Jones Journal -- Alumni Magazine of the Jones Graduate School of Management, Rice University

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Into the Zone of Feng Shui: An International Trip to Singapore and Vietnam
– By Dr. Robert E. Galloway, Class of 2001

I departed the Los Angelas Airport with my classmates from the Jones School bound for a new adventure in Asia. What I initially viewed with skepticism and wonder, soon turned into a fascinating international business trip.

Our destinations were Singaporeand Vietnam and for sure our collective mixed feelings about the trip had been equally tempered by the voluminous pre-reads given us in preparation for our visit.

Craig Barry and Dr. Galloway

As we touched down on this new continent, it was evident that the magic of Singapore resides in the mix of the vast cultures from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe, and America. Despite its small size, Singapore is a startlingly diverse nation. And this diversity means that travelers are rarely “foreigners.” Singaporeans can be found with varied religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds. And another great thing we quickly found was that everyone spoke English! Our newfound exotic culture had suddenly become accessible. The city-state of Singapore is far more modern than western travelers might anticipate, with an abundance of commerce, trade, politics, arts, and tourism. And, if one chooses, there is plenty of wild jungle to be found just outside its modern confines. It became clear, during the first leg of our visit, that in its diversity, Singapore was the gateway to all of Southeast Asia.

A cast of star lecturers was scheduled to dialogue with us as we settled in. Several dynamic personalities, from diverse industries, shared insights on Asian management styles and culture. John T. Olds, vice chairman and chief executive officer of the largest bank in Singapore had been recruited from the “West.” Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, president of Shell Oil Products East, was responsible for refining and marketing of fuels and lubricants in the Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Elsenhans, it should be noted, is a Rice University graduate and was most instrumental in organizing our schedule. Mildred Tan, a business consulting partner with Arthur Andersen, was an Asian native. Her expertise was in change management and cultural differences between the East and West.

Interestingly, Tan, who was Chinese in ancestry, conveyed that feng shui, a spiritual philosophy, was very much a part of both home and business life in Singapore. Feng Shui is the Taoist practice of living in harmony with one’s surroundings. It’s an Asian philosophy that applies to every environment. Mildred remarked that the positive flow of energy, or chi, flows through people, buildings, landscapes, etc. If a home or business is not properly aligned, chi can be trapped and made stagnant. True to this belief, many Chinese businesses pay exorbitant amounts to have feng shui masters consult on construction plans and interior designs.

One of the many advantages of our trip was the opportunity to meet and mix with other MBAs and the Asian locals. I spent time with a fellow student who was of Indian origin. We spent an afternoon touring Little India in Singapore, a neighborhood familiar to him from his youth. He introduced me to the twisting streets, ommunities, open air fruit and vegetable markets, and craftsmakers of this Singaporean culture.

Our last day in Singapore began with a lecture given by Chuck Jolly, the vice president of finance for Compaq Computer Corporation of Asia and with Michael Own, general counsel for the Asia Pacific Division of Compaq. They aptly summarized our Singaporean visit as they spoke of the cultural challenges of conducting business in the Asia Pacific region. They each expanded on how Compaq deals with Western business, political, and cultural influences on the Asian market. As their lecture and our first Asian tour began to wind to a close, I was reminded of Tan and the Eastern regard for the necessary smooth flow of chi for optimal personal and financial gain.

The tone of our trip quickly shifted during our flight to Ho Chi Minh. Our flight was ushered in with an unspoken trepidation. “Will there be modern conveniences?” “Will there be residual hostilities from the war?” Many of our fears and attitudes had obviously been shaped by years of propaganda, movies, and fiction.

When we arrived, we were immediately deluged with the greatest of Vietnam’s resources. . .its people. As we drove through town there were endless vendor stalls, billboards, motorbikes, stores, homes, horses, chickens and people teeming in the city streets. There were so many businesses and industries that I was not surprised when our first scheduled speaker, Charles Ray, counsel general of Ho Chi Minh City, peppered us with a host of reasons for conducting business in Vietnam. He spoke of the high literacy rate, 95%, of Vietnam. The relatively young population reads,writes, and speaks English fluently. They are proficient with computers and mathematics. And, because of the Communist culture, its workers endeavor to remain apolitical. All of these ingredients seemed key to prosperity.

In 1986 the government set about trying to rebuild the country of Vietnam by establishing free-market regulations and welcoming foreign investment. Today, the results of more than 10 years of reform are visible in business. Foreign investors and international corporations have played a pivotal role in Vietnam’s jump from a bankrupt state to an emerging tiger economy. Vietnam’s newly established market openness was best conveyed by Dan Warden, midstream director in the Vietnamese Business Unit of BP Amoco. He spoke of the emerging number of joint ventures being developed to tap into Vietnam’s tremendous reservoir of natural resources.

A truly shining star of the Asian business world was the Mekong Project Development Facility. It was established in 1997 to support the development of private, small and medium scale enterprises in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The facility’s speakers conveyed a pride and professionalism as they spoke of multiple successes in helping small businesses in their start-up endeavors.

Indeed, as we passed through the streets of Vietnam, at the conclusion of our MBA International Business Trip, it was evident that an energy and enthusiasm permeated the markets of Asia. During our trip we’d been exposed to many examples of the benefits of an East/West alliance and of foreign investments. We’d been exposed to Asian cultures poised and prepared to succeed in local, national, and global markets.