Learning the state-of-the-art social collaboration in a fast-paced global business environment
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
