Twelve HKU Business School students joined the Virtual Business Professional (VBP) Project in March. They were placed in teams of 5-6 people with around 100 students from 16 different universities worldwide to work on a consulting project for companies including Netflix, Starbucks and Google. Throughout the project, students learned many essential remote working skills, intercultural communication skills, different business models and marketing strategies, and how modern virtual collaboration can be powered by artificial intelligence technology. The VPB Project offered by the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (USC) is a six-week project that offers students an opportunity to collaborate and work in a virtual setting with students from all over the world to develop virtual and cross-cultural collaboration skills using state-of-the-art collaboration tools.

	“I was fascinated to learn about various content, such as different social media strategies, crowdfunding, donor retention, content creation, bolted in reputation etc. Such knowledge would not be covered in the ordinary academic syllabus, yet crucial to internships and job seeking.”   Ho Yin Yee Jocelyn, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 2
	“In terms of work processes, virtual collaboration is a whole lot harder than what I’ve expected – It is more than jumping freely into video conferences, utilising popular chat tools and learning how to store files on a shared cloud-based drive. Especially being the only Asian student in the team situated in an opposite time-zone, scheduling a meeting is considered as a big hassle. Even though I had to compromise for 7 am meetings, I have learnt to accommodate the majority’s needs for the team’s overall interest. More importantly, I have developed an adaptive work mode that would be beneficial to my future studies and career.”   Chu Tsoi Yan Jenny, BBA(IBGM), Year 2
	“Teammates from different backgrounds have different working styles and we can learn from the difference. For example, one of my teammates has a strong leadership capacity, and he works and aggressively leads us. Feeling inspired to work with him, I think some of his merits can be absorbed by myself.”   Gao Ningling, BEcon&Fin, Year 2

Learn more: https://www.marshall.usc.edu/departments/business-communication/vbp-project

Congratulations to Shivang Singh (BBA(IBGM), Year 4) who was a member of the winning team “Edilery” in the Hult Prize 2021 Challenge – Regional Final in Manila Impact Summit.

Proudly acclaimed as the “Nobel Prize for Students”, the Hult Prize is the world’s largest social entrepreneurship competition organised by the Hult International Business School and the Union Nations Foundation. The theme of 2021 was “Food for Good – transforming food into a vehicle for change”.

Student teams are required to solve a pressing social issue by developing a scalable and sustainable social enterprise. They were asked to pitch ideas on building food enterprises that will impact the lives of 10 million people by 2030 while strengthening communities, increasing incomes, feeding the hungry and creating jobs.

The team “Edilery” came up with an idea that aspired to drive sustainable impact in fighting climate change, malnutrition and gender inequality. With edible cutlery as the vehicle of change, they aimed to create livelihoods to support communities while eradicating plastic cutlery from the global food and beverage industry and promoting nutrition in regular dietary intake.

Winners of the Regional Finals will join the 2021 Hult Prize Accelerator Programme in the United Kingdom with training, coaching and networking opportunities. Selected teams from the Accelerator will pitch at the Hult Prize Annual Awards Ceremony and Gala to be hosted at United Nations Headquarters in New York in September 2021. One student team will be selected as Hult Prize Laureate and win US$1,000,000 to launch their enterprise.

Learn more: https://www.hultprize.org

Over the past semesters, students who are majoring in Asset Management and Private Banking (AMPB), formed into groups of 3-4 students, had the opportunities to have coffee chats with financial industry practitioners from companies like Fidelity International, Julius Baer, HSBC Global Private Banking, eFusion, Chartwell Capital, etc. The event was arranged by Prof. Anna Wong, Programme Director of Bachelor of Finance in Asset Management and Private Banking.

Under the informal setting, students learned more about the current trend of the industry and the personal story of the practitioners on how they developed their career. They also had the chance to visit practitioners’ office. The event was well-received, and our students have plenty of takeaways from the visits.

Lau Yuen Ying, Year 3, AMPB student believes this opportunity can help her gain a deeper understanding of the recent trends in the private banking industry, “I thought COVID-19 pandemic would negatively affect the industry, yet, it has fostered communication with the clients and increased the transaction volume tremendously. Each client’s reaction towards the pandemic situation might be different, so they have to cater to their needs in various ways.”

Lam Hei Tung, Year 1, AMPB student thinks that this is an eye-opening experience, “The most impressive sharing in the coffee chat is how we should better equip ourselves for our future. Mr John Lo, a private banker at Bank of China International Limited, gave us insights into how the industries look like, ranging from their operation, valued qualities to promotion opportunities. I learnt a lot from John and became more clear about what I should achieve during my college years.”

(Second left) Mr. Frederick Wong, CFA, Founder & Chief Investment Officer of eFusion

(First left) Mr. Evan Ng, Head of Trading and Senior Investment Analyst of Chartwell Capital

Cheung Pak Hin, a year 4 BEcon&Fin student wins in the “International Business Agility Labs: Supply Chain Management”, a virtual global case competition organised by the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland during April 9 – 16, 2021. He and his team members from other universities worked together to solve a real-world business case for a Brazilian company.

 “By working with working with like-minded students across continents, I realised the abilities to embrace diversity of thoughts and to speak up proactively were of paramount importance to facilitate an effective collaboration with teammates from diverse background,” says Pak Hin.

The team consisted of five other business students from Mediterranean School of Business of South Mediterranean University, National University of Singapore, Vienna University of Economics and Business, and University of Maryland.

Learn more about the competition at https://go.umd.edu/AgilityLabs

Throughout this academic year, students who are majoring in Asset Management and Private Banking had the opportunity to participate in the monthly e-roundtable series meeting Senior Executives in Asset Management and Private Banking industry virtually, including Dr. King Au, Adjunct Professor at HKU Business School and Executive Director of Financial Services Development Council (FSDC), Mr. Ronald Chan, Founder and CIO of Chartwell Capital, Ms. Janet Li, Leader of Mercer Investment Advisory Asia, Mr. Ivan Wong, Managing Director and Co-head of North Asia, HSBC Private Banking, Ms. Ronie Mak, Managing Director of RS Group, and Ms. Amy Yip, member of Board of Directors of Deutsche Borse Group (the German Stock Exchange), EFG Bank, AIA Group and Prudential. This series was arranged by Prof. Anna Wong, Programme Director of Bachelor of Finance in Asset Management and Private Banking. 

In each e-roundtable, over 50 students joined, and one of them had been selected as the student moderator for the session. Students were well prepared, raised good questions and had conversations with the guest speakers on topics including the current challenges for HK in the finance market, what is value investing, the role of institutional portfolio advising, the current challenges for private banking, the growth of family offices and the importance of sustainable financing. Guest speakers also shared their career journey and tips on developing the talents most wanted by the industry. The whole series was well received, and our students have plenty of takeaways from each guest speaker.

(From left) Mr. Ivan Wong of HSBC Private Banking; Mr. Tony Au of HKU Business School

Mr. Ronald Chan of Chartwell Capital

港大經管學院龔啟聖教授在知名經濟學期刊《經濟學雜誌》發表的論文被挑選為2020年度最佳論文，因而榮獲英國皇家經濟學會獎。他和馬馳騁博士及陳婷博士聯合撰寫的論文 “Long Live Keju! The Persistent Effects of China’s Civil Examination System” （中文翻譯：科舉萬歲！中國科舉制度所產生的深遠影響），研究科舉制度千年以來對中國的人力資本或教育成果的長遠影響。

龔教授解釋為何他的研究團隊會致力研究中國歷史以及其對中國經濟發展的影響。他說：「越來越多的經濟學文獻顯示，制度和文化能夠對經濟發展產生深遠的影響。一個國家在被殖民統治期間受一個「差劣」的政治制度治理，例如一個未能有效約束統治者的制度，他們的長遠經濟發展一般也會比較差。這一點在文化方面亦同出一轍。」

科舉制度是中國封建時期的一種公務員考試制度。科舉制度自宋代開始發展成熟，並成為世上最早出現的「精英政治」制度模式。在被廢除前，科舉制度在中國已有近千年的歷史。 儘管現在大家都會同意「求學不是求分數」，但古時的讀書人對科舉考試的狂熱已經不能夠以韋編三絕形容。他們會盡可能取得科舉考試中最高榮譽的「進士」資格，以獲得功名所帶來的聲望和獎勵。龔教授和他的團隊因此假設，科舉制度可能創造了一個對學習和學術成就萬分尊重的精英階層，並隨著時間推移，培育出一種獨特的「文化特徵」。這股文化特徵即使在科舉制度被廢除後，依然在社會上持續了一段很長的時間。龔教授說：「科舉為我們提供了一個寶貴的機會，研究一個特定的制度和文化，在一段長時間內可以產生的影響。」。

龔教授補充說：「我們的研究發現，當每一萬人之中出現多一名額外的進士，人均的教育年數便會在2010年時增加0.87％。現時的人均教育年數為8.72年，這代表每多一名進士，人均的教育年數便會增加一年。以此對比聯合國最近估計的基準，其幅度被換算成收入差距可達1.5倍。」

透過分析歷史數據，團隊的研究發現「為何在某些文明中，如何將教育而非物質財富傳承下一代的概念，會較其他文明更為重要。並在某程度上，反映教育對經濟增長的重要性。教育可謂是國家的財富。」

龔教授在2018年7月加入港大經管學院，任職經濟學教授。 他說：「我當時被院長蔡洪濱教授的真誠邀請打動，我相信我能夠加入一個發展蓬勃的學術團體。 蔡院長的領導能力備受矚目，其學術成就更是學究天人。 這些美德的結合，在學術領導中相當具吸引力。 此外，加入港大經管學院能給予我一個機會與陳志武教授等優秀的同事合作，共同制定有關中國經濟史的課程。 因此，當我下定決心加入港大經管學院時，並沒有一絲猶豫。」在2019年，香港大學授予龔教授蘇威趙善敏基金教授席（經濟史）的明德教席，以表揚及支持他在中國經濟史上的學術和研究活動。

龔教授在2020年10月被任命為新一任的經濟學學術領域主任。龔教授計劃透過開設新的課程使學院的本科課程變得更現代化，務求協助本科生在這個訊息萬變的世界中，掌握有關數據分析的技能及其他實用的知識。 為提升博士生課程的質量，龔教授亦付出了相當大的努力。在 2021至22年度，為研究生陸續開辦全新的應用經濟學課程，例如「經濟歷史與發展」丶「國際經濟學/產業組織實證研究」丶「應用計量經濟學」丶「中國宏觀經濟學研究」等。

隨著數碼化的數據變得唾手可得，而且電腦的運算功能與日俱增，龔教授所率領的學術領域，已準備好迎接大數據為應用經濟學研究人員所帶來的挑戰。 龔教授已帶領經濟學學術領域展開招聘活動，從世界各地招攬人才，組建最強的研究團隊，聘請擅長運用數據，以可理解的辦法，處理不同議題的頂尖學者。

了解更多有關英國皇家經濟學會獎（僅供英文版）：https://www.res.org.uk/resources-page/2020-royal-economic-society-prize.html 

2020英國皇家經濟學會獎得奬者：港大經管學院龔啟聖教授（中）丶港大經管學院馬馳騁博士（右）及香港浸會大學陳婷博士（左）

Congratulations to our UG business students who have won the “Best Pitch Deck Award”, Top 10 & Top 25 in the Amplify Trading Global Markets Competition 2021 | APAC.

Kim Nahee, BFin(AMPB), Year 4 and Song Yunju, BBA, Year 5 won the Best Pitch Deck Award. They constructed a buy-side pitch book that aimed to help a recently established asset management firm to raise funds from potential clients following the top-down investment strategy starting from global macroeconomics trends, growth potential and broad industry sectors, and based on concrete quantitative measures to make final investment decisions.

“We think the competition is an amazing opportunity for us to experience the role of portfolio managers, allocate assets based on the market movement, and present data throughout the different market situations. We were also able to experience the roles of both a market maker and hedge fund, which allowed us to gain a well-rounded understanding of the financial market mechanisms.”

On top of the “Best Pitch Deck Award”, Yunju was also awarded top 10, while Lo Chun Yu, BSc(QFin), Year 4 and Ng Lok Shan Brendan, BSc(QFin), Year 3 were awarded top 25 in the competition.

Chun Yu is grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this fun-filled yet insightful experience. “It was a great way to take the initiative to conduct a detailed global macro analysis, form our own investment strategy, mitigate potential risks, and most importantly to learn how to tell a good story to our hypothetical investors.”

He also thinks the experience is remarkable and recommends those interested in financial markets to join this competition. “Not only did we learn to leverage our finance knowledge and market sense, but also, the thrills of seeing our investment decisions rewarded by the market were definitely something we could not have obtained in textbooks.”

Brendan shares that the competition allowed his team to work on the presentation crafting skills. He also learned the importance of taking quick, calculated decisions to generate profit as an OTC (Over-the-counter) market maker. “Specialising in certain markets or products when making markets made it easier to match buyers and sellers. Overall, I am grateful to have this opportunity to take part in the competition and I think it was worth the time.”

The competition aims to help university students from all disciplines to gain practical understanding in the world of finance, particularly in Asset Management, Sales & Trading, Wealth Management, Hedge Fund and Research through a series of lecture videos, pitch deck presentation and trading simulations.

In the Preliminary Round of the competition, 692 teams of students from the APAC region worked in groups of two to prepare buy-side pitch decks and participated in live asset management simulation online. 38 qualified teams entered the Grand Final Round on March 21, 2021. Members of the teams were required to compete on individual basis. 76 students participated in the trading simulation competition by making multi-asset investment strategies in both the roles of a Hedge Fund Manager and a market maker based on instantaneous news.

Learn more: https://www.amplifytrading.com/competition

Congratulations to Leung Wing Yin, BBA(Acc&Fin), Year 3, taking home the Second Prize in the EY’s Young Tax Professional of the Year 2021 (Local Competition). By bringing together students from all over the world, the competition aims to demonstrate how much the tax profession has changed today and how business is managed in different cultures. The competition also exposed participants to the skills required to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Wing Yin shares that “The truly fascinating part of taxation goes beyond numbers and figures. Along with the current dynamic business environment, international tax compliance modifies from time to time. The competition enabled me to gain insight into the ever-changing tax policies in different jurisdictions and how cross-border businesses manage tax risk. In the discussion of tax, there is no absolute answer, but logical thinking and critical mindsets could help us interpret and analyze new legislative and regulatory challenges in taxation. I was glad to have this opportunity to interact with seasoned tax professionals from different backgrounds at EY and collaborate with students from other universities. This valuable experience sparked my curiosity in tax and facilitated me to advance the knowledge of the international tax system, which had certainly given me exposure for my future career development.”

The first phase of the competition took place in Hong Kong. After an online test regarding technical knowledge and reasoning, shortlisted semi-finalists were invited to give a group presentation and the top eight candidates proceeded to the Hong Kong final competition on April 7, 2021. The finalists had 30-minute preparation time for an individual case presentation followed by a Q&A section with judges.

Hong Kong finalists will be invited to join Greater China final which will take place in Beijing in June (tentative). Country finalist will then be invited to participate in the International final which will take place in Europe.

Established in 2010, the EY’s Young Tax Professional of the Year is an international competition designed to identify young talent with an interest in tax, help them enhance their professional skills and develop their careers. The competition gives participants the opportunity to share experiences with people from a range of backgrounds and cultures, and exposes them to the skills required to be tomorrow’s tax leaders.

Learn more about the competition: https://www.ey.com/en_gl/careers/ey-young-tax-professional-of-the-year

The HKU-Accenture Business Consulting Programme aims to give students the exposure to business consulting, equip them with fundamental skills and methodologies for delivering values to big enterprises. Echoing the tagline “Inspire．Empower．Lead” of the HKU Business School, the Programme has INSPIRED and EMPOWERED students to LEAD their own way to success and make a difference in the world.

The Programme complements students’ regular classroom learnings with interactive classes, putting theory into practice through case study exercises. Students also benefit from the in-depth exchanges with industry professionals.

The Programme is ended with a case competition held on March 20, 2021. In response to the impact brought by the pandemic, students were expected to suggest recommendations to a business hard hit under such climate. Judges from Accenture and HKU Business School were impressed by students’ creativity and resourcefulness.

Mr. Ravi Chhabra, Managing Director, Financial Services Hong Kong Lead, Accenture (middle) presents the prize to the Champion team. (Students from left to right) Ng Jade Joyce, BBA(Law)&LLB year 3; Jiang Zhikun, BEcon&Fin, year 2; Leung Si Yiu, BBA(Acc&Fin), year 4 and Chen Minyang, BBA(Acc&Fin), year 3

Mr. Ravi Chhabra presents The Most Innovative and Most Profitable Concept Award to the students. (Students from left to right) Xu Yikang, BEcon, year 3; Sheung Chi Long, BBA(IBGM), year 2; Ryou Soo Min, BBA, year 2; Lam Yuk Lung, BBA(Law)&LLB, year 3 and Chan Lok Yu, BBA(Law)&LLB, year 3.

Ms. Christina Wong, Managing Director, Greater China Consulting Lead, Accenture (right) presents The Best Presenter award to Ryou Soo Min, BBA, year 2 (left).

Stepping into the fifth year, this collaboration continues to groom our young generation. This year, 39 students have completed the Programme with flying colours.

HKU-NWS Joint University Case Competition 2021, co-organised by HKU Business School (the School) and NWS Holdings Limited (NWS), was successfully completed on April 11, 2021.

This year, 16 teams of elite students from City University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and The University of Hong Kong took part in the 48-hour real-life business case challenge regarding the logistics industry, which is one of the strategic businesses of NWS.

Before the competition, participating students joined an online industrial workshop. Students gained better insights into specific business of NWS as well as the logistics industry after the presentations by Ms. Irene Mak, Associate Director of NWS Holdings Limited, and Mr. Simon Chow, General Manager of ATL Logistics. Mr. Gilbert Ho, Executive Director of NWS Holdings Limited, also shared his experience in business management and views on the development opportunities of the logistics industry with students. Students enjoyed the workshop and gained an in-depth understanding of the logistics industry which better prepared them for the case cracking after a few weeks.

The Preliminary Round and Grand Final Round presentations of the competition were held on April 11. In the Preliminary Round, 16 teams were divided into four divisions and reviewed by panels of alumni judges. The top scorer in each division was advanced to the Grand Final Round to compete for the Championship.

The distinguished panel of judges for the Grand Final included Dr. Winnie Leung, Assistant Dean (Undergraduate) at HKU Business School, Mr. Eric Ma Siu-cheung, GBS, JP, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer at NWS Holdings Limited, Professor Albert Ip, Council Member of HKUST and Independent Non-executive Director at New World Development, Professor Andy Wong, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Studies) at CUHK Business School, and Dr. Zachary Leung, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Sciences, College of Business at CityU. Students presented their case solutions to the judges by showcasing their innovative ideas and responded to penetrating questions from the judges in the Q&A session. Students from the Champion team will be offered internship opportunities at NWS.

Competition results:

Champion: Blackbird Advisory

1^st Runner-up: eLab Consulting

2^nd Runner-up: Team Cove

Best Presenter: Miss Lam Michelle Mimi Sze Ching (Blackbird Advisory)

This competition is the annual signature event of HKU International Case Society (HICS), a student-run organisation supported by the School which aims to provide a platform for students to hone their case cracking, analytical and presentation skills.

Learn more: https://ug.fbe.hku.hk/student-enrichment/non-hkusu-student-clubs/hku-international-case-society/hku-nws-joint-university-case-competition-2021