Other brands under the easyGroup include easyCar, easyMoney and easyHotel. Besides being a successful entrepreneur, Sir Stelios was influenced by his father’s philanthropic beliefs.  He set up the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, a foundation that is committed to making an exponential difference through providing funding, inspiration and advice on educational, entrepreneurial and environment initiatives. 

Mr Anthony Neoh, a senior member of the Hong Kong Bar, who is active in civil appellate and international litigation and arbitration cases, shared his insights into the challenges that are facing financial education. Mr Neoh was Chief Advisor to the China Securities Regulatory Commission from September 1998 to June 2004 at the personal invitation of former Premier Zhu Rongji.

Using state-of-the-art facilities, resources, data, and software applications, the centre aims to promote and educate students on the best practices of Asian institutional, sovereign wealth and retail fund management and regulation. Through CAMRI, students will be able to experience and practice real time, simulated investments and portfolio management.

According to Dean Bernard Yeung, “The launch of this centre is extremely timely due to the rise and prominence of Asian securities and funds. It is ever more pertinent for our students to understand the nuances of Asian asset management. It is fitting that as Asia’s leading Global Business School, we are one of the pioneers spearheading this area.”

Dr Feng Lun truly exemplifies a successful individual who is committed to giving back to society. Through the Philanthropy Speaker Series, CSEP hopes to bring even more inspirational speakers to share their philanthropic journeys and inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

• 92.1% of the NUS Bachelor of Business Administration Honours cohort is in Full-time Permanent Employment
• The mean salary of $3,389 tops the salary scale with a median salary of $3,000
• Our graduates in the 75th Percentile earn $3,600
• Those in the 25th Percentile earn $2,600

Some of the cases featured include Air Asia, Singapore Airlines, Osim’s acquisition of Brookstone, Thakral Corporation, Fonterra, Tata Motors, Sony and Jollibee Foods Corporation.

Mr Thiruvarsu Damodharan (S3 Asia MBA 2009) and Mr Raymond Soon (NUS-PKU MBA 2010) recently launched Advanced Alloy Technologies (AAT), a technology venture based on their project in the MBA module Technology Transfer & Commercialisation.

Motivated by the impressed panel of judges on their commercialisation plan for the advanced materials technology invented by Assoc Prof Manoj Gupta (Head of Materials Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering), Thiru and Raymond incorporated AAT and obtained exclusive & worldwide license from NUS Enterprise. The technology involves the manufacture of specialty alloys at a lower cost and with superior engineering properties compared to the existing techniques available in the market today.

The Technology Transfer and Commercialisation module was offered by NUS Business School as an elective subject for MBA students. The module focuses on the successful transfer of technologies from a research environment for commercialisation as successful and sustainable products or services to the global market. It was jointly developed and delivered by Adjunct Assoc Prof Neo Kok Beng and NUS Enterprise (Industrial Liaison Office).

The module is an action and experiential-based learning course that goes into business case studies. Students select patented technologies and innovations from NUS and research institutions to identify market opportunities, interact with inventors, licensing negotiation with NUS technology transfer managers, and develop the technology commercialisation plan for pitching to an investment panel. Students also have to attend industry-based technology commercialisation forum and networking sessions.

The NUS team came in third at the recent CaseIT 2010 in Canada, held from 31 Mar to 3 Apr. The team consists of two BBA students, Lai Wai Kit and Sherry Goh Xue Li, and Mahesh Kumar from the Department of Information Systems, School of Computing.

A total of 16 schools from all around the world took part and NUS was the only school from Singapore that advanced past the Preliminary Round.  Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi from Italy came in first and Indiana University Kelley School of Business was first runner-up.

Despite having little formal training in management information systems (MIS), our students stepped up to the challenge and took a three-pronged approach – learn, train and meet. They learnt MIS by reading the materials their advisor have provided as well as doing research into the subject. Then, they trained as a team to strengthen their team dynamics. Mahesh Kumar also provided much insight from the MIS perspective. Besides training, they met with industry experts and had the opportunity to consult them on risks, mitigations and cost assumptions.

For this year, the case was on IBM Canada seeking to align itself to IBM’s global IT strategy.  Teams were then judged by a panel of judges consisting of industry experts such as Mr Mike Battistel, Vice President of Information Systems, SMART Technologies, Mr Joe Kugler, Vice President Global Infrastructure Planning & Service Management, SAP and Ms Monica Mashal, Director of Strategy, Vancity Credit Union.

The team mentor was Assoc Prof Pan Shan Ling, Department of Information Systems, School of Computing.

Coming in third was Team DIVJ. The team consists of BBA students - Joyce Kay Chew Min, Valerie Phay Su Ing and Hong Yuan Zhang, as well as Isaac Tay Bo Heng from the NUS Faculty of Engineering. They are currently on the year-long NOC programme, interning in various companies and taking entrepreneurship courses at Fudan University. Team DIVJ decided to tackle the case on the ECitySky's Gamexiu, a 3D social network service platform that allows users to interact, form and build relationships online. 

The team proposed the Refine and Reach concept - bringing experiences closer to life augmented by a cohesive marketing plan, so as to enter the lucrative Chinese market. The idea was to supplement the online 3D platform with experiential aspects through games such as bungee jumping and white-water rafting to help Gamexiu go viral.

The 5th NUS Business School Mandarin Management Forum was held on 9 Apr at the Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel.

Singapore companies have been relentless in their regionalisation drive. What perhaps that has not been highlighted is the local human capital factor. It is commonly acknowledged that firms going global will need staff who are global in their outlook and yet possess the relevant local market knowledge and culture to manage foreign operations. It has become almost inevitable for firms to engage local talents as they grow their business in a foreign country.

At the forum, the panelists shared their experience and insights in managing employees of different culture background. Besides that, the forum also looked at how firms can leverage on the ideas of the newcomers, given their diversity, to maximise innovation and productivity gains.

The panelists were Assoc Prof Kai-Alexander Schlevogt, Department of Strategy and Policy, NUS Business School, Mr Raymond Ng, President, Advance Science-Lab Industries Group, Mr Huang Chuan Sheng, CEO, Ma Kuang TCM Medical Group and Mr Por Khay Ti, Deputy Group Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, HTL International Holdings Ltd. The discussion was moderated by Assoc Prof Chung Chi-Nien, Department of Management and Organisation.

The representatives from the Shanghai Office of NUS Business School turned up to show their support. They include Mr Calvin Yan, Director , Shanghai Office, Ms Angel An, Associate Director of Global Alumni Network (China) and Ms Monica Zhao, Manager, Shanghai Office.

Let’s talk business

The event was held at the Haidilao Jiangwan Restaurant in Shanghai. First in the evening’s line up was a sharing session by Mr Zhang Rui on the operation model and management of Haidilao. The Vice President of the Market Development also exchanged opinions and ideas with the participants on the entire restaurant works, including the business model, future strategy, service framework, store layout and employee loyalty and retention.

Up for the Challenge

Next was to celebrate and inspire the participants of the 5th Inter-Business School Gobi Desert Crossing Challenge. More than 10 APEX-C 2010 alumni, along with their families and friends, have enrolled for the Challenge happening from 15 to 20 May 2010 in Dunhuang, Gansu. And that is where the class will be holding its next get-together to show their active support.

Ms An took this opportunity to introduce the alumni enrolled for the Challenge, and the efforts involved in preparing for The Day.  Providing a visual twist to the presentation, Mr Zhou Ning (APEC-C 2010) invited Mr Hao Xing Ye, Director of East China at Outdoor Gear, to demonstrate the range of requisite equipment and precautions that the Challenge team will be relying on during their adventure.  MsZhou Ning, Vice General Manager of Shanghai Challenge Sports & Adventures Co.,Ltd. will be sponsoring the sports attire for all members of NUS Business School Gobi Challenge team. During this event, the Challenge team also voted their team leader – Mr Wang Li Dong (APEX-C 2010).

All-out Revelry

Between delicious Haidilao hotpot dinner and Jinmen Wine brought by Mr Guo Zhen Ming (APEX-C 2010) from Taiwan, the gathering was treated to a poem specially written for the occasion by Mr Gao.

敦煌佛缘狮城觅，
戈壁豪情浦江牵；
满园春色关不住
十七酒酣开怀开。”

This year’s participation is distinctive in several ways. First of all, it is the largest competition team from NUS since the launch of the Gobi Desert Crossing Challenge five years ago. This makes NUS Business School one of the largest and supportive overseas participants in this Challenge. Besides that, the team received great support and commitment from the School. The School sponsored the registration fee of RMB4,500 for both Team A and Team B, and also helped team members to purchase necessary supplies and equipments. Also, the team is also the most diverse team in this Challenge. The team had Singaporean, German, Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese members, which further reinforce the global education that the School is known for.

Finally, this Challenge demonstrates the cohesion and strong bonding among NUS EMBA alumni. All alumni from EMBA Class 17 will attend this event. They have also decided to hold their class gathering in Dunhuang, to celebrate and cheer on the participants. Ms Zhou Ning, President of Shanghai Kroceus Sports Co., Ltd. and an APEX-C2010 alumna, also sponsored KROCEUS outdoor outfits to all team members.

Since this March, a number of alumni gathering and training sessions have taken place in Singapore, Shanghai and Guangzhou for this Challenge. Prof Song Zhaoli has organised several training programs for faculty, staff and alumni in Singapore, and also flown to Shanghai and Guangzhou to meet our alumni there. With a mammoth challenge ahead of them, the participants will surely persevere and triumph.