The Feinbaum Chronicles

Late this afternoon we split up into three of these boats and took a tour around the fishing village. Click on the picture to see more photos.

Well, we made it to Hong Kong safely. The picture is the view from our hotel room overlooking the harbor. We all feel like we’ve gone from a Motel 2 ½ to a Ritz Carlton. We’re staying at the InterContinental Grand Stanford a huge step up from our India accommodations.

Hong Kong is not much different than New York City. It’s truly the opposite end of the spectrum from Bangalore. Yesterday (Sunday) was a free day to explore the city and do a bit of shopping. I was unfortunately under the weather and spent the whole day curled up in bed. I think my body had a hard time adjusting to our visit to Morton’s Steakhouse on Saturday night after barely eating anything the week prior. Today I’m pretty much back to normal.

I’ll have to keep this post short since I have to get back downstairs for our next presenter. We have a guy coming in from Proctor and Gamble’s China operation to talk about doing business in China. Tonight, we’re going out for some cultural visits and an off-site dinner.

McAfee Corp visit

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

On our last day in Bangalore, we visited both McAfee and Hewitt. McAfee is the anti-virus software company and Hewitt is a Human Resource outsourcing firm.

McAfee has about 700 employees in the Bangalore office with all of them on the same floor. They shared with us that compensation hikes are far higher than in the US and Europe. Because of the competitive nature of retaining employees, they typically give between 15% – 18% annual salary increases for the Bangalore staff. Of course, don’t forget a typical Bangalore IT employee is only making about $15,000 US dollars per year, so they still have a great competitive edge on costs to develop products

India Target office for offshore operations

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

Target, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and other big box retailers all have offices in Bangalore. They typically have the nicer facilities which focus on product sourcing, IT development, billing and other back-office functions.

India- lunch, last day in India

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

I think it’s fair to say that we’re all quite happy to having our “last lunch” in Bangalore. Indian food again.

India-last day

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

Darrel and I decided to venture out for some trinket shopping. It was quite an experience and words can not describe the honking, traffic and controlled chaos on the streets of Bangalore. Matt, Lori, Lee and our guide Raj were also brave enough to follow in their own taxis.

We all head out tonight on a midnight flight to Hong Kong. It’s about a 9 hour flight with a layover in Kuala Lumpur. We arrive in Hong Kong around 1 PM HK time after traveling all night. All we know is that they have a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and Morton’s Steakhouse near the hotel in Hong Kong. Many of us will be making a mad dash for a steak upon our arrival!

Ron & Darrel in taxi

This self taken photo is of us in an open air taxi heading out for shopping.

My kingdom for a Big Mac

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

I think it’s fair to day that we’re all getting a bit tired of Indian food. We’ve heard that they have a Ruth’s Chris steakhouse near the hotel in Hong Kong. I can guarantee you that many of us will be there the first night (and perhaps the second and third).

Today we visited AVTEC, a manufacturing plant of large transmissions for buses, tractors, trains, etc. They produce products for Ford, GM, Caterpillar, Mitsubishi and others. They’ll do about $33 million US dollars in revenue with a 2012 goal of hitting $150 million. The plant workers make about $750 per month which is very good wage. We all found it quite interesting that they only produce about 4 transmissions per day with about a 15% margin. The 300 employees were well trained, had a cafeteria and seemed quite happy.

Tonight we are going to group dinner with traditional dance, pottery and of course Indian food. A few of us have grown fond of the pizza and French fries in the lobby restaurant.

Tomorrow we have some site visits and then take a midnight to Hong Kong (8 hours). We’ll land in Hong Kong around Noon the following day. It’s going to be a long day to say the least.

Click on the photo to see about 100 new pictures taken by Lee and Lori. Enjoy.

Rupee

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

In case you didn’t know, the Indian currency is the Rupee. The attached picture of the $500 Rupee is only worth about ten US dollars.

An interesting fact I learned today is that the average Internet Developer makes about $15,000 US dollars per year in Bangalore. A US based IT developer can make anywhere from $50K – 150K per year and higher. It’s no wonder so many US based companies are outsourcing IT development to India.

Also, the average staff person in a hotel in Bangalore makes about $200 per month (yes $200). Imagine living anywhere in the world making $2,400 per year.

We also visited the Dell facility today. Like many US based companies in Bangalore, Dell is growing at an enormous rate. They will interview about 150,000 job candidates in Banglalore and hire about 7,000 this year for the local operation.

Another interesting tidbit. Dell Bangalore will spend about $8 million dollars this year just on transporting employees via bus and taxi from work to home and back.

DSC00287

Originally uploaded by feinbaum.

Click on the photo for more pictures from India.