Back in Seattle...

For the most part, we are all back in Seattle. There's a few folks that are still en route from a few extra days in Italy... and I don't relish the jet lag they will be experiencing tomorrow night during class. I returned on Sunday, and I'm still having to pump myself up with coffee in the afternoon to keep from curling up in to a ball to sleep!

A few notes from the trip:

- It wasn't really necessary to know English. In the places we went, the folks that we interfaced with at the businesses, restaurants, tourist sites, etc., knew enough English to get by. And most menus would have both the local language and English.

- It really twisted my brain to deal with three different languages (even for basic greetings, like good day, thank you, another beer please) and three different currencies. (Hungarian, Czech, and then I went to Paris after the official trip ended.) Doing conversions between forints, crowns, and euros back to dollars, all with different mathematical calculations... yikes. However, I do have to say it felt SO easy when I got to Paris and had half a chance at being able to read a sign and understand what it said. There wasn't a chance of that in Hungary and CZ!

- If I were to go back, I would try to structure the visits so that I didn't go from the least expensive country to the most. In Budapest, we could get a beer for around $1.50. Food and drink was a smidgen more expensive in Prague, and then even more expensive in Paris. Bit of a shock.

It was fun being a tourist in each of the countries, but by far, my favorite part was visiting the companies. I know some of my classmates had looked at the cost of the trip and decided they might just rather go on their own, perhaps with their family - but without being part of a school trip, you don't really get the inside look at companies like we did. We were able to talk with the Czech National Bank (their equivalent of the Fed) and the chief economist of an oil company. Absolutely incredible, and I'll always appreciate the opportunity... and eventually forget about the cost of the trip!

Here's a picture from the last night:

The Czech Prime Minister makes headlines

As Mark Carlson pointed out, we visited Budapest, and the Prime Minister of Hungary resigned. We visited Prague, and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic received a no confidence vote from his Parliament.

So now we returned home, and the soon-to-be-out Czech Prime Minister made a forecast for the USA from the seat of the European Parliament:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123800894293240619.html

English in Hungary

My expectation prior to arrival was that Hungary would be difficult to navigate due to the language difference. I found that reality was much closer represented by the difference between the US and Hungarian keyboard.

There are a few extra letters, and the letter 'z' more frequently used (for me, the use of 'z' was due to the habitual attempt to type 'y'). Although different, expression in English is quite easy.

I was actually a bit disappointed by the vast use of English in Hungary. Luckily the trip to the Czech Republic gave me my fill of feeling utterly lost without the ability to communicate.

Hungarian PM Resigns

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/hungary/5028910/Hungarys-prime-minister-Ferenc-Gyurcsany-resigns.html

Interesting development from a country whose dissent we experienced firsthand. 

Before visting and seeing the massive protests and speaking to Hungarian citizens, I probably wouldn't have even cared enough to click on this article.  

Food

I grew up in Transylvania, Romania as a child and left for U.S when I was a teenager. As you might remember from the history review, Transylvania used to be part of Hungary; therefore, I found some of the foods very similar at least in Hungary, and I was able to compare them to how I remembered them as a child. Here are some the foods that I tried or was familiar with:

· Stuffed cabbage – this is one of the most common dishes I ate as a child and it tasted very similar in Hungary. This contains a mix of rice, meat and cabbage.
· Bread – I really enjoyed the variety of breads I found. If you love bread person (which I do), this is the place to be.
· Eggplant spread – this was given to us as an appetizer at the Katska Restaurant and everyone I was with enjoyed it. It is a spread made out of mashed eggplants with some mayonnaise and some spices. This is one appetizer my mom always enjoys making and it is very traditional in Romania.
· Soups – Soup and bread was a very common meal in Romania. I liked most of the soups I ordered in Budapest; however, did not wanted to try the fish soup since I never liked it. The other soups such as Goulash and vegetable soups were great.
· Deserts – we went to one of the famous desert restaurants and I got to try Dobos and Kremes, which were great deserts and similar to Romanian. Also, on the way to the baths, we found a stand with Colaci, which was a tall pastry that looks like a bee-hive. This was another one of my favorite deserts as a child.
· Pretzels – although I didn’t get to try these, pretzels were sold everywhere in Budapest. What was difficult to understand is how they could be fresh. We were in about 40-45 degree weather, and the pretzels were sold on the street so I thought most likely they were not fresh. This was only my opinion so if anyone tried them, I would love to know.

Now, I have been in Prague for two days. I also have had the chance to eat some of the food offered. One of my favorite meals has been the sausage with red cabbage and of course with bread. I also discovered something that I did not expect. Here in Prague as well as in Budapest, in order to get water, you have to order bottled water. Another surprise in Prague is that beer is less expensive than both pop and water (mineral and flat) in a restaurant. I guess this kind of goes with the fact that when we went to the crystal company, Ruckl Crystal, we learned that beer is healthy because it contains minerals and it contains only 4% of alcohol. Also, beer is allowed and encouraged to be consumed on the job at the crystal company.

Overall, the food is great and I enjoy it very much. One thing to remember is that it’s very difficult to eat healthy here. I try to have a healthy breakfast due to some of the choices offered such as fruit, eggs, yogurt and bread; however, the other meals of the day, definitely not healthy. Just remember you are walking everywhere so you can afford the extra calories.

Bratislava we hardly new ya

Bratislava was quick but a surprise to me. I had passed through there many years ago and found it to be depressed and still reeling from the sting of Communism. Today it seems to be really thrving. The dirty old buildings in the historic district have been totally restored and there is a lot of new construction that seems to indicate a thriving local economy... Well at least until the last year, but that is another issue.

We spent the afternoon at Slovnaft which is one of the largest petrochemical refineries in Central Europe and the major oil and gasoline supplier in Slovakia.

Quite a differnt type of business than we are used to and I was amazed that they let us tour the refinery plant where there they were producing so many volitile products. They not only produce gasoline and diesel but also jet fuel and a number of other petrochemical products.

Also had a surpringly good lunch at the Twins Cafe in the bottom of a soviet era flat block. Funny thing was that the "Twins" are the twin towers and the restaurant was apparently memorial in some way... Kind of odd from perspective of an American.

Flying to Budapest

First of all, I apologize for my late blogging. Here is a quick overview of arriving to Budapest.
So we (four students) leave Seattle on Friday the 13th for Budapest. As we were waiting at the Seattle terminal for our flight, we saw luggage being transported to other planes. Do you wonder how your luggage gets damaged when you fly? Well, the guy that drives the luggage to the plane drives too fast while taking a turn so your luggage flies off luggage vehicle. Now you know.

We got on the plane to Frankfurt, which was very crowded and I even felt crowded at about 100 lbs. One of the students decided to get upgraded to the business class which was definitely much more comfortable. Overall, the flight to Frankfurt was great and we got there safely. I also learned that if you order you make a special food order for the plane ride (i.e. no gluten or vegetarian), you are the first to get served for all meals. Something to keep in mind the next time you have a long flight and you sit toward the end of the plane.

Our flight from Seattle landed on time in Frankfurt, but was directed to land on the wrong side of the airport. The airport was very busy, so the pilot had to parked the plane rather than take us to a terminal and we were taken by bus to the terminal. Once there, we decided to find something to eat since we had about two hour wait. We settled on some ham sandwiches. I was surprised how the sandwiches had butter on them instead of mayonnaise which gave the sandwiches a much different taste than I was used to.

We finally boarded the flight to Budapest. Again, during the boarding, we were transported to the plane with a bus. The flight was about 1 hour and 15 minutes. We arrived in Budapest and got our luggage. We also had to wait for another member who was supposed to arrive 10 minutes later. One of us decided to meet the taxi driver to let him know we were waiting for another member. So we waited… and waited…. and waited. Finally, the lights of the baggage claims for the other flight disappear from the information board, which was about 30 minutes later. We decided to walk out since we knew something did not make sense. We walked out and we saw the driver, but the member was still missing. It turned out the missing student was in the bus the entire time, and his flight arrived about 20 minutes earlier prior to our flight – our first miscommunication in a foreign country.

We leave the Budapest airport on the bus to go to the hotel. So here are some things I found interesting while leaving the airport and heading to the hotel:

1. Music – the American music we listened to was similar to KISS FM or 89.5
2. Graffiti—it was all over the buildings. I don’t know whether any parts of Seattle have that much graffiti.
3. 330 ft on the BK advertising billboard – this does not mean that Burger King is 330 feet away. The ft stand for the currency in Hungary which is forint. Silly mistake if you ask me.
4. Club names –Names such as Marilyn and Bonnie & Clyde
5. Buildings – the building on the outskirts of the city looked very poor and a lot of rubble from buildings that were at some point demolished.

Bye bye Budapest

It was a quick 3 days in Budapest with only a bit of free daylight. Even though I had been here before years ago there was so much still to see. We spent the first half of the day yesterday at a town called Szentedre which is along the Danube. It was a bit touristy side but still worth the trip. It was good to see more of Hungarian life outside the capital.

If I have one regret it is that I did not manage to make it to any of the famous baths and I probably keep hearing how I am now an epic failure from the rest of the group.

This morning we are off to Bratislava to meet with Slovnaft, the national oil refinery company, and then on to Prague in the evening. Still have not managed to sleep much but I guess that is the beauty of a 6 hour bus ride.

Will try to post more details about some of our company meetings in Budapest as soon as I get some more free time. Traveling without a laptop is both freeing and a little frustrating. The keyboards in Hungary have extra character keys.... I still can not find the 'at' symbol anywhere.

Day Three - The Darker Side of Globalization

Day Three’s activities included sojourns to NABI (North American Bus Industries) in the morning and Magyar Telecom (a subsidiary of Deutsch Telekom operating T-Mobile, T-Home, and T-Systems) in the afternoon.

NABI is owned by Cerberus Capital. They manufacture and assemble bus shells (frames, side panels, steering wheels, priming, and wheels/tires) before shipping their product to a partner firm in Alabama for finishing. At that point the buses interiors are finished, engines, electrical transmissions installed, paint applied, etc., all the while ensuring that NABI-Hungary’s contribution does not exceed 40% of the total value of the bus. This leaves 60% or more of value to be added in the US, allowing compliance with US federal law on national content. Sadly, the facilities manager—a longtime industry veteran—wants nothing more to build complete buses in Hungary. It’s a matter of personal and national pride, but the parent company’s US-centric mission means that’s not possible.

At Magyar we had the chance to spend 90-minutes with CEO Christopher Mattheisen. He walked us through the evolution of the organization from regional operating company in the land line space to multi-dimensional leading player in a plethora of businesses—wireless, land lines, cable, cable internet, ADSL, satellite, and more.

The key learnings I took from both visits related to potentially hidden downsides of globalization, and I don’t mean the exploited workers/social responsibility angles that we all hear about and which are also relevant considerations.

At NABI, we learned that management created the Hungarian sourcing to take advantage of lower labor rates in Hungary vs. those in the US as well as to garner the benefits of cheaper materials costs. Unfortunately, unanticipated fluctuations in the Hungarian goods & services and labor markets, as well as changes in the market for foreign exchange, have wiped out a sizable chunk of those anticipated advantages. While the global location decision is a long term one, the advantages can be fleeting.

I was also reminded of the need for a high performance organization to capitalize upon the intrinsic motivations of its employees to realize full potential. Our hosts spoke deeply & passionately about their desire to manufacture finished buses (preferably for sale in Hungary and Europe) rather than only producing unfinished bus shells for export to the US. In fact, for each of the 4 questions I posed, they steered the answer back around to the topic of making complete business in Hungary! It’s clear to me that the master organization is missing out on an opportunity to more fully leverage its workforce. The staff have a track record of creating unique value for customers in finished bus manufacture, and I have to think they would perform at 110% if given the option to show their stuff.

At Magyar, we heard about 3 significant challenges associated with operating on the global scene rather than focusing upon a solely domestic market. First there is the challenge of over-regulation. Magyar is regulated by the EU in Brussels, by each of the 3 national markets in which it operates (Hungary, Macedonia, and Montenegro), by Germany through its parent Deutsche Telekom’s stake, and by the US given its stock market listing. The CEO expressed frustration about the agility of the organization in this setting. Second, the CEO expressed deep concern about exchange rate risk. Finally, we heard about the institutional risks and tax consequences of operating in less politically mature countries; the CEO commented that Magyar’s payroll/employee was approximately twice as high as that of rivals in Poland even though the Hungarian employees’ take home pay was lower than that of their Polish counterparts. He also mentioned that—on average—each working Hungarian has to support 5 non-working Hungarians due to social policy related to retirement, incentives for work vs. unemployment, and the like.

We hear a lot about the benefits of globalization which are—on net—seemingly very positive for organizations and their shareholders. We hear less about the risks and challenges of operating a global concern, and today’s visits were a nice reminder. I think we all feel more empowered to make informed decisions about resource allocation on the global business scene as a result of our meetings.

To Bedapest via London

I started from Seattle on March 12th and got to London the following day. I was visiting my brother-in-law there on my way to the study trip. We planned to explore inner London in the 2 days I was there. So just after getting to London, we drove to the city and parked the car just outside the inner city and hoped on the Tube (underground train service). We were on the Central line and were headed to the central London area. The train stopped few times and each time there was an announcement that the delay was caused by a security alert. When train reached Liverpool station, and waited there for several minutes, they announced that there is an unidentified bag in one of the trains ahead of us and they could not tell when the service will resume. So we got off the train thinking we will go outside and walk around a bit. When we reached the station’s main area, it looked pretty busy so we thought of taking some pictures. So we took couple of pictures and by then about 4 Police officers came and asked us to go with them to the Police Station there. So we went with them. They asked us to show the pictures we were taking. After seeing those couple of pictures we took there, they started apologizing and explaining why they took us in. Interestingly they did not ask for any ID or anything else, they were only interested in the pictures we were taking. They told us that someone thought we were taking pictures of other people in the railway station. It didn’t sound very accurate because it was only about 1 or 2 minutes and only couple pictures before they came by and asked us to go to the station. Anyway my trip started with a visit to a Police Station in London, an excellent start to an exciting trip at least! The rest of the journey was uneventful.

Navigation and truck parts and boat cruises—oh my!

Day 2 for me began with a morning run through the streets of Budapest. The old world architecture is amazing, though I’d add a few blades of grass and some more trees if I were granted the job of city planner.

Our first company visit was to NavNGo, a 4-year old OEM software provider for the GPS navigation market. The company seems to have a culture that has attracted some incredible programming talent, permitting them to develop compression technologies and a 3-D map interface that the market has deemed “cool.” They married this with an uncontested Eastern European marketspace in 2005 and partnered with a variety of hardware vendors to grow revenues substantially over the intervening 3.5 years. The first key takeaway for me is that if you have a solution that offers unique value and can make a 3rd part sell it for you, you can grow revenues very, very quickly. The second key takeaway is that this approach puts you at substantial risk moving forward. NavNGo has no direct contact with end users, and they seem totally dependent upon (1) the correct guesses of their IT savants or (2) specific direction from the OEM hardware partners to guide what they build. If it turns out that one of the big bets placed by their IT savants in the space is wrong (i.e., they think the world wants a 3-D interface but the world really wants a system that displays where your friends are driving in real time) or if the OEMS find someone else who can do it faster or cheaper, the company’s prospect seem limited. My third and final key takeaway is that corporate culture matters greatly; there isn’t so much a right or wrong, but each culture we create presents certain opportunities and certain risks simultaneously; the choice is one of alignment.

After lunch we had a nice visit to the PACCAR Parts Distribution Center outside Budapest. The facility serves DAF dealers in Eastern Europe and has been regularly taking on responsibility for new geographic markets. It’s been a while since I’ve toured this kind of warehouse, and the mix of “high-tech” technology (electronic tracks for forklifts, automatic height adjustments of the lifts, RFID) and “low-tech” technology (efficient layout, color coding by country of delivery) was impressive. The facility has only been up about a year, but it’s extremely tidy and well run. Inventory turns about 5 times per month on average, and they have a target complaint rate by DAF dealers of 4 per 10,000 lines delivered. For me the key takeaway relates to the fundamental management principle of alignment—everything about the facility, the people, and the processes screams quality and efficiency.

Our day concluded with dinner and sightseeing via boat on the Danube. Lots of fun, and the drinks were priced right ($0)—a true can’t miss proposition.

And we’re off! Almost everyone (though not quite almost everyone's luggage) makes it to Budapest by Sunday.

Day 1 of the official TMMBA International Study Tour, aka Sunday, March 15, was “National Day” in host Hungary. This holiday commemorates the 1848 Revolution and in the past several years has become an opportunity for the opposition party to stage a variety of events protesting the present Hungarian Socialist Party government. The bad news was the potential for violence in the streets. The good news was the intense police presence on the streets (hundred of well-armed men & women in riot gear, water cannons, gas masks, etc.) made everyone feel safe.

We did an abbreviated tour of the city by bus and a few short walks. The latter included a visit to neoclassical wonder St. Stephen’s Basilica. The bad news was that we saw a severed human hand. The good news was that it belonged there; we were told that it is the Szent Jobb, St. Stephen’s mummified right hand (and one of Hungary’s most sacred relics). The architecture of the church was nothing short of amazing.

Dinner was on our own, but we all pretty much ended up at the same restaurant recommended by our guide. The good news was twofold; first, the dollar is quite strong versus the Hungarian forint, and, second, they serve Coke Light (aka Diet Coke). The bad news was also twofold; you can easily blow through that favorable exchange rate ordering lots of drinks, and Coke Light was delivered sans ice in 200 ml (approximately 6.7 oz.) bottles. That’s the size I would typically enjoy while waiting for the foam on my 44 oz. Super Big Gulp to bubble down at 7-11. Let’s hear it for western capitalism!

T-2 days... for me at least

It's now Wednesday, and I hop on the plane (with three of my classmates on the same flight) on Friday. I'm torn between absolute excitement and holy crap stressed. There's still so much to get done between now that then... a business plan to finish... a marketing plan to submit my sections on (and thanks to my team for being okay with wrapping it up after I've left the continent)... laundry to do... a few specific items to buy... packing to get done... I feel like I've barely had time to really sit back and think about the trip!

We'll be visiting Hungary and the Czech Republic, and then about half of us have chosen to continue on and visit other counties afterwards. In my case, I'm planning on traveling solo to Paris. I have a little bit of trepidation about the trip - there's going to be three different currencies to learn, for instance - but I'm sure that stuff will work itself all out. The support and camaraderie will be great. A few of us girls are collaborating to reduce the amount of duplicate "just in case" items like aspirin and whatnot we bring, and I've been able to borrow electrical converters from a couple co-workers.

The company visits will be very interesting. In preparation, Chris, George, and I had to do a write up on a company called NABI. NABI designs, manufactures, and sells buses for public transportation and shuttle bus systems. Given that I drove buses back in undergrad (best paying job on campus!), I got a kick out of reading about NABI. A few interesting facts:

• NABI is impacted by "Buy America" requirements. This mandates that government purchases must consist of buses that were at least 60% manufactured in the USA. To satisfy this requirement, NABI builds the bus shells in Hungary then ships then to Alabama for final assembly.
• NABI is owned by Cerberus Capital Management (who also owns GM). I think this could make for some interesting discussion when we are on site at NABI.
• Community Transit here in the Puget Sound has bought a half dozen NABI buses.

Well, back to work now - there's a lot to wrap up for that too before I leave!