Global Strategies

Chengdu, China

China’s thirteenth largest city, according to Wikipedia (here), is Chengdu, with 6.7 million people. For comparison, the largest US City, New York, has 8 million people. Los Angeles, second in the US, has 3.7 million, Chicago, in third, has 2.6 million, and Portland at 29^th has 583,776 (here).

From Wikipedia (here):

Chengdu (Chinese: 成都; Sichuanese: Cen²du¹; pinyin: Chéngdū), formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status. The urban area houses 14,047,625 inhabitants (2010 census: 7,123,697) within the municipality's nine districts and 6,730,749 in the surrounding region.

Chengdu is one of the most important economic, transportation, and communication centers in Western China. According to the 2007 Public Appraisal for Best Chinese Cities for Investment, Chengdu was chosen as one of the top ten cities to invest in out of a total of 280 urban centers in China. It was recently named China's 4th-most livable city by China Daily.

The fertile Chengdu Plain, on which Chengdu is located, is also known as the "Country of Heaven,” a phrase also often translated as "The Land of Abundance". The discovery of the Jinsha site suggests the area of Chengdu had become the center of the bronze age Sanxingdui culture around the time of the establishment of the state of Shu, prior to its annexation by Qin in 316 BC.

 There are three parts to the Andrew Zimmern video above. You can view all three.

Ella Koon sings "Endless Love"

From Wikipedia (here):

Ella Koon Yun Na is Hong Kong-based Cantopop singer, actress and model. She is French by citizenship

Ella Koon was born in the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, of Cantonese descent. She was raised in Hong Kong and attended high school in Birmingham, England. Koon is multi-lingual and speaks Cantonese, English, Mandarin, and French.

After completing her studies in England, Koon returned to Hong Kong in 2000 where she began her modelling career for various magazines, advertisements and commercials.

Modelling became her full time profession from then on, and in 2001, she landed her first movie role in “I Do”. After the movie, she continued modelling; then in 2004 she was invited to attend a singing audition. The audition landed her a contract with Boombeat Music and launched her singing career. Her first few albums – “Original”, “Ellacadabra” (2005), “Lose Sanity” (2006) and the EP “Stages” (2008) were not particularly acclaimed. But as a singer on The Voice (超級巨聲) singing Endless Love she impressed audiences and further propelled her singing career.

Koon also starred in the popular TVB’s drama series “Revolving Door of Vengeance” in 2005 and “Survivor’s Law II ” in 2007. Viewers instantly fell in love with both of her characters on the shows. In “Revolving Door of Vengeance” she play “Hoi Sum” (meaning 'happy' in Cantonese) a carefree and happy-go-lucky girl. In “Survivor’s Law II,” she won the audience again with her character as “Lily” the sassy and stylish lawyer who could hold her own in the courtroom. Besides the drama series, Koon has been invited as a guest to several TVB games shows and was a host a for two food travel shows with notable Hong Kong Chefs. Indeed, her most recent work with Kelvin Pan (Pan Kai Tai) has boosted her into the pinnacle of Hong Kong entertainment business.

“I Do” was just the first of many movies Koon appeared and started in. She also landed roles in movies such as My Sweetie (甜絲絲, 2004), Drink, Drank, Drunk (千杯不醉, 2005), Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (冰河世紀二, 2006), The Shopaholics (最愛女人購物狂, 2006), Without Words (地老天荒, 2006), Undercover Hidden Dragon (至尊無賴, 2006), Arthur and the Minimoys (迷你魔界大冒險, 2007), Muddy but Pure White (泥巴色的純白, 2008), Playboy Cops (花花型警, 2008), Look for a Star (游龍戲鳳, 2008), Short of Love (矮仔多情, 2009) and Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (冰河世紀三, 2009). She Played the role of Merry in the Clement Cheng movie 'Merry-go-round' (2010) in which her talent expresses perfectly.

Koon also plays the Gu-zheng, a traditional Chinese musical instrument with 21 strings.

PPS should budget $240,000 for high school study abroad pilot program

Strategically, Portland needs to begin to build its global economic future.

Portland Public Schools should in its 2012-13 budget allocate $240,000(shift the funds) for a pilot high school study abroad program. The $240,000 would pay $8,000 each towards the fees of study abroad organizations (and other expenses) for thirty students to spend the 2013-14 high school year abroad. Five students would be selected to study in each of six targeted countries. Four of those countries would be the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. These are the countries now, and for the foreseeable future, dominating global economic growth. Two additional countries, Japan and Mexico, would be selected both because of their economic importance but also because Portland Public Schools currently has immersion programs in both of their languages: Spanish and Japanese.

Current study abroad organizations offer high school years in each of these countries. Typically, they provide tuition and room & board with a host family (often these are provided free, and the fees cover expenses of the study abroad organization). International transportation is also often included.

Here’s a sample of the high school year fees of several study abroad organizations:

For China, ASSE’ fee is $8,250 (same for Taiwan and $7,900 for Hong Kong). Education, Travel & Culture’s fee is $8,867 (to Chengdu). Youth for Understanding’s fee is $10,995. AFS’s fee is $13,500 and CIEE’s fee is $15,995.

For India, Youth for Understanding’s fee is $10,995 and AFS’s fee is $13,500. 

For Brazil, ASSE’s fee is $6,700. Youth for Understanding’s fee is $9,595. CIEE’s fee is $9,945. And AFS’s fee is $12,000.

For Russia, Youth for Understanding’s fee is $10,995 and AFS’s fee is $12,000.

For Japan, ASSE’s fee is $9,325. Youth for Understanding’s fee is $12,595. AFS’s fee is $13,000. And CIEE’s fee is $14,485.

For Mexico, ASSE’s fee is $4,750 plus airfare. Youth for Understanding’s fee is $7,995. Education, Travel and Culture has a high school year in Costa Rice for $7,550.

Links for each of the study abroad organizations listed: ASSE (here), Education, Travel & Culture (here), Youth for Understanding (here), CIEE (here) and AFS (here).

PPS: Still planning for too many high schools

Portland Public Schools has, again, begun district wide facilities planning. The first meeting of its Long Range Facilities Advisory committee was held on 12/13/11. It materials are online (here).

Back in January, 2010, (and before I campaigned against the PPS modernization bond levy), during the high school redesign process, I argued (here) that PPS was “planning for one too many high schools.” PPS was then using “12,914 high school students as its enrollment target.” Now, PPS seems on the road to doing so again. I’ve scanned the 12/13 materials for the advisory committee and they do not seem to target as before a student figure for the high schools. But, in its “Table C4. Grades 9-12 Enrollment by School,” the report “Portland Public Schools Enrollment Forecast 2011-12 to 2025-25” (here) forecasts total high school enrollment in PPS ranging from 12,822 in 2011-12 to 14,442 in 2025-26.

What I wrote back in January, 2010, is still true:

Two potential educational changes could and should impact the need for high school space in the Portland Public School District: (1) a Go Global High School Study Abroad Program, and (2) increased use of online high school courses. Both changes together will account (my estimates) in ten years for 968 (323+645) fewer students needing brick-and-mortar space and in fifteen year likewise for 1,774 (483+1,291) fewer students. 

Portland Public Schools is still not factoring in either a high school study abroad program or online learning into its facility / student use projections. In his report “Enrollment Trends and Forecasts,” Portland State University’s Charles Rynerson, mentions neither. He does mention the following (here):

Critical Drivers of Enrollment Trends

• Incoming kindergarten

• Migration and mobility

• Grade 9: High school choice (public/private)

• Grade 12: 5th year and continuation

• Capture Rates

 

Complicating Factors

• New housing (volume, affordability, design)

• Perceptions of school quality

• Inter-district transfers

• Charter school

So not only is PPS failing to prepared students for the global economy, and failing to pursue the cost savings and expanded course offerings of online learning, but they are going to plan for and eventually pay the costs of too many high schools.

Of course, this is the high school system the teachers’ unions want. But, why should we pay for it? Why should the excess costs go on year after year?

Wieden+Kennedy's global offices & Oregon's educational system

Oregon does have its political, business and educational leadership stuck in an insular, provincial view of the world (here). They just cannot get behind expanding foreign language immersion program (like Utah, here). They have no political will to tell the obstructing teachers’ unions that high school study abroad programs are important for Oregon’s economic future. But there are specific Oregon businesses with global business visions. One of these is the ad firm of Wieden + Kennedy. They have six international offices in strategic global markets (plus two in the US). From the Oregonian article “Portland-based ad agency Wieden + Kennedy posts 20 percent revenue gain this year” by Allan Brettman (here):

Today, the agency also has offices in New York, Sao Paolo, London, Amsterdam, Delhi, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Though all of those offices are in regions of strategic importance to Nike and its affiliate companies, each W+K office has a lengthy list of other clients. In the Portland office alone, the client list includes Chrysler, Dodge, Levi's, Coke, Diet Coke, Ivory, Electronic Arts, Converse, Kraft, Laika, Old Spice, Proctor & Gamble, Target and Travel Oregon.

Another office might make sense in Moscow because Nike, the world's largest sporting goods brand, continues to trail No. 2 Adidas in Russia for overall sales. W+K has considered it.

But eight offices are enough, said Dave Luhr, global chief operating officer and an agency partner.

"We have put those offices in those eight key strategic locations," the most recent last year in Sao Paolo, Luhr said. "We feel really good about our network. It competes really well. ... A lot of competitors may have 200 offices, but 50 percent of those offices may not be performing that well."

Oregon would do well to imitate Wieden + Kennedy’s strategic thinking in its educational system by developing strong foreign language and study abroad programs aimed at China, India, Brazil, Japan, and Europe. Oregon could, for example, send high school students to China for $7,575 (here), less in costs than a school year in-state.

Joseph Needham: "The Man Who Loved China"

I’ve just finished listening to the audiobook version of Simon Winchester’s “The Man Who Loved China.” It is the biography of British scientist Joseph Needham, who became the great historian of Chinese science (and of China more generally). It is simply a wonderful book, the story of a great man and his works.

Marquese Scott (aka Nonstop) dubstep dances on the Great Wall of China

Marquese Scott (aka Nonstop) is a dancer (see video below) .  Dubstep is a type of electronic music (here).

More than twice the new business opportunities in Asia as in the US

There are lots of large countries in Asia with growing markets. Growth in these markets offers many business opportunities for Oregon businesses. It would help our economy to develop strong foreign language and study abroad programs targeted at these markets.

First. There are many large markets in Asia. The US population is 312 million (and ranked 3^rd in the world, here). Both China and India each have about four times the US population. China has 1.339 billion (ranks 1^st) and India has 1.210 billion (2^nd). So together they have eight times the population of the US.

Other large Asian countries include Indonesia with 237 million (ranks 4^th), Japan with 127 million (ranks 10^th), Phillipines with 94 million (ranks 12^th), and Vietnam (ranks 13^th)

The chart below gives rough economic growth figures for several Asian countries for 2010. Data sources here and here.

	2010	2010
	Growth	GDP	Growth in
	Rate	in billions	billions
US	2.83%	$14,526	$412
China	10.80%	$5,878	$635
India	11.10%	$1,631	$181
Indonesia	6.10%	$706	$43
Japan	3.90%	$5,458	$213
Phillipines	7.60%	$199	$15
Vietnam	6.70%	$103	$7

Note: (1) China's market grew by more than the US market: $635 billion to $412 billion. And (2) The combined market growth of India, Indonesia, Japan, Phillipines, and Vietnam was $459 billion, which is more than growth in the US market.

There are more than twice the new business opportunities in Asia as in the US.

"As armed Chinese troops would be if they were stationed in Texas"

This is a Ron Paul political ad.

"Our military presence on foreign soil is as offensive to the people that live there as armed Chinese troops woujld be if they were stationed in Texas."

I like the ad! But do not like the use of China as the enemy or boogeyman.

Shenyang, China

China’s twelfth largest city, according to Wikipedia (here), is Shenyang, with 6.75 million people. For comparison, the largest US City, New York, has 8 million people. Los Angeles, second in the US, has 3.7 million, Chicago, in third, has 2.6 million, and Portland at 29^th has 583,776 (here).

From Wikipedia (here):

Shenyang (Chinese: 沈阳; pinyin: Shěnyáng; Mandarin pronunciation: [ʂən˧˩jɑŋ˧˥]), or Mukden ( in Manchu), is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing (盛京) or Fengtianfu (奉天府). Shenyang was first used by the Manchu people as their capital in the 17th century and is today the biggest city in the Northeast.

Along with its nearby cities, Shenyang is an important industrial centre in China, and serves as the transportation and commercial hub of China's northeast–particularly with Japan, Russia, and Korea. A titan of heavy industry since the 1930s, the city has been diversifying its industry and now has a solid industrial foundation, a good land and air transport network, abundant natural resources, and a skilled workforce.