The continuing globalization of the world economy has resulted in increasing levels of international trade, direct investment, diversity, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. A vast majority of Fortune 500 companies, and a growing number of small- and medium-sized companies, are conducting business in China. China's economy is the second largest in the world in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) at $10.2 trillion.

On Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland welcomed S. Tien Wong, CEO of Opus8 and entrepreneur-in-residence at Smith, to its MBA Speaker Series program. Wong is the chairman of Opus8, a private investment firm based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on mid-market buyouts and venture capital. Opus8's investment focus is on firms in North America and China that deal with business process outsourcing, call centers and customer relationship management, and marketing services.

Each year every chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) in the United States runs a regional case competition for the MBA programs in the area. This year the D.C. chapter of the ACG held their competition Feb. 4-11, 2008. The competition places the student teams in the role of a financial investor. This year’s case was centered around two fictional companies that were named GrowCo and MarginCo. The industry that they operated in was aerospace & defense.

The first Graduate Marketing Association (GMA) event of the semester kicked off on Feb. 13, 2008 in Van Munching Hall with a presentation from Anthony Pappas, president and creative director of the Pappas Group. Around 40 MBA students and faculty attended the presentation, entitled "The Business of Branding: How Creative Efforts Meet Corporate Goals."

On Feb. 8, 2008, Smith students gathered at both Van Munching Hall and the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center for the MBA Consulting Forum. This is the ninth consecutive year that the MBA Consulting Association Executive Board has partnered with faculty, staff and student volunteers to host this daylong interactive event for students, alumni and industry professionals. Students in attendance had the opportunity to interact with consulting professionals from varied backgrounds, levels, firms, and industries both collectively and individually throughout the day.

Every year the MBA Entrepreneurship Club hosts a local round of the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC), whose winner then moves on to a regional competition. This year the local round took place on Feb. 8, 2008 and featured three local startups that are currently in the process of looking for funding—Prepchamps, Inspire and mpowerplayers.

For many undergraduates, winter term is a time to kick back, relax and forget school for a while.

A group of Smith School students from Zurich recently had the opportunity to tackle one of the most pressing problems facing organizations in China today. An outgrowth of China's blistering economic growth has been a challenge in recruiting and retaining skilled workers. Multinational organizations in particular are often caught up in bidding wars where the prevailing attitude among professionals and skilled laborers is that the company offering the biggest paycheck holds their loyalty – at least for the moment.

Undoubtedly the one of the most anticipated events of the Smith MBA program, the annual MBA Case Competition puts strategic thinking and analytical skills of full-time second-year MBA students to the test. The six-day competition started on Friday, Jan. 25 when 20 teams of students received a case about Teva Pharmaceuticals. Students went through three rounds of competition and the final four teams competed for a grand prize of $1,000 per person.

The Part-time MBA Association invited all MBA students, alumni, faculty, and administration to attend "Secrets to C-Level: Leveraging Business Contacts & the Smith Community to Launch Your Career into the Executive Stratosphere on Oct. 28, 2007. The event, held in the Colony Ballroom of the Stamp Student Union, featured the executive vice president and chief information officer from Fannie Mae, Rahul N. Merchant. Merchant has held these positions since November 2006.