Final Thoughts Before We Sign Off

The time was way too short or else things went too quickly, but it was great to see another slice of business and the different ways that culture and governments effect how it’s conducted in other countries. Despite some computer issues and internet access, posting blogs has been challenging, but we’ve managed to capture it all…even if it wasn’t as “real time” as we’d hoped.

It was also nice to get to know our classmates in the Regional 26 class with whom we’ll graduate in June – we’ve made some great friends with these folks and grown closer with the NA-11s on the trip.

In closing we want to thank a few people who worked hard to make the trip happen despite the scare with the earthquake that threatened to take it away: our executive program director, Louise; Belina – the assistant director and the person who organized the trip for the international forum along with Dick Moxon, faculty advisor, who led the course. Thank you Camille and Shirley, who made our bus rides interesting and managed to keep most of us in line and on time.

Buenos Aires Day 5 – Farewell Dinner and Tango Show

With the lesson behind us it was time to see the professionals take the floor. But first we enjoyed a great dinner right below the stage inside the theater. More steak. But we tried a few other things too! After dessert and coffee, the dancers took the stage and were amazing! One of the dancers looked like Professor Greg Bigley, but the eyeliner gave it away…Bigley wasn’t here. But we did catch Bob Bowen trying on a tango dancer’s hat. A couple of dramatic soloists rounded out a very lively show of singing and dancing.

And now we’re sitting in our room finally getting all of our posts loaded up so we can close this blog before Julie returns tomorrow night after the city tour. Lisa’s heading to Uruguay for a little side jaunt and a couple of extra days in BA. It’s been a great trip!

Buenos Aires Day 5 – Tango Lessons

Some quick duty shopping -- mostly helping the guys pick out handbags for their wives -- and the evening's festivities were underway.

One highlight of this trip was seeing everyone try to tango! On this the last night for many of the group, we arrived at the Viazzolla Tango, a gorgeous historical theater in the financial district of town. Many people were pretty apprehensive about the tango lesson, but in short order everyone was laughing and giving it a shot. We had some pretty good dancers in our midst – Ming, Maju Kuruvilla, Megan Lum, Brian, Christine Dalton, and Bob Bowen, and his wife Jane Kennedy. Rahme apparently was born with the intense gaze of a tango dancer…at least the instructor said so.

They broke it down for us and then came around and practiced with us. We both got a turn with professional guy who made us feel like we knew what we were doing. Great fun!

We captured a short clip of Bob and Jane practicing!

Buenos Aires Day 5 – A Pretty Cool Software Development Company

The next stop was Globant, an innovative software development company formed in 2003 with four founders and $3,000 total investment. The speaker was Guillermo Marsicovetere, who is their chief business officer who was coaxed out of retirement to join the company. The company’s services include software for game consoles, online games, and digital marketing.

Today, the company has about 2,000 employees worldwide and hires at a rate of about 150 people per month to service their clients; of those, about 12 people are let go rather than letting under performers eat at the bottom line. The company currently has 600 jobs open.

Revenues were at about $50 million in 2009 and estimates $75 million in 2010; by 2011, the company expects to be at $150 million and seems poised to reach their goal. The client roster includes some impressive names including Nike, Coca Cola, YouTube, and Google (he mentioned that they have 60 projects a day in process for them). The company considers itself a niche service focused high quality products, cheap price, and high volume. It’s strategy is to focus on big clients to create demand…and it appears to have been successful.

Globant’s manifesto is:
- Act ethically
- Think big
- Constantly innovate
- Aim for excellence in your work
- Be a team player
- Have fun

This sets the tone for this unique company. By the way, a handful of the class sat on the floor on bean bags in a room complete with a foosball table and a ping pong table. There were also creative suites called innovation rooms with white boards, guitars, and other musical instruments and toys where their developers are encouraged to go to blow off steam and be creative. You could tell the place was creative and vibrant when you walked in the door. This is one company to watch.

Buenos Aires Day 5 – An Inedible Meal…For Some

After the hospital visit, we boarded our bus for the next stop – a restaurant along the River Plate called La Potota. What we didn’t expect is what was put on the table. A heaping hotplate of cow parts that was literally everything from the testicles to the snout.

Our table mates, Rob and Shaun, ate like it was their last meal attempting to identify the parts AFTER they were already chewing. Rob’s quote – “This is the best mix of beef parts I’ve ever had.” We enjoyed the ice cream for dessert. Enough said.

Buenos Aires Day 5 – Friday Finally…A Hospital Visit (no one was hurt)

Our first stop was at Universidad Austral, a teaching and research hospital operated as a Catholic non-profit. The hospital provides medical care, teaches new healthcare professionals, and conducts medical research. The speaker was Alfredo Lepena, the hospital’s financial director. A main point in terms of how they are operated is that they receive money from private donations, fundraisers, and fees charged to paying patients, but they don’t receive any money from the government’s public healthcare system.

Since opening in May 2000, the hospital has enjoyed a 15-20% compounded growth rate and revenues of $178M pesos (about $47 million in U.S. dollars); this is considered significant for a hospital. These revenues are enough to sustain the business but not enough to expand, which is why donations and fundraising are important.

Of their patients, 70% have industrial (private) medical insurance, 10% is the private sector/uninsured, and 20% unions and government coverage. The hospital is required to treat a case enough to sustain them, but is not required to keep them as a patient is they’re not able to pay – a little different from what we have in the States.

UA is considered the 4th largest hospital in terms of revenue in 2008-2009 in Latin America, and the hospital was also rated the 4th best institution with regard to quality, service, and safety of patients. A few more stats:
- The size of the facility is 8 floors and 8,000 square meters with seven operating rooms, 131 hospital beds in single rooms
- 13,157 monthly emergency room visits on average; about 820 surgeries per month; 75 liver, kidney and bone marrow transplants per year
- 1,600 employees, including 540 physicians, 325 professional nurses who he called “The Angels”, 227 technicians, and the remainder are admissions, general services and maintenance, and administrative support
- 300,000 served patients since May 2000
- Specialties include transplants, cardiovascular diagnosis and surgery, craniofacial and bariatric surgeries and more.
- Interestingly, a cardio surgery in the U.S. would cost about $100K and about $10-20K at this hospital with the same quality.
- The hospital has a number of expansion plans coming up thanks to donations.

Lee Burnside, our classmate and vacationing physician, commented on how impressed he was with the facilities and the hospital’s success in the short time that it’s been open. Great diagnosis for this interesting visit!

Buenos Aires Day 4 – Dinner at Puerto Madera…and a Rogue Suitcase Returns

After our afternoon session, the class went several different ways – some took naps, one got a massage, and others went shopping! As we gathered in the lobby for dinner, a thrilled Erik came running down the stairs to be reunited with his long-lost luggage! He’s been out of the country for six days and didn’t have it. We captured this moment beautifully!

Several of us then jumped into a cab to catch up with some of the others at a traditional Argentine restaurant called Happenings. Ming Lu, Shaun, Julie, and Lisa grabbed a big table for the remaining people who never showed up…their loss!

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner sharing appetizers and desserts, and had a good laugh when Ming put tartar sauce on his bread saying “it’s all butter to me!”

Following our big steaks we were struggling with some dental issues. After hair didn’t substitute for dental floss, Julie broke out Boeing business cards and we both went to work. Our waiter, probably disgusted by this display of American manners, graciously brought us a bunch of toothpicks…but not before Julie caught it on camera.

The real highlight was Shaun claiming that the men’s room urinal was good for two purposes – its intended use AND filling up a water bottle. Hmmm. We had to trust him on that one!