With the incredible boom in construction and manufacturing in China, steel is one commodity that is in great demand. Therefore, the steel industry is at the core fo the Chinese economy. We went out of Shanghai to visit Bao Steel and drove into a vast industrial area close tothe Shanghai port to enter the company's industrial complex. The Bao Group owns many other enterprises, once of them being the hotel we had our lecture at. We were met by the deputry manager of one of the steel plants who spoke no English and had no lecture prepared for us. He clearly was told only to welcome us and take us on a tour. When our students proceeded to ask him tons of questions, he seemed somewhat taken back by it. And, oh by the way, he received several phone calls on his cell phone while talking to us and proceeded to answer them! At the end of his talk and our short Q&A, he took us on a tour of one of the plants which was undergoing maintenance work, so we saw no production taking place. Even then, we could not take any pictures and were rushed through the facility quickly with zero explanation as to what we saw!
Bao Steel is one of the largest and richest companies in China. It is run by a woman nicknamed "the Iron Lady" who is an anomaly in Chinese business since she is an engineer who came up from the ranks to head this huge conglamorate.
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