On the eve of Chinese Lunar New Year, an all-day conference on Chinese business attracted more than 200 professionals and students from around the area.
On Saturday, the Wharton China Business Society presented its 10th annual forum in Huntsman Hall, featuring a series of panel discussions and notable speakers with the theme “Advent of a New Decade.”
“Last fall, China just went through a power transition, which happens only every 10 years,” said forum Co-President and Wharton senior Erica Jang. “So we decided to feature this sense of new reformation when picking our theme for this year.”
Other than traditional speakers and networking sessions, the forum put forward new initiatives this year, including an exclusive lunch with speakers and a book signing.
Jim Rogers, an American investor and author, delivered the first keynote speech and held a signing session for his book “Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets.”
In his speech, besides stressing the opportunities in the lucrative Asian market and agricultural industry, Rogers also provided some personal advice to the audience on career development and encouraged all to “follow their passion.”
Andrew Wu — group president of greater China for the luxury brand group LVMH — was the other keynote speaker.
The panels, on the other hand, provided more multifaceted discussion on current issues facing China. Covering technology, biotechnology, US-China relations and private capital, they aimed to diversify the opinions presented by bringing in high-profile speakers with in-depth knowledge of business in China in different industries.
“Technology is a big component in business with China, especially considering the interaction with top-notched Chinese companies like Huawei,” said 2010 Wharton MBA recipient Madhu Reddy, one of the technology panelists and director of global alliances for Avaya. “But a conference on this issue usually only happens in Shanghai or Hong Kong. It’s essential that Wharton is also stressing on such discussion.”
Bringing together alumni, undergraduates and MBA students from Penn and other colleges, the forum provided a good stage for pan-Asian-American networking.
“The variety of panelists gave me the opportunity to know what’s going on in their industry,” said Wharton sophomore Joe Yi.
1994 Engineering graduate Christopher Cha attended the event as a panelist, helping to promote the students’ understanding of the Asian market.
“We started cooperation to promote this forum in 2008,” said Ron Drozd, manager of export services for the World Trade Center in Greater Philadelphia, which helped sponsor the forum, “and we would love to see more companies involved in the discussion about China.”
A previous quote attributed to keynote speaker Andrew Wu has been retracted from the story. Wu’s lecture was not open to the media.
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