China Wednesdays

Greetings,

While I still have the time, I will churn out as much as I can.
So today, I'll talk about MNO3313K Managing (the) China Venture.

Why (the)? Because there never seems to be a coherent module title. Sometimes its just Managing some China Venture, other days it is The Venture. Haha.

Back at the beginning of the Semester, I recall thinking long and hard what my 5th mod should be, seeing that I failed to get some other mods that I had bid for. This one stood out as being very interesting. The content that was purported to cover really intrigued me. I threw caution to the wind - after repeated disappointments with MNO mods, I took it up almost as if on impulse. The curious thing was that I had told myself that I would never take anymore MNO mods ever again. 1 Sem later, I took that back. Now at the end of the Semester, I think I'm going to reinstate that. Management is so not my thing.

The lecturer/prof is a rather cute lady, A little potty but always full of insight. Every lesson she will begin with a twenty minute introduction, going on and on about all kinds of topics relating to China. It really amazes me that she has such depth of knowledge. Of course, one would expect such from a Taiwanese.

For the first few seminars, she gave a very thorough introduction to the political and economic background of China. It is really fascinating how both institutions are intricately intertwined in a manner that is vastly different from ordinary democratic countries. The plus side is, there was no homework, hence I just needed to attend class and absorb as much as I could. It helps also that she printed all the lecture notes out =).

So after about week 4 or so she turned the series to focus on corporations and businesses. Given the sociopolitical circumstance in China, how should businesses adapt to enter China, how should Chinese firms adapt to expand and how these are tools which the Chinese use as a soft power.

The bulk of this modules' grades rests on 2 projects: A case study and an open research project. There is also a 30% mid terms and no finals.

While I am pretty satisfied with my projects, I do know that the competition in the class is really fierce. I honestly feel very ill-prepared and unequipped to stand out in the class. Much unlike say public speaking, where I know I can do well, this class is one where I remain mostly silent and just try to synthesize all the knowledge. The mid terms was upon 30, and it directly corresponds to its contribution to the final grade. I am very uncertain about it, because I have this feeling everyone did well for the big project.

IF grades were not an issue this module is really good for expanding your understanding. I do not regret taking this module at all, even though I do feel that it will contribute negatively to my grades. And so, I think I'd get a shaky B+.

Have a great week!
Rift Raft Rob