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Undergraduate Office (UGO) Monthly Announcement – February Issue

Recent Events:

(A)

Student Enrichment Activities

CUBA Undergraduate "Heart to Heart Talk" on 13 February 2008

Guest speaker: Ms. Christina Lee (李佩德女士), General Counsel (Asia Pacific), Legal General, Asia Pacific, adidas Services Limited (EMBA alumna)
Venue: University Guesthouse
Topic: Challenges for Managers in a Multinational Environment

Ms. Christina Lee is our alumna and she was conferred an EMBA degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2007. From the perspective of a top executive in a multinational corporation, Ms. Lee shared with our business undergraduate students the key qualities that a successful manager should possess and how to handle challenges in a global environment. The participants of the dinner talk were a mix of BBA-JD students, Hotel and Tourism Management students, Professional Accountancy students, etc. The participants found the dinner talk very beneficial and gained remarkable insights from it.

Said Chris Lau (Integrated BBA, Year 2), “I just want to say the Heart to Heart Talk is very good for us since we have a chance to exchange ideas with seasoned business executives who are passionate and eager to share their experience and wisdom. It has far exceeded my expectations because we get to meet our guest speaker in a small group, and hence we can interact with the guest directly and in a comfortable setting. Last but not least, the more you ask questions or speak during the talk, the more you will get.”

Said Cindy Fong (Professional Accountancy, Year 2), “I was very pleased to be invited to this event and it was very different from many talks I have participated in before. As a very successful individual, Ms. Christina Lee is very open to new ideas. We benefited from her enthusiasm and passion the whole night and we learnt a lot from her insights and experiences. I think the event brought us much closer to the speaker than other talks, and was a valuable opportunity for us to learn from our alumna.”

3^rd and 4^th left in the front row: Prof. Andrew C.F. Chan and Ms. Christina Lee

CUBA Undergraduate “Heart to Heart Talk” on 20 February 2008

Guest speaker: Mr. David Lam Yim Nam (林炎南先生), Deputy Chief Executive, Bank of China (Hong Kong) (Alumnus of CUBA)
Venue: Li Koon Chun Hall, Sino Building, Chung Chi College
Topic: Road of Bank of China (Hong Kong) after 1997

It was our honour to be graced with the presence of Mr. David Lam Yim Nam as the guest speaker of our Heart to Heart Talk. Close to 100 students and alumni joined the talk and learnt about the experience and wisdom of Mr. Lam. Mr. Lam shared with participants not only the mission and reforms made by the Bank of China (Hong Kong) after 1997, but also his working life in the banking industry for over 25 years and his personal views on the 2008 Hong Kong economy. The feedback from the participants was very positive and encouraging.

Said Sara Sze, a BBA-JD student, “It was a precious opportunity to attend a talk given by Mr. David Lam, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Bank of China (Hong Kong). Mr. Lam shared with us many of his experiences working in China-based banks and gave us valuable advice in the dinner thereafter.

During the seminar, he showed us the achievements of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) in recent years; its performance has been improving since 1997. He also explained to us the measures the bank has taken and its future plans. Segmentation and diversification have fostered customer intimacy, as there is a wider range of services provided which suit individual customer needs. The comparative advantage of Bank of China (Hong Kong) is its large customer base and numerous branches as connection points with customers. It will continue to make use of these and further develop different kinds of products. The whole picture has given us a clearer vision of the competitive banking world.

After the inspiring talk, a group of short-listed students had dinner with Mr. Lam. As an executive, he shared with us the type of graduates employers are looking for. Moreover, he went through his career path with us and stressed the importance of personal integrity especially in the banking field. The time is never enough when you’re spending it at the same table with a person of such professional excellence; by the end of the dinner, we still wanted to know more about him.”

From left and standing: Mr. David Lam Yim Nam and Prof. Andrew C.F. Chan

L'Oreal Brandstorming Internal Case Competition

Two out of six teams were selected to represent CUHK in the L’Oreal Brandstorming Internal Case Competition. An internal case competition was arranged on 12 February 2008 to short-list the teams. Each team performed very well and many creative ideas were presented. The panel of judges included Prof. Stella So (Academic Director, Undergraduate Office, Faculty of Business Administration) and four representatives from L’Oreal.

From left in the front row:

Prof. Stella So, Academic Director, Undergraduate Office, Faculty of Business Administration
Ms. Kitty Yip, Human Resources Director, L'Oreal Hong Kong Ltd.
Ms. Teresa Wong, Marketing Director, L'Oreal Hong Kong Ltd. (BBA alumna)
Ms. Cynthia Tse, Group Product Manager - L'Oreal Paris and Media Strategy, L'Oreal Hong Kong Ltd. (BBA alumna)
Mr. Bocco Chen, Recruitment & Integration Manager, L'Oreal Hong Kong Ltd

Students’ Participation in Live Radio Broadcast “New Thinking in Management”

Several business undergraduate students met with business elites through participating in or rendering assistance to the radio programme “New Thinking in Management”

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Sun Beibei (Insurance, Financial and Actuarial Analysis, Year 2), Luo Feng (Integrated BBA, Year 2) and Xie Chenxi (Integrated BBA, Year 2) on the topic “粵曲與管理” on 21 and 25 January
Speakers: Mrs. Angela Keung (姜張麗青女士), Vice President of National Sales, Amway China Co. Ltd. And Mr. Rustum M.C. Fong (方文正先生), Composer of Chinese Operatic Songs (click here to listen to the radio programme)

From left: Sun Beibei, Prof. Andrew C.F. Chan, Mrs. Angela Keung, Luo Feng, Xie Chenxi

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Grace Chu (BBA-JD, Year 1) on the topic “從管理角度看教育改革” on 5 February 2008
Speaker: Prof. Anthony Cheung (張炳良教授), President, The Hong Kong Institute of Education (click here to listen to the radio programme)

From left: Grace Chu, Prof. Anthony Cheung and Prof. Andrew C.F. Chan

Grace shares with us some of her thoughts about participating in the radio programme:

It was definitely a learning experience to be involved in the “New Thinking in Management” radio series. I was not the one being recorded, but I think my role as an idea-generator was equally important.

This was a topic about the value of ‘super tutors’ and the possibility of how they and school teachers can complement each other. Prof. Andrew C.F. Chan, the EMBA students and our guest speakers all had different opinions towards the issue. It wasn’t understanding what they said that was the most valuable learning experience, it was understanding why and how they thought that way. I realized that they all had very good logic behind their ideas and were always able to support their own views. This is what teenagers nowadays should learn – we often rashly voice out our opinions and appear critical and confident, but after all, the most important skill is to be able to explain your own logic in order to convince others.

It was also interesting to provide questions behind the scenes when they were in the recording room. I could suggest points from a different perspective: as a student who has never been to tutorial classes before and as one who has spent two years of study in England. This is how I contributed to their discussion and I benefited by listening to how they discussed my ideas.

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Jacky Lui (Global Business Studies, Year 3), on topic “鹿鼎記的管理智慧 on 24 February 2008
Speaker: Mr. Frankie Yeung (楊偉誠先生), Senior District Director, American International Assurance Co, (Bermuda) Ltd.

BBA-JD students’ participation in the EMBA CEO Forum

Three BBA-JD students, namely Sunny Chow, Grace Chu and Sara Sze, joined the CEO Forum arranged by the EMBA Programme on 25 February 2008. The guest speaker of the CEO Forum was Mr. Wong Yan Lung, SC, JP, Secretary for Justice. The students gained remarkable insights from Mr. Wong.

“Mr. Wong focused his speech on the topic of mediation, which was something very useful for us law students-to-be to acquire insights on. His very well-organized approach clearly demonstrated to me the pros and cons in using mediation in the legal system. He also suggested methods to create fundamental changes in our culture that would see mediation become a norm. Since there was no concrete answer to these issues yet, I think it was a very good chance for us to utilize our critical thinking skills to weigh the costs and benefits of mediation. The greatest piece of advice Mr. Wong gave was that mediation is very likely to be the future method people will use to begin settling legal disputes, and that as potential participants in the legal profession, we definitely have to keep that in mind. This is what makes a successful person: to be able to look into the needs of our future,” said Grace Chu, a BBA-JD student.

3^rd, 4^th and 5^th left: Prof. Andrew C.F. Chan; Mr. Wong Yan Lung; and Prof. Kenneth Young (Pro Vice-Chancellor of CUHK)

Dining Etiquette for BBA Students

This workshop aimed to strengthen students’ skills in building a professional executive image through dining etiquette. A total of 58 students from the Faculty of Business Administration attended the workshop and learned about dining etiquette.
Date: 29 January 2008
Venue: Harbour View International House


Demonstrating the dining etiquette	Group photo of participants

(B)

Admission and Promotion

Secondary 6 Residential Programme

The Faculty of Business Administration took part in the Secondary 6 Residential Programme which was organized by the University’s Office of Admissions and Financial Aid. A group of 25 Secondary 6 students from various schools joined this Residential Programme. A number of information sessions introducing our business undergraduate programmers were arranged. Prof. Raymond So, Associate Professor of the Department of Finance, delivered a talk “Finance for Arts Students: Myths and Challenges”.

Admission & Promotion to Secondary Schools / Institutions in February 2008 including

22 February	Maryknoll Convent School	Prof. Raymond So, BBA-JD Programme Director
29 February	Queen’s College	Prof. Gordon Cheung for Global Business Studies Ms. Melina Iu for Integrated BBA Prof. Leung Wai-kin for Hotel and Tourism Management Ms. Karen Li for Professional Accountancy Prof. Raymond So for BBA-JD and Quantitative Finance Prof. Albert Wong for Insurance, Financial and Actuarial Analysis Prof. Andrew C.F. Chan, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Studies), for closing remarks

(C)

Faculty Member Attending Student Societies’ Functions / Receiving Delegates from Renowned Universities

Inauguration Ceremony of the 2008 Cabinet, The Business Administration Society of United College (UCBA)

Date: 4 February 2008
Time: 6:30pm
Prof. T.S. Lee, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, and Prof. Kevin Au, Associate Professor of Department of Marketing, attended the Inauguration Ceremony.

UC Berkeley Visit

Date: 21 February 2008
On behalf of the Faculty of Business Administration, Prof. Andrew C.F. Chan, delivered a presentation and introduced the Faculty of Business Administration to the delegates of UC Berkeley.

II.

Upcoming Events:

(A)

Student Enrichment Activity

Interview Day for Early Admissions Scheme Applicants on 1 March 2008

Early Admissions Scheme (EAS) is a channel for secondary 6 students who obtained outstanding HKCEE results seeking admission to universities. EAS Interview Day will be conducted on 1 March 2008. A number of professors from CUBA will serve as the interview panelists to assess applicants’ suitability for admission. Also, more than 10 Faculty members will serve in the Hospitality Team and extend a warm welcome to EAS applicants and their parents.

FinMan Conference

The Advisory Committee on Human Resources Development in the Financial Services Sector of the HKSAR Government (the FinMan Committee) will partner with CUHK to hold a Conference on 15 March 2008. This Conference will be one of the important events of FinMan in 2008 and will draw a great deal of attention from the financial and business sector, the tertiary education sector, and the general public. The Conference, which is a half-day event, will be held at the CUHK campus and will focus on the banking and securities industries. It is our pleasure to have the presence of the following prominent figures in Hong Kong as the keynote speaker and moderators:

Keynote speaker
- Professor K.C. Chan, SBS, JP, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, HKSAR Government (財經事務及庫務局局長陳家強教授)

Moderators
- Mr. T.C. Chan, BBS, JP, the Chairman of the FinMan Committee, HKSAR Government (財經界人力資源諮詢委員會主席陳子政先生)
- Professor Linus W.L. Cheung, JP, Adjunct Professor, Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (香港中文大學市場學系客座教授張永霖先生)


Professor K.C. Chan, SBS, JP Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, HKSAR Government	Mr. T.C. Chan, BBS, JP Chairman of the FinMan Committee, HKSAR Government	Professor Linus W.L. Cheung, JP Adjunct Professor, Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

CUBA Undergraduate “Heart to Heart Talk”

Date: 7 March 2008
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm (tentative)
Speaker: Mr. Gilbert Chan, Executive Director and Senior Counsel, Legal Department, Goldman Sachs
Topic: Law and Management: A New Chemistry

Date: 26 March 2008
Time: 7:00pm – 8:00pm (tentative)
Speaker: Dr. William Ho Shiu-wei, Chief Executive, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (東華三院執行總監何兆煒醫生)
Topic: Leadership (to be confirmed)

III.

Student Achievements:

(A)

Students’ Participation in Case Competition

ICBC Case Competition

A team comprising three Year 3 Global Business Studies students (Jacky Lui, Winnie Sze and Steven To) participated in the ICBC case competition and made it to the final round in early January 2008. They learnt a lot and gained valuable experience from the competition.

3^rd, 4^th and 5^th left: Steven To, Winnie Sze and Jacky Lui (Global Business Studies Year 3 students)

The participants share about their experience in the competition:

“With the full support of the Faculty of Business Administration of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, my team was able to visit Canada and enjoy ourselves in the 30th Inter-Collegiate Business Competition. This was truly an amazing experience because we were the only Asian team able to enter into the final round of the Business Policy section. We heard from other teams that Business Policy is always the highlight of the competition. Indeed, the competition was very competitive yet enjoyable. In five hours we formulated a strategic plan for a pro bono project. This was not the kind of case we were expecting. We tried our best to combine business strategies with ideas we learnt from our social entrepreneurship class in Denmark. Our performance was well received by the judges and guests. Although we were not able to win any prizes, I am extremely proud of my team because we did a great job and got into the final round of this prestigious competition. I would like to thank the Faculty for providing us with this precious opportunity. Special thanks must be given to Ms. Diana Law of the Undergraduate Office, who organized everything for us,” said Winnie Sze.

“Early this January we had a great opportunity to represent CUHK to compete in the final round competition of the prestigious Inter-Collegiate Business Competition (ICBC). Being able to participate, as a member of one of the three teams from Asia, in this well established international business case competition with a strong Canadian focus was truly a challenging yet rewarding opportunity and also a very different experience for me from other cases I’ve done in the past.

During the competition, we were given a task to look into a particular business case, analyze details of information and to come up with an in-depth strategic solution for a national non-governmental organization (NGO) that faced problems including a loss of 70% of its senior management within a quarter and an increasing level of uncertainty in its strategic direction. The key issues involved were not only to tackle the short-term headcount problem but also to seize the opportunity to furnish the positioning strategy for its young firm in order to achieve long-term sustainability, while taking into account the double bottom-line nature of this non-profit industry. This ICBC case in particular was so much more intense given the fact that every team was allotted only 5 hours of preparation for the final presentation with complete solutions. Our team nonetheless had great fun solving the case.

Outside of the case, the social opportunities appeared to be another important aspect of the event. As a foreign team we were highly welcomed and we appreciated Queen’s University’s warm care in hosting us. We were also impressed that the local teams showed strong interest in knowing more about the Chinese culture. There were plenty of opportunities for our teams to share and exchange ideas with others in a wide range of areas including our studies and college life at CUHK, our cultures, families, society, our leisure, our government and our own past experiences. One of our main take-aways from this event is definitely the strong international network that we built during the highly busy week. We believe that this will have long-term benefits for our future.

Last but not least, we want to take the chance to sincerely thank UGO for its support throughout the whole event. Without that help the above simply couldn’t have happened, and we can’t express how much gratitude we feel,” said Jacky Lui.

HKFBS Zurich Business Administration Paper

Date: 16 February 2008
A team from CUHK comprising Grace Kei and Alan Mak (both from Global Business Studies, Year 3), Cindy Chan (Integrated BBA, Year 3) and Eddie Cheung (Professional Accountancy, Year 3) won 1st runner-up in the HKFBS Business Administration Paper. The HKFBS Business Administration Paper is a business-plan writing competition and is one of the most representative functions of the Hong Kong Federation of Business Students (HKFBS). The CUHK team attended the training session arranged by HKFBS and started their preparation in November 2007. After keen competition, the CUHK team entered the final round and became one of the four finalists in the competition. The CUHK team then attended the Oral Presentation Day on 16 February 2008 and won the 1st runner-up place. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof. Hugh Thomas, Department of Finance, who kindly served as the academic advisor of the CUHK team.

Grace Kei, a member of the CUHK team, had the following feedback after the competition:

“It was a great honour being selected to represent CUHK in the Zurich Business Administration Paper 2007. Over the past few months, the four of us had worked tirelessly in developing a business plan in our quest for the Championship. Our concept was founded on the grounds of setting up and franchising a Child Development Centre in China since there is a genuine need for China's next generation to obtain a well-balanced education. Through meeting educational experts, advisors at the Trade Development Council and professors, we gradually molded our concept into a plan that any entrepreneur could execute. It was an amazing experience for all of us and we would recommend other students to take part in similar competitions in the future. Finally, we would like to thank Professor Hugh Thomas of Department of Finance, Mr. Jimmy Chiu of Department of Management and Mr. Chan Ho Fung of Department of Marketing for the invaluable advice and support they provided our team during the grueling few months. It was an unforgettable learning experience and we all enjoyed the challenge.”


Professor Hugh Thomas Associate Professor Department of Finance	Mr. Jimmy Chiu Senior Instructor Department of Management	Mr. Chan Ho Fung Professional Consultant Department of Marketing