If you know anything about the Google offices, you can imagine what their Chinese counter part offices might look like. When you walk into Baidu’s HQ, if you look up you will see all these little blue lights that form into what turns into a huge bear paw (their logo). When you go up the stairs it is revealed that the paw is actually 3-D and take the shape of rooms on the second floor. The main part of the ‘paw’ is a conference room, and the smaller parts are relaxation rooms with massage chairs inside. Their day starts at 10AM and the average employee age is 26. Not to shabby.
After our tour we settled in for a presentation with this long-haired man named Kaiser that looked very chill. Turns out, he studied at Berkeley and is very chill. He told us all about why Baidu is an awesome company, and truth be told I am convinced. He explained that despite what people may think, they are neither buddy buddy with the Chinese government nor are they their bitch. Baidu pushes their limits as much as is legally allowed, but within the confines of the law (whatever it may be at that moment). It is a tough terrain to navigate and that became apparent as the talk furthered.
He set the record straight when it came to the relationship between Larry Page and Robin Lee and whilst they are competitors, it is more that they are contemporaries that are inspired and challenged by each other. Baidu doesn’t dis Google just because they are competition, they respect them- especially their innovative projects such as Google Earth. Kaiser said he actually heard someone say, “Go on Baidu and Google it.” Snarf snarf snarf.
We learned a lot during our first experience visiting a Chinese company, and one as powerful as Baidu! It was pretty surreal and we are a lucky bunch of MBA’s.
USF MBA China Study Tour 
I felt guilty visiting Baidu because of our close connection to Google and being a huge fan of Google. The presentation was very open and honest, which I appreciated. I don’t think I agree with China’s censorship, but I understand it more now that we spent some time with Baidu.
Baidu has some international challenges ahead, but it would be interesting to see their progress on their international strategy to see if it would work outside of China.
Yes, I appreciated the open and honest presentation, from which I learned more about the censorship issue from a different perspective. This is the valuable learning experience that we don’t normal get in a classroom setting.
Kaiser was an amazing speaker. He’s right in the sense that any company that wants to do business in China will have to default to clicking “I agree” on the contract with the government. I did not realize how much sensorship has burdened Baidu instead of helped them to gain market share versus Google. Great campus as well.