First Word • Message from Steve School News • World’s Top 10 • Researchers reach out to community Cover Story • The China factor MBAAA • Event highlights • Guangdong Chapter news Cultural Square • The high life Reunions+ • Together again • Alumni parents thrive in MBA family • How many decades in a lifetime? Lifestyles • Now you're talking! Class Notes Contents HKUST MBA ALUMNI MAGAZINE 2010 Summer Editor-in-Chief : Kitty Chong Editorial Assistants : Jennifer Fok, Matthew Cheng Associate Editor : Renee Cheng Photographer : Jockey Cheung Contributing Editor : Sally Course Artwork & Design : Masterpress (HK) Limited Please submit class notes, feedback, stories or photos to [email protected]. To update your correspondence address, please login at www.mbaaa.com. 2 First Word Message from Steve ongratulations, MBA alumni! What could be better news than Cour outstanding rankings achievement – No.9 MBA program in the world and the best in Asia. Thanks are certainly due to the Class of FT06 who participated in the Financial Times survey to make this a reality. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all alumni who have been supporting the School in so many different ways. Everyone deserves to feel proud of where we are today – a World Top 10 business school. While we are very happy to have achieved the Top 10 ranking ahead of schedule, our target is sustainability. This means we are continually developing in order to look beyond and stay ahead. Recent innovations include 12 further electives that are China/Asia related, new required courses on China business and responsible leadership, and a “Case Center” which contributes materials to the MBA program, ensuring it is grounded in the actual problems students will face in their Asian and global careers. We also need to expand alumni support, particularly in relation to job referrals and advice on students’ career development. So far, admissions to our many Master’s programs are thriving this year. While our part-time applicant pool is smaller, we are pleased with the quality. Our biggest challenge now is to work with our full-time graduates to help them find employment as the economy recovers. Do look first to your alma mater if you have openings in your company. Best regards, Steve DeKrey MBA Program Director 3 School News WORLD’S TOP 10 One step closer to Dean Cheng’s vision t HKUST, there is a fine tradition for Dean Cheng to outline his wide- In the next five years, the School would Athat visions are realized faster than reaching plans. need to: anticipated. And so it has transpired for “We want to be a multi-talented school, Enhance faculty strength through the Prof. Leonard Cheng, Dean of HKUST establishment of a Dean’s professorship with stellar research findings to contribute Business School, and his goal to see the and Dean’s fellowship School occupy a place among the world’s to industries, business communities and Create, support and sustain chair top 10. Just a few months after he put society at large,” he said. “We wish to be professorships and fellowships through forward this 10-year target at the first series a role model for new schools in the region effective fund raising of Dean’s Forums in September 2009, the that aspire to be in the top tier. We don’t HKUST MBA Program was ranked by the want to be ‘Asia’s Harvard’ or ‘the London Consider naming of the Business School Financial Times in its prestigious annual Business School in Asia’, but simply for reputational and financial impetus global rankings as the world’s joint No. 9, ‘HKUST’ – to be known in our own right, Seek donations from businesses, alongside the University of Chicago. for our own strengths.” philanthropists and alumni to support excellence and innovation “This has certainly realized one of my For HKUST to be recognized as a world- goals – and so much more rapidly than class business school, he noted, it needed Maintain and improve quality of self- expected. I am very proud of the MBA to build a viable business model to fund financed programs to enhance brand value program and all that it has achieved,” its further development and continuous Dean Cheng said. improvement. In this business model, Dean Cheng also discussed other topics raised by alumni, including corporate However, as the Dean’s Forums revealed, donation, endowment income as well as program earnings must supplement links and branding, entrepreneurship, other targets remain to be achieved to build China strategy, local awareness in Hong government funding to recruit and retain HKUST Business School into a top tier Kong, business cases as well as how to business school in the world. Held in Hong the best faculty, to attract the best students, sustain the competitiveness of HKUST Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen to give the students the best learning over the long term. To learn more, watch and attended by over 200 students and experience, and to give the faculty the the video summary at www.mbaalum.ust. alumni, the gatherings provided a platform best support in research and outreach. hk/deansforum/. 4 School News I hope all alumni and future alumni will embrace our vision, “render support to us in all forms, and be our life-long partners in achieving excellence and success today and in the future Dean Leonard ”Cheng Collective spirit in Shenzhen. Exchange of views with forum facilitator Lik King Siu (PT07) in Hong Kong. Ready to press forward in Shanghai. Phoenix Special Edition Parties to celebrate the HKUST MBA program’s Financial Times (FT) top 10 ranking have been going on around the world since the release of the FT 2010 rankings in January. Given HKUST Business School’s short history of less than 20 years, the achievement is even more impressive. In Hong Kong, a “Top-10 Business School” celebration hosted by HKUST President Tony Chan was held on 26 March. The event attracted over 300 guests, including government officials, university senior personnel, corporate delegates, staff and faculty, alumni and students, and received good media coverage in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Read all this and more in our special Phoenix commemorative edition later this summer. Additional views from Beijing. 5 School News Researchers reach out to community n a city as dynamic and economically focused as Hong Kong, IHKUST Business School is often called upon to share its wealth of expertise and specialist knowledge on the latest economic 解牛集 trends and prospects. As the School continues to gain recognition “Dissecting the Ox” ( ) for its research, a new initiative was launched in December 2009 Another avenue for the to showcase the School’s commitment to making its findings School’s faculty members accessible to businesses and the general community. to share their knowledge and contribute to a The is a HKUST Business Insights Presentation Series better understanding of monthly luncheon event in which two professors from the same economic and business department give talks based on rigorous academic research and problems is a weekly offer insights on topical issues. The series has already gained column in the Hong Kong wide support and popularity, attracting audiences from a variety Economic Journal (信報), of professional backgrounds and industries. Those attending where academics take include MBA alumni, graduates from other programs, corporate turns to provide regular representatives and the general public. The final talk in the bulletins on cutting-edge current series was held at the beginning of June. Talk summaries research and public policy are available at the Presentation Series website on www.bm.ust. perspectives. hk/research/business_insights/series.html. The column, called “Dissecting the Ox”, began in September In addition, the online provides HKUST Business Insights 2009. The name comes from a famous fable by Zhuangzi (莊 summaries of research papers published in top 40 academic 子), an ancient Chinese philosopher, and alludes to brilliant journals (as identified by the Financial Times) and written with ways of analyzing problems and implementing tasks. Issues the general reader in mind. The website highlights the diversity covered to date include valuation of the renminbi, the impact of of the output of the School’s academics, with research covering China’s intellectual property protection on Hong Kong and the subjects from how to boost creativity in the workplace to ways Greek sovereign bond crisis. stakeholders can dig firms out of the doldrums and how insincere flattery works. A new topic is added each week. Visit www.bm.ust. The column allows HKUST Business School to reach out to hk/research/business_insights/index.html to find out more. various sectors of the community and to contribute to society through thoughtful commentary on significant issues of public interest, in line with the School’s mission. Online versions of column articles are available at: www.bm.ust.hk/bm/Web/ ListNews.aspx. 6 School News HKUST Business Insights Presentation Series 2009 Inaugural session December Finance Department Prof. Sudipto Dasgupta CEO remuneration Prof. Jie Gan Housing bubbles and financial markets Prof. Sudipto Dasgupta Prof. Jie Gan 2010 January February March Marketing Department Accounting Department Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Prof. Anirban Mukhopadhyay Prof. Kevin Chen and Management Department Finding the right pitch for corporate Prof. Tai Yuan Chen social responsibility messages Decoding the DNA of the family Prof. Yan Xu business, Asia style How innovation can work for Prof. Rongrong Zhou Hong Kong Keeping customers waiting Prof. Rong Zheng Predicting the behavior of internet customers April May June Economics Department Information Systems, Business Management Department Statistics and Operations Prof. Edwin Lai Prof. Yaping Gong Management Department Gaps in intellectual property Reaping the benefits of protection between China and Prof.