San Jose is a very interesting city. There is a lot of traffic and congestion. I wish I was able to explore more around here, but unfortunately its not very safe and the streets are dangerous after dark. Javier our tour guide provided us with interesting facts about the culture as we drive from place to place. The country is very green and the view of the mountains outside San Jose is very pretty.It is funny to see American companies and restaurants all over like Burger King, Taco Bell, and Firestone. Even though the exchange rate is low, prices on products in CR are very high. I think water, meals and clothes are about the same price as the US if not more. The water seems fine to drink, so far... Rices and beans seems to be a popular meal here. I am very excited to see the other cities and compare the cultures.
TICO
Our first tour of the trip was at Tico Electronics. It was very informative and interesting. Tico is basically a facility where there is outsourced manufacturing. Compared to the US and their manufacturing facilities, Tico is rather small. There are many different sections, but each combine in an assembly to make a final product such as sleep apnea, airplane joysticks etc. The company is 15 years old and there are 2 plants with 400 employees. Tico thrives on high mix low volume and their customers know exactly what to expect. Their competition is mainly from a duty free area in Mexico which is right next to the US mainland. It was interesting to see that customers find Tico through things such as the web, word of mouth and gov't agencies. When I first saw the company, I did not think it was as popular as it was.
As an HR major, I took notice to the working conditions and was impressed that the climate was controlled for a comfortable environment, good ventilation, as well as exercise, therapy and an on site doctor for the employees. Workers opinions and voices are heard to help their day to day production. They are paid about 8.000 colones an hr which is equal to 4 US dollars.
Tico was a very interesting company in the sense that each employee( labor intensive - low technology) and department played a huge part in keeping the company successful.
INCAE
Our visit to this university was very impressive. It is number one in Latin America and is rated the 20th best schools in the world. This school is very selective and only promote their school through word of mouth and their website. Diversity is very important which I agree with and expereince in the class room is a major goal of the program. I thought it was cool how student must live on campus. The work load is very tough and will have you studying from 8am-2am, very intimidating. Our speaker was very intelligent and I enjoyed listening to him speak about his school's success. He spoke a lot about business protocol which was cool because he explained different contexts in cultures and how it can really affect a business meeting. I really like how the university used non-drinkable water to irrigate the grounds. He also mentioned how the Brewery in Costa Rica was being sustainable and pays upstream farms. Very much enjoyed this campus and made me interested in looking internationally for universities.
Overall it was a very educational day. I really enjoyed Tico in being able to relate my HR knowledge. I am hoping they become more environmental in recycling materials soon though. INCAE was a very beautiful campus and I felt very informed by our speaker. It was a good start to the beginning of exploring Costa Rica's businesses.
Chao!
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