Over spring break this year a group of business students traveled to China with supply chain management professor Charlie Chen to gain an understanding of Chinese business culture.
The group visited the Shanghai museum, the Shanghai World Financial Center, the Great Wall of China, GE Aviation in Suzhou, Zhejiang University and several other prestigious companies, landmarks and universities.
One of the student’s favorite places that they visited was the Forbidden City. Carlie Sheffield an MBA student found quite a bit of interesting facts during their time exploring the city. One interesting fact was that not a single nail was used to build the Forbidden City it is all made out of interlocking duck tailpieces. Also she found out that there is bronze ball in the ceiling that was installed to kill any impostor in the palace as well as a moat added for extra protection! The group also learned that ancient Emperors feet were to never touch the ground and so palace servant
s always carried them up the stairs. The exit gate from the Forbidden City is named the Gate of the Divine Warrior because this is where the last emperor of the Qing dynasty murdered his own brother to achieve the throne.
The group also visited Beijing International Studies University (BISU), and, during this visit, Dr. Chen presented to BISU faculty and students on the e-commerce development trend of big data era. The lecture event was then published by BISU and posted on their university site.
The International Seminar was developed to show international cultural differences and some important aspects of conducting business in an international area. Since globalization has magnified the need for business professionals to appreciate the opportunities and challenges of doing business in another culture it becomes more important for business students to witness this first hand. Today many industries and companies are increasingly global in nature, and international businesses can potentially differ in important ways from business conducted within our domestic borders. The experiential seminar was designed to provide students an understanding of the basic issues affecting global business today. In particular Dr. Chen focused on developing a practical introduction to China’s business environment. He identified and analyzed factors that continue to influence strategic decisions for doing business in a rapidly changing global environment.
China Study Abroad Trip 2016