my sister, Ruth, could have a lot of fun here.

After negotiating the streets to the water, we make it to what we came to see.



I’m trying to shoot and I’ve got hands pushing trash and trinkets into my face. In fact, when I think of it, there should be an entry here just based on trash and trinkets. Stay tuned.

The “mosquito people”, as they're referred to, drive us off before long. We head back to the hotel, and go our separate ways. The excitement of the haggling has woken Denise up and I can tell she’s going to find a bar somewhere. Shannon, Chris and Mini will almost certainly call it a night. And I can hear that last Ambien calling my name.

But, first, one more run in…

I’m 10 feet from the hotel steps. I’m walking with four women. And then, I hear it…

“Pretty lady, sir?”

Apparently, the “mosquito people” are even harder to avoid than I imagined…