CU iBUS (February 2013), CUHK Business School

CU iBUS

Published by the Undergraduate Office, CUHK Business School

February 2013

ASEAN

The Prospective Third Growth Engine in Emerging Asia

In this issue, we will look into why the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) manages to grow in spite of the economic crisis and how other nations outside this region react to its growth.

Faculty Spotlight Prof. Young Danqing MegaBox - Running a shopping mall 101

Also in This Issue 04 A fulfilling trip to Jakarta, Indonesia 06 Malaysia: A stronger player in Asian economy 10 Lightbox - E-devices Collection Day 16 Newsroom Click to download the full issue

From the Editor Business School

UNIVERSITY

Message from the editor

Mar 1 Workshop Business Etiquette

Mar 4 Public Lecture

Welcome to our first issue in the Year of the Snake! In this month’s Cover Story, CU iBUS will take you to the exotic and exciting Southeast Asian countries (take it easy, this will be a quick yet enlightening trip). Our Global Business Studies and International Business and Chinese Enterprise students just returned from their study tours to Malaysia and Indonesia in January.

Let’s follow their adventures here.

Mar 2 Workshop Power to Realize Your Dream Job (4)

Mar

6/8

Mar 6 Public Lecture Mar 7 Public Lecture Mar 9 Public Lecture

PAGE 01

IBBA Concentration Briefing Sessions (Reserve your seat: Mar 6 / Mar 8)

On another point, it has been six months since the revamp of the newsletter and its relaunch as CU iBUS. Do you have any comments on the changes? Were you expecting something different? We’d like to know so our editorial team will be conducting a survey to gather your views. This survey will be distributed on campus in early March and will carry a lucky draw entitling one lucky person a book coupon worth HK$200. Please share with us your thoughts; we look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Mar 8 BBA Alumni Association: Happy Hour Mar 19 Global Leader Series by Mr. John Rice, Vice Chairman of GE

Thank you very much for supporting CU iBUS!

Mar 21 Workshop Presentation Skills Mar 22 Workshop - CV

Dr. Susanna Kwok Editor-in-chief, CU iBUS

Mar 23 / 24 Workshop Leadership Training

cu iBUS February 2013 EDITORIAL

CONTRIBUTORS

Contact us

Editor-in-chief Dr. Susanna Kwok

Mr. CW Chau Ms. Lauren Huleatt Ms. Breezy Jordan Ms. Ada Lai Ms. Anna Leung Ms. Josephine Lo Ms. Rebecca Miles Mr. Christopher Wong

Address Room 616, Cheng Yu Tung Building, 12 Chak Cheung Street, Shatin, N.T.

Members Ms. Carol Ho Mr. Joseph Tong Mr. Nan Yi

Telephone 3943 7746 Email bba@cuhk.edu.hk

Cover Story 01

T

he global economy is apparently shifting from the West to the East, with the economic growth of China and India as the key drivers of this change.

Taking advantage of this foreign capital inflow, the Southeast Asian markets seek to secure a place in emerging Asia. One important stakeholder in this unfolding development is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In this issue, we will look into why ASEAN manages to grow in spite of the economic crisis and how other nations outside this region react to its growth.

ASEAN, established in 1967, is currently comprised of ten nations, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. According to the South-East Asian Economic Outlook 2013 report, the economies of the ten ASEAN states are expected to be robust, returning to the level of growth (5.5%) before the financial tsunami took place. This is even if China’s forecasted economic growth averages 8.3% over the next five years, two percentage points down from the pre-crisis level.

Internal factors carry a heavier weight

Unlike China with its high saving propensity, Southeast Asian countries are a consumption society...

With low interest rates and easy approval of credit cards, the growth in domestic consumption has been rapid and robust.

Prof. Denis Wang, Director of Global Business Studies (GBS) and International Business and Chinese Enterprise (IBCE), believes that ASEAN’s own strengths encourages greater growth over its robust economy.

One contributor is governance which overall has been gradually improving over the past ten years. “Take Thailand as an example,” notes Professor Wang.

“Policies such as the introduction of a minimum wage for workers helps her domestic economic development. In Singapore, the government there is becoming more tolerant of opposition views.”

Growth in domestic demand is said to be another key driver of growth in most ASEAN countries. “Unlike China with its high saving propensity, Southeast Asian countries are a consumption society,” Prof. Wang remarks. “With low interest rates and easy approval of credit cards, the growth in domestic consumption has been rapid and robust.” This is consistent with the view of Rintaro Tamaki, deputy secretary general of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), who has mentioned that ASEAN’s growth will be less reliant on net exports than in the past.

Prof. Wang adds that external factors like the global financial crisis cannot be ignored as foreign investment has flooded the Southeast Asian countries due to higher returns there than elsewhere. In fact, this increase in foreign capital inflows to these countries will eventually become larger than that of China.

base by establishing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in a way similar to the European Union. It is hoped that by 2015 this community can see the free flow of goods, services, investment capital and skilled labor among the member countries while tariffs are reduced to zero or near-zero.

At the CEO Business Forum 2012 this past October in Manila, The Philippines where the conference topic was “The Road to 2015 ASEAN Economic Integration: Maximizing opportunities and facing challenges”, Dr. Lim Hong Hin, Deputy Secretary General for ASEAN, said that the integration provided enormous opportunities no matter for investment or economy efficiency.

It is believed that the increases in intra-regional trade will result in larger economies of scale thus boosting productivity. Production costs will therefore dwindle ASEAN aims for while the pricing of goods become more competitive. an economic community Coupled with increasing foreign investment, more job opportunities will be available in different industries To further strengthen its competitiveness, ASEAN, such as manufacturing. Nevertheless, differences in the third growth engine after China and India within economic development among the ASEAN countries emerging Asia aims for a single market and production pose challenges to economic integration. One

Cover Story 03

Prof. Denis Wang, Director of GBS and IBCE

Income disparity exists within a Southeast Asian Country, where you can see modernised buildings (left) and you can also note the sign of backwardness (above).

example is the huge disparity in GDP per capita. The CIA World Factbook 2012 shows that Singapore, the most advanced ASEAN state, has a per capita income of HK$475K. On the other hand less advanced states like Cambodia are lagging far behind with a per capita income of $19K. Income disparity not only exists across the member countries, but within a single nation as well.

According to the Gini index which portrays the income distribution within a nation, Indonesia’s index has increased from 2009 to 2011 in parallel with its economic growth.

Powers welcome the rise of ASEAN With rapid economic growth in the ASEAN countries, how would other Asian countries like China and Western nations react? Prof. Wang’s view is that China and Japan will compete for a position in Southeast Asian countries given the rather tense relationship between these two powers due to historical reasons and territorial disputes. “China’s economy has

regionalized to include the ASEAN countries,” says Prof. Wang, “[while] under the lead of the new Prime Minster, Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) in China dropped as it has been diverted to Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.”

Prof. Wang adds that the U.S. would welcome the rise of ASEAN as she would love to see the 21st Century, also known as the Asian Century, partly shared with the Southeast Asian nations rather than being monopolized by China. “Unlike China which can offer loans to Asian countries like Cambodia with low interest, the U.S. no longer has a great deal of capital for trade or donation (in Asia). The rise of ASEAN would therefore make the mission of the U.S. less strenuous.”

To allow students to gain direct insights into the Southeast Asian markets, two study tours to two ASEAN member states were organized in early January. Led by Mr. John Lai, Associate Director of GBS and IBCE, a group of sixteen IBCE students visited Jakarta, Indonesia from January 3 to 8, 2013 while 53 GBS students learned about the latest developments in Malaysia from January 8 to 12, 2013.

http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/prog/ibce/blog/a-fulfilling-trip-to-jakarta-indonesia.html

A fulfilling trip to Jakarta, Indonesia Like · Comment · Share ·

75 · Wednesday, January 23 , 2013

You can see women in brightly-colored headscarves going about their business under the hot and humid weather. You can hear music coming from inside the domed mosques, accompanied by the low chant of noontime prayers. You can smell the aroma of nasi goreng from street food hawkers wafting through the air.

Can you guess what place this is? Bingo! It’s Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, to which we, the IBCE students, visited for one week in early January.

How much do you know about Indonesia? Did you know it is the fourth most populous nation on Earth? Did you know it is rich in agricultural products—rice, rubber, and cocoa? Actually, much of the country’s revenue comes from the industrial sector which includes mining, textiles, and footwear. Meanwhile, services account for about 48.9% of Indonesia’s total employment. This percentage is similar to that of more mature economies.

We learned in class that the rising Asian economies, especially India and China, have increased demand for resources from Indonesia especially coal and oil. This learning was reiterated during our visit to the Adaro Group. This company is the key supplier of low sulphur “envirocoal” to the Castle Peak Power Station in Hong Kong.

More young Indonesians are migrating to cities in pursuit of education or highpaying jobs. This trend, no doubt, will significantly raise the value of the country’s human capital. However, to facilitate this trend, greater government investment in education is both necessary and overdue. According to the Faculty of Economics at Universitas Indonesia, the country’s current shortage of well-qualified job applicants makes it nearly impossible for companies to adequately fill management positions.

To further facilitate her economic development, we believe that Indonesia has to step up its efforts in improving its infrastructure. Poor road maintenance and congested traffic cut down on efficiency. You know what? We were late, for 30 minutes on average, for appointments with local companies during our weeklong trip as the traffic was really unpredictable. @.@ Indeed, connecting all the islands within the Indonesian archipelago is a daunting task, but is necessary in order to ensure wider availability of goods and services. An intensive distribution network can be costly and difficult to achieve, but for companies which have done so such as Indofood, one of the Indonesian companies we visited, it can be one of the core competencies they employ to differentiate themselves against their competitors.

Due to its highly fragmented nature, it is not surprising to find extreme economic and developmental differences between the most extreme eastern and western islands. Thus far, modernization has penetrated only the eastern islands and cities of significant size. Improved telecommunication infrastructure and internet access in the smaller and westernmost islands would go a long way towards addressing this issue.

by Lauren Huleatt (IBCE, Year 4) Breezy Jordan (IBCE, Year 4) Josephine Lo (IBCE, Year 3) Rebecca Miles (IBCE, Year 4) Christopher Wong (IBCE, Year 3)

05 Credit: IBCE Editorial Team

INDONESIA Capital

Population

Independence Day (from the Netherlands)

Life expectancy at birth

Jakarta August 17, 1945

242.3 million 69 years

Currency

Indonesian rupiah (IDR) 1 HKD = 1,251 IDR

Sources: Lonely Planet and World Bank

A stronger player in Asian economy

M A L AY S I A Capital

Population

Independence Day (from Great Britain)

Life expectancy at birth

Kuala Lumpur August 31, 1957

29 million 74 years

Currency

Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) 1 HKD = 0.40 MYR

Source: CIA Factbook

Cover Story 07 With visits to multinational and local corporations spanning across industries and sightseeing spots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a group of 53 GBS students uncover those favorable governance attributes that contribute to the rocketing economy while a larger multi-lingual workforce is needed to maintain this rapid economic growth.

Improved governance as a key driver “Malaysia is attractive as there has been strong domestic demand that has fueled strong GDP growth as forecast by the Bank Negara (the Central Bank of Malaysia)”. Mr John Lai, Associate Director of GBS and IBCE, explains as the reason why the Malaysian economy is flourishing. “Also, there has been greater market transparency and integrity by the government in fighting corruption and in practicing good governance. These help in attracting FDIs”. Anna Leung, a Year 2 GBS student, noted after visiting the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), that “the local government is keen to attract foreign investments. Their pro-investment policies, such as

full foreign equity ownership and full repatriation of profits, are very impressive”. Anna further says that Malaysia’s multi-ethnic and multi-lingual workforce appears to be a decided plus for foreign investors as it makes the collaboration between expatriates and the locals a relatively easy activity.

As the government opens the door for investors and foreign investments keep flowing in, these newly entering businesses and business people are elevating Malaysia into a regional hub. Joining this league are well-established companies like GE Aviation, a manufacturer of jet engines, and IBM, a technology and consulting corporation.

To make the services industry an even bigger slice in the economy, Malaysia is currently undergoing the Economic Transformation Program (ETP). It is hoped that by 2020, Malaysia will become a high-income nation, with its GNI per capita growing to USD15,000, along with the creation of more than 3.3 million new jobs.

Shortage of labor to be addressed The glamour obscures vulnerabilities. Anna expressed that “it is rather absurd that Petronas, the state-owned oil company and one of the largest corporations among the Fortune Global 500 has to pay a ‘special dividend’ to the government, contributing around 40% of the fiscal budget.” Not only does this hinder this full-fledged commercial organization from reaching its potential, it also obscures the fact that Malaysia is running a serious fiscal deficit.

The real challenge however is perhaps the shortage of labour. The GBS students learned from the COO of Fella Design, a local manufacturer of sofa sets and household furnishings, that while Malaysia’s multilingual workforce is of good quality, its workforce with similarly educated and trained individuals needs to be expanded in order to support an economy that is rapidly growing.

Mr. John Lai, Associate Director of GBS and IBCE

The Malaysian economy is anchored to its oil and gas industry as well as the rising petrochemical sector.

Over-reliance on one particular industry such as the oil industry may prompt worries. But the Malaysian government has already identified twelve National Key Economic Areas, including tourism, healthcare and financial services, to diversify its economy. Together with measures outlined in the ETP, Malaysia is on track to overcoming these challenges and becoming a player stronger than ever.

Faculty Spotlight

Prof. Young Danqing Director School of Accountancy

| Born in Shanghai on Oct 23 | Serving CUHK since 1998

About your profession

About CUHK

What drove you to choose accounting as your profession?

My education background (Management science and Economics) suits me well for pursuing a PhD in Accounting or Finance. After I talked to some accounting and finance professors at the University of Connecticut, I found I liked the accounting department better, so I joined the accounting PhD program there.

In what ways do you find CUHK students different from their counterparts in Mainland universities?

From my very limited observations, CUHK students seem more relaxed and less anxious than students in the Mainland universities.

Is being a professor what you always dreamed of?

It probably was not. If I could start again, I would choose to be a medical scientist. However, I still think being an academic is a good profession.

What is your favorite corner at CUHK? It is the Pavilion of Harmony (合一亭) in the New Asia College.

I can never enjoy such beautiful scenery enough.

Do you have any advice for PACC students?

Read ten thousand scrolls; walked a thousand miles. (讀萬卷書，行萬里路。) When you build up knowledge and accumulate life experiences, good opportunities will come and when they do, you will be able to take advantage of the opportunities.

What was your impression of CUHK when you first joined this University?

That it’s a beautiful campus with good students.

About yourself

What was the topic of your most recent research or publication? Why are you interested in this topic?

My most recent publications examine whether the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) improves cross-border information comparability and investment efficiency. I am interested in these topics because IFRS adoption is one of the most important financial reporting regulations in recent years. Understanding its effects is important for evaluating the aggregate costs and benefits of this regulation.

Is there a book, song, or movie you would like to recommend to our students? Please elaborate.

For books, I recommend the Dream of the Red Chamber (《 紅樓夢 》). I first read it when I was 15, and I still read it once in a while.

Have you ever failed any students? Why? Not yet.

(Question suggested by Dr. Susanna Kwok) What is your motto?

Be happy with what you have.

For movies, I would recommend that students watch those that are based on classical masterpieces. Les Misérables is a good example of one. Such movies will help you understand and think deeply about human nature, life, and society.

Advertisement 09

Jan

29-30 E-devices Collection Day

On Collection Day, January 29 and 30, a total of 197 pieces of electronic waste were received on campus by our co-organizer Caritas Computer Workshop (click for more).

Many thanks for your contribution!

Have you ever wondered where your contributions would go? For usable items, Caritas donates them to individuals or to other charity organizations that can use them. For those that are not, their parts would be sold to recycling depots with revenues from such sales supporting the Workshop’s daily operations.

C AU T I ON Toxic substances typically found in electronic waste: arsenic

brominated flame retardants (BFRs)

mercury

phthalates

polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

& elemental

bromine

chlorine

Lightbox 11

“The most difficult part of environmental protection is to get everyone into action. At Caritas, we not only promote the spirit of environmental protection, but also offer a channel where the public can take action conveniently. That’s why we have collaborated with CUHK in setting up a collection booth here.”

Mr. Lau Lu Keung Project Manager, Caritas Computer Recycling Project

MegaBox

Running a

Shopping Mall 101 building

tenants

mall

customers

“From time to time we need to take care of the four aspects of a shopping mall— the building, the mall, the tenants, and the customers.”

Hong Kong Brand Series #07 Brought to you by the Department of Marketing, CUHK Business School CU: Prof. Leo Sin, Dr. Susanna Kwok, Department of Marketing MB: Mr. Chu Ip Pui, Executive Director of Kerry Properties (Hong Kong) Limited (Click here for the full version at University Hall of Branding, Chinese version only)

Mr. Chu Ip Pui, Executive Director of Kerry Properties Credit: Ming Pao

H

ong Kong is truly a shopping paradise. Can you guess how many shopping malls there are in our fair city? Over 300! All these shopping malls total 40 million square feet of retail space, and grows by another two million square feet each year. Facing fierce competition from each other, shopping malls try their best to get customers to pay a visit.

Unfortunately, MegaBox was launched with a huge disadvantage—its isolated location away from the MTR in the Kowloon Bay industrial area. Five years later, not only has it survived, but turns out to be thriving and popular in Kowloon East. What could we learn from MegaBox? Mr. Chu Ip Pui, Executive Director of Kerry Properties, is here to show you some of the basics in successfully running a shopping mall.

Built out of nothing CU: How did you decide to open a shopping mall here?

MB: Owned by Kerry Properties Limited, the land had been vacant for many years before we met in 2001 to discuss what to build. It’s easier to build an office building. For leasing, office buildings generate longterm and stable revenues. However, we noted that there were already 11 million square feet of office

Front Row 13

Turning negative into positive Kerry Properties identified several disadvantages at the earliest stages of planning for constructing the MegaBox: limited site area, inconvenient location, competition from the nearby Telford Plaza, apm and the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre. To survive and avoid direct competition, MegaBox planned a unique architectural design and tenant portfolio so as to complement the other malls.

Negative

Positive

Limited site area

In order to achieve enough retail area, MegaBox goes vertical. It is a 19-storey mega-mall designed with high ceilings and large shops to attract some of the international retail brands.

Inconvenient location

MegaBox offers a total of 1,000 parking spaces on the 8th, 9th, 14th and 15th floors. Taking advantage of its circling driveway, drivers easily get access to higher floors and literally “park and shop�. In return, MegaBox benefits from the shower effect that drivers enter into the mall from higher floors first.

Competition

To differentiate MegaBox from its rivals, MegaBox houses some of the newest and largest shops in Hong Kong.

The top five largest shopping malls in Hong Kong

Credit: Ming Pao

Rank Shopping Mall

Gross Floor Area (sq. ft.)

1

Harbour City

2,000,000

2

New Town Plaza

1,390,000

3

MegaBox

1,100,000

3

Cityplaza

1,100,000

5

Elements

1,000,000

5

tmtplaza

1,000,000

building space around us. Imagine those who worked here in Kowloon Bay, where did they dine during lunch time and where did they go to shop after work?

Hence, we decided to open a shopping mall, a mall combining dining, entertainment and parking. By pulling people into this area, we’d become a gathering spot here in Kowloon Bay.

Transformed over time CU: What does the name MegaBox stand for?

MB: A sound name opens the door to the customers.

Our name and logo deliver two simple key concepts about our mall—giant in shape and red in color. The mall itself is large, as are the shops inside, while the Having agreed on what to build, we spent 30 months exterior and interior are decorated in a bright shade of red, bright enough to draw the attention of those on the construction. As soon as construction started, living on Hong Kong Island. In this way, we proudly we began by reaching out to merchants who might presented our red mega-mall to Hong Kong. And the want to be among our first batch of tenants. Back in 2002, that was five years ahead of our opening, we had building itself became a powerful symbol of MegaBox. already signed B&Q. To have experienced retailers like CU: How did you position the mall during the early days B&Q among our first tenants would be helpful to our success by actively involving them in our pre-opening of operation? Has your positioning evolved over time? phase. They could even help us improve our interior MB: We position ourselves as a regional family mall. design. Two years ahead of the opening, we started Through our design of Totally Connected Modules, we creating buzz to promote our mall. By the time we integrate a free-flow of visitor traffic, vehicles, and the were ready for the tenants to move in, we achieved approximately 80% occupancy. By then, the mall was scenic vistas across Kowloon and Hong Kong Island busy—we sent out three separate teams at the same into our mall, providing a place for families to shop and explore. Our primary target customers are local time to look after our tenants’ needs in leasing, families, and secondary targets the youngsters and construction, and promotion, respectively. those who work nearby. Based on our positioning, our mall is strategically divided vertically into five zones: fashion zone, home zone, family zone, eat and

Front Row 15

The mall itself is large, as are the shops inside, while the exterior and interior are decorated in a bright shade of red, bright enough to draw the attention of those living on Hong Kong Island.

Kong, it is hard for shoppers to find a mall that is comfortable to navigate while offering good value for money. In view of this, MegaBox tries to establish a welcoming shopping environment and to interact with our visitors. Bearing in mind one of our core values is our family friendly orientation, we invited families to have their photos taken in front of our specially designed photo stands on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. These touching photos would be then immediately shown on the mega-LED screen in the mall. Staying close with our consumers, we made our guests part of the mall, and our mall part of their memories.

So now you know from time to time we need to take care of the four aspects of a shopping mall—the building, the mall, the tenants, and the customers, and how we do it at MegaBox.

entertainment zone, and wellness zone. To cater to our target customers, we house relatively more dining outlets and shops for children when you compare our tenant mix to those of competing malls.

To me, shopping malls need to be updated every two years, and totally refreshed every five. MegaBox has evolved quickly. In less time than a typical lease term, the tenant portfolio in MegaBox changed dramatically with the addition of IKEA, JUSCO, Toys“R”Us, H&M and Sasa as our new shops. Through these new tenants, our portfolio becomes even more attractive to our target consumers.

CU: Would you share with us your plans for the future?

MB: We will continue our process of refreshing our tenant portfolio. In the long-term, MegaBox can further take advantage of the Government’s Energizing Kowloon East scheme. With the redevelopment of Kai Tak, the cruise terminal, the Zero Carbon Building, revitalization of industrial buildings and a bundle of new high grade office buildings and residential areas, extremely high visitor traffic is expected at MegaBox. BEHIND-THE-SCENES

Eye on the future CU: How do you promote the mall?

MB: We take into account differing priorities when promoting a shopping mall. First of all, before our official opening, we focus on B2B, that is to promote our mall to our potential tenants. Having signed with our tenants, we ask them one by one to participate in our press conferences. Through this practical way, we presented each and every shop to the public individually. We showed Hong Kong who we are, what we offer and what the discounts are. We successfully announced our launch to the entire city.

Once we built up awareness, we generated more buzz through organizing various promotional activities and offering discounts. For example, we offered free parking and gasoline coupons to compensate drivers, a key target segment with high income for us.

Among the many luxurious shopping malls in Hong

Brand Positioning The objective of positioning is to create a unique brand image or identity in the minds of its target customers. To do so first requires the target market to be clearly defined, after which it relies on the establishment of a unique selling proposition that is communicated to the target segment.

Next issue: Tao Heung

Glory in a simulation challenge 1 Date: Friday, January 25, 2013

1

2

A group of IBBA and BBA-JD students won the third prize of the Global Management Challenge (National Final) held on January 25 at the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf Exhibition Center. The team comprising Alvin Tsoi (IBBA, Year 3), Jeffrey Chan (BBA-JD, Year 1), Angel Hon (IBBA, Year 1) and Baron Hui (IBBA, Year 1) named themselves 5** Sapphire. They chose this name to reflect their aspiration to drive for the best in the business world while promoting kindness in society.

Angel Hon attributed their success to their perseverance and mutual support among the team members. The Challenge, jointly organized by Macau Management Association and Simuladores e Modelos de Gestão, is a strategic management competition that tests the management acumen of university students and working executives by assessing their performance in running a simulated company in terms of the company share price performance on a simulated stock exchange.

Geared up for case cracking 2 Date: Saturday, January 19, 26 and February 2, 2013

3

4

About twenty students who were among the finalists of the Academic Cup 2012 can now formulate strategic tactics in cracking (or analyzing) a case the next time they take part in a case competition. This is thanks to a case analysis workshop organized by the Undergraduate Office of CUHK Business School.

With trainer Walden Lam, a BBA alumnus and currently consultant with OC&C Strategy Consultants, the three session workshop held on consecutive weekends from late January to early February covered the “golden rule” in case cracking; this rule involves situational analysis, option generation and implementation.

Participating students were also taught to identify the unique and unambiguous key issues such as objectives, limitations and key questions facing the management when first solving a specific case. The workshop ended with a case cracking exercise which allowed participants to put into practice the knowledge and techniques they learned.

This month Matt Ng is taking a break from his monthly article describing his experiences and travels all over the world.

But he will be back next month with a new story about his adventures and his unique take on life.

Newsroom 17

The right person for the right job

Formal Menswear Workshop by the Department of Finance 4

Date: Monday, February 18, 2013

Date: Thursday, February 7, 2013

Forty undergraduate business students now have a better understanding of their personalities and can better develop their career dimensions with this knowledge after attending a career mapping workshop held on February 18, 2013. Participating students were tested on a psychometric instrument called iPersonic that identified their own personality type. In addition, Mr. William Ho and Ms. Elizabeth Chan, two veteran leadership coaching and mentoring trainers, then helped students identify their ideal career choice given their personality type that the iPersonic instrument identified. Participants also picked up some tips on how to match their personality with a wide range of jobs along with advice on how to get the “right” job.

What makes a formal suit? How casual is business casual? The Department of Finance organized two workshops on classic men’s dressing hosted by Mr. Mark Cho, founder of The Armoury, a traditional menswear tailor. The workshops covered jacket and trouser types, appropriate fit and proportions, clothing maintenance, shoe styles and maintenance, style and formality as well as useful tips on color combinations. A total of 24 undergraduate and MSc in Finance students joined this highly interactive and informative talk, gaining much needed advice on how to dress appropriately whether it is for that allimportant first interview or an impromptu networking cocktail after work.

GBS / IBCE Spring Dinner Gathering 3 Date: Thursday, February 21, 2013

GBS / IBCE Spring Dinner 2013 was held on February 21 in Sha Tin. More than 120 students from GBS, IBCE and the partner universities of the two programs attended this international event.

Professor T.J. Wong, Dean of CUHK Business School, also joined the big gathering. He expressed his happiness with the two global business programs, and envisioned making the business school even more globalized by admitting more international students and increasing the percentage of local students who go on student exchange to universities overseas.

5

Outreach efforts— admission talks Date

School / Event

Speaker

Feb 4

St. Paul’s Co-educational College

Prof. Chow Ying-foon 5, Co-Director of QFIN / QFRM / GLEF Mr. John Lai, Associate Director of GBS / IBCE

Feb 20 SKH Bishop Mok Sau Tseng Secondary School

Mr. CW Chau, Project Coordinator

Feb 22 PLK Gifted and Talented Programme for S5 Students

Dr. Andrew Yuen, Assistant Dean

Feb 23-25

Dr. Andrew Yuen, Assistant Dean Prof. Jason Yeh, Department of Finance

Promotional Activities in Taipei