Biz, Economy and More

More serious stuff on business in China

Kingston Business School China Tour

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

EMBA group of 32

The Kingston Business School China Tour visited Shanghai and Beijing for their Global Immersion Program, 1 to 9 May 2019.
This study tour exposed participants to the economic, financial, social and cultural issues in the country, giving them the opportunity to understand their economy and society and provides them with an insight into how to do business in China, considerations and the opportunities. It also provided exposure into some of the top companies in the world with unique perspectives on how they develop strategies within these peculiar and complex business environments.

Kingston Business School is a business school located in London, United Kingdom and a part of Kingston University. It counts 4,424 students.
See: Kingston Business School

Seminar

On Monday 6 May Gilbert talked to the group for about 2 hours, including Q&A.
Location was 21st Century International School, arranged through UWEE. The school is really impressive and we could use their modern library hall.

The topic was the usual introduction of China today, “A(nother) view on China”.

Wagner Group Sport Seminar

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Wagner Sport Management

On 15 March 2019 a Wagner Group Sport Seminar, one of the regular Wagner groups of EMBA in sports, with 4 professional sport managers from Holland; Chinese students and professors from the University also listened and asked many questions in the Q&A.

Location was Beijing Sport University in Haidian. Organizer Prof. drs. Philip Wagner.
Topic: “A(nother) view on China – Sport in China – China’s challenges”
The talk included details on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, sports in China (soccer, skiing, ice skating, and more). Duration of some 90 minutes.

Hotpot dinner

After the talk we had a hotpot dinner in the well-known Haidilao Restaurant, in the nearby Hualian Mall. With lots of beer!
This time I was assaulted by noodles!

Wagner Group in a tea house

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Wagner Group Holland

Again a small EMBA delegation, organized by the Wagner Group in a tea house: “Yue Xi Xiang Lin”, on 18 October 2018. Good to see again Prof. drs. Philip Wagner.
Wagner Group, see https://www.wagner.nl/
Focus was on food, agriculture, retail and hospitality.

Gilbert’s talk

The title of the presentation was “A(nother) view on China – Challenges” and also covered the above-mentioned. Duration around 90 minutes.

Looking at BREXIT in a historical context

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The view from a former EU official

See here the text of an informal luncheon address by my friend Michael Graham, former EU official currently living in Beijing, looking at BREXIT in a historical context.
It was addressed in Beijing at a Chinese-American group on 6 March 2017.

The title:
BREXIT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
PERCEPTIONS AND OUTLOOK IN THE UK AND IN EUROPE
Download here: 170306 Brexitspeechrev3

EU and Brexit

The well researched document gives a unique insight and provides historical data on how the EU was set up and evolved over the years, how the complex interactions between the UK and the rest of the EU changed, how it led to Brexit, and how it could affect the Brexit negotiations. It also explains the underlying causes that lead to the Brexit vote.

No Dunkirk Spirit Can Save Britain From Brexit Defeat
The following article from the New York Times gives a rather sober/somber outlook on what Brexit could mean for the UK: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/opinion/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-brexit.html

See here two quotes:

A senior ex-diplomat, a man who has spent a professional lifetime building up Britain’s trade and its credibility with investors, is aghast at what the Brexit chaos is doing to our reputation. “The core narrative of the country for the past 40 years has been that we’re stable and politically predictable; the ideal platform for investing into the single market,” he told me. “And now we’re rudderless and in a mess.”
…
Britain is not an economic powerhouse waiting to be liberated. We are a country of mediocre education and limited skills, whose preening vanity has prevented us from seeing our failings. Our membership in the European Union is not a set of restraints; it is what has been propping us up. If we insist on cutting ourselves off, parts of our economy will start to die.

Does not sound encouraging…

Speaking to Dutch, US and UK MBA

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Wagner Executive MBA Sport Management (The Netherlands)

Speaking to Dutch, US and UK MBA this year, see here first our Dutch group. The MBA group visits China about twice a year.
Twelve participants from the Wagner Executive MBA Sport Management – sports managers, led by Prof. drs. Philip Wagner.
As usual, seminar done in Duge Boutique Hotel, on Friday 17 March 2017, duration of about two hours including Q&A.
Theme: A(nother) view on China – Sport in China – China’s challenges

Westfield University

Westfield University (Massachusetts, USA). Group of 15 undergraduate students (International Business) with two professors.
Duration: well over 2 hours with a lively Q&A.
Organized by The China Guide, in the VIP room of Legend Beer (Gongti Xi Lu) on 1 June 2017.
Theme: A(nother) view on China – China’s challenges

Cass Business School (London)

Cass is a regular, usually visiting in summer. On Friday 14 July I talked to a group of about fifty EMBAs, in the Regent Beijing Hotel (Jinbao Street). Duration: about two hours including Q&A.
Organized by Legacy Ventures London, see www.legacy-ventures.com. We work together since many years.
Group led by Dr. Alessandro Giudici, Lecturer in Management, Cass Business School.
Theme: A(nother) view on China – China’s challenges

Along the usual introduction on China, also this:
How is policy formed in China? How are government policies created and which stakeholders are more likely to be involved in its creation? To which stakeholders is the government more likely to be “sensitive”? The underlying big questions: how predictable are Chinese policies and Chinese policy shifts? What direction are they likely to take?
I was lucky that day for two reasons: I managed to go and return without the forecast of thunderstorms. And being so early I had the time to solve an unexpected problem: I did not have a connector for HDMI… The hotel did solve it!