What's Happening

The long-awaited term break is coming soon but exciting things are still happening here at NUS Business School!

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In this issue, we bring you news about our winning streak in case competitions and even our connection with the upcoming Olympics. Read more below...

 

Shedding New Perspectives In Islamic Finance

Islamic finance has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. With growth rates estimated at 15% to 20% annually and assets managed set to hit $1 trillion by 2010, Islamic finance is fast shedding its image as a niche market.

(L-R) Mr Raj M Maiden, founder and CEO of Five Pillars Associates, Assoc Prof Takeshi Yamada, Director of Saw Centre for Financial Studies and Prof Mohd Ma’sum Billah from IBS Pacific Global, Malaysia sharing views on the fundamentals of Islamic banking.

The Saw Centre for Financial Studies at NUS Business School organised the ‘Singapore Conference on Islamic Finance’ on 22 April. The Centre brought together the experience of industry leaders, Shari’ah scholars, legal and taxation experts, and financial consultants from Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia for this day-long conference.


The Conference opened with an examination of the Shari’ah principles that guide regional practices, and moved on to probe the important departures from conventional finance that underpin Islamic finance. Opportunities and challenges in developing high-profile sectors such as equity markets, corporate banking, and waqf (Islamic trusts) were also important themes. Finally, the legal, tax, and regulatory frameworks were assessed from a variety of perspectives.

Next on the horizon is an edited volume of the papers of the Conference to be published by the Saw Centre by the end of the year. In addition, we are also completing a manuscript entitled ‘Introduction to Islamic Finance’, which will be published soon.

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A Vote Of Confidence

The MBA Office recently invited its students to vote for the “Best MBA Lecturer” among the faculty members and the “Best Service” among staff within the MBA Office. Congratulations to the following winners!

Best Lecturer (as voted by 2008 Graduating MBA class)
Prof Sugato Bhattacharyya – Department of Finance

Prof Sugato has come across as an inspirational teaching faculty member in his module to many of the MBA students.

Best Service (as voted by all MBA students)
Ms Celia Wu – Student Development Unit

This is the second successive year that Celia has won this same award, and is testimony to her GEM (“Going the Extra Mile”) level of service to our students.

The awards will be given to the winners during the MBA commencement dinner on 8 July.

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Faculty Promotion

Prof Wong Poh Kam

Heartiest congratulations to Prof Wong Poh Kam who has been promoted to Full Professor.

This promotion recognises the significant impact that Prof Wong Poh Kam has achieved in his research on technology management, his teaching record, and his long and substantial service to the University, particularly in his leadership of technology-related initiatives.



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Global Stars On The Rise

Our BBA students - Daniel Sim, Jeremiah Tay, Yang Sue Ann and Colin Yew emerged as Champions at the 10th Global Business Case Competition organised by the University of Washington Michael G. Foster School of Business.

(L-R): Jeremiah Tay, Daniel Sim, Yang Sue Ann and Colin Yew with the top prize.

Sixteen reputable schools from Asia, Europe and North America participated in this competition, which was held in Seattle from 7 – 13 April. Participants were given 48 hours to develop a solution for a real-world case study before presenting their recommendations to a panel of corporate judges.

"Even though the four of us didn’t know each other well prior to the competition, it was great that we could bond quickly right after we met. And I think the friendship deepened because we shared a common experience overseas”, says Sue Ann.

The case which the team worked on was for Starbucks, particularly the expansion of their music unit. The judges were impressed by their comprehensive and customized business expansion strategies for the Canadian and Singapore markets.

Our undergraduates were accompanied by their advisor Mr Lowe Joo Yong from the HRM Unit.

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Top Honours For BBA Students

(L-R) Charmaine Cheok, Alina Tan, Ryan Peh, Prof Kwame, John Chua, Lim Wenjie and Mervyn Yip at the USC campus.

Our undergraduate team comprising Ryan Peh, Alina Tan, John Chua and three others from the Real Estate faculty were champions at University of Southern California Marshall School of Business' Real Estate Case Competition held from 14 -18 April.

“This was an unexpected win because only Ryan had overseas competition experience. So getting the top prize was certainly a nice surprise”, says John Chua, one of the team members.

They impressed the judges with their excellent presentation skills, professional-looking videos and slides as well as thorough preparation.  

“Even though we had three days to prepare for the case, everyone still ended up sleeping only 2–3 hours a night. But it was encouraging to have your fellow team mates nudging you on in the wee hours of the morning”, John added.

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Winning Big In The Singapore Exchange

Our BBA team ‘Team BOB’ comprising Ryan Peh, Kenny Lee and Chan Yongsheng emerged as second runner-up in the inaugural SGX Case Competition held on 3 April.

The first student competition to be initiated by Singapore Exchange Ltd in collaboration with National University of Singapore, over 60 teams from three universities took part in this inaugural event. It was an exciting time where our undergraduates had a deeper understanding of the operations of SGX and helped them develop a plan to extend their products and offerings to the general public.

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Making A Big Impact On Sustainable Development

Team representatives, Neha Gupta and Gagan Deep recieving the Winner's cheque from Prof Mahbubani, Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Policy.

Our MBA teams were champion and first runner-up at this year's IIMPact Business Plan Challenge. Organised by IIMPact, the Singapore chapter of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) Alumni Associations, it attracted 120 teams from 14 business schools across Asia-Pacific, with the finals being held at Swissotel Hotel on 19 April.

The champion team Eco-D comprised of Gagan Deep, Neha Gupta, Arindam Bhattacharjee and Fred Fu Xin. They won the judges over with their comprehensive business plan on transforming waste cooking oil into bio diesel. First runners-up Shilpa Marodia, Gautam Bansal and Janesh Janardhanan from Team Happy Feet came up with a plan to distribute articificial limbs worldwide to under-privileged individuals at no cost.

This is the second consecutive year that NUS Business School has clinched top honours. Last year’s winner was ‘Team Silitricity’.

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Leading By Example

Finalists for Student Leadership Award: Srikanth Sridharan (right) with Luke Meehan of Melbourne Business School who won the Award (centre) and Shabab Mirza of York University.

Congratulations to Srikanth Sridharan, our MBA student who was one of the top three shortlisted for the Student Leadership Award at the Graduate Business Conference (GBC) 2008 held at Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, from 3-5 April.

About 100 student leaders from the world’s leading business schools participated at this year’s event. GBC gives MBA students a chance to network, learn best practices in student government, and gain inspiration from leadership experts. It is the flagship event of the Graduate Business Forum, a global network for MBA student leaders. Srikanth was picked from among the 50 member business schools of the Forum for his outstanding contributions to the school and the community.

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MBA Students Armed With The Right Connections

As these MBA alumni found out, you can always make time for a little fun!

“Return to BOOTCAMP” at Camp@House, held on 17 April, was attended by some 200 NUS MBA alumni and students. Jointly organised by Global Alumni Network Office (GANO) and NUS Business School MBA Office, the event allowed for a casual yet rich exchange between current students and alumni.

“It is always great to talk to alumni who are currently working in fields that I’m interested in. They share such valuable life lessons that are so important for me to bring over to my next job,” said Zhang Dong Liang, who is a current MBA student.

Said Ms Adel Seah (MBA 1998), “There always seems to be a new breath of energy with each event. It’s very classy and the setting really befits the status of the MBA students and its alumni." Added Ms Chua Nan Sze (IMBA 2005), Director of Graduate Studies, EMBA, "I’m really happy to see cohorts of students, classmates and friends from other countries gather together, have fun and bond. I look forward to more of such events!"

Check out our gallery for more photos!

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The Olympic Spirit With A Singaporean Touch

Janet Ang, our NUS Business School Advisory Board member and BBA alumni, will be carrying the Olympic torch when it passes through Jinggangshan on 15 May.

“This is unimaginable and even more so since I am not an athlete. Now I will have stories to tell my grandchildren – that their grandmother was once part of the China Olympic Torch Relay Team”, said Janet.

Despite her busy schedule as Vice President, Business Operations – Global Desktop Business Unit in Lenovo Private Limited (China), Janet takes her role seriously. Ever since she knew she will be part of the team, she has been running 30 – 45 minutes daily.

The relay route spans across more than 23 major cities of the world and involving over 21,000 torch bearers. One of the highlights of this leg will be the attempt to bring the Olympic Flame to the highest peak in the world – Mt. Qomolangma.

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Charting New Grounds In China

On 12 April, Asia Global Strategy Forum and the launch ceremony of NUS Business School Eastern China Alumni Network were held in Shanghai.

Asia Global Strategy Forum was co-organised by NUS Business School, NUS Business School Eastern China Alumni Network and Contact Singapore. Panelists for the event comprised of Mr Yip Wei Kiat, Consul-General of Singapore Consulate-General in Shanghai; Prof Kulwant Singh, Interim Dean of NUS Business School and NUS BBA alumnus Ms Leong Wai Leng, Chairman of OCBC Bank (China) Limited.

Mr Yip Wei Kiat made a presentation on issues such as human resources in Singapore and relationships between Singapore and China. Prof Kulwant Singh made a keynote address titled ‘Challenges for Business Firms in Asia’ which identified key strategic challenges firms from Singapore and the region have to overcome to succeed in Asia. Ms Leong Wai Leng cited the experience of OCBC Bank (China) Limited to explain the challenges and opportunities for foreign firms in China. Following the keynote addresses, a one-hour public dialogue session was held with the panelists and the attendees.

Ms Leong Wai Leng, Chairman of OCBC Bank (China) Limited sharing her experiences on how foreign firms can capitalise on the opportunities in China.

The forum was part of the launch ceremony of NUS Business School Eastern China Alumni Network. It was held in the evening and attended by more than 100 alumni from Eastern China.

NUS Business School Eastern China Alumni Network will be led by the Advisory Board and the Executive Committee. The Advisory Board comprises of six members- BBA and MBA alumnus Mr Francis Yuen, President of Trane Air Conditioning Asia; BBA alumnus Mr Ian Wong, Managing Director of Bank of America; BBA alumnus Mr Wong Soon Hwa, Vice President & General Manager of Asia & Japan Hertz Asia Pacific Pte Ltd; BBA and MBA alumnus Mr Chong Siong Hin, Vice President of Johnson & Johnson; BBA alumnus Mr Patricia Yim, Managing Director of IBM Singapore; and APEX-C alumnus Ms Zhu Xiaofang, Chairman of SPGC sine Pharmaceutical Laboratories. They are all leaders of well-known multinational or Chinese-funded firms in China. The Executive Committee comprises of nine members and nine additional members, including the President, the Secretary-General and the Chief Financial Officer. Under Eastern China Alumni Network, alumni chapter in Suzhou and Hangzhou will also be set up.

Combining the launch ceremony of NUS Business School Eastern China Alumni Network together with a forum was a refreshing way to mark another milestone. It was an impressive alumni gathering which offered the alumni a rare chance to network and learn about the upcoming trends in the Chinese market.

Check out our gallery for more photos.

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