My Time at CMR (China Market Research Group) By Gavin Cook

WHERE China – Largest country in the world by population – Very, very important country Shanghai – Largest city in China –the “New York” of China to Beijing’s “Washington D.C.” Pudong – China’s “Wall Street” – full of massive skyscrapers and home to offices of powerful multinationals

CMR A boutique consulting firm focusing on market research Founded by Shaun Rein -> Many Fortune-500 clients In many different fields Performs many on-the-ground consumer interviews and conducts lots of primary research for each project

My responsibilities I spent my time preparing “decks” (Powerpoint slides) for a project for a major retail/hotel/restaurant chain preparing to re- enter China – This involved translation from Chinese to English, competitor research, desk research, and occasionally visits to competitors in Shanghai There was limited training as well Most interns get to travel, but we worked almost exclusively on the one project and saw lots of Shanghai

Day in the Life 6 AM – wake up, meditate, arrive in office early 9 AM – begin day, work on research and assembling the “deck” for the client 12 PM – lunch for an hour 1 PM – cold-call Chinese hotels, create table of prices for various services across China 4 PM – short coffee break 6 PM – get take-out dinner 7 PM – present deck to boss, go home 8 PM – read, relax with roommates, update my journal PM - Sleep

On the whole… Learned more about China – Specifically about the Chinese consumer market Learned consulting skills – “Talk of the trade” – Am now very good at Powerpoint – key skill for the industry! Received wonderful mentoring from bosses

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