Against the dramatic backdrop of a military parade featuring 12,000 People's Liberation Army troops, more than 100 aircraft and about 500 pieces of military equipment, a group of 83 EMBA students from INCAE Business School recently studied at CKGSB’s Beijing campus.
Against the dramatic backdrop of a military parade featuring 12,000 People’s Liberation Army troops, more than 100 aircraft and about 500 pieces of military equipment, a group of 83 EMBA students from INCAE Business School recently studied at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business Beijing campus.
The five-day “Doing Business With A Changing China” program was CKGSB’s first collaboration with INCAE, the leading business school in Latin America. Founded in 1964, INCAE has an alumni network of more than 13,000 political and business executives.
Assistant Dean Zhou Li welcomes INCAE EMBA
students to CKGSB’s Beijing campus.
Assistant Dean Zhou Li gave a warm welcome to the group, most of whom were on their first trip to China.
“I really appreciate your effort to fly all the way from Latin America to China,” Dean Zhou said.
Equipped with state-of-the-art simultaneous interpretation equipment, CKGSB’s Beijing headquarters are located in the core area of Chang’an Avenue, a bustling commercial area.
The program featured lectures from CKGSB’s and INCAE’s world-class professors on topics ranging from China’s history and global impact to China’s financial market and manufacturing sector. The group also met with senior-level executives during company visits to Beijing Hyundai Motors and Huiyuan Group.
The INCAE EMBA group of 83 students visited
Beijing Hyundai Motors during the program
INCAE Professor Emeritus John Ickis praised CKGSB’s faculty for delivering powerful lectures that provided both the macro and micro pictures of China to allow students to acquire a rich understanding of the country’s business landscape.
“The increased cultural awareness and intelligence that we’ve all gained from this has been incredibly valuable,” Ickis said. “It’s been a great, great week.”
INCAE Professor Emeritus John Ickis with CKGSB Assistant Dean Zhou Li
Many students brought their families to share in their travels. The group witnessed the unprecedented Chinese military parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the surrender of regional rival Japan to end World War II. They also enjoyed sight-seeing as well as dinners at some of Beijing’s most well-known restaurants.
A group of INCAE students network over dinner
at one of Beijing’s fine restaurants
The excitement and hope among this talented group was palpable.
Stella Villarreal, a student from Panama and general manager of a family-owned business manufacturing wood products, said she was very impressed with the program and the professors in particular.
“In order to learn as much as we have learned this week, we would have to read for many years. It has been very, very successful in teaching us how China sees business and what China’s interests are in cooperating with other countries,” Villarreal said.
“The professors are very well-versed. They have studied many, many years and they have taught in the US. So they understand the way we see things and they know how to explain them, but always from a Chinese perspective, and I think that is something quite unique,” she said.
Participants in the first joint program between CKGSB and INCAE – “Doing Business With A Changing China” – pose for a group photo in Beijing
Pedro Vazquez, a student from Ecuador who runs a hotel and several restaurants there, had visited China 15 years ago and was struck by the many positive changes the country has undergone as its economy has risen.
The program helped him “to realize the power that China has right now, the opportunities that we as companies in South America can have to do business here, and not only that, but to know that this huge market, eventually, will come to us and we have to be prepared for that,” Vazquez said.
Stefanie Fernandez Soko, a student from Peru, was grateful for the opportunity to visit Hyundai’s factory for an inside look at their impressive innovations in automization.
“I recommend that all the students of international universities visit China and study at CKGSB. It was a wonderful experience,” Soko said. “I loved this program and I hope to visit Beijing again.”
For more information about CKGSB’s programs, please click here.
