Brian Beckmann, GB'14

I began The Richmond MBA in the fall of 2012 with expectations to earn my degree part-time while working as an analyst for the Virginia State Corporation Commission. As I write this, I am sitting in a rooftop coffee bar in Wudaoku, Beijing's Korean neighborhood adjacent Tsinghua University. It is a beautiful day. Beijing's much discussed Air Quality Index is low and you can see much of the neighborhood. This is not where I thought I would be when I began my MBA.

This is what motivated me to leave my job and buy a plane ticket for Beijing. I knew that coming here would be a wonderful chance to see an extremely dynamic part of the world. I haven’t been disappointed. My classmates come from every corner of the world. It’s been fantastic learning from their experiences as well as sharing mine with them. Many business leaders, writers and college professors spend a lot of time discussing the importance of innovation and globalization. It is rare to come to a place where these forces meet.

I have learned many business lessons here in Beijing. Writing about them all would require more space than this post allows. However, one observation stands out. You will notice that nearly every young or working aged adult owns a smartphone when standing in the Beijing subway. Most of these consumers are not rich in the Western sense and do not have access to traditional desktop/laptop computers with high speed internet.  This creates a unique environment for technology firms.

Chinese consumers interact with their smartphone very differently than we do in the U.S, using comparatively very little data. Since a smartphone is the average person’s only access to the internet, brands have to communicate through mobile apps and websites, creating an entire ecosystem of data-sipping apps that exist solely around the mobile experience. Western firms such as Facebook have not adapted to mobile devices the same way its Chinese rivals like WeChat have; they simply use too much data and attempt to recreate a desktop experience.  Small details like photo downloading and sharing are critical to a customer with limited internet capacity.

Chinese culture is very different from the West and it is easy to be intimidated by these differences. Many Americans find it easier to generalize about Chinese culture than taking the time to learn and understand how complex China really is. Taking the time to live in Beijing and learn about these differences has been rewarding personally and professionally. I encourage anyone, especially MBA students, who have the chance to study abroad, particularly in China. I am very fortunate to have had this opportunity with The Richmond MBA and Tsinghua University.

I am deeply interested in innovation and technology.  Observing another economy and its consumers is the best way to understand why and how people make decisions back in your home country.  I hope to bring back my passion, energy and insights to a firm in the U.S. or possibly abroad. Who knows, maybe another adventure is waiting for me when I finish The Richmond MBA this spring.