February 19, 2019. Shanghai – Nearly 100 CEIBS MBA students, alumni, recruiters, mentors, faculty, and staff came together today to celebrate the school’s record high #5 position in the Financial Times’ annual ranking of the world’s top 100 full-time MBA programmes. Leading the celebration were CEIBS President (European) Dipak Jain, Vice President and Dean Ding Yuan, Vice President and Co-Dean Zhang Weijiong, and Associate Dean and MBA Programme Director Juan Fernandez.

Prior to joining CEIBS in 2018, Professor Jain served as both Dean of Kellogg School of Business and INSEAD. During his time at Kellogg, he participated in celebrating the school’s 100^th anniversary. While at INSEAD, he celebrated the school’s 50^th anniversary. Now, as President (European) at CEIBS, he will also be part of the school’s 25^th anniversary celebrations. “Some people are born lucky,” he said. “It is good to celebrate occasions like today, but the challenge now is how we move forward as a school. [In particular,] we will need to strengthen our three pillars of academic excellence, business relevance, and social significance.”

Professor Juan began by thanking his professors, former MBA Directors Dr. Lydia Price and Dr. Chen Shimin, for their guidance and contributions. “The MBA programme is, as always, a work in progress,” he said. “This year, we are looking forward to rolling out exciting new initiatives such as overseas electives in Silicon Valley, as well as at our campuses in Zurich and Accra.”

Associate Dean (Research), Professor of Economics and Finance, and winner of four teaching excellence awards, Dr. Xu Bin shared photos and memories from his own 15 year journey with the CEIBS. He also expressed his confidence in the school’s future given its leadership, strategic direction, and the strength of China’s economy.

As a recruiter of MBA graduates at industrial gas multinational Air Liquide, HR Vice President for Greater China Jasmine Wu shared her thoughts on why the company continues to recruit CEIBS alumni. “Talent is the most important asset of any company,” she said. “And, we can always rely on CEIBS graduates to be brave, analytical, and proactive in the workplace.”

CEIBS MBA 2001 alum and EasyFinance Management Consulting CEO Marshall Ma worked as a pilot before he enrolled in MBA programme. Speaking on behalf of his fellow alumni, Marshall praised the school for developing a strong alumni network that allows graduates to share in CEIBS’ bright future.

MBA 2020 student and Student Ambassador President Paul Walprecht concluded the speeches by expressing his pride in the increasing amount of recognition CEIBS has received on the global stage. He also highlighted the responsibility that he and his fellow classmates will embrace to care for the present and future of the MBA programme.

Celebrations continued well into the evening as MBA alumni and students shared memories and highlights from their time on campus.

January 27, 2019. Accra, Ghana — Students doing the CEIBS Global EMBA 2018 Double Module Track (DMT) recently explored Ghana as part of their first overseas module outside China. The group engaged in many activities over the course of a 9-day period that had them unearthing important lessons about Ghana’s economy, history, and culture as part of a dual module on Financial Reporting and Economics Analysis for Managers.

First, participants visited the Ghana Stock Exchange. They were received by Deputy Managing Director Mr. Ekow Afedzie, who guided them on a tour of the stock exchange floor and walked them through some of the exchange’s trading activities. Mr. Afedzie also discussed some of challenges facing the GSE. Students then worked in teams to come up with solutions, which they submitted to GSE management in the form of a video pitch. The visit afforded participants the opportunity to gain insights into the local financial system and the role of the stock exchange. The visit also helped the students gain a better understanding of some of the important regulations at work when it comes to financial reporting.

The GEMBAs also paid a visit to the Cocoa Research Institute in order to study the cocoa value chain. Along the way, they received insights into the history and cultivation of cocoa and other cash crops, such as coffee, kola, cashew, and Shea butter. They also learnt about some of the scientific and innovative processes being adopted to develop several bi-products from cocoa beans. Finally, students took a tour of the cocoa plantation, where they got a hands-on experience of the operation.

Following their trip to the Cocoa Research Institute, the group stopped at Bunso Arboretum, where they were introduced to Ghana’s vast array of flora and fauna and enjoyed a fun and exciting canopy walk. A tour of the arboretum also revealed some very old trees, some as old as 200 years.

Students also had the opportunity to meet with local alumni during a cocktail party hosted at the CEIBS Accra Campus. The event provided both students and alumni with an opportunity to exchange stories and share ideas. Both groups also participated in a football match, which featured plenty of goals. In the end, the home team triumphed over the visitors by a score of 7:1. Finally, a fun-filled New Year’s party capped their visit on the last day of class.

Find out more about our top-ranked Global EMBA programme here.

January 26, 2019. Shanghai – CEIBS President (European) and Professor of Marketing Dipak Jain met today with members of the CEIBS Alumni International Chapter (CAIC) at our Shanghai Campus for a presentation on CEIBS: The Global Journey Ahead. The session offered a look at the current environment in business management education as well as a glimpse into Prof. Jain’s vision to work with the rest of the school to take CEIBS to even greater heights in the future as it prepares to celebrate its 25^th anniversary. The event also marked the official start of the second council of the CAIC and served to formally welcome Prof. Jain as the CAIC’s Honorary Advisor.

In opening his talk, Prof. Jain walked participants through a broad history of the evolution of business and the impact recent changes have had on business education. In particular, he highlighted the fact that we now live in a world where the major players in business include not just countries and corporations, but also individuals.

“These citizens are not just profit-centric. They have a purpose and they want to make a difference. They’re not only interested in the success, but also have this feeling of, how can I give back?” he said. “That is the real metric. [As a result,] we really need to think about what business schools should be focusing on.”

As the demand for business education has grown, however, the market has become more competitive and increasingly segmented. This, Prof. Jain noted, has led CEIBS (and other schools) to ask the question, how can a business school really differentiate itself? One way, he explained, is to draw on some of its most important relationships.

“Our biggest strength is [our alumni]. [They] are our brand ambassadors. [Their] success and [their] satisfaction is what drives this school,” he told the audience. “I always say, ‘You’re a student for two years, but an alum for the rest of your life.’ And, it is very important for a business school to be invested in that.”

At the same time, Prof. Jain emphasised the importance of the CEIBS Alumni Association in expanding the school’s presence. He also offered a number of suggestions for ways in which alumni can help the school continue to build a stronger community and establish a broader platform for success.

“What I seek from all of [our alumni] is, first, your views and perspectives. [Second], are connections with the corporate community – especially, if you know people who can contribute to CEIBS, please let us know,” he said. “And, third, of course, if you have friends who are interested in our programmes, do suggest to them to come here.”

In wrapping up the discussion, Prof. Jain stated that the time has come for CEIBS to be a school with a reach which extends beyond China. Finally, he challenged participants to form a vision of what is possible for the future as the school looks ahead to the next 25 years.

“If you believe what we can do with the potential, we can really, really take this institution to greater and greater heights,” he said. “One day we will all be proud to see where it is and [our alumni] will be able to say, ‘At one time I was a student at this school.’”

For more information about the CEIBS Alumni Association, news, and other upcoming events, click here.

January 22, 2019. Shanghai – Nearly 300 deans and other leaders from business schools around the world gathered in the Shanghai Petrochemical Auditorium at the CEIBS Shanghai Campus today to hear Former ICBC Chairman, CLIIF Director, and CEIBS Adjunct Professor of Finance Jiang Jianqing give a talk on The Logic behind the Evolution of International Finance & Journey of China’s Financial Reform. Professor Jiang’s presentation kicked off a second day of lectures, panel discussions, and workshops as part of the 2019 EFMD Conference for Deans & Directors General. Keeping with the event’s overall theme of Enterprising Deans in a Global Context, Prof. Jiang offered participants a look at some of the ways in which globalisation is driving recent trends in the banking industry and, moreover, the types of opportunities and challenges these trends represent for business schools.

While noting that “business schools around the world have historically played a pivotal role in advancing globalisation, commercial progress, and world prosperity,” Prof. Jiang stated that “our society, economy, and the financial industry are all at a crossroads today and we have to think hard where we should be headed in the future. Business schools are also at a crossroads and have to make a decision about the right way forward.” To this end, he called on school leaders to encourage more research, advance the case study method of teaching, and create more opportunities for students to learn from hands-on experience.

As an example of a research opportunity, Prof. Jiang pointed to the 2008 global economic crisis. Specifically, he explained that despite being called into serious question in the wake of the crisis, the western financial world has largely continued to embrace a ‘too big to fail’ mentality, going further down the road towards an increasing concentration of the banking sector.

“This phenomenon is not limited only to the banking industry, but is widespread in many other industries, such as express delivery, e-commerce, and financial asset management, and it is an issue worthy of further investigation by business school researchers,” he said. “Appropriate levels of concentration can be beneficial for economies of scale, resilience to risks, and regulatory efficiency. However, the tipping point must be identified to prevent adverse impacts.”

Drawing on his own extensive experience in handling the “tricky business” of mergers and acquisitions – a process he described as both “a science and an art” – Prof. Jiang also emphasised the urgent need for business schools to bring more real world examples into the classroom.

“Teaching must be based on cases, real cases from the business world,” he said. “Of course, we then need to encourage students to draw useful lessons or develop workable theories from those cases.”

Finally, Prof. Jiang shared with the audience some thoughts on how schools can proceed if they are to successfully incorporate financial (and other) courses into their curricula.

“Business schools should [also] make sure students can draw useful lessons and theories from best practices and learning must come from hands-on experience,” he concluded. “We are living in a fast-changing world, where knowledge has a much shorter shelf life. [As a result,] schools must stay current with the latest developments in the business world, and make sure students are fully exposed to them.”

For more news and highlights from the 2019 EFMD Conference for Deans & Directors General and other events hosted by CEIBS, visit our News & Events page here.

January 22, 2018. Shanghai — After 15 years in the classrooms of world class business schools such as CEIBS and INSEAD, Chen Weiru had a career switch. He is now working as Chief Strategy Officer at Alibaba’s logistics arm, Cainiao Network. Today, as the penultimate speaker at the 2019 EFMD Conference for Deans & Directors General, he shared some of the lessons he has learned along the way and his thoughts on how the digital world will impact business schools.

Lured away from academia by the opportunity to leverage digitalisation to both “guide and learn from an internet company”, Chen’s role at Cainiao is a combination of research, coaching and training and being the bridge between the company and its stakeholders. As he puts it, his job is to envision the future smart logistics network; enable strategic thinking within the top management team; redesign governance mechanisms with ecosystem partners; and ‘preach’ the future digital intelligent world.

Cainiao provides a technology driven platform through which it helps logistics companies do a better job of meeting their customers’ needs. That’s a mammoth task in China which has twice the number of parcel deliveries per day as the United States and thousands of small players in the logistics industry. The company’s goals, set by Alibaba’s inimitable Founder Jack Ma, include ensuring that every parcel delivered within China gets to its final destination within 24 hours. Before Cainiao, the average was six days and now the industry standard is about two days. Another goal is to have three-day delivery worldwide, down from almost 15 days. “Jack Ma set very simple KPIs, but they take more than ten years to accomplish,” Chen told his audience wryly.

So far, Cainiao’s innovations in labelling have helped cut delivery time and made the entire logistics chain more efficient. It now works with more than 3,000 logistics partners (3 million personnel), delivering 107 million packages a day to more than 200 countries. But what of the lessons Chen has learned?

He now has greater insight into how hard it is to be a start-up and greater appreciation for the blue-collar workers on the front lines of the logistics industry. And he sees the value of having knowledge across a wide spectrum of disciplines. “I know strategy, but for example I also need IT and OBHR, and as academics (who typically pick a specific area of expertise) we don't have enough exposure to this breadth of knowledge. I am forced to think about deep things, and it makes me think I didn't study hard enough when I was doing my PhD,” he added with a laugh. Another takeaway from his time in the business world: idealism needs to be balanced with reality, and vice versa. As faculty, he noted, the traditional approach is to provide the theory and leave it to the students to implement. “Now I have come to realise that we need to think from both sides and we need to do more,” he said.

He also spoke of a radical shift in his mind-set, telling the audience of decision makers from global business schools that he has moved away from the “seeing is believing approach”. He explained that now his first step is believing in even bigger things, with a much longer horizon. “Now I have found the power of belief, of imagination and with that I can actually see,” he said. 

And what does all this mean for business schools? Chen believes there needs to be new formats and processes of business education, new subjects and disciplines, new theories and paradigms along with new ways of knowledge creation — and a new mind-set. “We need real time cases and we need to teach students what’s happening right now,” he said. The good news is that CEIBS last year launched its patented Real Situation Learning Method, a major step in the right direction! 

January 22, 2019. Shanghai — CEIBS Presidents have given a hint of what’s ahead for the school, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Yesterday in his opening address at the 2019 EFMD Conference for Deans & Directors General, President Li Mingjun told the audience, “As an international business school globally recognised and with operations in three continents, CEIBS is playing a more important role in bridging China with the world and telling China stories. Looking back and thinking ahead, we will try our best to maintain our ‘China Focus’ and achieve ‘Global Significance’.”

With campuses in China, Ghana in Africa and Zurich in Switzerland, CEIBS has more than 22,000 alumni across the globe and there has long been a focus on educating responsible business leaders. As the school enters a new era in its development, there is also added importance being given to educating business leaders who recognise and embrace the importance of giving back, of making a difference and an impact on the global stage. As CEIBS President (European) Dipak Jain explained today, the school will also focus on making an impact globally by focusing on its international visibility. Other areas of focus as CEIBS celebrates its 25th anniversary will include building a strong presence in the US while strengthening operations in Europe and Africa. This will all be done within the framework of leveraging CEIBS’ core competitive advantage — it’s unrivalled expertise in providing China knowledge.

In his speech, the final one for the EFMD business school conference hosted by CEIBS over the last two days, Prof Jain also extended an invitation to the deans and directors generals gathered to work together. “Let’s take the calibre of management education to new heights,” he urged. “If we work together we can find a common purpose. The best days of management education are ahead of us!”

More than 300 participants from 55 schools around the world attended the EFMD event at CEIBS Shanghai Campus, hosted outside Europe for the first time in its 46-year history. The next conference will be February 13-14, 2020 at SDA Bocconi in Milan, Italy.

January 21-22, 2019. Shanghai ― More than 300 decision makers from business schools around the world gathered in China’s economic hub for two days of talks aimed at clarifying and strengthening the role their institutions play, especially at a time when the world economic order is undergoing such dramatic change. They came together for the 2019 EFMD Conference for Deans & Directors General, hosted by China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) at its Shanghai Campus. This is the first time ever in the conference’s 46-year history it is being hosted outside Europe.

“We feel extremely honoured to be the local host, to welcome so many business education leaders here. I am sure the rapid rise of the Chinese economy and the growth and standing of Shanghai as an influential metropolitan city has played a role [in the decision to have CEIBS as the host],” said CEIBS President Professor Li Mingjun in his welcome address. “Chinese enterprises are becoming integrated into the global market, and have captured worldwide attention with continuous business and technology innovations. By co-hosting this conference, we hope we will learn from our peer schools and colleagues, and showcase CEIBS’ role in contributing to China business education and practices.”

 As EFMD CEO & Director General Eric Cornuel explained in impromptu remarks he described as ‘souvenirs of CEIBS history’ there is a shared past between CEIBS and EFMD. This shared history was also among the factors that made the school’s selection as this year’s venue an obvious choice. The EFMD was instrumental in the establishment of CEIBS, working closely with the Chinese and European governments to establish and nurture the school and providing valuable support over the last quarter century. Cornuel also spoke of the role that CEIBS has played in paving the way for many of the schools at the EFMD event, many of which are now in the China market though joint programmes or alliances, as well as the role CEIBS has played in China’s economic development that has seen millions lifted out of poverty. He also paid tribute to the school’s past leaders, and the role they have played in CEIBS’ development and growth, as well as the leadership team now faced with the task of taking the school into the next phase of its development. CEIBS is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year.

Cornuel was speaking to an audience of more than 300 participants from 55 schools.

As CEIBS Vice President & Dean Professor Ding Yuan explained in setting the stage on the first day of the event, conference speeches and break out sessions focused on providing the framework for an understanding of advances in management development — with a China focus. This included discussions on the impact of the changing world economic order; issues such as diversity, talent, alliances, next generation leaders; along with a look at the broader topic of innovation, specifically areas such as online-learning, relevant business education, knowledge creation and societal impact. CEIBS’ strong China focus was also tapped to provide discussions on topics ranging from globalisation of Chinese companies, to an in-depth look at China’s financial reform. The first topic was presented on Day One from the perspective of CEIBS alumni working across different industries, in both the private sector and a state owned enterprise.  On the second day, CEIBS Adjunct Professor Jiang Jianqing, who is the former Chairman of one of the world’s biggest banks, ICBC, shared his views on “The Logic behind the Evolution of International Finance & Journey of China’s Financial Reform”. There was also a look at what it is like to make the transition from academic to practitioner, with a presentation by CEIBS Professor (on sabbatical) Chen Weiru, who is now Chief Strategy Officer at Alibaba’s logistics arm, Cainiao Network Technology.

But much of the two-day event consisted of participants engaged in frank discussions about management education. There were five different breakout sessions dedicated to the overall theme of an “Entrepreneurial Approach in Business Education” and four others on “Innovation in Different Areas of Business School Expertise”.

Discussions were slated to end with a wrap up by CEIBS President (European) Professor Dipak Jain. Cocktails and dinner at CEIBS Shanghai Campus were also on the agenda, providing participants with an opportunity to continue conversations begun earlier in the day — and to unwind a bit after two full days of scrutinizing the role they and their institutions are playing in shaping the global economy.

January 21, 2019. Shanghai – The 2019 EFMD Conference for Deans & Directors General kicked off today with more than 300 academic leaders from business schools around the world attending the annual event hosted this year at CEIBS’ Shanghai Campus. As part of the event’s broader theme of “Enterprising Deans in a Global Context”, Nanyang Business School Dean Robert Kennedy shared a speech entitled Global Shift: The Impact of Changing World Economic Order on Business Schools. His talk looked at recent changes in the global economy, competitive environment for business schools, and business students’ profile and interests, as well as the implications of those changes on school programmes and curriculums and competition amongst schools.

“Twenty or thirty years ago, bright kids from all over the world would come to the US or Europe and get educated there and the first part of their careers would be with global companies based there and eventually they might return home,” Kennedy said.

As the number of emerging market (and, in particular, BRICS) multi-nationals in the Fortune 500 list has increased, however, many students are opting to return to their home regions after graduating for the simple reason that there exist a lot more opportunities there for newly minted MBAs. As a result, he explained, students are now looking for business schools to provide a broader range of offerings which reflect up-to-date, real-world conditions in those regions.

“[Students are] looking for experiences and cutting edge things from all over the world, from cutting edge industries,” he said. “They’re coming to learn about disruption. We have to teach different types of thing, include more geographic diversity and different types of cases.”

Among other things, these factors have led to a rise in the number of elite business schools operating in emerging markets and as well as an increased fragmentation of the types of programmes offered. In particular, these trends have placed greater pressure on full-time MBA programmes — the traditional cash cows of leading business schools. While acknowledging that the volatility of the top 10 schools worldwide has remained steady (or even decreased slightly), Kennedy told the audience that other factors such as new technology are forcing the majority of schools to rethink how they market themselves.

“The most basic level is what I call ‘tool kit learning’ — it’s how do you segment a bond, how to price a market? There are a thousand YouTube videos that will teach you that and students won’t pay tuition for it,” he said. “So, you have to have some value added beyond that, like how do you apply that stuff, how do you teach soft skills, how are you tapping into your alumni network?”

Given the demand for business education and proliferation of degrees, coupled with pressures on tuition and the emergence of new and more varied rivals, Kennedy stated there is a lot of pressure on schools to be more global. However, he pointed out that there exist only a handful of schools who can afford to be truly global on their own.

“It means we need to pair up somehow. We need joint programmes or to work through an alliance. Your students and faculty want global opportunities and unless you have a billion-dollar endowment you probably need to partner with somebody. The top 50 can’t really play the same game anymore,” he said.

The 2019 EFMD Conference for Deans & Directors General wraps up on January 22, when participants will dive into greater depth in areas such as the logic behind China’s financial reforms, entrepreneurial approaches in business education, and innovation in different areas of business school expertise. This year’s event also marks the first time in the EFMD’s 46-year history that the conference has been held outside of Europe. For more news, visit our News & Events page here.

January 16, 2019. Shanghai – The 2019 CEIBS Executive Forum series kicked off this evening at our Shanghai campus as more than 100 alumni, students, and members of the business community gathered for a talk by Fosun Fashion Group (FFG) and Lanvin Chairman Joann Cheng. The lecture, entitled Dedication. Diligence. Focus. – How to Empower Overseas Invested Brands, offered participants a look at how Fosun’s unique ecosystem and investment and operation strategy has transformed it into one of China’s largest international conglomerates.

In opening the session, Cheng noted that Fosun has cultivated success by creating a family-oriented ecosystem around the pillars of “happiness, health, and wealth.” Driven by technology, the company’s interests now range from tourism and fashion to pharmaceuticals and hospitals to insurance, investments, and property.

Launched in 2014, FFG’s mission is “to create happier lives for consumers worldwide” through fashion. It has since acquired a portfolio which now encompasses luxury brands such as Lanvin, Wolford, St. John Knits, Caruso, and Tom Tailor. “We want to have the brands grow internationally and in China,” Cheng said. This dual purpose has, she explained, helped FFG differentiate itself from other major players in the fashion industry. Specifically, it is able to bring a unique angle to the industry in that it embodies a consumer-centric lifestyle and perspective which is “rooted in China with a global vision”.

At the same time, Cheng asked the audience, given an over-crowded landscape and the challenge that brands have only a limited presence in China, how is it possible to make enough noise to be heard? Citing a commonly held belief that consumers can only recall between two and seven brands in a given category, she argued, “We have to make our product strong enough to stand out and make our brand easy enough to remember. Without a good product you can’t sell, but without a good marketing strategy, no matter how good your product is, it will not be remembered.”

Cheng further highlighted a number of important trends disrupting the fashion industry, including digitalisation, the desire for consumer self-expression, the “now or never” attitude to buying/selling, the impact of KOLs and social media, and a growing demand for radical transparency. “Now customers want to know where your product is made. In China? In Africa? Is it healthy? Is it green?” she said. “And, there are so many new brands coming so fast, breaking the rules, using different channels, that [existing] brands have to react very fast.”

FFG has, in part, responded to these trends by shifting from passive investment to taking a more direct role in the operation of its brands. “We are industry players,” Cheng told the audience. “We want to play in this industry.” At the same time, she said the company has adopted a more entrepreneurial mind-set when it comes to areas such as fashion tech, touching on aspects including new materials and how clothes are tailored.

Finally, as a relative newcomer to the fashion industry, Cheng admitted that the task of assembling a team capable of meeting all of these challenges is “still a work-in-progress”. Nevertheless, she emphasised that FFG is going to great lengths to find ways to empower talent, adding that “fashion is about creativity” and “people are the most critical part of the industry”.

Keep up with the latest Executive Forums and other CEIBS events by visiting our events page, here.