SNU Business School (Dean: Professor CHOE Hyuk) recently hosted the Doing Business in Korea (DBiK) program for overseas students from prestigious MBA schools. DBiK was originally offered exclusively to foreign MBA students enrolled at SNU but opened its doors to exchange MBA students for a week beginning August 22. About fifty students who participated in the program were from UCLA, the University of Cambridge, and Peking University.
Besides introducing the development model of Korea and teaching business know-how, DBiK dealt with analyzing the Korean market from an investor’s point of view and issues surrounding the Korea-US FTA. Lectures by renowned professors of SNU Business School and other business experts including Ms. Amy Jackson (President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea), Mr. CHOI Do Sung (member of the Monetary Policy Committee), Mr. LEE Byung Ho (Vice President of TONGYANG Securities Inc.), and Mr. AHN Hank (head of Invest KOREA, KOTRA) were also an interesting part of the program. Visits to major Korean companies such as Samsung Electronics, KT, and NCSoft Corporation received enthusiastic response from students as well.
On August 26, the last day of the program, teams of students gave their final presentations on strategies for overseas companies to effectively enter the Korean market in accordance with the main theme,"A World of Limitless Opportunity." The case studies reflected students' increased understanding from the one-week program and focused on analyzing business circumstances in Korea and business values of foreign enterprises. Ooyala Inc. (a global company that provides online video technology products and services), Victoria's Secret (American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products), eHarmony (an online dating website), and ZipCar (an American membership-based car sharing company) were some of the companies cited in the presentation.
A student from the University of Cambridge said, “I once thought that Korea was merely one of the countries in Asia that experienced rapid growth. After I attended the program, which gave us specific insight into the development process and current business circumstances of Korea, I came to understand the secret of Korea’s success and the uniqueness of its economic development in a relatively short time.” He also added that the most impressive part of DBiK was visiting famous Korean companies, which gave him a sense of the real world, as well as the high-quality lectures from professors and experts.
Written by LEE Ye Ha, SNU English Editor, gabrielle@snu.ac.kr ?
Proofread by Brett Johnson, SNU English Editor, morningcalm2@gmail.com