Asia Logistics Wrap

Moscow Hotels: Short Supply, High Demand, Outrageous Prices

Today I moved out of the hotel I stayed at the first two weeks while here in Moscow. Above is an evening snapshot from the window of my first room, looking towards the East from the city over Leninsky Prospect. The area is famous for the Yuri Gagarov monument, dedicated to his flight into space. Thus the name of that hotel is Sputnik. Inside the hotel, which I mentioned previously, is the Korean-managed hotel service.

Now I am closer to downtown in a Korean-managed 'minbak'--it is basically a communal living arrangement where rooms and facilities are shared. In this way, the project I am on is minimizing expenses. Having experienced this type of arrangement several times before in South Korea, it is not much of an adjustment for me. But the expectation for most foreigners if here on a project would be their own hotel room.

Even with the Korean-managed hotel service inside Sputnik, prices bottom out above $200 for very modest rooms and amenities. An average hotel will go for $400-600, while 5-star hotels run closer to $1,000 or more. As a result, one can imagine the expense of having a resource here for 6 weeks just in hotel fees.

I haven't done much reading on this phenomenon, but just driving and walking around the city it seems that there just aren't many hotels (every sign is in Russian, so I can't say they would be easy to spot anyway). The ones that do exist seem to be more towards the high-end side.

With some extra time next weekend, I am off to Finland to visit a friend who was once an exchange student at my high school. By over-night train Helsinki is around 12 hours away from Moscow. I am looking forward to visiting another country that I very recently wondered when I would ever get to visit...

Below is a shot of Moscow State University, not far from Sputnik and easily spotted from the 16th floor Indian restaurant...

Getting to know Moscow...

I've spent my first week in Moscow and it is hard to say yet whether it is or is not what I expected. I basically came here straight off of another project with little time to research or look into the city and Russia in general. I have been so focused on Asia, this trip ranks together with my trip to South Africa last year another adventure into unknown territory.

At the same time, I am here on a project with a major Korean company. Almost the entire project team I am on is made up of Koreans, the hotel I stay at is managed by Koreans, and I am eating Korean food for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. As a result, I often feel like I am back in Korea eventhough the surroundings are of another extreme.

Unlike Tokyo and Seoul, English is not to be found on signs, menus or literature in most places. Thus, without knowing Russian, it is difficult to navigate. Starting this weekend I am going to make an effort to memorize the Russian alphabet so I can begin to at least get by when I am on my own. Since I can at least speak Korean, I now rely a great deal on the Koreans to get up to speed...

As for the supply chain industry here, I haven't really had much of a chance to explore it yet. I am semi-lead on a functional design for the Korean client, so it means spending a lot of time in the office rather than the warehouse--which is actually a nice change from the last 3-4 months. One difference is the customs clearance tracking on imports that enter the country and the need to track by batch these imports even after products reach the customer.

Since I will be here five more weeks, I should have a chance to write more about the industry here.

Arrived in Moscow

Just this past week I have transitioned from my previous project in Japan immediately to a new project that will involve spending time here in Russia and also South Korea. This is my first time to Russia, so it is an exciting opportunity to not only work on a new implementation but experience a new location, such as when I traveled to South Africa last year.

If I have time, I look forward to sharing some of the experiences here...

Happy (Chinese) New Year

I have descended from the mountain to rejoin the blogging civilization and want to wish everyone visiting my blog a Happy Chinese New Year. The longer I am in Asia, the more impacted I feel by the Chinese New Year versus the Western calendar new year, but it is also a good excuse to delay coming back here to kick off 2008.

In 2007 I pretty much went off the blogging map, in stark contrast to all the very focused posts I put together in 2006 on supply chain topics and peripheral subjects such as 'resilience'. Last year ended up with me focused on my career development and creating closer ties with family--these were definitely the two most important themes in my life last year.

Switching jobs from a traditional Japanese company to Manhattan Associates was such a drastic change, it was like hopping from a slowly prodding burrow onto an untamed stallion, feeling it bolting forth and not quite knowing which direction it might take you next. But, once broken, you can take in the scenery more clearly and also move forth swiftly and with resolution.

In my first year with Manhattan, I was fortunate to be part of two successful IT implementations--one in Japan and one in South Africa. Today I am in the beginning of my third implementation while still providing support to our client and partners in South Africa. Where in Japan I balanced my knowledge of the culture and language with my growing understanding of supply chain technology, in South Africa I was completely reliant on my knowledge of Manhattan technology, people skills and crisis management skills. These two distinct experiences have laid the foundation for my current project--a client's roll-out of supply chain technology to their logistics centers across the world, including Japan.

Nailing the delivery of a customer's supply chain technology solution is difficult in and of itself--nailing it across several countries within a two- to three-year time frame is several times more challenging. In this scenario, skills in both managing global projects  and also managing the balance between a global supply chain design versus local delineations are critical.

These are some of the major themes I hope to focus on in 2008 while reflecting back upon the many experiences I had in 2007 as I became familiar with the dynamics of the supply chain technology industry.

Traveling to Korea

I am currently at Narita Airport waiting for my flight to Seoul. I will be there until Wednesday morning, and so posting will either be light or non-existent until I return.

Hutongs Transplanted to Typepad

My friend, David Wolf, who works out of Beijing, has moved his two blogs--Silicon Hutong and Peking Review--to Typepad along with a third, fledgling blog called Ecohutong. I encourage all my readers to check out David's work as he provides a great deal of insight into business management in China, particularly in the media and technology industries.

I just yesterday thought of Ecohutong because of news here in Japan of an intention between China and Japan to cooperate on developing environmental initiatives in the vein of the Kyoto Protocal. Visiting Ecohutong this morning, I see David has already posted on the news.

As David notes, there are many reasons to doubt that such an initiative will have success. I have similar feelings, but only at the government level. Those who actually have to make such an initiative work at the ground level are already interacting with Japan to benchmark and bring new technologies or environmentally-friendly ideas to the Chinese mainland. One such area is biomass production. Others are studying Japanese public transportation systems and public space utilization/design to improve the public environment in Chinese cities. Where the government initiatives may lag and stall, I believe the private sector will take advantage of viable opportunities and develop alternatives to current business practices that contribute to mainland pollution.

I look forward to the Ecohutong providing updates on this interaction.

Repaying Flattery with More Flattery

As I was browsing through my regular list of blogs via Bloglines this morning, I made my way to China Lawblog when the opening lines mentioned a fellow TBird blogger, David Wolf, who runs Silicon Hutong. Reading further, I discovered David had provided me a Thinking Blogger Award  with the following comments making me chuckle:

Shawn is brilliant - should be teaching at Harvard or Wharton - and you benefit from his brilliance without paying the tuition.

Thanks for the plug, David! However, you have really raised the bar for me this time. As for my recommended awards for thinking blogs, I have some simple criteria--that the blogger "blogs what they know" and display an obvious passion and curiosity for continued learning. Below is my list for Asia, not in any specific order:

1. Silicon Hutong, by David Wolf: Repaying flattery with more flattery--even after meeting David the first time for just an hour or so in the Beijing Hard Rock Cafe last year, I knew he was someone with a wealth of on-the-ground China knowledge and simply a great person to know. All of this is on display at the Hutong.
2. All Roads Lead to China, by Rich Brubaker: Another TBird, Rich is the blogger I speak with most whom I have never met. Highly accessible, Rich has shared a great deal of his knowledge and information gathering at All Roads, which is a great beginning source for all things related to China business. I look forward to its continuing evolution.
3. China Law Blog, by Dan Harris: Dan's prolific writing and blog-linking has been an inspiration for my own site in reaching out to other bloggers and creating new conversations, or building on old ones. Having had the chance to chat with Dan on the phone, I look forward to meeting him in person someday as we traverse the Asia-Pacific.
4. This is China!, by William Dodson: I love the narrative style in every post by Will as we follow him on his business or personal travels. The descriptive and accessible nature of his writing allows me to connect with his experiences while at the same time gaining some new insight or perspective on aspects of China I am unfamiliar with.
5. The Marmot's Hole, by RJ Koehler: Ever since I became more interested in South Korea, the Hole has been my favorite source for commentary and perspective on the Korea experience. RJ's wide ranging coverage ensures I always have something new on Korea to think about when I visit his site.

Besides the above, below is my list for non-Asia blogs:

1. Thomas Barnett: Probably the most famous "grand strategist" I have ever exchanged emails with, Tom's work, books and site have continually been an inspiration.
2. The Fourth Rail, by Bill Roggio: Another fantastic blogger I have been fortunate enough to exchange emails with, Bill has regularly been my #1 source for an understanding of the Middle East and the "War on Terror." The education I have received on the sophistication and complexity of today's American military operations and strategy cannot be replaced.
3. Michael Totten: The depth and thoroughness of Michael's articles and writing on the Middle East has provided a non-military angle to learning more about the region and its people. Combined with his great photos, my understanding of the region would be lacking minus his work.
4. Enterprise Resilience Blog, by Steve DeAngelis: Steve is such a prolific writer at his site, I believe his work must just flow off his fingers the moment he finds a topic to write about--and he writes in depth and with great thought about both the context and detail of a particular issue. I believe our cross-blogging last year was because I also strive for the same approach, and his work itself is an inspiration to my career.
5. Counterterrorism Blog, by Various Counterterrorism Experts: A site that regularly challenges my understanding of such a complicated topic as terrorism.

I pretty much don't read a site unless it is a "thinking blog," but the above are regularly my favorites, or have been most influential to my own blogging. For certain, I could see all the bloggers mentioned above teaching at Wharton or Harvard before they ever hired me. But like David, I prefer everyone keep blogging online where the tuition is much less! 

Happy New Year

I would just like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, especially those who have been supportive of my efforts at this blog. I am currently back to Tokyo now and gearing up for what I hope to be a great 2007. To those who might have feared that I had left the blog for dead--no worries! I put on a self-imposed hiatus so I could slow down and enjoy my vacation in the US before coming back to Japan and my job for Manhattan Associates.

I plan to tackle similar topics as last year but with more posts leaning towards, but not exclusive to, issues surrounding the utilization of supply chain technologies in the Asia region. I look forward to interacting with readers as in the past, and other bloggers covering supply chain topics.

Have a great 2007!

Administrative Update

I have not been posting since last week as I just started my new job Friday with Manhattan Associates. My plan is to get in the flow of the position and then gradually pick up blogging again--this will probably happen over the next few days, with more posting towards the weekends.

However, with the holidays reaching full force the end of this month, I can't guarantee too much posting until the start of 2007.

As for travel, I will be back in the US for business and vacation from 12/10 to 01/03 in 2007. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Link Round-up

I have been back to Tokyo since Tuesday evening but have been quite busy. This weekend I plan to catch up on some items in the Japanese logistics press, but for now, below are a couple links to blogs with some recent and interesting content:

• All Roads Lead to China talks about China Post going private. I have discussed in length Japan Post's efforts to go private and I think it would be a mistake to ignore the influence this privatization project might have on Chinese efforts. This includes lessons that can be learned from the scrapped pursuit of a deal between TNT and Japan Post. However, with China Post being the national symbol that it is, don't expect them to be partnering with Japan Post anytime soon.
• China Law Blog posits a question about truck manufacturing in China and where the industry is at on the mainland. I am not certain where this is at in terms of foreign investment, but I will look into information on Japanese companies. For Japan, Toyota is a significant producer of heavy trucks under the name Hino, but its obvious focus in China right now is cars. The other main manufacturers are Mitsubishi amongst others.