Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1998

T he g r a n d p r i z e o f US$5,000 f or t he Best N e w Venture A w a r d, generously d o n a t ed b y Mo t o r o la N e w En t e r p r i s e s, w as s h a r ed b y teams f r o m T he Ch i n e se U n i v e r s i ty a nd N a t i o n al U n i v e r s i ty of Singapore. The C U H K t e am also w a l k e d a w a y w i t h the O u t s t a n d i ng Business Plan A w a r d i n their division, a nd the Transpac C a p i t al A w a r d f or O u t s t a n d i ng A s i a P o t e n t i a l. T he students believed their edge was the h i g h v i a b i l i ty a nd potential of their p r o d u c t. Tsinghua Un i v e r s i ty was the recipient of the Ch en H s o ng A w a r d for Best I n n o v a t i on i n Ma n u f a c t u r i n g. The A s i an M o o t C o rp p r o v i d ed a 'hands on' a p p r o a ch to l e a r n i ng about entrepreneurship i n the full-time M B A curriculum. The participants received feedback f r om the judges o n h o w to i mp r o ve their business plan. A f o r m al course w i l l be offered b y the C U M B A a nd students w i l l take part i n the internal c omp e t i t i on as part of their course requirement. Entrepreneurial education i n other A s i an M B A schools v a ry greatly. Some have a w e l l established p r o g amme w h i le others have just b e g un or are t h i n k i ng of h a v i ng one. The competition contributes to the integration of e n t r e p r e n e u r s h ip i n to the core M B A c u r r i c u la of the p a r t i c i p a t i ng business schools, promotes greater interaction between M B A schools a nd the business sector, a nd provides a valuable o p p o r t u n i ty for the students to establish a n e t w o rk of f u t u re business contacts after graduation. M B A students are f u r t h er encouraged to go b e y o nd w r i t i n g g o od business plans to t r a n s f o rm these ' b l u e p r i n t s' i n to real companies a nd profitable business ventures, w i t h the s u p p o rt of venture capitalists w h o are continually l o o k i ng for viable n ew projects. Some of the M B A teams have i n fact gone o n to i mp l eme nt their business plans a nd w i l l go i n to these businesses full-time after graduation. T h r o u gh their M B A education, s t u d e n ts w i l l d e v e l op the k n o w l e d ge a n d competencies to l e ad a n d manage a business. The A s i an M o o t C o rp w i l l become an essential a nd valuable learning experience for M B A students i n Asia. The CUHK team: (from left) Ivan Chan, Carmen Fu, Tammy Tam, and Pecky Sze Institut e Ventur e Asian Institute of Management, the Philippines House Call— rendering home management services to condominium residents in key business districts in Metro Manila Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand Traditional Thai Massage Shop— providing traditional Thai massage in the transit areas of Bangkok International Airport De La Salle University, the Philippines Galaxy Textile Corporation— printing of woven and knitted fabrics in the Philippines Fudan University, Shanghai China Telnet Service Company Ltd.— providing network services to telecommunication network operators in Shanghai and eventually throughout China The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Rainbow Optical Co. Ltd.— marketing and selling a new brand of prescription lenses in Hong Kong and mainland China The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medcare— providing one-stop shopping for useful, usable medical information to the public free of charge National Chengchi University, Taiwan Newton— marketing CD-Rom 'edutainment' titles in Chinese areas The National University of Singapore Environments Building Systems—offering new cost-effective and environmentally friendly building material technologies in Asia Thammasat University, Thailand White Angels Co., Ltd.— providing house cleaning services to families in the Bangkok Metropolitan area Tsinghua University, Beijing Tsinghua Harmony Co. Ltd.— manufacturing, marketing and developing ozone equipment in the PRC The First Asian Moot Corp® Competition 17