On April 27th, 2009, our company president Jichang (James) Guang held a seminar for a group of Thunderbird MBA students in Park Plaza Hotel, Beijing. Here is what he had to say about it:
At first, I was surprised that so many US executives were interested in China. This group had 44 students ranging from middle level managers with 8 to 10 years of experiences to senior managers alike. They came from a diverse background which made their learning experience more valuable. Although some came from large multi-national corporations like GE and some were on the entrepreneurial path of building their own international distribution channels, they shared one thing in common: they were all interested in learning about China and how it’s impact is reaching the world.
The primary topic for this session was China’s IT industry and in particularly, outsourcing. The seminar lasted 2 hours although we could have discussed issues related to China outsourcing for days. Being that much of China’s metrics regarding outsourcing and IT spending is not published publicly in large publications, I shared with the group many statistics and numbers related to China outsourcing, some of which you can find here. In addition, I interpreted those numbers in relation to it’s current application in the real world and industry as well as personal stories. The later was well accepted with laughs and more questions.
My host, Prof. Roe Goddard was very friendly and felt that we both learned from each other. He has been in China for several years and in his own words considered himself a “generalist” of China. He has collected and acquired a good list of speakers from various backgrounds, such as professors, government officials, and business executives. I was introduced to him by Ms. Connie Hong, the President of Thunderbird Alumni in Beijing, who herself is also a very active in the business world in Beijing.
Throughout our discussion of business and personal life Professor Goddard and I really connected and became good friends.
Thunderbird School of Global Management is a renowned name in US business schools. This year it has again been ranked as the No.1 school for international business in the United States by U.S. News & World Report magazine. This is the 14th consecutive year Thunderbird has earned similar distinctions.
As a former professor at Tsinghua University, China’s MIT, I was very excited to have the honor to speak with a group of prestigious students. It makes me reminiscent of my best times at the university and as a business executive. It also allows me to draw energy from those young, enthusiastic and relentless students.
Looking down from the podium, my eyes were met with so many eyes filled with desire to learn. This made me feel more obligated to provide the best value and insight possible. I was very happy with how the seminar went and the people that I connected with.
I am also delighted that I was invited to give another speech to this great group of students in July.
Category: China IT Pulse, Events, Globalization, News