One month after iLab project was launched, we had our MIT team mates Jason and Shari onsite in Shanghai for two weeks from 16 Mar to 29 Mar 2014. Jason was an architecture engineer who participated at designing Beijing Olympic stadium and Shari worked in investment bank of Wells Fargo before undertaking the MIT MBA program. We aimed to gain more insight from Tutor Group and to come up with a package including options of pricing and marketing strategies that would be further tested at the next stage.
The first day we worked in Tutor’s office in Shanghai, we had another brainstorm with company’s CEO Dr. Yang, who graduated from Harvard EMBA program. Dr. Yang also gave us a tour in the new office where advanced instruments with fancy decorations were installed. We even had an image projected of us as if we were in the scene of the movie “Matrix”.
To our surprise, Dr. Yang invited us to Tutor’s annual party on the first onsite date (17th Mar 2014), in which we’re treated as members of the family and had much fun. Through this chance occurrence, we understood better why Tutor could keep developing so fast within these years, not only because the advanced technology, but also because of its willingness to share the benefits with its own employees.
We then spent the following 5 days conducting internal interviews, material analysis, marketing surveys, brainstorming and consulting professionals in different fields. We distributed our surveys online and offline to our classmates and also to strangers on the street. We stood at the front door of one shopping mall in People’s Square to conduct random survey to understand the customers’ preferences.
On 24th Mar 2014, companied by Prof Tzeng (Fudan), Prof Dania (MIT) and Ms Yu Qi, senior manager of the MBA Office, we gave a mid-term presentation to Tutor Group, including marketing analysis, customer behavior analysis, marketing strategy and pricing strategy. We took note of all corrections and advice from Dr. Yang, Prof Tzeng and Prof Dania, which will help in guiding our further research.
We used the following two days to re-design our plan for the next stage (till 28th Apr when we’re in Boston). We believe that we have the most outstanding team mates, who will cooperate closely with each other and deliver a good job to Tutor.
Under the stressful time schedule, time just seems to pass even faster. We didn’t have a chance to show our team mates a tour around Shanghai till the Thursday of the 2nd week. We went to Rivera Avenue, took a boat to Yu garden, then to Tianzifang, Technology museum and back to the bar on 96th floor of SWCF.
It was really a precious opportunity for us to participate in a true business problem and come up with a solution. Moreover, we have the chance to collaborate with the most outstanding talents from MIT, to learn from each other and to improve ourselves. We made a date with them to meet one month later in Boston, and we both agreed that our lives will crossover yet more in the future.
(By VIPABC/Tutor Group Team)
Project 2 – Ascend Household Paper
On 25th March 2014, China Lab team comprising of Paulo Victor Das Neves Pacheco, Ilana Grimberg, Ashley Tao and Kathy Xie gave the mid-term presentation for the Ascend project, demonstrating the current progress and the insights that had been developed to the client company at Room 602 of Starr building. Representatives from the company includes Mr Jason Quek, Recruitment Senior Manager from RGE Management (China) Co. Ltd, Mr Xu, Brand Manager and Mr Jiang, Design Manager from Ascend household paper Co. Ltd. Ms. Dania Dialdin, the mentor from MIT was also present to provide precious advice.
The MIT Team had arrived in Shanghai on 15th March and started their onsite work in the Suzhou office from 18th. Through the face-to-face meetings, trainings, brainstorms and interviews, the whole team has enlightened each other in many ways and made great progress on the project. The collaboration between MIT students, Fudan students and client company was highly effective and productive.
The mid-term presentation lasted about 40 minutes. Students delivered the slides in four parts: Benchmark on slogans and campaigns, Product concept ideas, E-commerce platforms and On-campus strategy. Through the analysis of the competitors both in China and abroad, they offered their insights and came up with several implementation plans for Ascend both in B2C platform and school. After the presentation, the faculty mentor asked several clarifying questions of the team and Ascend representatives to better understand the segmentation of customers. The client company spoke highly of the presentation and suggested that the team members give more innovative ideas on the product concepts with regards to different customer segmentations.
The mid-term evaluation ensured the whole team was moving forward at the right direction and gave both the company and the faculty mentors lots of confidence on the final deliverable.
(By Ascend Household Paper Team)
Project 3 – Giansun Group
On 15th March 2014, Nick and Karl from MIT Sloan met Chandler and Marissa at Pudong Airport in Shanghai, which was symbolic of the establishment of the China Lab Consulting team for Giansun Precision and the start of a two-week onsite work plan.
On 25th March 2014, after ten days of work which included workshop investigation, employee interviews, well-covered survey and etc., the China Lab team embraced the very first milestone of the program - the mid-term report. The four members of the team gave a bilingual presentation to the Board of the client company, which included all the top management of Giansun and mentors from Fudan and MIT. The presentation lasted for 1 hour and ten minutes, during which the China Lab team reported the work they have done and the future working plan of the project.
All the four members from Fudan and MIT cooperated very well and all contributed their own specialized knowledge and skill. The definition of the problem was finally narrowed down to two aspects - process optimization and Focus of New generation workers. They proposed the basic solutions for each problem and received positive feedback from the client. The project mentors from Fudan and MIT also gave them several constructive suggestions for their future work which were very helpful to make the direction clearer and solid.
After the mid-term report, the management staff of Giansun took a group photo with Fudan-MIT China Lab project team in front of the workshop. The general manger of Giansun, Mr Gu Yongjiu expressed his thanks to the team and his satisfaction with the project. Mr Gu said he was looking forward to the possibility of cooperating with Fudan again in the future.
On 28th March 2014, Ng Xin Yao (Fudan), Chen Hui Zhu (Fudan) and Discoro Mesquita Gomes (MIT) from the Chia Tai team visited the client company’s office in Beijing for a mid-term presentation. Unfortunately, a 4th member of the team, Miguel Mickelberg was unable to attend. They were accompanied by Prof Tzeng (Fudan faculty mentor) and Ms Yu Qi (senior manager of MBA Office). In a clear sign of the importance that the company had placed on the project, they were represented at the meeting by Mr Wang Jian Hua, President of the marketing department, Mr Garry Cheung, Senior Vice President, Mr Zhang Guoqiang, Marketing Director and the regular contact person for the project, and Mr Cui Junwei, Product Director.
To enhance communication, the presentation was given in Mandarin. Hui Zhu and Xin Yao thus had to take full responsibilities for the delivery. The project was to produce a market entry strategy for the launch of new frozen ready meal products. The team’s research had been built on a customer survey as the foundation for understanding consumer preferences and habits, and further complemented with case studies on global industry leaders and ground research on competitors’ pricing based on store visits. The end result was a proposed solution that covered brand values, pricing, product characteristics, distribution channels and marketing channels. The presentation was well-received and provided a platform for an intensive brainstorming session involving the company representatives, faculty mentor and students. The critical problems were further narrowed and it was agreed that the next stage would involve a deep dive into product analysis and development.
From the meeting, it was apparent that Chia Tai was particularly keen to import innovative ideas and successful business strategies from successful companies all around the world. They were constantly querying on the developments in other countries, such as USA, Brazil, Thailand and Singapore. That great desire to learn from other companies was highly remarkable and perhaps demonstrated Chia Tai’s ability to sustain its competitiveness over so many decades.
(By Chia Tai Group Team)
