The College is recruiting for a faculty position in Management to teach Strategy. I invite all MBA students going to China to the below noted job candidate presentation. You can see how these things work, what we expect of a faculty member re: their research, etc. And, Dr. Ma’s research relates to China. He is from Peking University (also known as Beijing University and called by the locals “Beida”, one of the top schools in China. (The “Bei” comes from Beijing and the “da” means university — hence, the “Beida” label you will here. “Beida” is considered by many to be the Harvard of China.)

While on our trip, in Beijing, we will spend an hour or two or three at Beida or Tsinghua University in northwest Beijing (Tsinghua is right next door to Beida, and is often thought of as the “MIT” of China).

Which one is “better” or more prestigious? Heck, like anything in life, it depends on the field, the variables you use (like mutual funds) and who you ask and what stake they have in the answer. The answer does not much matter to me. But I DO want you to see and feel what a top tier Chinese university is like and either one will more than suffice in this regard. I also want you to meet some students there and witness first hand, that yes, they are just as smart as you, they are working even harder, and they will the same job as you for less $$$ — I want to get you into the deep end of the pool and out of your California and Central Coast comfort zone to see what it feels like re: future global competition, and I think you will walk away from that experience recognizing that you would be best served as an American and as Thomas Friedman of “The World is Flat” fame insightfully argues, to start running even harder and faster.

Having a few of you there would also be one way to impress and confirm to Dr. Ma that we are an engaged MBA program and academic community at Cal Poly and that we in turn have many wonderful things to offer him as well.

It is not required that you attend, but the invite is there if you wish to join us. If you plan to attend, please do shoot me a quick email so I can make sure we are covered on room size (ccarr@calpoly.edu). - Prof. Carr

Announcement:

Dr. Hao Ma, Monday, March 5, 3:10 pm to 4:00 pm, 03-207.

Dr. Ma graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and is Professor of Management both at University of Illinois at Springfield and Peking University. His presentation topic is “Competitive Advances and Chinese Firms”.

Dress for students in attendance can be casual/informal.

Remember Dr. Morris talking about Cui Jian, China’s Bob Dylan (and also a classically trained trumpet player)? Here is one of his videos that I came across. I can’t understand what he is saying but I can read the text on this site. Even not understanding his spoken words, I like his passion, the rough voice, and how his music makes my body and spirit feel when I hear it …

Santa Clara University, my law school alma mater (GO BRONCOS!) is holding what looks to be a great conference on global business ethics on March 8-10, 2007 at Santa Clara. (One can’t attend a Jesuit university and not come away with a solid education and appreciation for the topic of ethics!) Unfortunately, we have an important pre-departure session on March 9 with Henry Lane of Dioptics, so we won’t have the option to attend the SCU event. Yet, I announce the above because I have a visit lined up for us, in Beijing (tentative), where we will visit with a rep(s) from the Center for International Business Ethics (CIBE) to discuss the topic of corruption, bribery and ethics in China. It should be a very good session. As I understand it CIBE is working with Santa Clara to put on the March 8-10 conference.  If anyone out in cyber land attends this event, please do check back in and let us know about some of the highlights!