Last week, I joined the GAOP conference which is an event designed for information sharing across the colleagues. As an intern working on a project regarding the parts business under the engine business unit, I was invited to this conference to get more involved in the business development discussion and to know more people.
I was able to talk to my sponsor again as he is also the sponsor for this event. I was able to understand his perspective on a global business basis. More than that, I realized that China is a heavily weighted factor for this company in a triditional industrial sector.
Given it is a global event, I met up with couple of colleagues from China. It was good that I was able to communicate with them in Chinese. Moreover, I got to understand the dynamics in China for this US company in China. The established JV partnership did bring this company a valuable asset that enables it to generate sizeable revenue and profit in China. But it also generates some problems that is hard to be predicted 20 years ago. Growing as fast as China now, the company will have to think through the opportunities as well as risks when handling those problems.
I also completed a field work to a distributor branch last week. Talking with the people working directly with customers, I captured first hand market information as well as insightful knowledge on customer behavior, which would eventually support my solutions on the problem that we are facing now.
My internship has 5 more weeks to go and my hypothesis has been formed. I would like to use those 5 weeks to size the opportunity that we can capture with a work plan.
