EMBA International Trip to South America: Travel Journal, Day 3

2010 Travel Journal » Day 3 - September 6

Today was the first full day of the residence period and we got off to a great start. Everyone was on the coach by 8:00 a.m. so we were able to leave right on time. What a trip we had to Adolfo Ibañez University! After winding through both business and residential districts in Santiago we started our way up into the mountains. The road became more and more steep, and at one point the coach came to a standstill. Our excellent driver put the coach in reverse and carefully backed down the road to a more level location and then got a “running start” on the steep hill. Thankfully the second attempt was successful, and we arrived at the university in plenty of time to start at 9:00 a.m.

The first several hours of the day were dedicated to the CAGE presentations that the students prepared prior to their arrival in Chile. CAGE stands for Culture, Administrative, Geographic and Economic, with a team assigned to each word in the acronym. Five to six students are on each team. They have all been challenged to start a fictional software business in either Chile or Brazil, and before arriving each team had to decide in which country they would recommend basing the company. Interestingly enough, all four teams chose Chile. Over the next two weeks they will learn first-hand about setting up business in both countries through briefings, lectures and visits to logistics centers and manufacturing plants. Then, on the last day of the trip each team will once again recommend in which country they recommend starting their business. Will they still recommend Chile at the end of the two weeks? Only time will tell!

After a quick coffee break we were all back in the classroom for a most interesting learning session with Nick Walker, the president of The Southbridge Group. This multi-faceted company offers outsourcing, commercial and consulting services to over 25 foreign companies in South America. Nick was able to give the students a broad but comprehensive view of doing business in Chile, and the students had a lot of questions.

We had a lunch on campus in a lovely private dining room. The food was delicious, probably made more so by the spectacular view of the mountains. For dessert we had a mousse made of maracuyá fruit. It’s a fruit native to the subtropical regions of the Americas, very similar to passion fruit.

The session after lunch was presented by Dr. Igal Megendzo, who holds a faculty position in the economics department at Adolfo Ibañez University. He engaged us in an extremely interesting discussion about the economy in Chile. Dr. Megendzo is engaging and has a great sense of humor. It was especially interesting to learn about how the Chilean economy was affected after the earthquake last March.

We didn’t have a group dinner planned for tonight. Fran, our English-speaking guide, suggested that we eat at Aquí Está Coco, a famous seafood restaurant in Santiago. Most of the group went there, and everyone agreed that we enjoyed a great dining experience. Here’s a link to their website page with photos of the restaurant interior:

http://www.aquiestacoco.cl/restaurante.html

We ate in the Comedor Cava. Don’t try clicking on the English link on the page- it is still under construction. However, if you click on the menu link you'll see the menu is both Spanish and English.
Internet connections are not great right now so pictures aren’t loading well. We’ll try to get some posted on Tuesday. Hasta mañana!