Calling all [[Michigan (Ross)]] 2008 applicants...

Sounds interesting. What are the most famous Canadian companies? Do the companies mostly produce same products with minor changes in design or there is a constant rate of innovations, what is the competitive edge of Canadian companies in machinery, automotive, plastics? Actually I can hardly recall any product connected with Canada except winter feather coats. Suppose, it could be the same situation like in Russia when we produce mostly for domestic market due to high costs incurred by energy price, cold weather and processes inefficiency. Summed up with local mentality resulting in inconsistency of mass production, this causes less recognition of Russian products outside our country.
I like Canada and UK - in both countries are combined US approach to business and European culture that cause to a very pleasurable environment I with pleasure go for a trip to Canada once in AA.

Tons of cars are made in Canada, a lot of companies especially American car companies have factories and produce tons of cars up there. They also have huge natural gas reserves, gold, diamonds...pretty much if there is something valuable under the ground they have it up there. Americans would recognize far more products that come from Canada than Russia, I think its where you live that you dont realize what they have in the great white north.

Why US companies place manufacturing to Canada? Natural resources, metal, low-price energy? Do Canadian companies develop products on their own or they mostly operate as OEM for US? If we take a look for directions of interest for manufacturing in automotive and electronics, they are: Mexica - cheap labour, China - cheap labour, Taiwan - higher quality than China and also inexpensive + engineers, India - takes the lead from China as the latter is raising wages + engineers. But from those I do not know any Mexican car, nor any great electronics brand, China does perfect job protecting its market and growing up own companies in both sectors - Chery, Great Wall; Lenovo, Taiwan has famous electronics brands - Asus, Acer, Advantech, iEi, India has Tata. And what is the overall country strategy/overview of possible strategies for Canada?

Hi guys .... interestng discusion going on here it looks like we are going to be such a great class of 2010

I just had my interview ... it went kind of ok.... my level of concentration droped a little bit just when he asked the 'why Ross' question so I started rumbling a little bit on that important question

anyways... how do you guys find out the correct spelling of you interviewer to send them a thank you letter? do you call admissions office?

As far as we are in Michigan thread, we try to keep it as close to automotive as possible

Congrats for having an interview! I sent an e-mail after having done a search in Internet with the name of my interviewer. On the first page of google results I found out the correct spelling.

not working for meeee ((

For Michigan, you guys got an email saying that your app has been complete and the adcom is looking forward to reviewing it??


2nd rd. apps..

Unions is a problem for German auto-makers too .

Regarding US auto-makers my friend from India who worked for Ford told that many people spend a lot of time playing Solitaire while at Toyota they would have to work far more efficiently. Found also an article about SQC (Statistical Quality Control) and life of Deming. Deming implemented most of his approaches in Japan that led to TPS (Toyota Production System) and the basis of the system is well known - workers participate in production process, consistently improving it. When the same system was brought into US, it was taken as a "zero defect" and perfect quality but neglected this touchstone with participation. But to grow up this type of participation are needed other elements of Japanese management that are rather difficult to implement in US.

And the greatest comparison that influenced me a lot - when you come to Detroit you see huge towers of steel and metal of famous US auto-makers. Looks solid and expensive. And somewhere in between cities, with a forest near-by there is a hill which covers 2-3 storey building of Toyota engineering center. Toyota doesn't want to show up anything, it wants to produce effectively. And this extends outside US too... In my city to repair Ford car you have to wait at least 3-4 weeks for parts (I had to place my order three times, because for some weird reasons first two times guys at service reception didn't put my order into the system) while Toyota or Peugeot can deliver most in one week or less.

Yes, I had this e-mail that was followed by interview invitation in a week.

My interviewer probably expected me to mis-spell his name, so he spelled it out for me

I found him on Facebook !!!
)) I just searched for his first name (which is a common name I know how to spell) and than I went to 'search U of Mich network'

maybe I should send him a message on Facebook so that he can see that I am a good looking girl
j/k

RED, Canada has a number of famous companies: RIM, the maker of the Blackberry and started by graduates from my university; Bombardier, makers of trains, planes, buses; McDonald Detweiler, maker of the Canada Arm used at the International Space Station; Encana; Manulife; and Imperial Oil. A number of large US companies do alot of development in Canada. Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Rockwell Automation all have huge development centres spread around Canada. In terms of automotive, Canada is not limited to US manufacturers. Right across the street from me is a huge Toyota Manufacturing Complex that produces the Lexus SUV and Corolla among others. A new complex is being built to account for increased demand for Toyotas in North America. The level of skill and competency in Canada is very high with a strong emphasis on internships and accreditation. The factor that effects Canada is its small population. Canada has one-fifth the population of Russia and one-tenth the population of the U.S. Alongwith the harsh winters, this is probably the biggest hinderence to Canada's growth.
I am sure you will enjoy Canada when you visit.

I would like to visit Canada while I am at AA, but unfortunately I will need to get visa to go and I don't know how will that work out. Actually... I am considering moving to Canada post-MBA because I think Toronto is a realy nice place to live with the 2nd highest rate of foreign born citizens from all north american cities (second after Miami), but the only one where no 'visible minority' is dominant. Also I heard it is very clean! And I also think that *maybe* working in management consulting in Toronto recuires less travel than in the US. (I have heard that consultants in Paris work only in Paris and London) ... but in the US you travel everywhere because there are a bunch of big cities In Canada I don't think you have to travel much, at least not outside Ontario

also, for all you people who want to live in the suburbs of AA (like me), here is a map of the parking spaces available for students at UMich https://pts.umich.edu/maps/central_south.pdf
It looks like the closest parking lot is FOUR block away ((( that is so far during the harsh winter months!!!

Darden, has Ross replaced Tuck as your top choice?

R.E.D., one Canadian company that jumps to my mind is Bombardier, Inc., which makes snowmobiles (v.famous for it), planes, locomotives.