3 weeks at Shanghai JiaoTong University (SJTU)

3 weeks, 50 students, 22 countries. The SJTU short-term exchange program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Xuhui campus was a valuable opportunity to understand business and culture in China. At least that was my initial view of the program. It turned out to be so much more than just that. Through engaging in such an international program, not only was I able to understand China better, but also other cultures. Meeting people and make friends from different nationalities, gaining a better understanding of their cultures is what makes the experience so enjoyable and worth it. The program had both undergraduate and masters students. Being an undergraduate student, I felt that the time that I was able to spend with the Master’s students and learn and hear their experiences was enlightening.

There was a good balance of different activities throughout the program: blending corporate visits, lectures, learning Chinese, sight-seeing and traditional cultural activities. The lectures gave us an insight into real estate, entrepreneurship and sustainable development of China's economy. Chinese lessons catered to different proficiency levels, though by the end all of us at least managed to know 'duo shao qian' (How much?) and 'tai gui le' (too expensive) from shopping. The companies we visited were 3M and Yihaodian, where we were able to meet the Chairman. He was down-to-earth and it was great being able to talk to him in person. Sightseeing during the weekdays included The Bund, a day trip to Wuzhen and a cruise on the Huangpu River.

Cultural activities included calligraphy, dumpling making, tea ceremony and having dinner at the temple. The monks recited the Buddhist chant for twenty minutes, after which we were able to begin eating. We also had dinner with a local Shanghainese family, giving insight into what life is like for Chinese middle class families.

Weekends/Free time:
The weekends and after class are perfect times for exploring the vibrant city. On the first weekend, I visited Hangzhou (there were very long waiting lines at the station, so get there early) and checked out the West Lake. We were given the wrong directions (mistranslation of left/right) and walked half an hour in the opposite direction! The lake was beautiful so it was worth it in the end. Other people even managed to fit in a weekend trip to Beijing and see The Great Wall. On the second weekend, the places I visited included People's Square and the Wedding Market. Some parents and grandparents come here to look for suitable partners for their children. It was an interesting spectacle to say the least!

Overall, I can truly say that the quality of the SJTU program was phenomenal, and the only downside was the short duration as three weeks went by too fast and we had to say goodbye to our new friends. The program has given me an improved global perspective, and I am keen for future overseas opportunities and reunions with the friends I have made in Shanghai.

Madeline Wu
Current student at the University of Sydney Business School

Work experience of a life-time with American Express in the Big Apple!

View from the Empire State Building

When I landed in a freezing, wintry, New York on the night of Thanksgiving, even the long hours of travel, harrowing connections and stale airplane food could not contain my excitement on finally reaching the Big Apple!

My brief was to job shadow Mr. James Ferguson, Vice President Corporate Cards at American Express New York.  I have only ever been to New York as a tourist before, and to be there again, getting a flavour of what it would be like to live and work in the city that never sleeps, promised to be an experience of a lifetime.

James Ferguson, Vice President Corporate Cards at American Express New York

American Express NY is located at 3 World Financial Centre in Lower Manhattan. In fact, the walk to the office took me right past the Ground Zero memorial site, where the Freedom Tower is now being built. I was moreover told that the American Express building had also been severely damaged in the 9/11 attacks, requiring extensive repair for a period of one year. Therefore, it felt very poignant to have the opportunity to work in a place that was so much a part of New York’s history.

My first couple of days at AMEX, were spent getting an overview of the Company and how Global Commercial Services (i.e. the GCS Division-of which James was a key executive) fit into the global structure. James also introduced me to various teams such as investment prioritisation, sales, treasury, financial reporting etc. and I was able to get first hand details of how the various departments functioned.

Myself and Valerie from the Customer Card business

The rest of my time was spent sitting in on the Global Corporate Services planning meetings, where all the divisions within the Corporate Cards business came together to set deadlines for their Quarterly Reporting. These meetings provided me with some insight into the complexities involved in reporting, much like various jigsaw pieces that had to be assembled to create a picture at the corporate level. 

And of course, no trip to New York is complete without the touristy traditions of a visit to the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, not to mention Macy’s on it’s infamous Black Friday Sales. In fact, New York at this time of the year is truly at its festive best with Christmas carollers outside all major department stores, dazzling Christmas lights lining all the trees on 5^th Avenue, not to mention the giant Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree.

Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree

Overall, my NY experience surpassed all my expectations and has certainly created a lot of special memories.

Shreya Viswanathan: Current Bachelor of Commerce student at the University of Sydney Business School and 2013 winner of the prestigious Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia 'Mission Exceptional' competition.  Shreya’s prize included a trip to New York in December to job shadow a Chartered Accountant at American Express and a scholarship to the Chartered Accountants Program.

Jewels in the social entrepreneurship crown

I've recently completed a one-month social entrepreneurship project in Bangalore, India, working with other students to empower women from a rural village community by training them to produce 'Roka' jewellery.

Made from bi-products of local village quarries, the ultimate aim of this jewellery is to allow these women to make an income and bring about real changes in their lives. Our role was to design both the pieces and the production process, then engage with and teach them to run the enterprise for themselves. The project is set to play an important social and educational role, with profits from jewellery sales going towards funding after-school tuition centres that my peers and I also volunteered in. 

There were a few challenges along the way, with a few students becoming ill and finding it difficult to adjust to the local foods and environment. But for the most part, everyone enjoyed excellent health and really embraced the village way of life. There were plenty of highlights, such as going into the cities to source materials, even though we didn't speak the local language (Kannada). It pushed us all out of our comfort zones and forced us to fall back on our cross-cultural interaction training.

Networking with the locals was also a fantastic learning experience. As social entrepreneurs, we started from the bottom and worked our way up, making strong headway in spite of limited internet access and zero business contacts in the initial stages. Volunteering in the after-school tuition centres was also so much fun. The enthusiasm of the kids and the genuine passion they had for learning English was so inspiring, especially given their difficult life circumstances.

This entire project was an amazing opportunity to not only apply what we’d learned through our university studies, but also to help make a real difference to the lives of people who need it most.

Find out more about entrepreneurship opportunities at 40rtyK.

Christine Ma: Current Bachelor of Commerce student at the University of Sydney Business School. 

First impressions of the Emerging Leaders Program

Photo: BOSS AFR Emerging Leaders

I was largely unaware of the Emerging Leaders Program until I was kindly offered an invitation by the Business School to attend the most recent networking event, which centred on an interactive Q&A session with Sue Cato – one of Australia’s top-tier corporate communications experts.

Sue Cato’s reputation as one of the most influential businesswomen in Australia promised a fascinating Q&A session. Sue’s talk was engaging and interesting, and it was invaluable for someone such as myself, right at the beginning of my career, to have the opportunity to listen to Sue explain how she became who she is today, and why she made the choices she did along the way.

Prior to the event, I assumed that there would be quite a few students like myself there, but once I’d arrived, I quickly realised that the vast majority were established professionals. In fact, a couple of people saw my University of Sydney Business School nametag and assumed I was an academic, not a student!

It’s quite rare that I get to attend a networking event that isn’t full of students or new graduates, and I therefore found the opportunity to talk to more experienced professionals both refreshing and interesting.

Nobody minded that I was a student, and they were eager both to impart their wisdom, and to talk to me about today’s student experience. Perhaps because of the nature of the people in the room, everybody was also highly approachable and eager to meet one another, which made for a comfortable networking experience.

One of the strongest insights I gained from the evening was that it’s very rare for people to be able predict what they’ll be doing one or two decades down the track, in terms of their career. University students are particularly prone to plotting their future career paths within the context of their current studies and immediate ambitions, and it was really interesting to talk to a wide range of people at varying stages in their careers, and learn about their career paths and how different their jobs are to the expectations they had five, ten or even twenty years ago.

The highlight of the evening, though, was definitely the Q&A with Sue Cato. To get the opportunity to listen to and ask questions of someone who has been so successful and influential throughout their career was fantastic.

Hearing her talk about the various decisions she’s made throughout her career, and what drove her to make those decisions was incredibly interesting. What was particularly valuable from my perspective was being able to gain a little insight into how someone such as Sue sees the world. She talked quite a lot about her early childhood and the remarkable things she achieved from a young age, and what really spoke to me was the clear drive, energy and confidence that informs her world view and personality.

Overall, I came away from the Emerging Leaders event extremely impressed. The program is a unique opportunity to meet and hear from experienced professionals, who will help you clarify and shape the direction you want your own career to take.

As a young person at the beginning of their career, this is an invaluable opportunity. Attend the events with an open and positive mindset, meet as many people and take as much knowledge from each as possible, and the sky’s the limit. I would highly recommend the Program to any ambitious young professional.

Author: Rory Aston James
Graduate of Master of Management (CEMS) and scholarship recipient at the University of Sydney Business School

A Brave New World

Today’s business environment is certainly no place for the ill prepared.

Indeed, you only have to consider the developments of the past decade to realise that the world occupied by the modern management professional is far more complex and challenging than ever before. Economies have evolved into global entities, firmly established distribution channels have seen the rate of new product introduction increase significantly, while ready Internet access has created a highly interconnected marketplace and irrevocably altered the ways that consumers inform themselves about products and product choices.

Added to this is the rapidly growing drive towards things like ethical sustainability and best practice policies. Rather than simply focusing on profits, efficiency or shareholder returns, today’s manager needs to ensure that the business he or she presides over also conforms to established norms around positive social and environmental impact. Then there’s the actual workforce and what I call generation i – the iPhone, Internet-savvy demographic who have a very different attitude towards careers, job expectations and what a workplace should look like.

It’s no surprise, then, that today’s management graduate requires a far more diverse and adaptable skill set in order to survive and prosper. The world has changed, and the expectations of consumers, the workforce, and society in general around what a manager does have changed dramatically. Importantly, the Master of Management degree is a program that imparts business leaders of the near future with the skills required to function in a contemporary business setting, enabling them to focus on the key issues and the way in which they challenge the 21st Century business model.