My HKUMBA Experience

I'm "Homecoming" :)

2011-06-27T16:03:00.006+08:00

Event: FBE Homecoming Dinner
Date: June 25, 2011
Time: 6:30pm - 10:00pm
Venue: Luke Yew Hall

I brought the book of “The Economic System of China written by Professor Steven Ng-Sheong Cheung” with me and hoping that I could get a autography from Professor Cheung but I guess you would know the result from the photo….....hm!

However, with the company of 1998 Dominus Estate (USA, California, Napa Valley), just nothing to complain about! Cheers!

Miss you much!

2010-03-16T16:43:00.006+08:00

I miss my school days so much........!

Yes, I miss the days when I totally devoted myself to my MBA life, not purely studying but interconnecting with lecturers, classmates, teammates, books, assignments, events and so. I wonder if it is too desperate in telling everybody that the time I spent in studying the MBA degree is the happiest moment that I ever experienced. It's so excited whenever the receipt of new data that keeps challenging my existing belief or perception. Something that I used to perceive as “boring” may turn out to be funny. Others perceived as absolute right may suddenly change into unlikely. I honor the new spectrum that brings into my life so much.......! Or more precisely that I miss those "high quality brainstorming”so much........!

MBA Graduation is on its way.........haha

2009-11-25T14:02:00.001+08:00

Management ideology tell the difference

2009-07-16T13:06:00.004+08:00

I don't know why but I just keep thinking about one of our Professors’ statement for months and the statement is “The China banking system which supposed to be the worse of the kind before the Credit Crunch seemed to become the strongest and safest one suddenly right after the crisis!”

Firstly, I am asking myself if I agreed with the statement. Well, from system-wise point of view, the answer is definitely NO! Hey, don't you remember around a decade ago, we were discussing about the NPLs ratio in the China banking system? It is still the argument that goes against the recent credit extension. However, from what we observed in reality so far (ever since the occurrence of credit crunch), the answer is probably YES, but why?

Provided that there is no change in the system flow nor the process, I cannot explain it from the angle of system improvement or value-added process in the banking system.

As again, there is no change in the management culture or style behind the scene, I don't agree neither that the reliance on kinsmanship, guanxi or family connections which are the stereotypes of the Chinese or Asian management style is the underlying stabilizer, hence where is the clue?

In my opinion, it is the ideology that backup the banking system. Under the state of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the banking explicit system itself was constructed in western style, the implicit management ideology behind is purely Chinese. Hence, the China Banking System itself cannot be solely explained according to the western management theory. Say for example, Policy Bank in China (China Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of China and Agricultural Development Bank of China), which is alien in the free market society, is working on projects that aimed for maximizing social utility in the long run rather than tracing the short term profit gains so as to keep them where they are. With fundamental differences in aims/objectives, it is not difficult to explain the differences in the outcomes.

There maybe black swans but most banks in China were not behaved much in the same way as those banks in the west except the outlook. Even they did eat up toxic assets; they did it in a comparatively more prudent way than their rivals in the rest of the world. Hence, they are comparatively saved from the crisis this time. With lesser toxic assets, it is understandable why China Banking System suddenly became stronger and healthier after the crisis in a comparative sense.

The blending of Chinese and Western Management Theories

2009-07-06T13:05:00.002+08:00

Right after finishing my last module in my MBA study, I got the chance to study our company internal management course that started in early June this year, mentored directly by our Group President who challenged the practicality of MBA.

Before the class, we were required to understand the western theory of Maslow, A.H plus the eastern philosophy of Confucius -The Analects and Lao Tzu. For me, these eastern philosophy can be classified under the category of self motivation. Just like the Chinese medicine that aimed to stimulate body internal immune system to do whatever it wants, the potential within is unlimited and multiple but depending on receiver's perceptibility. They are the implicit kind of theories. When things go wrong, the weakness of the person's perceptibility will be refined.

In contrast, within the MBA course, we are studying the standard model/system/evolution of different subjects that can satisfy/represent the norm, just like the pain killer in the Western medicine, simple and straight forward in pain killing. When things go wrong, the system/process that are using will be re-examined.

Just like most of the modern Chinese in Hong Kong, they always switching and interchangeably from Western to Chinese Medicine or vice versa whenever they think fit and it works! Hence, why we can't apply both Chinese and Western Management theories and use it interchangeably to cope with our daily management needs?

High Table Dinner

2009-06-16T17:23:00.002+08:00

I wonder the attached URL is a good reference source for all High Table Dinner organizers.
http://www3.hku.hk/uhall/tradition.php

Participants of the High Table Dinner are expected to be offered the valuable chance to learn from the speech by the Guest of Honor. Usually there will be a theme/topic for speech or discussion. Chances to exchange idea and opinion among fellows on the selected topic are nurtured. More, it's better not to be a mere singing performance with some entertaining games, as you don't need to join a High Table Dinner just to listen to a few singers' song right!

Think smart?

2009-06-15T18:41:00.002+08:00

Being a Chinese, I was taught ever since my childhood to obey and accept all kinds of fate peacefully. Hence, when MNC Professor said “You have to realize what to do and what better chose not to do!” in class, I was inspired! By coincidence, a new job scope expansion chance appealed to me at the beginning of the module MNC. What Professor’s mentioned gave me strength to turn it down again. Hm.....I know it so well what will be the consequence for saying “No” twice to your mother company within a year time.....but I still felt that instead of saying yes and accepting all assignments unquestionably, might be it's the time learn to think smart in one's own MBA way before move. What's my MBA way......?????..........i.e the way to act Mentally Below Average!!!

Sorry I don't know

2009-06-12T18:04:00.003+08:00

I took my first or maybe my last make up exam on June 11, 2009

Before the make up exam, one of my MNC teammates said to me.......”Tell you a little secret: the exam is not as hard as you thought”. After the make up exam......my comment is: The exam paper is the hardest exam that I ever take!

Well we got 3 people to sit in the make up exam which should be last for 3 hours .......well the first student finished the exam within first 35-40 minutes and the 2nd one left the exam room 40 minutes later than the 1st one and I was the last one who finished the exam paper 20 minutes to the official deadline.

I wrote “Sorry, I don't know” 4 times out of 21 questions on the answer sheet, all of which were questions on different case studies, which I didn't pay any attention to. For others question, I'm just not so sure....! As Professor will give us 1 mark each for every “I don't know” answer, hence I'm sure that the total marks for the paper should be at least 4......haha! I just hope that he is kind enough to give me extra marks for saying "Sorry, I don't know" instead of "I don't know"!

You may think that I hate the MNC right! In fact I love that so much.......I even made my own set of notes for future reference during the exam preparation. I will pass the textbook to my senior to see if the theories tell what our company is doing.....actually I discussed some of the theories with our group HR and she was very surprised!

My teammates

2009-04-24T01:01:00.007+08:00

Hazem, Yep, I will recall our winning formula that achieved in our leadership workshop, we are the Orange County and the champion......the winning team in the forced landing game with a scary Sailor......hohoho.......you remind me to take up the swimming class this summer^^.....yep.....keep in touch and have a very very nice future! All the best to you and your family, take care on your way back home sweet home my dear Generation Y classmate ^^

Hazem, Zane (International Business Environment) and Michael (International Field Trip).........they all telling me that as long as we are tuned with the same goal and share the same dream, the dream of working out the best and be the best of the best......there is no cultural difference among races!

Take cares Rebecca! It's my honor to team up with you once in a while during the study term^^ Someday I may sit in front of your desk, remind you our wonderful experiences both in Accounting and Management Consultant.............please remember our grade in the former but not the latter one...........and please write the same grade on my credit rating report and lend me the money.........my dear teammate..........hahahaha..........just kidding^^

........to be continued

If I can do it once more........

2009-04-23T10:39:00.004+08:00

Personally speaking, the number and variety of activities that provide to current students are good enough to keep us exhausted. I enjoyed each and every past episode and event so much that I am now afraid of the possible depression when there is no lesson to attend, no assignment to rush in, no textbook or note to read, no gathering with celebrity speaker or classmate to catch up and so......

However, just like the Chinese saying "either go evolve or die”, keep progressing is always better than be washed backward........if I had a chance to work it out once more and decided not to sleep throughout my academic term, I hope there would be more open forums among students on the current social, economical and political events, more social responsibility types of activity which aim to pull the resources of current students from their friends, families or companies back to the society in the name of the “HKUMBA Elites”. All these will be done with a management prospective, a smarter way of contribution, make it different and outstanding (no flag selling please!!!)........show it all in the HKUMBA way^^ I always wonder why we try not to transfer what we learn into reality? After all, it is a good lesson for student too!

Townhall Exchange with Lord Davies of Abersoch

2009-04-18T11:44:00.003+08:00

Though I never work with Lord Davies before, I know he is a successful leader from the way he express his idea. During the Townhall Exchange, he demonstrates some of the key characteristics of a great leader:

1) Charisma
2) A very sharp and brilliant mind
3) A good story teller
4) A sense of humor
5) Conveying messages with truthfulness
6) Generating the resonance effect among the audiences

It is a fruitful and memorable experience to discuss and learn from a smart guy like this on April 17, 2009.

Throughout my life so far, he is the 3rd person that I met in person who can talk in public with the abovesaid characteristics. The first two guys that I met with such characteristics have the same capability of managing human capital. In other word, they possess the ability that similar to a man with the silver tongue.

Let's have a date in Spring III

2009-03-30T01:01:00.011+08:00

I understand how lucky I was to have both the chance and time to enjoy the study life, no need to work out this and that kinds of report/requirement, entertaining who & whom, I know part of the reason is because of the simple management. It really works....after all......haha!

To me, simple management is a philosophy actually, it is not telling you “ to do nothing” but just “do only the necessary thing”(it is a modified version of Laozi) it allows the theory itself to grow, change, tolerate, amend, adjust and clean up the weakness/wrong back into strength/right and recycle the whole process whenever it needs. I wonder, stay the course will be the best choice for us! Usually we will certify any "X-ism" to its end whenever fatal error appears and just labeled it “outdated” but let me tell you, within the simple management, there is nothing called fatal error but just go changes whenever it needs. You may think that I am getting mad once again in talking this crazy stuff here. Hm.......I know I need to proof it quantitatively.......how about setting up a schedule from now on, giving me some time and space to show you the power of simple management in this little blog some years later on from now?

In between our future date in Spring, I will keep posting new dialogues or episodes that related to my MBA life here for sharing even after years of graduation. Maybe, there will be a graduation dinner, picnic, tour, ceremony, seminar, exhibition, book, video, reunion of all kinds or whatever you can think of........who knows? Feel like taking a time capsule.......my dairy of HKUMBA experience........interesting^^

Kyoto, Japan in 2007 Spring (the Spring before starting my MBA life......maybe it's time to prepare for another new journey!)

Let's have a date in Spring II

2009-03-29T01:08:00.005+08:00

By the way, please don't go into a wrong direction that I am just a mere fun lover and do everything for nothing but just fun....study is not necessarily fun for all people, it depends on one's character, fun for sb maybe a poison! Personally speaking I love to laugh even though I feel the pain and that's part of my character. More, I feel excited whenever I can successfully brew my head into a pool of wisdom and hence, study for me, is really an enjoyment! It's absolutely personal! Or maybe my “I don't care attitude” is simply the result of well known comment received from my seniors before the start of the course that the MBA degree simply won't take any credit on my appraisal except showing them how successful I can transfer those theories into reality. More, I treasure if I myself really tried my best endeavor to extend the utmost in learning what I supposed to learn rather than the final grade that received. Of course, I will feel happy about having a good grade after all and it is no need to pretend not to. Just like one of my seniors, he is a good achiever who values the result more than the process in absolute term and I think it is just perfect to work with a mind that is completely opposite from mine and I wonder he think the same way too.

One of the interesting findings is that I love our group management style even more after the study. I don't know why and the feeling is just opposite to what I believed at the beginning of this master degree. Our group chairman prefers simple management even for a 20,000 heads sized company (whole nationwide), a management style goes all the way as simple as it can be, as simple as possible. Well, if I have a chance to study a doctorial degree, I may work on the research area on simple management theory........haha^^

Let's have a date in Spring I

2009-03-28T01:00:00.003+08:00

Approaching the end of all the required study courses (my last lesson will be on June 3 if everything on schedule), maybe it's time to think about what next! I never think of having so much unforgettable memories before taking up the course. By passing each and every milestone, I learned each classmate better and most out of it, I learned myself even better in a 3D, 4D or XD spectrum. Hey, see I keep myself stay in blogging for >1.5 years, for me it really matter!

One of my classmates asked me if I was interested in studying a doctorial degree, well I still not sure if I can drill myself deep enough into a single research topic for quite a number of years before being reported bored to dead. If yes, this will be the first attempt in my life to commit myself so devotedly into a single area for a long period of time and surely it must be real fun!

I just can't tell how silly I feel when I go back and revisit some of my previous posts in the blog.......haha.......OMG! How crazy, stubborn, carelessness and absent mind I was to create so much stress for my teammates, troubles and bothersome to both classmates and lecturers, my family, friends and all my seniors.......yeah, I wonder some of them are reading my blog here telling them how crazy I was which in turn easing their angry and extending higher and higher tolerance in forgiving my continuous absence or absent mind. I wonder my existence may help them to stretch their life dynamic further by tolerating a troublesome stuff like me!

The SH quotes

2009-03-27T01:01:00.019+08:00

Some dialogues or episodes just can't be missed........... Photo source: Eddie Chan

The science of shopping (originated by Professor Marcus Schuetz) – what a wonderful term to replace the phase “I don't like shopping!” I will start to use the phase "the Science of XXX" in my own dialogue from now on to convey the message of "I don't like XXX" beautifully.

The science of mahjong – Maybe it's time for me to reconsider learning our national art seriously so as to establish a tighter network among the Chinese circle.

The theory of dating/matching – Yes, we all know that the single male/female population is growing bigger and if you are a single, stop worrying babe! I recalled some of the theories that learned from the certificate course in Love and Marriage Counseling – we have 2 choices actually i.e. (1) To remain single or (2) To marry sb.

For staying single strategy: According to Dr. Chan Chi Chuen's findings on Single, there are 7 preparation points to ensure a happy, healthy and confident life for single:

1) Find a cozy place to live on by yourself
2) Adopt a pet to keep you company
3) Being financially independent
4) Set up a tight schedule of social life
5) Establish different circles of friend
6) Develop a wide range of interests
7) Have safe regular _____________ (Please ask me in class or send me email if you really want to know!)

For getting marriage strategy: If you set “to marry somebody” as your first priority, please remember to stick tightly with your aim. That is simply finds an available single and get marry. We have to know what to and what not to do--It is advised that "Don't be picky with endless number of criterions as these are not your aim and please stick simply with your goal to get marry". Kindly be reminded that if you got an endless number of criterions in searching for your Mr. Right, he would most probably get the same list of criterions in finding his Ms. Right and vice verse in single male case.

Growing up with bedtime fairy tales, it is hard to accept the hard fact that "if you can really satisfy each and every criterion as listed by a male/female, (disregard your moral judgment of that “wish list” as we are not doing math here!) to be or not to be a single should not be a bothersome in your life", save and except for some very special cases that mostly are not as a happy ending story as you can imagine.

Hm......maybe it's time to realize that the prince riding on a white horse is living just in a fairy tale, same as for the princess! How about incorporating a realistic discount factor into one's own wish list and make a good deal?

Keep it up: CCTV 9 Reboadcast!

2009-03-26T01:12:00.002+08:00

I watched TV in each and every morning during our Shanghai study trip.....without being late to school....Hohoho..... ^^....... and my favorite TV show is “Reboadcast” or "Dialogue" at CCTV 9. It is an English speaking high quality business dialogue; the topics that discussed so far were for examples, “Embattled Chinese Listed Company”, “Corporate Governance” and “Tobacco Control”. I'm so glad to learn that Chinese businessmen are more opened up in discussing sensitive topics like information disclosure and the pros and cons of the Chinese business culture in front of the TV audiences. I guess realizing ones strength and weakness is the first step to ensure a better and promising future. I hope the valuable lessons received by those US listed Chinese firms on information disclosure and corporate governance will eventually disseminate throughout China.

That's what I called Professional!

2009-03-25T01:03:00.001+08:00

She is a PR representative of a big company!

Her gesture, smile and the way she introduced her company telling audiences one thing-- she was so proud of her company.

She could make you feel that it was really your own regret not to be hired by her company. So what can you expect even more from a PR staff other than that? How can a company drive a staff to behave in such an amazing manner?

I begin to ask myself when can I impressed others in the same way as the lady did when I marketing the company to outsider? Hey Buddy, it's really not easy at all!

Target on quality

2009-03-24T11:39:00.010+08:00

During our visit, we had good chances to discuss with local businessmen in China. A regional VP of a MNC revealed that one of the keys to success for doing business in China was to find a good partner, the regional GM of another big firm stress on Cash Management, whereas an Iron lady in China did an excellent job on cost control.

They come from different business sectors and for me, there is one common characteristic among all of them besides good management and that is the success in finding the right target segment for their new icon products or service. First of all, they don't sell cheap but only good quality product/service at a compatible price. I guess that fill up what is missing most in China at the moment.

Currently speaking, luxury products and brands keep flashing in to suit the taste of the new rich while cheap factory products keep feeding the needs of the mass but sometimes you just have to bet on the quality. In between the high and the low ends products, there is a gap which is getting bigger and bigger now and to which can only be satisfied with good-quality product at reasonable price. I hope, through their successful stories, the age of targeting and selling quality goods fly from now on.

The chain store concept

2009-03-24T01:05:00.003+08:00

For me, chain store concept seems to be a must in the process of urbanization. It is negatively correlates to the value of “uniqueness” and “craftsmanship”. In my previous visits to Shanghai, the chain store concept work well only in medium to low ends restaurant. However, I found that the chain store concept works for a number of famous local Shanghainese restaurants nowadays.
It applies either the management knowledge within the Shanghai F&B industry is changing and upgrading to a more advance level. Or the franchise concept is getting more and more popular and franchisees are exploring their opportunities in Shanghai.

Anyhow, it is a luck to find out that the quantity didn't adversely affect the quality and taste of the Huadiao Shaoxing（12 Years）Medium Sweet (十二年花雕)that brewed by one of the oldest and famous Shanghainese restaurants.

The lovely local wisdom

2009-03-23T12:52:00.004+08:00

If you can stay longer in China, see if you can notice the local wisdom on transportation that especially fit for riding either on a bicycle or motorcycle when;

(a) Under the sun:
A thin white silk cover to protect your shoulder, arms and the dorsum of the hand from sunlight. It fits particularly well when you need to control the steering wheel and exposing your shoulder, arms and the dorsum of the hand to the sun.

(b) Under the rain:
A forward-extended raincoat not only protecting your upper body but the whole steering wheel in front of the bicycle or motorcycle in the rainy day.

(c) Under the severe cold:
The big gloves that extended from the steeling wheel to keep your hand warm under the sever cold (as shown on the picture)

Hahahaha.......I bought the silk cover and the extended raincoat during my previous visits but I think I can't buy that big gloves home for souvenir this time as I wonder it is a part of fixture or sth?

Everyday price!

2009-03-23T01:00:00.003+08:00

Before visiting Shanghai, I thought that the “everyday quote system” on Hong Kong property market provided by the local agents via telephoning is just crazy enough.

But guess what? There is an every morning TV program to keep you updated on the price of the property projects in Shanghai before starting your day!!! Wow.......what can I say!!!

A taxi driver in Shanghai

2009-03-22T14:59:00.002+08:00

I met a taxi driver in Shanghai who listens to Mariah Carey, more he can tell me the difference about Mariah Carey from R&B and Hip Hop…….......wow!

Being a local Shanghainese, he knows that it is the government who do so much to protect the local economy from shocking and he understands that the price for the protection is the prolonged economic downturn. He really knows the difference between the market in the US, HK and Shanghai.

If I met such taxi driver in Hong Kong, I would wonder if there was something wrong, am I getting into a wrong car or sth? Or is it another crazy local rich who wants to try out the life of being a taxi driver or sth?

When asking if the traffic conditions help by the completion of Shanghai MTR, the answer is negative. He explained that it was because the price of the small private cars in Shanghai keep dropping dramatically in recent years, more and more people can afford to buy a car themselves, so the MTR really do not help much to ease the traffic conditions in Shanghai.

Still RMB

2009-03-21T00:00:00.003+08:00

Despite the fact that there is a pile of last 5 business days newspaper property columns sitting on the desk for digestion, the non-stop meeting appointments, another pile of to-be-checked documents pending in the in-trade, the unfinished notes on Zhujiajiao………plus an exhausted physical conditions………...I still can’t stop myself drilling on the RMB issue.

One of my classmates asked me tonight if the total benefit on importing cheaper resources offset the total reduction of export trade after the RMB appreciation. After a quick search, I will add in the following to what I mentioned in class today;

Accordingly to Chen Feixiang,the Director of the Economic and Financial Department of Tongji University, “Currently, China's export market still relies heavily on cheap labor to compete in the international market. As its added value is low, the appreciation of the RMB will affect China's export and consequently the overall growth rate of the national economy.”

Yes, I shouldn’t forget that one of the major China comparative advantages is the supply of cheap labor which cannot be benefited by RMB appreciation through import. I know I have to proof my argument by finding the picture of cost of production to certify the total saving in importation of resources after RMB appreciation is insufficient to offset the reduction of export trade maybe. Anyway, it’s great to find a stronger argument to support my belief…………..okay, it's time for bed…………or my body will complain seriously.

As time goes by

2009-03-19T13:19:00.002+08:00

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by

And when two lovers woo
They still say, I love you
On this you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by

Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
On this you can deny

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by .............

The song that I always tide up with Shanghai but such feeling keeps fading away each time I visited the city.......maybe I need to find out another new song to sing out loudly my feeling of Shanghai.

Next Stop: Shanghai!

2009-03-13T13:23:00.001+08:00

Today I will fly to Shanghai......though I visited Shanghai several times before and it is excited to know that I will have a chance to use a new approach to explore Shanghai in 2009.

My existing knowledge of Shanghai...........
1. Shanghai is very big!
2. It is a place where there are a lot of Hong Kong people working for their dreams.
3. The standard of luxury housing in Shanghai is getting higher and higher each time I visited. Some of them are obviously beating down the so-called “luxury standard” in Hong Kong.
4. Some Shanghainese are living in the palace like house within the luxury zone! In fact, the average household income in Shanghai should be very high. Drinks in 新天地 are more expensive than those you can find in LKF Hong Kong.
5. Shanghainese are tightly united.
6. Shanghainese food is delicious!

I am looking forward to the enriched knowledge of Shanghai after this study trip!

Take care!

2009-03-13T08:23:00.002+08:00

This is the dream team in investment..........hahahaha!

From left: Shirley,Sushant, our 12 years old Emily, 20 years old Arvind, me and Eddie working on our last group assignment on Mar 12, 2009

Good luck to all of us! Especially for Sushant and Arvind who will go London for their study term in the LBS.....wow!

Exploration on Investment Part I

2009-03-08T14:12:00.002+08:00

As Professor taught us in class, assumption means something not real in reality. Though there are a lot of assumptions implied in investment theory, I find it really practical. It is actually a group of theories that aim to simulate management decisions either on (1) maximizing firm and shareholders’ value or (2) minimizing the weighted-average cost of capital. For me, it is fun to apply such theories back to daily life especially during the time of financial turmoil.

Credit Crunch just like a force keep unwinding and turning back the clock and everything back to basic! The presence of the credit crunch seems to be a strict testifier to screen out firms that allow the absence of either one of the aforesaid.

With division of labour in mind, CEO of a firm will try his very best to make sure there are positive NPV projects to generate future cash flow for the company in the rainy days. Or at least, he will make sure there is a nice looking future so as to keep shareholders’ interest. How nice is it? The answer will be calculated by different valuation models. Of course, the risk factor in NPV model during the time of Credit Crunch is definitely different from the one in the golden days. I really love sigma “σ” which representing uncertainty that exist in reality. Besides applying the industry reference, its accuracy really depends on the experience and expertise of the management in deciding the actual figure of “σ”. Hey, I see no reason for receiving salary should everything can be generated in a speed sheet……..ha!

The firm sales division is therefore instructed to generate satisfactory sales figures. They may decide whether to exercise the real option in various forms so as to maximize company profit in a comparatively safe environment. The responsibility of calculating the opportunity costs for an option will therefore fall on the sales division. As I mentioned before, the essence of investment seem very close to the essence of sales management and it is! After all, we are talking about motive and incentive, but in daily sales operation, we need to add in the matrix of “balance” to motive and incentive so as to keep temptation adequate and under control. How balance it is? Well I guess, this is another reason that we have to pay for hiring a CEO!

Here, come with the backend office. She will be responsible to cut costs and drag down foreseeable risk of all kinds as much as possible. She may employ the use of hedging strategy to ensure the smooth operation which help to provide a nice potential future to shareholders to decide whether to keep the company running in the period before dawn. If everything is fine, internal funding will be acquired just in case. If internal funding is not available, various forms of external funding will be the final chance (the pecking order theory). The finance and accounting departments therefore need to find out ways to minimize the weighted-average cost of capital and pass the results to CEO for final decision. Finally, the company may put herself in a long-short position to creditors by raising debt up to a certain level and where, a price have to paid of course!

Btw, there is still a class of Risk Management on 14 March that I’m gonna to miss, I hope and I surely will apply for a special grant to attend the class next year………haha…….looking forward to my “Exploration on Investment Part II”!

Sorry once again to Professor who always care about students’ understandability though he supposed need not to do so. However, it is the signal of caring which in turn reinforce my eagerness to digest what have been taught in class to my full extend^^

Get a kick out of ......

2009-03-07T00:10:00.003+08:00

I see a lady in class gets a kick out of playing around with figures and her calculations are just Bravo!!! She is definitely my hero now……haha…..! Also I see a gentleman gets a kick out of car manufacturing, another gentleman gets a kick out of sexy formula, the third gentleman gets a kick in red wine and they all became the expert in the area that they are specialized in …….their faces are shining with smiles whenever they talk about the subject that they are in love with…………...hm I’m wondering how can I find and get my “kick” and stick with it? Interesting…………..is there any formula of love?

Power Point for the Smarties

2009-03-05T17:03:00.002+08:00

Guess what! I deliberately team up with a classmate who can make the professional style power point......hahahaha! By watching and studying my teammate's power point.......I think I understand the essence that needs to produce power points for the smarties. In fact it is the different of cognitive style power point to the word processing report style.

Okay, let's our power point audience smarter!

I did it again!

2009-03-02T00:40:00.005+08:00

I always ask myself recently….“how dare you are to study the course “Investment” together with a number of accountant, CPA and CFA?”
You are not a math’s stream student!
You don’t have sufficient background to understand the subject!
You are taking the DBC in the same module, so you do not have sufficient time for the study!
You never enroll 2 courses in a module before and it is a dreadful attempt in doing so!

But I did it again, the dreadful attempt! To do sth that can lead to the release of adrenaline!

What I did?
1) To sit in the 1st lesson of investment though the class is full.
2) Bought the recommended text book and read all the recommended chapters before class………..but I still get lost when Professor working out his “Sexy” formula in class……………..hahaha!
3) To delay my bedding time every day till I read the required chapters.
4) Go back to the lecture notes after class to make sure I stay on the track.
5) Rethink and rethink again the assignment before group discussion to make sure I can contribute something valuable to compensate my absence in figure generations.
6) Cancel all non business and non study appointments to get myself free for reading and studying.

What I want?
1) Get new stimulus by placing myself outside my comfort zone.
2) Learn more about investment from an academic prospective.
3) Understand how professionals think about investment.

How I feel?
1) I begin to ask myself, will there be a day in my life time that I will find number and figure Sexy? If there is such a day, it must be the amazing day for me!
2) I feel sorry to our Professor for taking care of student whom suppose better not to take the course.
3) Surprised to find out that the essence of investment is the essence of sales management!

Graduation examination

2009-03-01T15:05:00.004+08:00

Yesterday, Professor showed us a question that he might propose (in the area of investment) should there was a MBA graduation examination to testify if a MBA candidate was qualified to earn his/her MBA degree.

Being the bridge between the east and the west, I will propose the following question (in the area of business quotient) to see if the Hong Kong MBA graduate will have the business mindset or knowledge that suit both the western and the eastern business environment. My question is:

You have a great idea and a brilliant start up plan (that is!) and you want to work it out in your home country, who is the first/second /third party you would like to visit so as to make your dream come true? Before the meeting, what will you prepare & bring in your suitcase? Suppose you are the citizen of the following country?

a)The USA;
b)Hong Kong;
c)China

Answer? Hey, I haven’t graduated yet!

Doing business in China

2009-02-28T01:34:00.002+08:00

If you ask me the most difficult thing when doing business in China, I guess I will tell you that it is the drafting of a model that fit well both to the practice of Rule by Law and the Rule by Man. Same as what I argued with my senior today. I argued that as long as we can maintain the value of the network, the most efficient way to work out the new model is to rely on a model that based simply on Rule by law and to eliminate the human factor as much as possible; this is also the best way to drag down the total transaction costs. However, to balance both seemed to be the absolute conditions for the model to survive. Hm……......I hope I will soon have a clue and stop disappointing them by further delay ………...! Anyway, they will surely be upset should they know that I can’t tell the difference of property right in Hong Kong, China, USA and the Europe not until tonight’s class.

Good leader quality

2009-02-22T23:28:00.005+08:00

Dr Tse mentioned about the Good leader quality the quality to prevent a leader from cheating or creating another greater fool game...........the lesson remind me an episode of the film “Lord of the Rings”? Do you remember the scene where Galadriel tempted by the offer of the Ring of Power by Frodo. Galadriel knows that the ring always bring evil, and she is not immune from the force of evil though she wear most of the power.......finally she consolidate her strenght to refuse it. You never know how difficult it is to refuse the temptation until the moment comes(the time when there is a mixture of the place, time and people around you at that particular moment, a moment offer to you exclusively either to keep where you are or allow you to leap forward to the higher place..........) I met people who were so confident that he/she would not be tempted no matter in any circumstances........the outcomes were indifferent so far! Is it because we are only human but not Galadriel?

Personally I don't think there will be new greater fool game of similar scale happen within a short period of time. Not because the entire mankind became angel suddenly after the financial crisis, it's just because fools are getting even more alert. Also, the whole society will surely stress more on the precautious measure till the moment when most of the people forget about the lesson, there will be another crisis.

What a greater fool game!

2009-02-20T22:07:00.003+08:00

Having joined the “Talk and Discussion on the Global Financial Crisis” forum tonight, we were told with the golden formula for producing a Global Financial Crisis:

A nice story (the new source of securitization from the subprime) + a good story teller (sellers of CDO/MBS and so…..)+ The best artist(s) to tell everybody “it works” (the rating agent) + a fool (buyers) and the next fool………….then the last fool before bust……….!

So……why so frighten about the Madoff and Robert Allen Stanford cases? They are just the same……… the Ponzi scheme, just a more sophisticated one! I am more interested in what’s the next? Is the bond market?

The risk management

2009-02-19T15:44:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, I sat in the 1st class of Investment and the 1st question that I asked Dr Tse was........”Say if we treat property as an investment, what is the best hedge tool available?" Sorry that my question was not as sophisticated as my classmates did but this is the question that I always ask myself. The golden strategy that we currently use as Dr Tse said “Time”! Besides that, we also use “Buy low, hold and sell high strategy” and this is the best hedge so far for property. More, in time of financial distress, people are advised to borrow less from the bank by increasing the sum deposit to 40% or 50% so as to minimize the risk in “Call Loan” and evading from high interest rate. So what else we can think of to hedge against the possibility of price drop? Is the put or short call on REIT (not yet available) or the basket of property related stocks works for that.......hm........still wondering.......!?!

Well, at least I'm more or less of the similar level of interest as the Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan did but in the other way round....haha^^ Btw, is this loophole lies within the 1% of the time that George Soros interested in?.......Interesting......!!!

Shaking hand with Professor Hout!

2009-02-11T01:29:00.005+08:00

I really enjoy the SOI class and this time, being committed to the class........so tonight, the last class of SOI, I step forward and shaking hand with Professor Hout and saying “Thank you” The phase that I want but dare not to say at the end of the module “Business Strategy in India and China”, which I really not paying sufficient attention because of getting mad on a competition.

I guess Professor will remember me this time, as it is really impressive for a panda presenting a panda website and talk about the idea of a sustainable conservative website. Why I am a panda? Hm.....when a lady who was prescribed with antibiotic but allergic to it and resulted in stomachache, headache follows with diarrhea and lead to bad quality sleep in the night before the presentation......you will know it!

Well, to sum up, just as what William Hung said “I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all”

Cheers!

2009-02-06T00:50:00.002+08:00

Today is time for filling up the evaluation form for a module; there is always a question on the number of class that reported missing for whatever reason. Though I am not an A student throughout my life, I seldom miss any class except for some very important family or business occasion. For one reason it is because of the tuition fee that paid………haha........and secondly, maybe I am lucky enough, it is the fact that good teachers are always with me and it is really a big lost to be absent from class and not to hear a teacher’s life book. How long and how much do you think it will cost to find out the best guy to share with you the cream of his/her mind?

I don’t know how to describe in words the level of excitement when I catch up successfully with an episode of enlightenment that leak out from the teacher’s tongue in the speed of thunder. The feeling……..hm……. maybe similar to the one after you finished up a very good book. I still remember my high school Economics teacher who teach us to keep the state of mind in the form of a sponge, keep it soft enough so as to absorb as much new knowledge as possible and her words still twinkle in my mind even today. I guess this is the reason why I always try to sit back, relax and enjoy the class as if I were having the happy hour! Yes, as what Stefan said today, the class seemed to be my Wonderland or Wandaland......haha!

Btw, I'm now trying to summarize the dialogue of Professor Hout on a) what a good company; b) what an MBA will/can do for a better future for my own records^^ Hey, what a smart strategy to differentiate the total reward among students based on attentiveness!

Lesson on the value of a network

2009-02-03T17:45:00.004+08:00

The lesson that I learned from SOI which cannot be forgotten in the rest of my life is:-
The value of a network!

I would like to add-on a little bit more:-

Only those ideas or processes that can benefit the entity by helping it to build up, maintain, increase the sum value of the network or network(s) will survive disregarding the intention or rationale behind.

Here, network is defined in individual / collective ; internal / external & micro / macro sense. How to make sure the idea or process tap successfully into the value of the current network is the key to success!

You will love them even more if you're an MBA!

2009-02-02T12:50:00.004+08:00

Hm......funny one........What an MBA means?

Hm.......a serious one.........What an MBA can do!

Hm.........a more serious one.......What an MBA can see!

Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

2009-01-30T12:54:00.005+08:00

What a surprise! My senior is calling me up this morning and passed me not the red pocket money but a series of follow up questions. It's real fun to learn that those questions he asked were so familiar and similar with the way we had been asked in class of SOI and in our assignments received.......haha^^

The keynote of his questions:

1) Under the suggested model, what is the new business model of the industry authority?
2) What is your opinion on the new ratio of commission spread among the business processes?
3) What will be the change in the division of labor under the new model?
4) What is the new relationship between the company and the individual salesman?
5) Stop using the phase “I think” during presentation but "The ratiocination or the reasoning behind"!”

Wow.........it's exactly the same way that we had been asked in the SOI class........interesting right......! I heard the phase "smart idea" 3 times during our conversation..........Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! \(^0^)/ I guess, next time I should tell him frankly that I did borrow some ideas from the case reading as distributed in class!

The result of my presentation

2009-01-30T00:01:00.000+08:00

I presented my new proposed business process to drag down the number of misrepresentation to one of my seniors on Jan 29. Though parts of my recommendation were absorbed, 2 big issues left unsolved .........in another words, they are not accepted. 

My senior comments are;
1) The idea is good but the cost for working out the new model is huge as the final product will be easily stolen by our competitor, which adding up to the total transaction costs. It is a mixed problem of commercial spies, intellectual property right issue and information management. How can we protect the final product from stealing?
2) More, we have to face the fact that the outcome of the new model may affect the existing industry ecosystem which may generate risk in dragging down the total transaction volume in return.
3) Some minor value-added processes suggested were absorbed to increase customer satisfaction.

......maybe my plan is too aggressive......my senior forgot to pass me his red pocket money.......:P

I still don't understand the importance of getting an “A”

2009-01-29T11:03:00.003+08:00

When I hang out with my classmates yesterday I experienced the 2nd time in my life the importance of getting an A. I heard that one of my classmates (Mr. A) who almost earned all A in each and every module in his 1st academic year was complaining seriously for not getting an A in one and only one of his 1st year module. As I teamed up with Mr. A before and for sure that those modules that I got A was not in a team with Mr. A. Hence, if my finding is right i.e. a good individual grade is highly associated with team performance, then Mr. A's failure module is highly associated with........hm......the result of this ratiocination costs me a lost sleep night.

The 1st time in my life to experience the importance of getting an A is just about a week ago. I still remember that at the end of module IBE, I was told that Mr. Youknowwho, one of my teammates in IBE, had been longing for an A in his transcript. So happen, Mr. Youknowwho was in the same team with me in MC and guesses what? Knowing that it is hopeless in getting A in MC to realize his dream, it really costs me stomachache when I was logging into the school website to open the IBE result. It was a total relief to know that Mr. Youknowwho finally got an A, his 1st A before the release of the MC's result. Be frank, this “A” made me less guilty for the upcoming of low grade in MC! After all, I experienced but I still don't understand what is the importance of getting A or Assssssss in one's life!

Time is matter!

2009-01-23T16:37:00.004+08:00

I am so glad to listen to those top business processes that brought to us by our Professor Hout. Those successful stories enriched my vision to the sky limit. Guess what, I am now mapping out a revolutionary process in the business sector that I am working with and will present my idea to one of my group directors on Jan 29, it is a model to drag down the numbers of misrepresentation, haha^^

However, with a different level of culture and context, I understand that it will be too native to believe that the equation of success = applying those successful models into our own. It is also too naïve to expect an adolescent who may be having a very nice future someday will become a mature adult in a day by dressing up to the nines. One thing for sure is that, there will be a long way of trial and error process before dawn. Just like brewing the Grand Cru Classe red wine, you need the best climate, terrain and skill set plus the most important factor, “Time”! Hey, we had a very good lesson of chicken growth hormone, aren't we?

A lesson of Hospital Reimbursement Scheme

2009-01-20T23:47:00.005+08:00

In today's class, we have a chance to discuss how to increase the overall efficiency (in term of time and cost) of a public hospital. Being a 100% local Hongkonger, I am used to enjoy a low cost public hospital service. Hence, a public hospital to me or almost all Hongkongers, is never broke. I wonder how to ask those medical professionals in the public hospitals to increase their overall efficiency and to push up their total throughput rate. In the west, hospitals will get a better/full reimbursement from the insurance company for better management. In the case of Hong Kong, I think it may not be easy to urge a public hospital sector to increase their total throughput rate by telling them it will save your time and costs. Here, we are talking about incentive again, which is not only limits to the business sector but also to the public owned organization.

When will be the local public medical sector to learn from the best model of their kinds to take up the lesson of time based competition and to shorten the total waiting time for the public in receiving medical care within a reasonable time lapse? When we can say “Hey you, the medical practitioner will also be rewarded under the Hospital Reimbursement Scheme and it’s time to think about the time based competition and to improve the overall efficiency!”

However, the next follow up question will most probably be “Who is going to pay the insurance company to reimburse hospital in that way?”

The rich culture IV

2009-01-19T18:38:00.002+08:00

Professor Hout brings us to the top best examples of business operation so as to find out the best model and learn from it! However, is this rich culture works in Hong Kong or China or Asia?

As far as I observed, most of the Chinese companies are family owned and managed by a small family circle. Figures about the P&L or the balance sheet are closed to the eyes of the circle as the role of accounting or audit are usually took up by one of the family or family-related members. Specialists in manufacturing, marketing, IT or so are hired to give recommendations on what they can notice within their scope of responsibility. In other words, the management seldom is seldom able to see the whole/real picture except for a very few “real” management in charge. Hence, it is really difficult to give real but narrow-vision comments as no one fully understands what is happening and warn out before the outbreak of crisis.

The rich culture III

2009-01-17T01:01:00.001+08:00

According to the official website of Fortune 500

In 2008, there are
153 out of Fortune 500 corporations are originated from USA
64 out of Fortune 500 corporations are originated from Japan
39 out of Fortune 500 corporations are originated from France
37 out of Fortune 500 corporations are originated from Germany
34 out of Fortune 500 corporations are originated from Britain
29 out of Fortune 500 corporations are originated from China

Good business process let Japanese firms climb up to the next top position of the ladder but not champ, why? Coincidently, I have a chance to talk with one of our Japanese classmates and I asked him did he know the reason behind, he said he had no idea about that but gave me hints to address the question. He said in Japan, seniority is a very important culture and it is really difficult for the people at the low ends of the hierarchy to flow out his or her new idea/suggestion for better improvement. More, the bureaucracy in Japan is strong enough to deter ideas generation too......are these reasons sufficient to explain the difference in corporate performance between the US and Japan in the scale of the Fortune 500???.......hm........interesting!!

The rich culture II

2009-01-16T17:45:00.004+08:00

I always have the following question in mind ever since the beginning of this module; “Is the feature of “good business process” sufficient for a company to be succeed in term of profit and revenue received annually?”

According to my own working experience, I found that my business partners from Japan are usually equipped well with a very efficient and comprehensive business process. Process includes design, production, logistic, marketing and sales are blended well together with one single aim and i.e. “serve for a better result”. Members of different division are really professional in the task that assigned. There is a lady who worked in big Japanese Corporation and her main duty is to maintain a harmonized relationship with customer. If you think that her job is simple and hence it is easy to be lazy, well I can tell you that you are totally wrong! She is so serious in her own particular task, organizing events of all kinds, sending little company souvenirs on time just to remind you their presence and getting your feedback and recommendations all the time.......and she is the one and only one (so far) I take my initiation to download the appreciation form from her company website to express how I impressed with her professionalism in doing something you and I may find it too “small” to do. I do have similar experiences with some other Japanese business vendors. Besides, Professor Thomas Hout also used the case of 7-11 in Japan as a good example to illustrate a business with good operational process.

Japanese are highly devoted to their business not only confined to big corporation and you may easily notice their professionalism everywhere even in small firm/shop or individual craftsman such as sushi or dessert makers. With this, it is not surprised to know that there are 64 out of Fortune 500 corporations are originated from Japan in 2008............

The rich culture

2009-01-14T00:00:00.006+08:00

Today, Professor Thomas Hout gave us a very valuable lecture and this is a lecture of being a successful enterprise.

As Professor mentioned that in general, the leader of a successful company will:-
1. Keep the company alive;
2. Sense what is happening around;
3. Figure out where we are and what to do next;
4. Motivate changes

In contrast, the management of a dying enterprise kills all innovative ideas by continuous criticism so as to destroy new ideas.

The strategy of being success is also the key to stay rich. He also pointed out that the strategy of producing cheap product is definitely not a key to stay rich as what many Chinese entrepreneurs doing nowadays. I hope that one day we can learn the art of staying rich and stop drilling solely on cheap product strategy and production.

The bright side

2009-01-13T13:37:00.005+08:00

From the book of Currency Wars,

I see..........
......the earliest attempt of globalization
.......a brilliant strategy of creditor/banking business development
.........a successful idea of hedging and risk management
...........a wonderful story of knowledge/information management
............an innovative human capital management
..............a tremendously efficient and effective operation system and process

Hence, if what the book mentioned/suggested is correct, I wonder it is a great example to illustrate the result and consequents of successful strategy, operation and information. I guess this is the real lesson that we need to learn besides the idea of conspiracy and exploitation!

Even better, isn't it?

2009-01-06T23:49:00.002+08:00

Today is the 1st class of Strategy, Operations and Information, Professor Thomas Hout kicks off the class with an example of the Chinese kitchen to illustrate the difference on operational performance by employing different working processes. In a pure business sense, Chinese kitchen is more efficient than the western one; however, I treasure the western kitchen more in terms of chef’s creativities, the overall warm atmosphere and the delicacies of the handcrafted dishes which obviously deserve a longer period of production time.

Well.........instead of adopting one better process, is it too greedy to look for a mixture of Chinese and Western kitchen so that I can have both the efficiency plus the style at the same time?

What's next? The RMB?

2009-01-02T14:15:00.007+08:00

Without the content, the idea of RMB clearing center is Vain. It's perfect to find out one of the possible ways Part One ,Part Two and Part Three to stop the snowball of the Credit Crunch!

All I want for Christmas is.........

2008-12-29T00:13:00.004+08:00

If you ask me to name the most wanted to do thing in the Christmas term break this year, I would tell you "All I want for Christmas is “ to finish up the book called Currency Wars”, which is one of the Christmas gifts that received so far^^

It is written by a Chinese writer called Mr. Song 宋鸿兵 and here is one of the market comments about the book!!

I am still working on it but it is not surprised to learn that the book is popular among Chinese as it styles with 2 winning components that capture the Chinese eyeballs .....what are they???...........hahaha.....have a guess^^!!!

Tomorrow's another day!

2008-12-18T17:25:00.002+08:00

This was a discussion on the career path for MBA graduate yesterday. Understandable that job seeking in 2009 is not an easy task. Even being currently employed, chance to be laid off is still high if the company's performance be adversely hit in 2009. However, as what Forrest Gump said "Life is a like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!" ......I still remember before the international field trip this year, there was a chance to be transferred internally within the Group to her wealth asset management arm, I turned it down straightly because of my preference of study to any significant move in career that demands my full attention.........2 months before the credit crunch.......! Anyway, let's prepared for the worse and be merry for the rest, shall we? :) 

I always keep check with my motorcycle license for pizza delivery and a light vehicle license for providing transportation service just in case I need a job! What's yours?

A little bit gloomy!

2008-12-17T21:57:00.003+08:00

1. Today is the last class of Management Consulting, everything will be back to "real" normal………hm :(
2. Some classmates like Shilling & Stanley almost completed their study or taking other stream courses’ in the rest of the term and it means that I can’t see them in class certainly for quite a while ...........hm :--(
3. Because of a family catch-up, I can’t join the upcoming HKUMBA Christmas Party on Dec 20 and mangle with the class and say “Merry Christmas to them”……….hm:---(
4. Asking a very serious Professor, who is very serious in the course “Doing business in China” the following question -- “where is the hottest clubbing site in Shanghai?”……………hence………..a failing grade in MC follow with a pre-defined failing grade in DBC ……………….hm :-----(

........So……..haaaaaaaaaa……………just a bit gloomy tonight!

The lesson never ends

2008-12-16T19:03:00.001+08:00

I hope our Professor do excuse me for quoting his overall comment and feedback for the 3rd presentation class here The lesson to be a professional consultant still goes on.........till the moment of impressed!

http://hkumba.blogspot.com -- What is it?

2008-12-16T16:21:00.002+08:00

This is a blog to record those memorable lessons that I learned from my MBA course.

It serves as the reminder of my golden days in HKUMBA before I forget them all.

It's a collection of my wonderful experience for me plus those who are interested though I doubt the existence of any.

As far as I know, some of the other team members in the Cerebration Competition 2008, my Cerebration teammates, a few classmates, my sister, my little brother Stanley, a staff and a current full time student of the HKUMBA and one of my respectable Professors did notice the existence of this blog. For others? No idea.

Going public? Why not?

It's all about Passion!

2008-12-16T01:39:00.003+08:00

Our Professor concludes the last presentation class with a word “Passion”. Yes, it’s all about Passion, not only in a career! You may have the same duration of study, work or life but a different degree of satisfaction. The difference is the existence of Passion. I learned the lesson of Passion during my undergrad and now, I am old enough to tell almost every youngest that I met to live with Passion. It is something you cannot buy from elsewhere or acquire by force or pretended to be. It’s a mixture of desire, risk taking and a “never-mind” for whatsoever. It’s a process of discovery. Without passion, everything seems tasteless and indifferent (at least for me!) After all, what is the purpose of life if it is tasteless? There is a famous philosophical question "You cannot step into the same river twice" and my answer to that is "it's too expensive not to find out the new river but to step into the same river twice"

It's coming, exciting!!!

2008-12-15T17:52:00.002+08:00

Our 3rd presentation in our Managing Consultant Course is approaching tonight (it's now 18:00 15 Dec 2008 HK time, 30 minutes from presentation begins), I’m so nervous though I’m not the presenter. What will it be? Can we present the whole stuff that we prepared? Will our Professor angry with our works and stop our presentation once again.......hm......fascinating! Maybe we are too nervous, some of our teammates argue seriously on the methods and contents of what we are going to present. Well, it’s maybe discomfort for some other teammates but I think it’s perfectly okay and real fun to know that everybody is really getting tense for the presentation, hey managing team's afford, cooperation and clients’ feedback are the important skills for being a professional consultant too!!!......interesting.......it's coming......hahaha!

10 Things you can Jump-Start your team

2008-12-12T18:32:00.004+08:00

This is a very good tip that I learned from the seminar -- Human Capital Leverage Strategies and Opportunities for Challenging Times, to Jump-Start your team after the company RESTRUCTURE. I hope Mr. Butt won't mind me to disclose his wonderful tips to all executives in Hong Kong

Source: Mr. Blunden Butt BlessingWhite Asia Pacifc.

"Human Capital Leverage Strategies and Opportunities for Challenging Times”

2008-12-10T01:01:00.000+08:00

Date: December 11, 2008 (Thursday)
Time: 09:00am – 15:00pm
Venue: Lecture Room B4 Admiralty Town Center

Guest Speakers:

Dr. Chris Chan, Assistant Dean (MBA), MBA Programs Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong

Blunden Butt, BE, Grad Dip Ops Research, Cert Ass IIB(UK), AIM (Mot Uni), Consulting Associate, BlessingWhite Asia Pacific

Francis Wong, MBus, MNIA, FCPE, FHKIoD, FITA, FHKCS, MiProA, MHKIM. F.CIM He is Associate Director of FlexSystem Limited including directorships/CEO in the group

Kristin Lowe, Founder + Managing Director, Organising Solutions

Garry A Willinge, MD Cbridge Limited and Professor of Business Studies, Curtin University of Technology

Greg Basham, BA, MBA, AHKIoD, CEO, eeVoices Limited

Being an entrepreneur!

2008-12-09T23:33:00.005+08:00

HKU CASEBV Annual Entrepreneurship Dinner 2008

Being an entrepreneur seems to be many MBA students’ dream and we are so lucky to have a valuable staying so close to 4 great entrepreneurs and 1 great professor tonight. Sooooo……………surprise that there are only 10 students granted with such privilege.
Topics discussed including the opportunity and requirements for being an entrepreneur in Hong Kong and we share the successful stories of the DHL and Oneport tonight.
I am so lucky!

Failure is a good lesson too!

2008-12-09T10:02:00.004+08:00

**The letter that I wrote to the MC team on the day after our 2nd presentation**

Hey my dear brother,

Being your teammate, I regret that I fail to challenge you on the source of data in working out the model. So you are not the only one to be blamed. Yesterday class taught me how to challenge a math elite when he or her going to present sth new to me in term of math codes that always scare me away from normal checking procedures.

Being your sister, I'm very glad that we have our valuable lesson in school but not in the real harsh world when tackling data & figures, so don't forget that dear^^

The worse scenario that follows what we presented so far is a failing grade and that is! Hence, let's cheer up and do our very best to get us back on track! Hey, somedays you have to save your company from collapsing due to poor performance of somehow, so why wasting time on regret but not on finding the right solution? It's time for Change, doesn't it?

As far as I learned from the response of our MC teammates, there are different suggestions on the remedial action, so the first step is to get a consent on the direction on our remedial plan.

Cheer up man!

Is failing the module a good MBA experience?

2008-12-08T23:14:00.005+08:00

With the extraordinary presentation feedback for our first two presentations, I wonder if I will be failed in this module. Hm.......if I fail, this is not only the first time in my MBA life but also in my life. Is it good to be failed? What will be the consequent for failing to pass the module......wondering?

Some of my teammates blaming that our presentation style went too far away from the normal acceptance level to Professor and we should be more conservative. I do agree on the reason but I will add on that this is the price for trying to be different from obeying the norm. Yes, we want to be different but we fail to be and so we are now paying for the price of 1) failing to satisfy the Professor plus an extra price for 2) acting extraordinarily......it's really a tough choice for being a challenge taker ...............but it's exciting anyway...........hahahaha.........!

HKU CASEBV Annual Entrepreneurship Dinner 2008

2008-12-05T15:48:00.002+08:00

Ha...it must be luck! I can take a free seat and asked to prepare for a question set to the guest speakers.

Here are my questions:

1)What is your own stimulus plan to insulate your company from the global slowdown?
2)Name one element (or competitive advantage) that you think would save your company out of the credit crunch. And why?
3)Do you believe your organization will be benefited by the China recent stimulus package? If yes, how? If no, why?
4)In your opinion, are there any opportunities for Hong Kong during the global economic downturn?
5)Do you think globalization will speed up the recovery time for the world economy as compare to the great recession in 1929?

.......looking forward to the great lesson on Dec 9, 2008^^

Take the lead!

2008-12-02T11:04:00.002+08:00

Being an old HKU animal, we had been taught and be conditioned with the mindset of “Take the lead”! Take the lead of your life, experience, the way of expression together with the consequence, liability and responsibility that follows with the choice you pick! In my mind, HKU is a place where there is a true degree of Freedom exists as long as you agreed to pay for the consequences of your own choice! I still remember during my undergraduate, there are so many ways of course combination and selection that we would not expect the same guy or gal, who sat next to you once before, would be sitting next to you again in the rest of your U life even though we might be in the same degree. You have to take the lead to make friends and earn the U life in your way.

You might sit still in a silent corner within the campus for the entire academic term and not be noticed or disturbed. Of course, you are understandably accepts the consequence of being sit still for the whole term. The same conditions apply should you take the lead yourselves in earning an active U life, taking part in different formats of student union, student association, cultural or sport club, competition or ambassador of all kinds till the moment you are absolutely exhausted. It is a campus where you can live with your free will as long as you agreed to pay........that's the essence of HKU education! However, I wonder if the U life that I knew once before is still practicing nowadays.

Maybe I am getting older and older, it is interesting to learn that students now expecting the school being “schoolish” in administrative-wide, providing more and more supports while expecting a greater tolerance or degree of freedom in his/her behavior. Just like the Kobe cattle. It’s hard to imagine what can a Kobe cattle do after stepping out from its gate? Hey, take the lead of your life and stop asking for this or that. Think it twice before complaining and ask firstly why you cannot do this or that on your own!

The value Chain of HKUMBA

2008-12-02T00:15:00.004+08:00

This is the value chain model that I learned from class yesterday! I followed our Professor's model and inspiration but change a little bit to create the value chain model for the HKUMBA (Wanda's interpretation)

Curriculum
Strength: Global Partnership
Chances for local students to study overseas under supervision
Opportunity: Partnership with leading China Business School or scholar to establish the bridge between the east and the west
Chances for foreign students to study in China under supervision
The financial study and practical center in the East

Facilities
Strength: Town center
Opportunity: Room for expansion and facilities upgrade

Recruiting of Students
Strength: Diversity, maturity
Opportunity: Elite in finance from all over the world

Faculty
Strength: Professional
Opportunity: Independent and have a great freedom to change

Career Service
Strength: Well established and keep on improving
Opportunity: Strengthening the career match for those elites in finance

Alumni Relations
Strength: Excellent for the HKU as a whole
Opportunity: Plenty of rooms for further development in the MBA stream

Ex Ed
Strength: Excellent for the HKU as a whole
Opportunity: Plenty of rooms for further development in the MBA stream

Donation
Strength: Excellent for the HKU as a whole
Opportunity: From the financial sector & institutions

Business Consulting

2008-11-27T10:35:00.004+08:00

It's really being value-added to attend class of the Management Consulting, as our Professor worked in BCG and SVW before, he got excellent experience in handling problems that we encounter in day to day business.

I'm particular interested to listen to Professor's stories in SVW, a foreigner interpreting what he encountered when doing business in China and his understanding of Chinese culture in terms of purchasing behavior.

I still remember the last question I asked at the end of the yesterday class is: How should a company response when there is growing percentage of fear among her staff? I asked that question is because I don't know if it would be helpful for me to send out an open letter to all my staff on Nov 6, 2008, a day after our Group Chairman's open letter to the entire group, to urge for their confidence in the upcoming future. Indeed, I knew that there were quite a number of my teammates became fearful and unhappy about the snowballing effect that bring forth by the credit crunch in early November 2008!

Except the letter, I keep everything normal just to hope that everybody will get used to this particular atmosphere at soonest.

I got a nickname!

2008-11-25T00:03:00.005+08:00

I got a nickname in class after my presentation on Nov 24, 2008 and my nickname is Wanda Obama! Why? It's just because I use "It's time for Change!" as the title and the main theme of my presentation. Well.......you will learn the result of my presentation in the precious post. I'm open for the nickname of any kind but I didn't hear the speech by Mr. Obama hence I swear that I didn't copy anything from the next President of the America!

I won't forget tonight, the day that I learned it's time for checking emails or going to the washroom........hahaha^^

My heart was broke!

2008-11-24T22:56:00.004+08:00

Here are the comments that I received from Professor Marcus Schuetz on my presentation tonight:

Style:
1. Too dramatic, it is a proposal! It’s good enough just to present the proposal
2. No need to recite the message, use visual aids as the backup
3. Don't stress too much on one single point or message!

Consequent of the above said problems, you will lose your client’s attention and they may leave the room to check emails politely or ask you to stop right away!

Oh………after hearing that………my heart was totally broke! Though my heart was broke, finally I learned the reason why every time whenever I presented in the bi-weekly company meetings, there are so many people go to the washroom........hahaha^^

Something I have to remember!

2008-11-20T18:42:00.003+08:00

In the module International Business Environment, I have a chance to team up with my classmate Zane. Hereunder are the good and valuable lessons that I learned from him:

(1) Email instead of meeting in person may be even more effective and productive
(2) Sometimes your teammate may not be as smart as you are but they have the right to expand.
(3) With (2), as a teammate, help him/her to expand. No force, arguments but just provide him/her more rooms for thoughts and improvement by consistently giving, quoting and sharing sincere commentary from time to time.
(4) With (3), the whole team will be improved by gaining new experience and point of view from each member without giving up better knowledge or outcome to a mere relationship maintenance.
(5) Stay precise and simple
(6) No need to fix it until it broke! “Stay the course” is not a bad recommendation at all! Sometimes, it is better to have no recommendation than giving recommendation just for the sake of recommendation!
(7) Be democratic, no idea imposition!
(8) Ready to help when your teammates are in needed
(9) Be understandable and sincere all the time.

So by now I guess you should aware that Zane is the smart guy while me is the “less” smart teammate.......hahahahaha! Thank you Zane!

My Professor!

2008-11-19T17:34:00.002+08:00

Hey, he is my Professor in Management Consulting "Mr. Marcus Schuetz"! Cool right!
http://web.me.com/marcus_schuetz/Site/Blog/Blog.html

The key to success - to dig out what you don't know

2008-11-12T11:18:00.003+08:00

I want to share a brilliant lesson with you, the lesson I learned from Professor Cheng in our International Business Environment

The Lesson of "What Do You Know"?

At the very beginning of the IBE class, Professor Cheng asked the following question (choices of answer are given):

What Do you know?

a. You know what you know
b. You know what you don't know
c. You don't know what you know
d. You don't know what you don't know
e. You think you know but you really don't know
f. You know you don't know but pretend that you know.

Yes, I don't know what I don't know, hence the essence of the exam is to find out what I don't know in IBE. Interesting and exciting.........!!! I'm expecting the challenge (IBE exam) tonight! For exploring what I don't know.......but at least one thing I know, there are many, ha!

Are you ready for the new rule in International Business Environment after the credit crunch?

2008-11-11T15:31:00.003+08:00

Should you find that you're getting mad with the latest development of China Monetary Policy and its implications on FDI, exchange rate like me, here are the good tips that provided by our Professor Joseph Cheng^^ Btw, thank you Professor Joe!!!

Wanda

Given your wide interest in a range of topics, I suggest you look at the following journals to get the latest research. I serve the editorial review boards of these three top, world class journals, one based in the US, one based in Germany, and the other based in Austria:

Journal of International Business Studies
Management International Review
European Journal of International Management

Also, check out this research series at the HKU library:

Advances in International Management

This is a book series published by Elsevier and more recently by Emerald. I am the lead Editor of the series since 1996, and there are several volumes that should be of interest to you.

That should keep you busy for awhile :)

J.

It's magic, Dr Bose?

2008-09-12T14:07:00.002+08:00

Dr Bose taught us Data Analysis in Year 1 and now teaches us the Information System Management. Dr Bose is brilliant, who is the expert in data mining. So if you expect he will teach us exactly in the same way as what he did in previous module, then you would be definitely surprised to see the change!

Dr Bose show us 2 completely different teaching styles. Instead of using the technical approach that may frighten those math idiots like me in the previous module, he is adopting a dynamic teaching method this time. Dr Bose will guide us to the state-of-the-art IT concept and theory, and then follow with live sharing with top notched IT professionals in class. Guess speakers are invited to teach us the hottest IT trend, management style and problems to note. Life examples, case studies are put forth for our brainstorming and open discussion. I'm not sure if this new style work for the whole class but it at least fit me and fit those endless numbers of enquirer in class.
Dr Bose, I really want to share the moon with you and hope you enjoy the mooncake that Buston gave me earlier in class.......hahaha, enjoy and have a wonderful mid-autumn festival in Hong Kong^^

My next lesson: How to ask a wise question?

2008-09-11T17:56:00.002+08:00

Suddenly, I found myself switching to a new studying mode which involved the art of communication with the lecturer. During my study trip to Europe, I was fascinated with the practice of the essence of the Q&A session there. Culture to discuss and raise question is the essential part in each & every lesson/lecture or seminar received. Students are highly expected to be involved actively in discussion of any kinds. How to ask a wise question is a new challenge and experience for me now. In the past, I used to be studied in an environment where I was not highly expected to take active role in the discussion of any kinds and Q&A session will be welcomed or preferred in class only if time is allowed. However, I know that it's time to take a new studying role for myself.........haha!

Role of Chief Information Officer

2008-09-09T23:50:00.004+08:00

I'm happy in solving the doubt that I had since a very long time ago. Quite a numbers of CIO that I met before are without any IT background academically and I wonder the reason why there is no need for CIO having a basic IT academic background. However, after the discussion with our ISM Lecturer last night, I was advised with the lesson: To be a CIO, you business sense and knowledge is more important than the level of your IT language earned. The importance of CIO is to incorporate IT into the daily company business model and make it smoother, faster and better than without IT. Hence, it is more important to find a people who know the business model so well and can successfully blend it with the state-of-the-art technology. After all, this is the reason why there are so many successful CIOs in Hong Kong are without the IT degree.

MBA Orientation Dinner

2008-09-07T22:25:00.003+08:00

It was my honor to be invited to the MBA Orientation Dinner for the 2009 intakes, the opportunity to share our school life and get to know our future classmates on August 30, 2008 (Sat). We arrived at the Sunset Terrace, HK Hollywood Hotel at 6:30pm and the gathering was located right at the pool side. It was a very interesting & funny evening to talk with our new family members.

For me, of course I sincerely asked them to participate in the global MBA business plan competition for an opportunity to complete with overseas brilliant minds. More, I shared my own opinion that the best method for studying MBA is to learn from classmates and to encourage the idea of brainstorming with teammates instead of working with one single mind for the tasks. That’s my main points to share with our new members and I would like to take this opportunity to wish them all joy and goodness in their academic term………..cheers!!

The essence of the MBA course: learn from your classmates

2008-09-05T14:02:00.009+08:00

(From Left: Eddie Chan, Mr. Christian Vanderkerken, the owner of the Manon Chocolate Factory, Michael Horowitz and me)

Before our study trip, I was intentionally finding my way to team up with Eddie, our class rep. and Michael, an aggressive, straight forward and smart American for our group presentation. I feel a bit nervous at the very beginning of the trip as Michael appeared in such a COOL way that really keep me tense. However, I wanted to grasp the valuable chance to team up with the smart guys like that as I knew it so well Michael would be graduated soon and that was his last module while Eddie would form another team with other classmates in next module. Luckily, my dream came true and Michael didn't disappoint me by pointing to me to the area where I needed to improve. Here is my valuable lesson and I feel so good about it! (Hope that Michael won't mind and allow me to share my lesson with you^^)

Prior to Michael's comment, I used to write my part in this way

History --For Belgians, chocolate is a not only a passion but a sweet addiction and Belgium’s national pride as well. “Belgians themselves consume a button-popping 9.7 kilos per person of chocolate products annually. We Belgians buy chocolate whenever we crave it, not just once in a while to give as a present,” says Christian Vanderkerken, the successor of Manon chocolate factory” – quoted from the Reader's Digest International Editions, June 2001, Belgium’s Food of the Gods by Joseph A. Harriss
Le Manon Chocolate factory's products are considered by many experts as the best in Belgium and possibly worldwide. They are 100% handmade, hand-molded and hand-dipped. 85% of the chocolate is made for export. According to the official Manon's website, Manon was awarded the first prize at different Fancy Food Shows: New York in 1982 and 1993, Chicago in 1988, Atlanta in 1989 and Brussels in 1995. The most famous bonbon is a space-capsule shaped bonbon that is made of two kinds of chocolate and filled with orange-flavored crème fraiche in the nose cone and a Cointreau-laced marzipan in the fuselage.
Functions-- Over the last several years most of the traditional Belgian bonbons chocolate companies have became Americanized and been taken more mass market. Campbell's Soup purchased Godiva 15 years ago, San Francisco Sourdough and Folaner Jam, Neuhaus, Corne de la Toison d'Or and the mammoth Cote d'Or. Jacobs Suchard, a multinational Swiss-based company, which is about to be acquired by Philip Morris, gulped down Callebaut and Toblerone. Christian Vanderkerken, a slight, mustachioed artisan in Brussels whose brown eyes sparkle with enthusiasm for chocolate says, ''I will fight to remain Belgian.'' Mr. Vanderkerken emphasizes the craftsmanship of each and every piece of chocolate as they are all unique and no two are ever exactly the same, just like a jewel. “I use very little sugar,” He explains. “Cheaper chocolates contain lots of sugar because it costs less than chocolate.”

Here is Michael's comment....”I have to admit, I don't really like the flow of this report. The first page and a half have no rhythm to it. I don't know who write it but please go back and try and make it more into a "story' to tell about the company. It just seems like it's a bullet point document rolled into a paragraph. The info is great, just needs a story.” Upon receiving and considering his comments, I rewrote the essay into this way in an hour.........

History --For Belgians, chocolate is a not only a passion but a sweet addiction and Belgium’s national pride as well. “Belgians themselves consume a button-popping 9.7 kilos per person of chocolate products annually. We Belgians buy chocolate whenever we crave it, not just once in a while to give as a present” says Christian Vanderkerken, the successor of Manon chocolate factory*. Over the last several years, most of the traditional Belgian bonbons chocolate companies have became Americanized and been taken more mass market. Campbell's Soup purchased Godiva 15 years ago, San Francisco Sourdough and Folaner Jam, Neuhaus, Corne de la Toison d'Or and the mammoth Cote d'Or. Jacobs Suchard, a multinational Swiss-based company, which is about to be acquired by Philip Morris, gulped down Callebaut and Toblerone. Is the mass production is the only way out for the Belgian chocolate and bonbons? Mr. Christian Vanderkerken will definitely reply “NO” to the question and he is demonstrating how to keep every piece of chocolate perfectly hand made while staying small to the rest of the world in front of his working table. With Christian's insist, it is crystal clear that Le Manon Chocolate factory's product is considered by many experts as the best in Belgium and possibly worldwide. They are 100% handmade, hand-molded and hand-dipped. 85% of the chocolate is made for export. According to the official Manon’s website, Manon was awarded the first prize at different Fancy Food Shows: New York in 1982 and 1993, Chicago in 1988, Atlanta in 1989 and Brussels in 1995. The most famous bonbon is a space-capsule shaped bonbon that is made of two kinds of chocolate and filled with orange-flavored crème fraiche in the nose cone and a Cointreau-laced marzipan in the fuselage.* quoted from the Reader's Digest International Editions, June 2001, Belgium’s Food of the Gods by Joseph A. Harriss
Functions -- Christian Vanderkerken, a slight, mustachioed artisan in Brussels whose brown eyes sparkle with enthusiasm for chocolate says, ''I will fight to remain Belgian.'' Mr. Vanderkerken emphasizes the craftsmanship of each and every piece of chocolate as they are all unique and no two are ever exactly the same, just like a jewel. Same as jewel, you have to learn to taste it! According to Christian's philosophy, a perfect piece of chocolate should be hand made. Mass produced mechanical products can never be perfect as there are a lot of complex chocolate making processes that cannot be replaced with machine. It is impossible to develop a complete chocolate flavored structure within a machine made chocolate piece. Other than making process, ingredient composition of every piece of chocolate is another lesson to take. “I use very little sugar,” He explains. “Cheaper chocolates contain lots of sugar because it costs less than chocolate.” How about environment? Christian will show you how different it is for chocolate made and not made at 32 degree. More, if you believe white chocolate is a kind of chocolate, then you're certainly not qualified to be one of Manon customers. In Master Christian's eye, white chocolate is just a big lump of coco butter mixed with sugar but stealing the fame of chocolate! It's cool, Man!

This time my writing style was passed with Michael's comment:”Looks a lot better Wanda. Thanks” hahaha........I really enjoy the chance to learn from teammates.......and I love the feeling of 1+1+1>3.........cheers^^

My Birthday Celebration in the classroom

2008-09-04T23:15:00.005+08:00

So surprise for tonight's class, can't image to hear my birthday song at the classroom which sang lovely and loudly by most of my classmates at the end of tonight class! Million thanks to my brother Stanley for giving me such an unforgettable memory & experience tonight. The moment when the class sang “Happy Birthday to you”, I was moved and tears almost burst out and knew nothing to do and forgot to make any wish but just want to shout “I’M SO HAPPY, THANK YOU ALL”, sorry I was too shy to do that and just kept looking at the birthday cake instead..............hahahaha! Thank you and love you all (my classmates) for singing the most beautiful birthday song that I ever hear in my life! Thank you once again!

Back to school with a conceptual crash!

2008-09-03T14:39:00.001+08:00

Ever since the European Business Trip, I realize that one of the core value of MBA course is a series of spontaneous experience of conceptual crash towards our daily believes.

The first 2nd year course is the Information System Management and our respectful Dr. Bose start rolling out the course with a brilliant mental crash approach. He assigned us the pre-reading material Why IT Doesn't Matter Anymore by Nicholas G. Carr, before dipping into the heart of IT management, let's think about do we really need it before we talk about that!
It's me who took part in the birth of various innovative IT revolutionary products and process within our company non-sales stream and I used, adapted, believed that it is a must to go digitized in the past and it's a very good escape for me to rethink all those “Must Do’ belief, cool!

My European Business Trip 2008 Diary (3)

2008-09-02T14:32:00.002+08:00

The 7th lesson (Strategy - The key to be rich)
The golden key for getting rich for both Man and Woman as once again confirmed by the story of the rich in London: Marry someone who are rich and get the wealth.

The 8th lesson (Strategy - The scene behind the sugar coat)
UK and US are real friends as UK investment company is so confident in Bernanke’s decision and so as the US economical environment for a bullish forecast and recommendations. I wonder the real story for the bullish forecast is, it is just a sugar coat for covering the tricks that those hedge funds employ when performing cross industries or global wide hedging behind the scene. .

The 9th lesson (Geographical - All about Hong Kong)
Hong Kong is still good and competitive except in the area of education, air pollution and medical service.

The 10th lesson (Cultural - Hospitality)
Fabulous Biscuits, candy and drinks will surely enlighten up a gathering or party of any kinds. It’s in fact a reflection of hospitality / courtesy / culture in Europe, especially in UK and that’s really nice!

The 11th lesson (Legal - Another reason for protecting the IP right)
If Chinese really want to advance from the stage of manufacturing, the world factory and leave all pollution behind, I think we should spend more time and afford on the area of Intellectual Property Right. In other word, the Chinese should capitalize Property Right for the age of product advancement. People will fly with imagination only when we realize that our creations will be protected and not be copied by other. Maybe, we will soon arrive at one morning when the news headline jammed with a story on how a new rich in China earns his tones of gold coin from winning the lawsuits in intellectual property.

The 12th lesson (Political)
It’s interesting to learn that under the same umbrella (the same union), there is the existence and allowance of different formats or level of joining. Says for example, the degree of joining the EU by the UK is different from most of the European countries. It may provide some cues in solving the conflict between China and Tibet despite the fact that the existence of same religious belief maybe a crucial factor for the existence of a Union.

My European Business Trip 2008 Diary (2)

2008-09-01T14:09:00.001+08:00

My 1st lesson (Economical - The corn food age)
The presenter gave us a very precise overview and lesson on the European food industry. We were taught with their belief, concerns and strategies adopted in the whole business that not only apply to Belgian alone but to the whole Europe and to the rest of the world as well. I was introduced with the term ‘Corn Food’. Obviously, I'm living in the corn food generation, who surrounded by CORN plus her associated or by products. Corn is in fact a by product of the mass production and standardization. I’m now questioning myself if the word “standardization” and ‘mass production’ bears some degree of adverse consequent that we should be aware of or at least be educated.

The 2nd lesson (Environmental -The invasion of sugary food)
The lesson of sugary food was introduced. It is the first time that food taste good for me does not necessarily involve sugar. I'm re-educating myself the real taste of food and beverage without excess sugary content though it is easier to accept anything for the first bite should it taste closer to sweet.

The 3rd lesson (Philosophical - The existence of craftsmanship)
The 3rd lesson I learned during the trip is the value of craftsmanship. Craftsmanship may not be the friend to profit making and it is a choice, an art or living philosophy for us to decide if we want to keep it alive.

The fourth lesson (Political - Democracy doesn't mean majority)
The essence of cooperation lay within the word “benefit”. More, the European Union seeking for full representation rather than the majority rule concept within her members’ state.

The fifth lesson (Philosophical - Purpose of life)
The existence of choice to insist on uniqueness and perfection

The 6th lesson (Social & Economical - Let's think small)
The existence of choice to refuse think big, go big and the art of staying small.

My European Business Trip 2008 Diary (1)

2008-08-31T15:17:00.005+08:00

It is my honor to have a chance to be participated in the 2008 Business Trip (August 2008). Million thanks to Professor Elfred Roberts(Left 1), Pricilla, Bon (Undreneath:The gentleman with the glass)and the whole HKUMBA office for organizing such an unforgettable adventurous experience for us! Bravo!!!

The trip enriches me with a new
definition of business life which is not
100% pure money talk. Rather, it is an art or a new insight to incorporate one’s personal dream, goal with career and
makes it sustainable in everyday business
Definitely a more meaningful life it is!

With the strong ‘€’ & ‘₤’, the cost of living is much more expensive than we are in HK. However, the quality of wine, foods and all naturally handcrafted products teach us the lesson of value for money. I was taught to accept ‘standardization’ & ‘mass production’ before but it is an excellent escape for the terms ‘uniqueness’ and ‘craftsmanship’.

Fresh air and tremendous greenery land
in most of the European countries cure my eyes and ordinary sickness which
happens so often in Hong Kong under the heavily polluted environment. My mum is so surprised to see me standing shiningly and healthy in front of her despite of the presence of jet lag.

My Yearbook

2008-08-28T19:56:00.006+08:00

1950

1952

1954

1960

1962
1964

1966

1970

1974

1976

1978

1988

A perfect end for the 1st academic year of the HKUMBA

2008-08-25T22:36:00.006+08:00

(Upper role from the left: Eddy, Rachael, Crystal, me, Louie, Patrick, Shirley)
(Lower role from the left: Vian, Stefan, Cora)

Guess what? I completed my first academic year of my part-time HKUMBA with a perfect European Business Trip that starting from July 31 to August 11, more I extended the trip to August 17, 2008 and spent a wonderful time in Nice, Provence, Barcelona. Hey it's time for cheers!!!

Tell me please!

2008-07-05T12:32:00.002+08:00

I personally find it very difficult to hold a balance between profit making and business ethics. Being a student, I learned and I understanding the benefit of uplifting the business ethical standard. However, facing a keen competition with other competitors in the market, the 1st role of entrepreneur is to keep the business survive. Besides, greed is the human nature and it is undeniable in today's psychology, we need to motivate mankind for doing what seemed to be good to them. Knowing that to keep earning and stating in the market is the dominant role for a company when competing with other “Greed”, other values including ethics always come to the second. With this preset priority, our behavioral set is directed accordingly.

Carrot or Stick?
I know it so well that money is the most effective and the best means of motivation. People by nature, who join our industry, investor who buy our shares, stakeholders who invest in our business will be only interested in monetary reward or they will pick others. Besides, most of the top performers I met in the field so far preferred free overseas incentive trips or other kinds of trendy enjoyment like spa, massages, wine tasting, jewelry and etc as the prize to their hard afford yearly. Ethical training is periodically offered to them but they are either absence from the class or fell asleep almost instantly at the speed of wind. How can we change the motivation system for sales so as to keep the company and their business, team and position survive in the market but at the same time uplifting the ethical standard as a whole? Yes, we can revise our corporate mission statement, and surely our chairman would more than welcome to educate our staff the new ethical standard. However, the most important question is: “how to motivate sales’ interest and let them go hand in hand with us to build up a strong ethical standard within our industry?

The government currently tries to incorporate a penalty system to punish those who act beyond the rules and regulations. However, the result seemed not very sounding as people just trying their very best to escape from the set rules through inventing different kind of creative ideas. Why they want to escape? For the term “they” refer not only to the Sales, but also the principles, the associated parties of all kinds as much as you can imagine. On one hand, it is their instinct drive for them to get whatever possible out of the deal but on the other hand; they are being the top donators who aid charity functions of all kinds, including the Sichuan earthquake. After all they are happy and satisfied to be the copy cats of George Soros.

Is it ethical?
One of the reasons why whistleblowing getting popular nowadays is; it is in fact a very effective tool to get your competitor down! Your “competitor” including your teammates, the one you envy with because of his/her brilliant performance, ex-lover who now find his/her new love, boss who allocate the earning that used to be for your account in your bad luck days but now change to the account of a new joiner, ex-partner because you think it is now time to get rid of him/her, ex-teammates because you will be free from jail to become a suspect-turned-prosecution-witness. Is it really ethical for encouraging the society with the practice of whistleblowing? Sorry I don't think so. By the way, what is the rationale for uplifting the ethical standard again?

Business Ethic

2008-07-02T18:20:00.005+08:00

The 3 days workshop to explore what we (the TMT-top management team) can do to uplift the standard of business ethics as a whole! It's COOL!

What we learned from the workshop beside business ethics: Being late; to other people, equivalent to murders for money, to oneself, is the chronic suicide　遲到；對他人就是謀財害命，對自己就是慢性自殺

From upper left: Shirley Yuen, Rachel, Shirley Chiu, Vian
From lower left: Stanley and me!

The treasure I gained from studying the HBO

2008-06-26T15:02:00.003+08:00

While preparing for the HBO mid-term exam, I found the answers to clarify some of the doubts that I met in daily business. Pls allow me to talk a little bit about the group that I'm working with.

Firstly, to identify our group's culture
1. Growth orientation
2. Profit orientation
3. Extreme decentralization
4. Innovative

Culture leads to the result that
5. Emphasize on Financial Control at the expense of Strategic Control.

*Strategic controls require information based exchanges among top management team members, and organizational citizens, the ability to integrate disparate sets of information to yield competitively relevant insights.

Financial controls encourage the accomplishment of short-term performance goals. An emphasis on financial rather than strategic controls makes managerial rewards contingent on achievement of financial outcomes. Therefore, an emphasis on short-term financial performance goals encourages risk-adverse managerial decisions and behaviors.

The answer:-
Effective TMT (Top Mgt Team) seek to develop and use a balanced set of strategic and financial controls. In this fashion, strategic leaders are able to use strategic controls to increase the probability that their firm will gain the benefits of carefully formulated strategies, but not at the expense of the type of financial performance that is critical to successful strategy implementation processes and to the firm’s ability to satisfy selected stakeholders.

Note
*Quotes from the article “Achieving and maintaining strategic competitiveness in the 21st century: The role of strategic leadership......

Our class culture

2008-06-25T00:21:00.004+08:00

Let me identify our class's culture

1) Knowledge seeking
2) Competing for perfection
3) Result/Target oriented
4) Group dynamic
5) Team players
6) Critical
7) Openness
8) Creative
9) Fun achiever
10) Happy Hour Driven
11) Fairness

Managing a multicultural team

2008-06-24T11:32:00.003+08:00

Hey, my dream come true!!! I am in a multicultural team!!!

We rolled out Module 7, the Human Behavior and Organization in mid June. As per my wish, my HBO team composes members (Louie, Ran, Raj, Wai, Flavio, Rachael, Vian and myself) with different cultural backgrounds. It is my first time to realize how a westerner feel frustrated in joining a Google Group with a Chinese Characters. Also, the importance of ascent in communication and the cultural different in getting a job done with members originated from different cultures. Guess what, we are the team 6 and we're responsible for handling the topic “Managing Multicultural Teams”, in addition to have an excellent case summary of what we quoted from the assigned article, I guess it would be more interesting and valuable for our class should we added and shared our own experience with them! Shall we?

The MBTI test

2008-06-20T18:11:00.003+08:00

Dr Derek Man of the Human Behavior and Organization gave us the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in class, the personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types. According to the test, I belong to the ENTP type ^^ Characteristics of the ENTP type are enterprising, independent, outspoken, strategic, creative, adaptive, challenging, analytical, clever, resourceful, questioning and theoretical who are most suitable to pick Photographers, Marketing, Sales Agents, Journalists, Actors, Computer Analysis, Credit Investigators, Physicians, Engineers and Construction Laborers. Interestingly, my current responsibility is administration whereas the post before that is marketing. Haha....is it a kind of mismatch or capability extension?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® Online

Interesting!!!

Event Invitation

2008-06-13T09:52:00.003+08:00

Message from our class rep:

Dear classmates,

For the financial talk that held by our class will be held on this Saturday afternoon.It is really a good experience sharing by the guest besides our textbook and is worthto attend. The details for the talk is list below A financial talk by Mr Joseph Wong, Chairman and CEO of EPI Holdings Ltd. With the news of how JP Morgan has 'come to the rescue' of Bear Stearns still fresh in our minds, hear how Hong Kong's own Great Wall Cybertech was turned around after its dramatic collapse back in 2003.

Date: 14 June, 2008
Time: 2:30pm to 4:30pm

Graduation Happy Hour

2008-05-28T04:51:00.004+08:00

Finally we have our Graduation Happy Hour to express our gratitude that to be taught for the great marketing strategy applied in the cerebration competition.

(From left: Professor Chris, Rita, me, Louie and Jeff)
Guess what, the one who taught us the excellent marketing strategy, the strategy that was praised by the panel judges in the judging process, is our former Professor in Accounting. We had a great evening with Chris at the Q88, Marriott Hotel, Hong Kong.

I’m so happy to see everybody’s happy face!\(^o^)/

Credit Risk Conference 08

2008-05-27T18:34:00.003+08:00

May 27, 2008
Marriott Hotel Hong Kong

(From Left: Michael, Eddie, 2nd yr HKUMBA'er & me)Keynote speaker: David O'Rear, Chief Economist, Hong Kong General Chamber Of Commerce "We(HK) outsource manufacturing, haircuts, dinner, foreign affairs, defense, golf, gambling, dry cleaning and shopping...except the discussion of credit risk!"

Keynote speaker: Michael Spencer, Managing Director & Chief Economist - Asia and Head of Global Markets Research - Asia Pacific, Deutsche Bank "China should...Switching to domestic sales, investing in/acquiring brands & technologies, vertical integration, exporting to emerging markets, exporting high-end products, relocation to low cost regions"
Valuable gift from Coface wow...........so cool, so professional!

Happy Hour Club -- One more core member

2008-05-24T01:57:00.003+08:00

Guess what,we got one more core member in our Happy Hour Club and he is Stanley the Man In Black (MIB)!!!
The family of Happy Hour Club (From right: Brandon, Shirley, Stanley, Patrick and me:D) Club mission 1: Go Happy Hour after school. Club Mission 2: Go Happy Hour whenever possible!

Hey my statistical idea works!

2008-05-22T23:42:00.002+08:00

What's up! My proposed project guideline is accepted by my Data Analysis team!!! Thanks for Stanley’s private tutorial session, I can master some of the statistic concepts and applied the same to draft the layout of our project guideline. Adding in the shallow level of investment knowledge, plus the lesson that I learned in previous modules, I draft the first statistic project guideline in my life. I know that we should add in a perfect conclusion and analysis model as well. Hope the outcome of this analysis will benchmark with the presentation last time that can bring some insight to our classmates or audiences.

2008-05-22T23:24:00.001+08:00

Pre-MBA event

2008-05-20T23:32:00.006+08:00

Date: May 20, 2008
Venue: Happy Valley Jockey Club
(Professor Chris Chan kick off the event)

Time is running fast….....let's turn back the clock to May 2007, when I first joined the Pre-MBA event under the same roof. My mind is full of curious, fantasy, expectation towards the course, plus a feeling of excitement, joy and uncertainty.
(From left: Eddie, Crystal, David, Ryan and me)

Today, on May 20, 2008, I still full of passion, promises, faith towards the rest of the course. Yes, I totally agreed with what Professor Chris Chan said in the event that Clubs and Networking is the core of the MBA life. Trust me that after graduation, we will forget almost all theories that taught in class except all the memories gained from those activities that you participated within the academic years.

ArtHK08

2008-05-18T23:17:00.003+08:00

HKCEC May 18, 2008

HKUMBA Happy Hour Club

2008-05-17T22:01:00.002+08:00

Core members: Brandon Cheung(Right 1), Patrick Sezto (Right 2), Shirley (Left 1) and me (Left 2)
Club Mission: Go happy hour after class!
Establishment Date: May 16, 2008
Membership: All HKUMBA'er
Membership Fee: Free