Corporate China looks to Australia for business insights
The School鈥檚 Professor of Chinese Business and Management, Dr , and lecturer Dr , recently led a group of 24 MBA students to China where they worked as consultants to top tier corporations facing 鈥渟ignificant strategic challenges鈥�.
鈥淚t is now clear that many Chinese companies see Australia as a great deal more than a supplier of raw materials,鈥� Professor Hendrischke said. 鈥淭hey now want to learn from our sophisticated corporate and legal structures, as well as our well-developed entrepreneurial culture.鈥�
鈥淚n particular, they are keen to understand and take advantage of the link between university education in Australia and vocational training,鈥� he said.
Divided into teams of four, the MBA students worked at a senior level with large Chinese companies in sectors ranging from heavy engineering to manufacturing, real estate and renewable energy.
The companies included China's leading real estate developer, Poly Real Estate; Shanghai ZPMC, a manufacturer of ports equipment; CHINT Group, one of China's most entrepreneurial private energy companies; Victory Precision, a rapidly expanding producer of smart manufacturing equipment; and welding company Tayor which see opportunities in Beijing鈥檚 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
While many universities offer programs that focus on 鈥渉ow to do business in China鈥�, Professor Hendrischke says the Sydney teams were engaged with Chinese companies at a senior executive level in a search for strategic solutions to long term challenges.
鈥淎n engineering firm turned to us for insights into vocational training issues related to plant automation while a real estate firm was keen to take advantage of our legal expertise,鈥� said Professor Hendrischke. 鈥淭his is a highly sophisticated and absolutely unique MBA program.鈥�
He went on to say that the University of Sydney Business School is now recognised for its willingness to engage with China and that this is leading to a degree of enthusiasm amongst Chinese corporations to work with the School鈥檚 MBA students.
鈥淲hile local Chinese firms benefited from the expertise offered by us, our students from diverse backgrounds, gained experience at a strategic decision level alongside senior corporate executives,鈥� Professor Hendrischke said. 鈥淭hey also learn to work in teams and to pool their resources.鈥�
Beyond the factory floor and in the boardroom, the students attended lectures at Shanghai鈥檚 Fudan University School of Management, and heard presentations by AMP鈥檚 North Asia Managing Director Beng Neoh and the German multinational Henkel鈥檚 CFO for Greater China, Terry Lam.
鈥淎 meeting with high profile Australian entrepreneur Michelle Garnaut, who founded Shanghai's first top Western restaurant M on the Bund, was rated by some of our students as the best experience of their China visit,鈥� said Dr Wei Li.
鈥淔inally, we saw Austrade's Shanghai Landing Pad and heard how newcomers have to cut their teeth in China鈥檚 largest and wealthiest city,鈥� Dr Wei Li concluded.