Networking -- a vital role in MBA study
‘The value of MBA networking’ series report
Marc Chen, studied at BI Norwegian Business School-Fudan University MBA Program Class Eleven from December 2008 to December 2010. He operates his own company SSBC Co. Ltd. currently.
Marc Chen, is an alumnus from BI-Fudan MBA11, and is now the General Manager of SSBC Co. Ltd., which is a business consulting company specializing in international management communications, and he has also worked as an Examiner/Teacher in Shanghai International Studies University for the past 7 years. He gave us his opinion about networking in MBA studies and shared his own experience with us.
Marc took the International MBA program run jointly by BI Norwegian Business School and Fudan University. In his opinion, this program gave him a broader range of views than a typical American MBA program. For one thing, the professors are from Norway and China, but they have been educated in America, Europe and China, so they gave and continue to give the students the outside view of what is essentially an American qualification. For Marc himself, this perspective is the most valuable part, because what he learned in Fudan University is more objective, accurate and clear.
Marc told us that the MBA studies made him a more enlightened person. He learned a corpus that has directly led to improvements in his work. He said, ‘I have gained from our Professors that leadership is democratic, ethical, culturally aware, competent, impartial, benevolent, spiritual, wise and they provided counsel.’ With these qualities, Marc now operates his own company successfully and provides his clients with high-quality English business communication courses and individual curriculum design.
When talking about networking in MBA studies, Marc mentioned a Chinese word “guanxi” (关系), which he regards as the role of networking. Marc said, "Guanxi" exists in the social elite or privileged groups in almost all societies, and in groups and cultures around the world. So, networking can be equal to "Guanxi", in the Fudan MBA programme, which can also be described as a 'Social network', 'Chinese social relations', or 'Social capital'. Then, Marc told us that in every country, networking is very important and also has several interesting sayings, for example “Old boy network” in English public schools, “Blat” in Russian culture, “Wasta” in Middle Eastern culture, “Sociolismo” in Cuban culture, “Good ol' boy network” in the USA, and “Dignitas” in Roman culture.
Though Marc did not have an elected post in the class, he has given two open lectures to potential candidates of the programme and MBA alumni for Join&Share, BI-Fudan MBA student union. The first one was in 2008 on “How to write a well-structured essay”, and the second was just recently in March 2012, on “Business Communications.” When asked why he was interested in these activities, Marc told us that he could make friends and interactions of all kinds, which arise from such activities. ‘The more active and playful one is, the better at learning.’ Marc smiled.
Marc said in the networking, what impressed him most was that International MBA’s could overcome their tendencies to be nationalistic, and clannish in their behaviour to become global in their thinking, though this may take time in some individuals. As we may all know, the language used in the International MBA is English and this can be hard for some Chinese Nationals, who are not always used to communicating in English for international business. In Marc’s class MBA 11 they had 9 international classmates, three from Germany and others from U.K., Norway, Portugal, Russia, Canada and Switzerland. Though from different countries, all students could communicate comfortably and happily. Marc added that, Europe and China are both old cultures with a history of more than 3,500 years and many of the ideas in both East and West are understandable by ancient cultures. “A friend in need is a friend indeed”, so, to some extent, MBA’s are friends more than classmates, and everyone will help each other when needed.
After that, Marc thanked Alex Wan (from MBA 10) and Jeff Ge (from MBA 11). During the training for their company staff, Marc, Alex and Jeff built a deep friendship. In addition, Marc gave special thanks to Prof. Xu Huizhong, the executive director of BI-Fudan MBA, who has always been there for all MBA alumni at almost all social events. Marc said, Prof. Xu was just like a father figure to them all as well as a friend. In their leisure events, Marc and his new friends always go out for dinner, Karaok and nightlife. Due to the fact that, Marc’s friends helped him, Marc chose to stay in China while other people from overseas have already left. As a consequence, an increasing amount of MBA friends have been asking him to teach their companies’, so Marc has set up his own company in China to facilitate learning and meet the needs of their staff. ‘I believe, what we harvest in MBA studies is not just knowledge, but also friendship between classmates and professors.’
At the end of the interview, Marc gave some suggestions for the prospective MBA students. He said the most important thing was to join groups, which were the most culturally diverse. Only in that way, group members will gain the most perspective on discussions and debates. Sharing experiences and knowledge will allow people of all backgrounds to gain worth and value through learning from each other. Just like Marc said, ‘”Guanxi” is crucial in every society!’
BI-Fudan MBA Program
