Smith Undergraduates Visit Asia for Class on Global Business

The Smith School group visits the Shenzen Stock Exchange

A group of honors students from the Smith School made Hong Kong their classroom in January, experiencing first-hand how global developments impact business.

The three-credit class and 10-day trip, Topics in Global Business: Comparative Capital Markets: U.S., Mainland China & Hong Kong, was designed to examine the globalization of business by studying the transnational flow of ideas, people, capital, goods, and even diseases. It has become a truism to say that all business is global business in the 21st century, and that students must learn and appreciate the complexities and opportunities presented by cross-cultural collaboration in order to succeed in business, said Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs Pat Cleveland.

To fulfill this mission, the delegation met with a number of experts both in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, a special economic region of the Chinese mainland directly across the border from Hong Kong.

Walter Hutchens, assistant professor of logistics, business and public policy, has led the course for the last two years and taught this year′s version with Susan White, a Tyser Teaching Fellow in the finance department. They organized visits to both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

As part of the course requirements, students studied the IPO process in Hong Kong and Shenzen. Each student tracked a unique portfolio of recent IPOs and was required to compare and analyze the differing legal environments, customary procedures, financial results, as well as research and valuation techniques with the U.S. IPO market. The overall size of Hong Kong′s [IPO] markets[gave me] an appreciation for the depth and complexity of Hong Kong′s economy, said senior, Allen Yiu.

In Hong Kong, students first visited the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service and learned how the U.S. government helps foreign business entities establish operations in China. Speakers from the U.S. Department of Agricultures Foreign Service Office talked with students about import/export issues and the impact of biological issues such as SARS, bird flu, and Mad Cow Disease on trade.

"There is so much news on the growing economic status of China, but rarely had I heard about the changes that are being implemented. The stock exchanges in China are essentially transforming regulations to allow more incentives for [investing] in their markets, said Yiu.

Students also visited the offices of the corporate law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison to learn about legal issues affecting trade and investment in China.

A presentation from Honk Kong′s Independent Commission Against Corruption helped students understand why Hong Kong is praised for clean government and transparency.

While in Shenzen, students also visited Wah Ming Optical Manufactory Ltd. a supplier of designer eyewear to many American companies including University of Maryland grad Kevin Planks company UnderArmor. Factory owner Douglas Cheung gave us a tour of the modern facility and showed how they use Computer Aided Design (CAD) to custom manufacture the eyewear for their customers, said Sue White.

In addition to participating in an array of meeting and activities in Asia, students were required to attend a series of preparatory lectures before departure. Books were assigned to give them a richer context for appreciating what they would experience while abroad. While overseas students kept journals to help them actively engage the experience. After returning to the U.S., each student completed a research paper on some aspect of doing business in China.

As an additional assignment, students produced a blog while they were overseas, posting photos and notes about their activities: http://www.doingbusinessinchina.net/January-2006/blog.

Januarys trip to Hong Kong was the second by Smith students in two years. We have learned that students have a broad range of interests in global business, commented Associate Dean Cleveland on the programs success. The BMGT honors program, not only fulfills our goal of providing international education experiences for our students, but also strengths the relationships which make up our dynamic Smith Community by working, studying and traveling together.

As a result, the Smith School is looking to expand study-abroad opportunities to provide additional international education experiences. In January of 2007, BMGT honors students will travel to Santiago, Chile, with Bill DeWitt, Tyser Teaching Fellow and instructor in supply chain management and logistics and Hutchens will lead a group of MBA students on a study course to Shanghai in May. In the fall of 2007, the BMGT Honors program will be expanded to admit two cohorts of 30 students each. Plans also include a new Smith Undergraduate Fellows track to be launched in the fall of 2006 for double majors in business and foreign languages.

▓ Smith Media Group, Aric Morrison, MBA Candidate 2006