For release 2 April 1996
NEW COURSE TEACHES GLOBAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS Engineerin students at Stanford and the
learnin to bri ge li
offere cf jointly by tlz e two universities. hysical distance as well
Hong Kon
as cultur 9 University of Science and Technology are differences in an innovative new course
Students enrolled in Global Collaboration for Supply Chain Management and Product Development are asked to collaborate with partners overseas in tackling the real-world business problems of Hong Kong and US companies serving as course sponsors.
Communicating via fax, electronic mail, the World Wide Web, teleconferencing and video- conferencing, students at HKUST confer regularly with their counterparts at Stanford about the managerial issues involved in the creation and delivery of products and services across national and regional boundaries.
“Our project grou
Fuhua, a student at l!IK consists of three HKUST students and four Stanford students,” says Lin UST. “We have to build up team morale while wrestling with all of the communications media available to us. This has really improved our communication skills for international trade.”
One of the course sponsors is AT&T, which wants the logistics worked out for manufacture and assembly of electronic circuit packs by Asian joint ventures located mainly in China and Southeast Asia.
Another sponsor, Sterling Products Ltd, is a clothing manufacturer seeking to integrate operations based in Hong Kong, China and New York. A second clothing manufacturer wants to explore the market potential for entering the China trade.
“To communicate with students who have grown up in a completely different culture and to learn how to work with them harmoniously is not an easy ‘ob,” says Yip Man Hang, another student at HKUST. “I find discussions with someone w o is in another time zone very h interesting.”
Des ite
one of tK e best their extensive use of interactive multimedia technologies, the students all agree that partners. The E-r KUST students journeyed to Stanford for a week-long planning session and plant arts of the course is the opportunity it gives them to meet face-to-face with their tour in January. The Stanford students visited Hong Kong from 25 to 30 March to participate in the final project presentations.
“Our students have learned how to deliver results by working with people of different back rounds, definin
Mitt ell ii M. Tseng, BP roblems under uncertainty, and synthesizing diverse inputs,” says Prof De artment. ead of HKUST’s Industrial Engineering and Engineenng Management glo t al business.” “These are all important capabilities for students to have m order to succeed in
Tau
Stanfor % , the course is to become a regular part of the curricula of the two universities. “We have ht by Prof Tseng and Dr C. J. Su at HKUST, and by Profs Hau Lee and Benham Tabrizi at embarked on a fascinating new venture,” says Prof Lee,
learning and teaching.” “and we are opening up new ground for
Note to Editors:
