In light of recent large-scale public activities and possible disruption to public transport services, the Edward K Y Chen Distinguished Lecture 2019 Survival in the Vibrant Chinese Economy: Fast Food Frontier (中國快餐業中的創新先驅), originally planned for Wednesday, October 16, will be rescheduled to Spring 2020.
We count on your continuous support for this long-established tradition of honouring our teacher and inspiring the next generations.
Please stay tuned on our faculty website and social media channels for updates.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at fbecomm@hku.hk.
The HKU-ZJU Summer Programme, co-organised by The Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE), HKU and School of Management, Zhejiang University (ZJU), has been completed successfully in Hong Kong.
Aiming to gain a deeper understanding of Hong Kong’s cultural, economic, innovative and entrepreneurship development, 34 students from ZJU participated in the Summer Programme held from 14 to 20 July.
In this one-week programme, the group took lectures delivered by our FBE academics, including Mr. Joseph Chan, Senior Lecturer on topics related to Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Prof. Christine Chan, Associate Dean (Outreach and Global Engagement) on Global Management, and Dr. Yinuo Tang, Assistant Professor, on the Foundation of Strategic Management. In addition to joining the lectures, the students visited the local innovation hubs including Hong Kong Science and Technology Park and The Mills, in order to understand the supports to local startups from the government and different organisations.
Students discuss different ways to improve daily traffic.
Students suggest different strategies to help develop an international brand.
A representative from ORII, one of the incubatees of The Mills, explains the development and application of their voice-powered ring to the students.
The guide of HKSTP explains to the students the collection and application of big data in Hong Kong.
The Faculty saw a new wave of joiners between July 2019 to January 2020, bringing their talent and energy to the team. Let’s learn more about these distinguished scholars and experts in their respective fields.
With research focusing on supply and value chain management, Professor Wan investigates how firms at different positions of value chains adjust their resources, technological, and operational capabilities to new trends of globalisation and localisation. Other areas of interest include marketplace operations and AI applications, taking the perspective of marketplace operating firms such as ride-hailing platforms. A key question arises: how can the theories and methods of market design improve transactional and operational efficiencies and better serve marketplace users? These two streams of research share themes of joint optimisation of operational processes with economic processes, and both seek to combine theoretic modelling with data and AI techniques.
“Never forget the goal when choosing a route. Along the route, be brave in trial and errors, and constantly update the toolbox.”
Accounting is a broad discipline. Basically, almost any information coming out of a firm can be considered accounting. The crucial element is how to use this information in the capital markets and improving the quality of that information. Accounting information used in bank loan and public bond contracts is another area of interest for Dr. Stice.
“Find something that interests you and that you are excited to be a part of and don’t be afraid to take risks.”
An applied economist with research focus in media economics and organisational economics, Dr. Yanhui Wu examines the determinants of media bias, the effect of information diffusion in the media on economic activities, and the consequence of political control of information flow. He also investigates how organisational design and the provision of incentives inside firms affect the efficiency of production, innovation and creativity, and the returns to talent. Dr. Wu works with data scientists to develop new big data machine-learning methods that can be applied to a wide range of social science disciplines.
“Cultivate a good taste for knowledge. Extend yourself intellectually through learning what initially frightens you.”
International finance is the major interest of Dr. Maurer among a wide range of topics he covers. Foreign exchange (FX) markets are the largest asset markets with an average daily trading volume of more than USD 5 trillion, exceeding the tenfold the trading volume of US stocks. FX investors earn high average returns and the currency carry trade significantly outperforms stock markets. Moreover, it is common practice among international firms to hedge exchange rate risk exposures. Finally, central banks’ decisions to intervene in a FX markets have far-reaching consequences. Unfortunately, FX market risks are not well understood, and traditional asset pricing models cannot capture important empirical facts. Dr. Maurer‘s work helps to quantify and understand these risks.
“Do what you are interested in, not what others expect of you.”
Dr. Xing HU Associate Professor (Innovation and Information Management)
Dr. Hu explores how new business models, customer behaviour, and incentive issues challenge firms’ management of operational capacity — including limited inventory, production or service capacity. This enthusiasm was ignited by successful applications of revenue management tools in airline and retailing industries via mathematical and economic models to develop operational strategies (such as dynamic pricing, capacity allocation rules, and incentive systems) to help firms increase capacity usage efficiency and hence revenue. Recent projects focus on developing theoretical framework for data-driven solutions, for example, learning-by-doing approaches to improve pricing and inventory in context of online retailing and ride-sharing.
“Success is about adapting to change and innovation.”
Dr. Fan’s current research focuses on the economic determinants of earnings quality and voluntary disclosure, including which corporate governance mechanisms are effective in curtailing managers’ earnings and management behaviours, and whether firms can issue capital expenditure forecasts to reduce contracting costs with their debtholders. Other topics of interest include how blockchain recordkeeping system can benefit stakeholders. These areas are of fundamental importance for understanding accounting phenomena and recent technology advances in recordkeeping.
“Stay curious and keep learning both inside and outside the classroom.”
Dr. Lin QIU Assistant Professor (Accounting and Law)
Dr. Qiu is fascinated by the role boards of directors play in corporate governance. The rapid rise in CEO pay over the past few decades has fuelled an intensive debate on fiduciary duty rules and safeguarding shareholders’ interests. Recent regulatory initiatives such as “Say on Pay” and the Dodd-Frank Act aim to reinvigorate fiduciary duty rules and put shareholders back in control. Dr. Qiu seeks to explore the consequences of imperfect rules and effects of the recent attempts at establishing more binding regimes on social welfare.
“Find your passion and work hard. Acquire skills that are difficult to get outside school.”
International finance and asset pricing are Dr. Fang’s main areas of interest, including exchange rates, international asset prices and capital flows, and the role of global banks. In a globalised world with substantial amount of international trade and investment, institutions such as global banks are playing a growing role. Though active developments have been made in recent years on these topics, there is a big gap between the supply and demand of our knowledge.
“Update your knowledge. After all, the world is changing rapidly, and knowledge turns out of date at the same speed.”
Dr. Qingchen WANG Assistant Professor (Innovation and Information Management)
Designing machine learning techniques can help solve challenging business problems. Recent breakthroughs in machine learning have led to advances on highly challenging problems such as image recognition and machine translation, but little have trickled down to the business domain. In Dr. Wang’s work, breakthroughs are leveraged and applied to business problems with the goal of improving overall business efficiency.
“Focus on building skills and knowledge on a topic of interest and work to become an expert.”
Professor Eric C. CHANG, former dean of FBE who recently retired, was a leading force behind the creation of the faculty. Looking back over his 20-year career at HKU, he talks about the challenges of building a new faculty and shares his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities ahead for FBE students.
20 years ago, when Professor Chang was invited to join the HKU family, the Faculty did not yet exist and HKU’s reputation for business studies was rather weak. At the time, he was working in the US as a professor at the DuPree College of Management of the Georgia Institute of Technology. He felt that Asia was becoming a major player in global business, and finally he decided to take the job.
“HKU did not have a faculty of business or faculty of economics, so I saw an opportunity to make a good contribution here,” he recalls.
It was a good decision, he says now. “I feel very lucky to be at HKU for these 20 years. It was the right place, at the right time, and with the right people.”
The faculty was formed in 2001 by the amalgamation of the School of Business and the School of Economics and Finance, a feat Professor Chang attributes to the man who had hired him, Professor Richard Wong, the founding dean of FBE.
“I’m grateful for the many talented people I had the opportunity to work with,” says Professor Chang. “The two schools became one faculty. It was not easy, but Professor Wong made it happen.”
The new faculty aimed to emulate about 80 percent of the US business school model, which was considered far more advanced than the UK equivalent, while keeping the British essence to create a unique Faculty of Business and Economics at HKU.
“I think we’ve largely achieved the 80 percent, but there is always room for improvement,” Professor Chang says.
One of the most difficult and key challenges has been finding a balance between research and teaching requirements. He felt that focusing on quality of research output rather than quantity was essential to building the faculty’s reputation, though that was at odds with the university’s practice. He also fought for better pay, a more supportive research environment, and fewer teaching hours.
For the future, Hong Kong needs to maintain its strengths in the rule of law and global-mindedness. But with the fast-changing world environment and the US-China trade war casting a long shadow, FBE students will also need to develop a specialisation in their business studies, such as cultivating a deep understanding of China.
Critical thinking skills can also give students an edge and help them develop logical analytical abilities that can be adapted to changing situations.
Lifelong learning is essential, he says. “The world is changing so rapidly. The knowledge you learn here in eight to 10 years is totally out of date. You have to keep learning.”
Professor Chang intends to follow this advice himself during retirement, along with occasional teaching, spending more time with his family and working with his church.
“I also need to keep self-learning and creative thinking to offer some insights to people. I value some education opportunities that I still face.”
Dean Prof. Hongbin CAI (left) presents a souvenir to Prof. Eric CHANG at a farewell party.
Thanks to the encouraging feedback from FBE students and alumni-to-be, we’ve held two additional #FBEalumni pop-up events at Cyberport and Town Centre respectively in June.
Introducing the limited edition HKU Business School tote bag! The jet-black tote bag with eye-catching design was very popular amongst our students. Fresh and tasty popcorns, instagrammable photo props together with IG machine brought our students a fun and memorable experience with FBE.
The Faculty is excited to bond with alumni-to-be. We hope to see all familiar faces at our next event, FBE Graduation Ceremony!
Aiming to empower business leaders from Chinese mainland by instilling innovative business ideas, impactful business strategies and global mindset, and to reinforce their competitiveness in the global arena, the “Business Leader Programme” launched by Executive Education of the Faculty of Business and Economics has successfully completed its second module from 6 – 9 June.
Named “strategy and innovation”, the second module is targeted to help business leaders acquire skills and strategies to enhance their corporate strengths and competitiveness, at the same time to explore new market opportunities by applying design thinking. Through a series of diverse corporate visits and lectures, the programme aims to help its participants identify their businesses’ competitive advantages in the global market and to understand deeper their risk management competency.
The first class was jointly delivered by Professor Yuk-fai Fong, Associate Dean (Taught Postgraduate), and Mr. Joseph Chan, Senior Lecturer, both from the Faculty of Business and Economics. Professor Fong highlighted the importance of creating business values in supply chain, and maximising business profits. While Mr. Chan shared his insights on design thinking in running business, and suggested this thinking process as a key to break old rules and regulations, but simultaneously instil innovative ideas into ongoing projects.
Professor Zheng Zhou, Chair of Strategy and International Business and Professor Jin Li, Professor in Management and Strategy, and Economics, presented lectures in the last two days of the programme. Professor Zhou pointed out that a good dynamic strategy should be analysed from macro, industrial and enterprises levels before putting it in place. On the topic of internal strategy and implementation, Professor Li illustrated how to develop a suitable thinking model and leadership style by different case studies. He also emphasised the need of strategic thinking ability and well use of organisational resources in strategic management.
The class also visied to HKEX and learned about the standards and requirements of listing in Hong Kong. Participants showed keen interest in the actual listing process and the financial market in Hong Kong. It is hoped that the programme can give insights to business leaders, in driving their business goals and stimulating change.
Business leaders visit HKEX
Professor Yuk-fai Fong and Mr. Joseph Chan in class
Professor Zheng Zhou and Professor Jin Li in class
Two HKU MBA graduates recently led an educational tour to Hong Kong Science Park to visit two startup companies, SenseTime and HKAI Lab. SenseTime developed Hong Kong’s first hi-tech unicorn. The artificial intelligence (AI) machine has an extensive range of technology including facial recognition, reality augmentation, intelligence monitoring, automatic driving, medical image recognition and among others. HKAI Lab is a not-for-profit initiative fully funded by Alibaba and SenseTime that uses cutting-edge technology and world-class expertise to advance the field of AI as well as providing an established platform to empower start-ups to showcase their technologies.
Tour organisers were Mr. Srijan Kataruka and Ms. Hong Phuc THanh Nguyen, both from HKU MBA Class of 2019. The initial brainstorming phase to the actualisation of the trip was indeed quite a memorable and valuable journey for the two graduates. Srijan recalled that breaking the ice with HKSTP was harder than envisioned. The pair had done many cold calls and emails to reach out to the numerous start-up companies in HKSTP but to no avail. With the recommendation from Hong Phuc’s lecturer, Mr. Savio Kwan, the students managed to breakthrough to Mr. Timothy Leung, Executive Director of HKAI Lab to discuss the plans for their visit.
Together with the collaboration between HKU Faculty of Business and Economics’ MBA office, HKAI Lab and SenseTime, the tour stepped foot into the headquarters of SenseTIme, visited the HKAI Lab and Data Lab and most importantly, gained firsthand knowledge and insights from leading experts in the technology industry. Hong Phuc added not only was it eye-opening to be able to apply what she learnt in the classroom to the ever-changing tech industry, but it was in fact a golden opportunity to gain a sneak peek into the Alibaba operations model. The tour attracted over 30 participants from different universities and received highly positive reviews.
Professor Hongbin Cai, Dean of HKU Faculty of Business and Economics welcomed India’s Ambassador to China Mr. Vikram Misri and Consul-General of India to Hong Kong Mrs. Priyanka Chauhan in their visit to HKU on 6 July.
Both parties exchanged views on India’s technological advancement and explored partnership opportunities between Indian universities and HKU Faculty of Business and Economics, on areas such as student academic exchange, research collaboration and corporate partnership.
Mr. Vikram Misri, Mrs. Priyanka Chauhan and Professor Cai then attended the Hack For India, an HKU hackathon event and listened to the pitches by student teams. Organised by IndiaTech Hong Kong, and supported by Consulate General of India, Hong Kong and HKU iDendron, this hackathon aimed to discover innovative business ideas and solutions among students, and allow the students to showcase their skills to top tech companies.
Dean Cai and Mr. Misri exchanged ideas on potential collaboration between Indian universities and HKU FBE.
The hackathon aimed to discover innovative business ideas and solutions among students, and allow the students to showcase their skills to top tech companies.
