X-Culture: A Happy Ending

Guest Blogger: Yu-Hua Chen, Nathan M. Bisk College of Business student

Time flies so fast. This is the last blog for X-culture project, and we have done all the work. I remember that I felt so nervous when my teammates did not reply my e-mail several days. I thought they would not reply me and I would do the project by myself. Happily, three of my teammates replied me after a week. Few day later, another teammate contacted us. We established a club on Facebook, and stared to discuss which company is our best choice. The first suggestion was a coffee house in Columbia, but we though it is not a international company, hence, we might have difficulty in finding enough information about the company. We have the same consensus to pick a global wide company. Apple Inc. is our final decision.

After we made a decision of our company, we reached an agreement to enter Myanmar in the last week. Then, we did not have further discussion until two week before the deadline of submitting our draft. We began to be very active for the project. Everyone picked up one to three parts of the proposal. When we were having problem or questions in our own part(s), we discussed together and solved all the problems we met. Three days before we had to submit the final report draft, one of our teammate wanted to enter Brazil market instead of Myanmar market, but it was too late for other teammates to rewrite our parts. The guy still wrote his part to focus on entering Brazil market without other teammates agreement. I was a little angry about that guy. I could not believe that he took it upon himself to do what he wanted without noting us. We did not have enough time to adjust his work. Our leader just summarized and submitted it on time. Our draft plagiarism rate was 22%. It was not bad, however, it was not good also.

We adjusted our own parts. Our leader not only modified his own parts, but he also fixed the incoherent problem the guy made. Our final report is nice. The last result of our final report plagiarism rate is 2%. Our team investigated the possibility that Apple Inc. to expand its business in Myanmar. We think Apple Inc. can launch iPhone SolarSimplicity which can recharge by solar or electricity, and it is a simple phone. Because, it is estimate that 75% of Myanmar population do not have regular access of electron, and the Myanmar government will start to build telecom network in June 2013. We know it is hard and risky to enter Myanmar market, but our product and initial entry proposal do not require large investments or capital commitments. Furthermore, it will provide foundation for Apple Inc.. Also, if the Myanmar business continuously grows, Apple Inc. is in advantageous position.

During this two months, I experienced different feeling. From the beginning, I felt nervous, then confident, and next upset and angry, finally, it is an happy ending. It is a unforgettable experience. I am a lucky girl to have to chance to participate the X-culture project, and to be in my team. Finally, I really appreciate our team has a perfect leader and I am so impressed in his kindness.