Getting ready for the IBM Corporate Service Corps Assignment

It is starting to sink in that I leave for China in under a month. I’m not sure that I’ve been away for 36 days away from home since my time living abroad in Spain during my undergraduate days years ago.

For those not aware, I am participating in IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program and will be acting as a goodwill business ambassador in Nanning, China for about a month. Information on IBM’s CSC program can be found in this link here and I have attached a video below.]

Considering that I have completely slacked on my Mandarin training – I’m starting to get a bit concerned with my immersion. In most countries with languages based on the Germanic or Romance-based languages, I have picked up enough to get by – Yet remembering my last trip to Beijing and Xian, I remember being completely lost with the language and intonations, etc. No rest for the wicked, right?

During my trip, I will be branching off a separate section of the blog focused on my travels and business experience in country. I have invested in a new video camera and will be attempting to publish a regular video blog in concert with this one. (Yet am a complete neophyte with the camera and editing suite, so apologies on jerky camera work in advance)

As I get more material on the assignments, I’ll outline them here – use it as a forum for not just my experiences in the CSC program, but also for doing business in China. At the moment I have three major clients that I will be focused on:

Agri-Business / Ecotourism: A regional sugarcane plantation that is looking at expanding not only it’s current business, but also wants to get into eco-tourism – Looking at advanced sugarcane mechanization

Consumer Products (Alcoholic Beverages): Company that is a Maotai distiller looking at new marketing ideas and business growth – Corporate governance, branding and intellectual property rights (…yes, as a home brewer, I’m quite excited about this one )

Guangxi University: A wide variety of items here, but a focus on developing an overall student career development strategy and how to infuse greater levels of innovation in the university curriculum.

More to come as I get geared up to head over to Nanning, and I welcome you to follow along in the journey…  Just click the sign up button  on the top right of the page.