Tag: Shanghai

If you’ve noticed a cluster of students moving around Knight Hall and Bauer Hall in similar garb, you’ve caught a glimpse of class spirit from the soon-to-graduate Shanghai EMBA class.

The 66 members of Shanghai EMBA 16 arrived in St. Louis this week for a final week of classes before today’s graduation ceremony. And their orange (for women) and blue (for men) cardigan sweaters turned more than a few heads—thanks to the inspiration of a few class members and the apparel company founded by a classmate.

Members of the EMBA Shanghai class 16
attending a last week of class before graduation on October 26.

“They wanted to be good-looking when they were together taking pictures. And they also wanted a souvenir of their time in the class,” said Linus Fan, founder and owner of Nena apparel company in Guangzhou, China. He put his designers to work, interviewing 10 members of the class for more information about what they wanted.

Then, he rushed the uniforms into production. Within 45 days of hatching the idea, the class had its official uniform—donated by Fan’s company.

“Mainly, we just focused on the sweaters,” he said. “They wanted to be able to wear this for a long time, even after graduating, and something that would be satisfactory for everyday wear—not too formal.”

Fan founded Nena nearly five years ago after a long career in the apparel business and a master’s degree in Manchester, England. After a number of years, he decided he needed a more broad understanding of all aspects of business, which led him to seek his MBA. The reputation of WashU’s EMBA program in partnership with Fudan University—along with its standing among global EMBA rankings—led him to join the Shanghai program.

Fan took a two-hour flight each month to and from Shanghai for his courses while running his company, which employs 215 people focused on apparel design and manufacturing, serving clients who want to market and sell their own lines of apparel in their stores.

The Executive MBA International Residency is often the student favorite of the program’s four required residencies. In between once-in-a-lifetime visits to historic sites in Shanghai and Beijing, EMBA students meet with program alumni and business leaders, exploring China’s unique economy, markets, and global leadership.

EMBA 49 recently returned from the International Management Residency—and if these photos from EMBA Student Services Manager Cory Barron is any indication, it was an exciting experience.

Monday: Facing strategic challenges

After a day of sightseeing at The Great Wall and Forbidden City, students buckled down for business on Monday. They kicked off the residency with site visits to Nestlé’s R&D Center and Xiaozhu.com, the Chinese Airbnb.

Terrell Jones presents his thoughts on the team’s marketing strategy, while team members Mehul Gandhi and Matt Reasor listen. 

Melinda Chu explains her team’s product concept under the scrutiny of Nestlé’s Stanford Lin, VP & Head of Strategy & Business Development, and Roberto Reniero, Head of R&D, Nestlé China.

Next on the agenda was Xiaozhu.com. Founded in 2012, the Chinese version of Airbnb has expanded to branches in 13 cities all over the country, with house sources covering more than 130 domestic cities.

Students learned about the difficulties Xiaozhu initially faced in establishing a sharing culture in China. However, Xiaozhu.com CEO Kelvin Chen says the company is now adding 1,500 new listings per day.

Xiaozhu translates to Piglet. Piglet is a sign of a happy home.

Panlan Shi shows EMBA 49 the floor of coders building Xiaozhu. 

Tuesday: Taking in Shanghai

EMBA 49 took Tuesday to travel (via high-speed train) from Beijing to Shanghai for the rest of the week’s activities. After arriving in Shanghai, the group took in Shanghai’s skyline on a dinner cruise of the Huangpu River.

Jared Ogden passes the time crocheting while speeding south on the train. He says he learned the skill while trapped by a storm in Alaska, where he had plenty of time to learn a new skill. 

A closer look at Jared’s quality craftsmanship.

EMBA 49 cruising on the Huangpu River, which separates the new, glitzy Shanghai Financial District from the older, European architecture of the Bund area.

Wednesday: Exploring consumer preferences & entrepreneurship

With a few site visits under their belt, EMBA 49 was ready to delve deeper into China’s economy. Speakers from Weber Shandwick, McKinsey & Co., Sigmatex, and AmCham covered a myriad of topics, from China’s entrepreneurial digital revolution to Chinese consumers and the regional economy.

Later, students put their negotiations skills to the test with a visit to the Shanghai Fabric Market.

Darren Burns, President of Weber Shandwick–China, describes how his company’s PR and advertising campaigns are reaching the middle-class Chinese consumer online. Using live streaming is a critical part of their strategy for their Western clients trying to join the conversation in China.

Mehul Gandhi looks pleased when his negotiations calculate to an agreeable price at the Shanghai Fabric Market.

John Ortegon negotiates a better price on a new scarf while at the fabric market.

Thursday: Site visit to ZTE Corp. & business panel

EMBA 49 kicked off Thursday with a site visit to ZTE Corp.’s R&D Center. ZTE is the global leader in telecommunications and information technology, achieving an annual revenue of more than $15.3 billion in 2016.

Since 2010, ZTE has been ranked among the world’s Top 3 for patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, so it seemed a natural starting point for Executive MBAs to learn more about corporate innovation.

EMBA received a warm welcome from the staff at the ZTE R&D Center.

EMBA 49 looking sharp in their ZTE lab coats.

The cohort was then treated to a panel discussion featuring leaders from Novus Intl., Dun and Bradstreet, and Qingdao ADR Axles China Manufacturing Co.—two of whom are alumni (Chiara Radrizzani and Jesse Huang, both EMBA Shanghai Class 14 graduates).

At Thursday afternoon’s executive round table, Flemming Mahs, Managing Director of Asia Pacific, Novus Intl.; Huang Jiexi, Privacy and Compliance Director for Asia, Dun and Bradstreet; and Chiara Radrizzani, Asia Pacific CEO, ADR Group, share with EMBA 49 the cultural intricacies of doing business in China. 

Friday and Saturday: Field Studies & Fudan University

EMBA teams spent Friday working on their marketing research projects, breaking out into groups for health care and consumer field study.

The students also got a taste of life as an Executive MBA-Shanghai student, sitting in on a class with Finance Prof. Todd Milbourn and exploring the campus at Fudan University, Olin’s global partner in the Executive MBA-Shanghai degree program.

Friday’s sunrise in Shanghai.

Learn more about the curriculum and residency opportunities in Olin’s Executive MBA program.

Guest blogger: Cory Barron, Student Services Manager, EMBA team

Olin Business School’s Executive MBA program in partnership with Fudan University in China is number seven in the 2017 Financial Times’ annual ranking of the world’s top 100 EMBA programs.This survey marks the sixth consecutive year that the Olin-Fudan EMBA has been ranked in the FT’s top ten global programs.

Alumni of the Olin-Fudan program reported gains in the important areas of salary increase, career progress, and work experience. Olin-Fudan EMBA graduates are among the top earners of the schools in the ranking with an average salary of $360,250, the third highest globally.

“Olin’s partnership with Fudan University pioneered the executive MBA in China in 2002 and has consistently been a leader,” said Mark Taylor, dean of Olin Business School. “The large number of top American and European business schools that have followed us to Asia in recent years are a testament to our successful program and our outstanding alumni who have propelled their global careers to new heights after earning the Olin-Fudan EMBA degree.”

The Financial Times ranking is based on two surveys: one of business schools and one of their alumni who graduated in 2014. Criteria in 16 categories are weighted for the overall ranking. For more on the FT ranking methodology and details of this year’s survey, link to the Oct. 16 edition of the FT.

Learning in the Executive MBA program extends far beyond classroom walls—in this case, to the other side of the world. As part of the curriculum’s four required residencies, EMBA 48 traveled to Shanghai this week for the last half of their International Management Residency, where they explore global economies, markets, and leadership.

Executive MBA Student Services Manager Cory Barron sends this update from the cohort’s last days in China (be sure to check out part one):

The last three days in China for EMBA 48 were a flurry of educational activities. Starting with a tour of the new Johnson & Johnson headquarters building in Shanghai, Dr. Hong Xin, Sr. Director of New Ventures, explained that a major focus of J&J innovation in China is developing drugs to combat China’s top health issue, lung cancer. But she says J&J embraces the non-pharma solution to lower the number of cases with prevention and interception.

EMBA 48 toured Johnson & Johnson’s new headquarters in Shanghai, China.

The class’ next assignment was to travel on their own from J&J to the afternoon business panel discussion on the other side of Shanghai. With maps and a little instruction at the subway station, all successfully traversed the city with little problem.

The afternoon business panel discussion consisted of several WashU Olin alumni, who covered major business topics in China like IP protection and joint ventures, along with expiate adjustments, making for an energetic Q&A with the class.

(Left to right): Jacklin Zeng, DeLage Landen, Shanghai Olin EMBA Class 11; Patty Sun Tsau, Windeson Enterprise, Olin Shanghai EMBA Class 12; and Gloria Rong Gao, Novartis Pharma, Olin Shangai EMBA Class13, listen to Flemming Mahs, Novus International, Olin MBA 1993, talk about life as an expat in China.

EMBA 48 in front of the Pearl Tower in the Pudong Financial District of Shanghai.

Friday was the field study day. A group, consisting largely of those in the health care sector, toured a large urban hospital and a community health clinic. They also had their evidence-based practices challenged when exploring the philosophy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. About ten other EMBAs visited four advertising companies located in the same high rise. The other half of EMBA 48 was assigned local Chinese markets and Western malls to try and discover new branding schemes and store or product concepts.

This day concluded with an optional market and cooking experience. The trip to the market included multi colored eggs, slithering eels, and unique Asian vegetable varieties. They then stretched and twirled the noodle dough, sliced and stir fried the chicken, while others filled and pinched-up dumplings, readying them for the steamer.

Kate Gase, EMBA 48, shares with Katie Hamilton, EMBA 48, some original education materials she found at the First People’s Hospital of Shanghai during the Health Care Field Study.

EMBA 48’s Dan Kohnen and Gail Presswood prepare soup dumplings for the evening meal during their cooking experience class.

We started our last full day in China on Saturday by joining Shanghai Olin EMBA Class 15 at Fudan University. Professor Panos Kouvelis prepped the class for a simulation that the two classes tackled together in teams.

Saturday concluded with the U.S.-based EMBAs presenting their teams’ Field Study findings.

Panos Kouvelis lectures to a joint class of EMBA 48 and Olin Shanghai Class 15 prior to an Operations simulation.

Learn more about the Executive MBA curriculum and residency opportunities. 

Guest blogger: Cory Barron, Student Services Manager, EMBA team

On a rainy day in Shanghai, Executive MBA class 46 visited the company of one of their classmates. Brad Li (EMBA-46 Kansas City), gave the class a rare tour of the ZTE R&D Center in the Pudong high-tech district. ZTE is among the top six smartphone manufacturers in the world. In the U.S., ZTE is number four in smartphone sales. We were greeted by ZTE staff and by a digital marquee in the front lobby welcoming Washington University in St. Louis.

Brad arranged for a three-stage campus visit. We first entered a large display room featuring a broad array of mobile devices, telecommunications systems, and enterprise solutions. ZTE’s Virtual Reality goggles, using the Axon series phone, were a big hit.

Next we toured the Design Center, where ZTE designers were working with different colors, textures, metals, and plastics, to create award-winning designs. Then the EMBAs suited up in lab coats to tour the testing labs, where engineers fine-tuned signal strength, audio sensitivity, and camera resolution.

Tim Rooney, EMBA-46, is captivated by the ZTE VR.

The class was then ushered into the board room to sit down with several ZTE executives. Since it began manufacturing mobile devices in 1998, ZTE has produced over 700 million, and they currently have 72 million active users. ZTE is a Chinese company that is growing rapidly as it expands outside the borders of China. They currently are working with the top 50 carriers across the globe.

EMBA-46 after touring the testing labs at the ZTE R & D Center in Pudong.

Not far from the ZTE campus, and after dodging a few rain drops, EMBA-46 chose from a selection of restaurants in Plaza 96 to grab some lunch. By mid afternoon, we made it up to Morton’s Steak House in the Pudong financial district for the residency’s Business Panel Discussion. Executives from Emerson, Honeywell, Hertz, and Vortorantim Group, discussed their impressions of China’s economy and life as an expat.

Guest blogger: Cory Barron, Student Services Manager, EMBA team

The Washington University-Fudan University Executive MBA (EMBA) program in Shanghai is ranked at #5 in the 2016 Financial Times survey of the top 100 EMBA programs in the world. Among EMBA programs offered in mainland China, the WashU-Fudan program is ranked #2. The new rankings were released Monday, October 17.

The Financial Times survey is based on a wide range of criteria, with a particular focus on student career achievement. Our graduates report salary increases of 49% according to the new 2016 FT survey, which moved our ranking in that category up to #2 from #4 in the global ranking. Another significant category reflects the fact that candidates for the WashU-Fudan EMBA are among the most highly experienced and accomplished executives, moving to #6 from #11 on the global scale of work experience.

“The Washington University-Fudan EMBA program continues to attract a diverse cohort of students each year from multinational companies based in China and throughout Asia,” said Kurt Dirks, Interim Dean of Olin Business School. “We are extremely proud of our partnership with Fudan. Our world-class faculty is dedicated to preparing global leaders who meet the challenges of the 21st century.”

Washington University was one of the first western schools to partner with a Chinese university and introduce executive education to the Asian market in 2002. Based on a rigorous and leadership-focused curriculum, the WashU-Fudan program is taught by members of the Olin and Fudan faculties in Shanghai. In addition to St. Louis and Shanghai, Olin offers Executive MBA programs in Denver, Kansas City, and Mumbai in partnership with IIT Bombay Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management.

Click here for the Financial Times methodology.