Action Learning – Asia School of Business

It’s said that theory can only take you so far—and this is certainly true for a career in business.

While learning the fundamentals of business is an essential part of your MBA development, the chance to apply this knowledge in a practical setting will enhance your skill set and prepare you for the world of work after graduation.

It’s this belief in the importance of Action Learning that underpins the Asia School of Business MBA program.

Built upon the Malaysia-based school’s close partnership with MIT Sloan School of Management, pioneers of the Action Learning pedagogy—hence the MIT motto: “mind and hand”—ASB focuses on enhancing students’ MBA immersive experiences and preparing them for career success through a wide variety of practical opportunities.

The Action Learning philosophy

While Action Learning has long been a key focus at ASB, the school has recently updated the MBA curriculum to bring the principal to the very core of students’ experience.

Alongside their core MBA classes, students embark on a series of practical opportunities throughout the 12-month degree. This begins with an Industry Trek, where they spend time in a new country, networking with local leaders, experiencing the local culture, and understanding local business practices.

This is followed by a Business Practicum, where the entire cohort splits up into teams, working with a particular company to solve real business challenges across the company’s operations.

Next, students embark on a three week team-based project to various locations in Asia, hosted by companies across several industries and functions.

Finally, students undertake their own individual extended period or internship working with a host company.

“There’s real incremental value in the way that students are experiencing the MBA journey,” says Sangeeta Matu (pictured), director of Action Learning at ASB.

“They go on the Action Learning journey, twice with their cohort, then as a team, then as an individual; each time in different countries, industries, and teams to solve real business problems with the frameworks and tools they’ve learnt in class.”

These skills include problem identification, gathering and analyzing data, proposing solutions, and making presentations.

A diverse, culturally immersive experience

At the beginning of the Action Learning process students have the chance to review the opportunities on offer and opt for the projects they feel best fit with their career goals.

For Nazatul Ruhaiza Abdul Wahab, a former civil servant with the Ministry of Finance in Malaysia currently studying on the program, her choices have allowed her to focus on a diverse range of industries and problems.

A mother of three, Nazatul (pictured) holds more than 20 years of civil service experience. During the MBA she’s spent time working in marketing for Kuala Lumpur-based EQ Hotel, solving cultural enhancement issues for Phu Hu’ung Life Insurance in Vietnam, and interning with Tune Protect Group.

Gaining diverse immersive experiences has played a large part in her development outside of the classroom. Spending time in Vietnam, for example, meant learning the intricacies of a different country, navigating a language barrier, and working with people who hold alternative perspectives.

With Action Learning such a large part of the ASB MBA curriculum, shying away from the limelight is impossible as you are forced to actively participate.

“It has been a transformative and enriching experience for me. It has not only boosted my confidence, but also taught me to face challenges head on.”

Developing a holistic skill set

All of the various experiences students embark on during the ASB MBA are highly independent.

At the beginning, students connect with partner companies and are presented with problem statements; from then on the school encourages the student teams to own their engagement with the host.

At various points throughout the year, they must deliver presentations to faculty and their peers based on their project findings.

This system has helped Nazatul develop a broad range of skills. She’s enhanced her presentation abilities, developed her critical thinking and problem solving skills, and also been able to improve her understanding of data analytics.

Working within a team of diverse individuals who come from different countries and industries has also required her to become a more adept communicator.

“It has taught me to be adaptable, think critically, and collaborate effectively with others,” she explains. “It has also provided me with a broader perspective on various issues.”

Unlocking your career potential

Developing and honing such a broad spectrum of skills, Nazatul’s journey encapsulates what ASB was attempting to achieve when implementing the Action Learning process.

The holistic skill set prepares students to go on and achieve their career goals after graduation—whether that be to switch careers or to take the next step in their current industry.

It also prepares them to be highly adaptable leaders in a volatile modern business landscape, explains Sangeeta.

“To become agile, you need to apply your knowledge, and learned experience” she says. “Action Learning gives you a sequence of opportunities to develop agility in ways and areas that you may not otherwise have been exposed to. ASB offers a truly unique MBA program.”

For Nazatul, with several months until graduation she is still weighing up her future options. An opportunity with her intern company, Tune Protect Group, could be on the cards, while she could also return to the civil service. She’s even been offered the opportunity to undertake a PhD.

Whatever she decides, Nazatul feels passionate about the prospect of continuing to learn and progress in her career.

“When I took the challenge of pursuing an MBA I wanted to show my kids that you should have this period of continuous learning and wanting to improve yourself.

“The program not only enhances your skills and professional development, it also instills a mindset of continuous improvement.”

Read the full article here.

This article was originally published on BusinessBecause, a network helping MBA students make connections before, during and after their MBA.

Press Release from the Asia School of Business (ASB) – 9 November 2021

Kuala Lumpur, MY. Nov 9, 2021: In conjunction with the COP26 UN Conference on Climate Change in Glasgow, Scotland, the Edinburgh-based Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI), together with the University of Glasgow and Royal London, is honoring the monumental contributions of Glasgow’s most famous economist, Adam Smith, with the publication of five essays on interpreting his treatise on The Wealth of Nations for the contemporary challenges the world faces with climate change.

Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Aziz, former Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia and visionary and Co-Chair of the Board of Governors for Asia School of Business (a collaboration with MIT Sloan) was invited to contribute to this discourse with an essay interpreting for modern times Book V of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Dr. Zeti observes that Smith’s Book V addresses the appropriate role of government in influencing the populace’s wellbeing, which complements his famous observation that an “invisible hand” will typically guide economic transactions and outcomes.

In fact, Smith advocates that government provides what Dr. Zeti refers to as a “helping hand” concerning the provision of public goods and regulations where pure market outcomes require guidance. Her view is that Adam Smith would have advocated for government action toward environmental sustainability by providing regulations and incentives for private industry and providing appropriate investments to address the climate change agenda.

Immediately following the conclusion of the COP26 Conference in Glasgow, Asia School of Business’ annual conference, Leadership for Enterprise Sustainability Asia (LESA), will run from 15-18 November, amplifying many of the COP26 messages but interpreting them for Malaysia and the ASEAN and emerging Asian nations. Details on the ASB LESA conference appear at https://asb.edu.my/lesa. Dr. Zeti has been invited to share her views at the LESA conference.

The Press Release from the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) appears below. The full essay by Dr. Zeti, reproduced by permission of the author, may be found on the ASB website at https://asb.edu.my/of-the-revenue-of-the-sovereign-or-commonwealth/

Press Release from the Global Ethical Finance Initiative

SCOTLAND’S FIRST MINISTER JOINS LEADING GLOBAL ECONOMISTS TO UPDATE ADAM SMITH’S WEALTH OF NATIONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY CLIMATE CRISIS

A major new essay series has been launched at COP26 in which leading global thinkers explore today’s climate crisis through the eyes of economic pioneer Adam Smith. The reimagining of the Wealth of Nations includes a foreword from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, in which she argues that Smith would have likely ‘supported regulation to guard against the destruction of the planet’.

She also makes the argument to look beyond GDP as the primary measure of a country’s success, adding: “At this pivotal moment for the planet and as we emerge from the challenges of the pandemic, progressive nations and governments are increasingly focusing on wellbeing, not simply an increasing GDP for the sake of it.”

The series of five essays has been prepared by the Edinburgh-based Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI), in conjunction with the University of Glasgow and Royal London, bringing together world-renowned experts to reimagine Smith’s works.

The authors include Usha Rao-Monari, Under-Secretary-General at the UN, Professor Sir Anton MuscatelIi from Glasgow University, Lord Meghnad Desai, Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics, sustainable fund management pioneer David Pitt-Watson and former Malaysian Central Bank Governor Dr Zeti Aziz.

This series of essays takes the Wealth of Nations and updates it for the 21st century, asking how Smith’s work applies to the challenges of today. The work is designed to encourage and inspire further creative thinking and practical action to leave an enduring legacy after the COP26summit.

The essays are being explored at an evening lecture series taking place across three days during the second week of the COP26 Conference at the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School, and online.

In her foreword, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon writes:

“We cannot know exactly how Smith would have responded to the climate emergency, but given his support for reasonable protections against, for example, abuse of monopolies, it seems likely that he would have supported regulation to guard against the destruction of the planet.

“This series of essays takes the Wealth of Nations and updates it for the climate change era, asking how the themes of Smith’s work apply to the challenges of today and teasing out how Smith himself might have reacted to the climate emergency.

“It showcases Scotland’s proud academic history, and is a timely celebration of one of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment… “It is the perfect time to reach back into our past as we look ahead to a future that is cleaner, greener and more just.”

Sam Wheldon-Bayes of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative, editor of The Wealth of Nations in the 21st Century, said:

“During the 18th century, the Scottish Enlightenment put Glasgow at the heart of world thinking. Today, with the world in Glasgow for COP26, we ask what we can learn from one of the great pioneers of the Scottish Enlightenment.

“Expert authors, across three continents, from the fields of finance, economics, politics, development and central banking have written five essays drawing on Smith’s themes and reflecting on the climate crisis.

“They consider both how Smith’s thinking can guide our approach to climate action, and what he himself might have thought about the climate crisis. “Our wish is that the essay series drives creative thinking and practical action to make the changes needed in the financial system for a sustainable future for planet and people.. ”

Kaisie Rayner, Climate Change Lead at Royal London, said:

“When Scottish moral philosopher and economist Adam Smith wrote his first book about markets, the role of government, and society, in 1759, he would never have imagined it’s global impact, far less its continued relevance in the modern world. Yet, here we are over 250 years later considering how it can help us navigate the 21st century. That’s quite some legacy.

“As the eyes of the world focus on Glasgow, it’s fitting that we consider Smith’s instruction to be guided by a moral compass. We also hope that leaders gathered for COP26 emulate the global success of Smith’s works and provide a legacy we can all contribute to and be proud of. The action we take on climate change over the next decade will radically shape the health of the planet, so we have to act now to help customers retire into a future worth living in.”

– END –

NOTES

The essays, including the foreword from Nicola Sturgeon, can be read here: https://www.globalethicalfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Wealth-of-Nations.pdf
Adam Smith at the COP- more information available here: https://www.pathtocop26.com/workstreams/adam-smith-at-the-cop/
Register for the launch events at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/adam-smith-at-the-cop-path-to-cop26-tickets-182421968017

Further details on the essays:

- Essay 1: Of the Causes of Improvement in the productive Powers of Labour – Lord Meghnad Desai – renowned UK economist
- Essay 2: Of the Nature, Accumulation and Employment of Stock – David Pitt-Watson, pioneer of ethical fund management and co-chair of finance negotiations at Paris Climate Summit
- Essay 3: Of the different Progress of Opulence in different Nations – Usha Rao-Monari & George Gray Molina, Under Secretary at the UN charged with driving the UN’s Development Programme
- Essay 4: Of Systems of political Economy- Prof. Sir Anton MuscatelIi, Dr Michele Battisti & Dr Craig Smith, Leading Scottish Economist and Vice Chancellor of Glasgow University
- Essay 5: Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth -Tan Sri Dr Zeti Aziz, former Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia
- The Misinterpretation of Adam Smith: Bringing Back the Theory of Moral Sentiments – Kaisie Rayner, Head of Climate Change at Royal London

About GEFI

The Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) is the hub at the centre of the ethical fina·nce movement. We curate independent conversations among a broad coalition of financial services stakeholders, as well as delivering practical projects. We are the partner for action on ethical finance, based in Scotland. https://www.globalethicalfinance.org/

The finance sector needs to act together to achieve decisive action at COP26 in Glasgow, the most important summit since Paris. With a global footprint and Scottish roots, GEFI has united the leading financial services stakeholders committed to action at COP26 with a campaign of over 30 events and activities. We are committed to making finance work for COP26, and COP26 work for finance. https://www.pathtocop26.com/

Prof Melati Nungsari, Assistant Professor of Economics at ASB and International Faculty Fellow at MIT, is a microeconomist who focuses on industrial organization and labor economics. She found herself pursuing topics of income distribution, how people get jobs, and skills matching, by asking herself: “What can I do that helps solve problems?” At ASB, she found the opportunity to combine her interests and microeconomics lens to solve pressing regional challenges.

“If I was going to give up my job [in the US] and move back home, I wanted to have a broad impact. I got involved with supporting undocumented migrants and refugees and youth unemployment in Malaysia, as those are big issues here,” said Melati. Since joining ASB, she’s led research projects involving supporting undocumented migrants and reducing youth unemployment in Malaysia.

Equipping at-risk youths with entrepreneurial skills

Since 2019, Melati has trained hundreds of at-risk Malaysian youths in entrepreneurship under RYSE (Rapid Youth Success Entrepreneurship), a project she founded and leads. The inspiration for RYSE came from a course that Melati took at MIT on training entrepreneurs to succeed. Inspired by Prof Scott Stern’s work, she pivoted her research towards youth entrepreneurship, when she realized that youth unemployment is a significant issue in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, the youth unemployment rate stands at 11.72% as of 2020, making Malaysia the country with the second highest unemployment rate in Southeast Asia. Melati launched RYSE, aiming to build a curriculum similar to MIT’s, but more localized and accessible for Malaysian youth. She also took a research-based approach it RYSE, gathering data that would help in understanding how to improve entrepreneurial outcomes.

“We started with training urban youth, and have since extended our reach to rural areas in Malaysia, such as Semporna in Borneo.” RYSE also empowers promising young entrepreneurs with seed funding and coaching to launch their ventures. For three consecutive years, the Citi Foundation has funded RYSE, marking almost MYR2mil in funding to date.

Advocating for refugees, migrant workers, and vulnerable groups

Melati has also been instrumental in driving partnership between ASB and the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to support refugee advocacy in Malaysia. As of end March 2021, there are 178,920 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia. Through a series of Research Workshops on Refugee Studies and Forced Migration, held since 2018, ASB and UNHCR are promoting dialogue among academics on these topics.

In 2018, Melati, together with Prof. Sam Flanders from ASB and peers from Universiti Putra Malaysia, published a free textbook with UNHCR Malaysia to teach refugees conversational Malay language. Simultaneously, Melati and Sam are conducting an ongoing project to measure the impact of language training on the economic and social outcomes of refugees.

During 2020, Melati also received a WHO (World Health Organization) research grant and was engaged by the UN Development Fund to study the effects of the pandemic on vulnerable groups and human rights in Malaysia.

Melati is also Faculty Director for the Maybank-endowed ASEAN Research Center. “We were given a USD5mil grant to start this center to fill the gap in research on ASEAN-specific issues.” The Center’s first flagship project, launched in 2021, focuses on understanding how Covid-19 has affected small businesses and roadside hawkers throughout Malaysia.

Educating future CEOs on worker and social issues

This research work informs Melati’s classroom approach. “I ask students to think beyond managerial considerations – to leadership and strategic issues, like labor rights and social justice considerations.” For instance, during the pandemic, there were “problematic issues with worker management – leading to outbreaks and clusters,” emphasized Melati. She believes these circumstances were due in part to “a lack of understanding of how life is for workers.”

When teaching, she aims to educate her students, who may become future CEOs and founders, so that “when they lead companies, they don’t overlook these issues.” These issues are pertinent for any business leader, emphasized Melati.

“We are seeing a rise of conscious capitalism – consumers are demanding that brands align with their values. More global brands are aligning with social issues. Businesses need to understand the labor aspect of business, as worker issues have an impact on brand reputation and sales. Businesses have a big role to play in solving these issues.”

Read the full article here.
This article was originally published on South China Morning Post.

Professor Kevin Crow, Assistant Professor of International Law and Ethics, Asia School of Business (ASB) and International Faculty Fellow at MIT Sloan, was elected to the coordinating committee of the European Society of International Law (ESIL)’s Interest Group on International Legal Theory and Philosophy (IGILTP) this May, making him the first business school professor and first ASEAN-based professor elected to the committee.

Professor Crow’s participation in the committee will span the next four years, during which time he will play a role in setting the theoretical and philosophical agenda for the world’s largest international law society. He will also contribute to the IGILTP’s mission of facilitating research, dialogue, education, and reporting related to all areas of international law and international legal theory.

Alongside his work with ASB and MIT, Professor Crow is an affiliated researcher focusing on freedom of political expression and data privacy with Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression Initiative, which brings together international experts and activists with the University’s faculty and students to survey, document, and strengthen free expression.

In addition, Professor Crow is active in legal consulting and international impact litigation, including advising UN working groups on global business and human rights issues. His new book, International Corporate Personhood: Business and the Bodyless in International Law (Routledge 2021), theorizes the phenomenon of corporate legal personhood in international law.

Find out more about Professor Crow here.
Watch a Virtual Masterclass by Professor Crow on the subject of Responsibility in Action.

Read the full article here
This article was originally published on Asia Law Portal.

PETALING JAYA: Having a good grasp of what stage an organisation is in can help business owners better identify the right tools and people needed to bring the company forward. There are unique challenges at each stage of an organisation’s growth and being able to recognise the road ahead gives the company and its leaders an advantage, said Loredana Padurean, associate dean and faculty director for action learning at the Asia School of Business & International Faculty Fellow at MIT.

Padurean added that understanding each stage would ensure the right preparations are made and that will be crucial to helping the company make the leap into the next phase. “Working in a start-up may feel like a jungle trek while working in a large, mature company can feel more like being on a tanker ship in a large ocean. “Therefore, we have to understand the unique opportunities and different challenges that come with each stage, to know what strategies to apply, what type of people to hire and what kind of investments to make to move on to the next stage, ” she said.

The earliest stage of a company, she said, was all about figuring out and successfully prototyping a proposition that works for every stakeholder in the value chain including customers, employees, suppliers, distributors and investors. At this stage, quick thinking, fast actions and an innovative mind will be the strongest assets. Once the company is able to scale, it will need to grow in parallel to its market alongside its production and delivery capabilities.

This is where six main capabilities become important, namely, processification, professionalisation, automation, segmentation, collaboration and culturalisation. When the company reaches a certain stage of maturity, innovation and maintaining an entrepreneurial mindset will be key. “It’s critical that organisations understand that only by maintaining an entrepreneurial approach throughout that they will be able to grow and maintain a competitive advantage, ” she said.

Padurean will be speaking at the workshop “The Entrepreneurial Organization: Nail It, Scale It, Sail It” on Sept 29. The programme is to help participants understand the evolutionary journey that companies go through from the early stages to become a mature and sustainable company. It will also help provide specific tools necessary for companies to transition from one stage to another with relevant case studies.

This framework is taught in MIT Sloan programmes including its Executive Program in General Management. The full-day workshop will be held at Menara Star, Petaling Jaya. The event is organised by Star Media Group in partnership with Asia School of Business.

Originally published by The Star.

MALAYSIA’S independence was achieved with the collective strength of all races and religions. Her continued growth and success will also be defined by the continued empowerment of all. Recently, I spoke to a young Malaysian whom I believe exemplifies the Malaysian dream. Dreams usually begin with an idea. For Yizhen Fung from Kota Baru, Kelantan, the idea was planted from conversations that she had with friends made online.

“As a teen, I spent a lot of time on online forums. I befriended someone from Hong Kong and we frequently discussed world issues and future goals. I particularly enjoyed listening whenever she talked about her dream of going to Oxford University.” Slow as the days of dial-up and early broadband were, the Internet was her window to the world and gave her fresh perspectives on life – socially and culturally.

“The ideas planted in my mind through these interactions would somehow lead me to Oxford, and later on, the Asia School of Business in collaboration with MIT”.

Small Town Perspectives

As a Kelantanese native, Yizhen spent her early childhood in Kuala Lumpur, and moved back to her hometown of Kota Baru when her family decided to start their own business there. For a thirteen-year-old who could not speak a word of the local Kelantan dialect, the culture shock was apparent. At school, Yizhen was the only Chinese girl in her year. She quickly picked up the local dialect, made many friends and immersed herself in Kelantanese Malay culture.

Her teachers had to adapt to her too. These adolescent experiences deepened her perspective of religious and cultural diversity. Kota Baru was a much sleepier town then. Its first Starbucks opened only in 2018. “It was a blessing in disguise. I could focus on my studies”. One of two students in her school who achieved 10A1s in their SPM examinations, she decided to pursue law but unfortunately, could not secure any scholarship because “policies precluded science stream students from an arts scholarship”.

Undeterred, she enrolled into an A-levels programme at a college in Kuala Lumpur and excelled again. Equipped with her A-levels results and inspired from the conversations she had had with her online friends, Yizhen applied to do the undergraduate law programme at Oxford.

Stepping Towards the Dream

Yizhen recalls her Oxford University admission interview at the Renaissance Hotel in KL. “I printed out the Wikipedia page on ‘law’ and memorised it. While waiting, I overheard these two girls from a renowned boarding school chattering away about worldly issues. They spoke so eloquently. I was intimidated but also impressed. Despite being Malaysians, our worlds appeared so different”.

Yizhen aced her interview and was offered the opportunity to read law at Brasenose College, University of Oxford. This happy news was compounded by a further stroke of fate. Shortly after, the Government’s Public Services Department (PSD) announced scholarships for students who received an offer from any of the world’s top 5 universities (the scholarship no longer exists). This allowed Yizhen to pursue a pivotal opportunity that she otherwise would have lacked the means to.

City of Dreaming Spires

Yizhen recounts her time in Oxford as both very difficult but also very rewarding. “Oxford was a hard and fast lesson which made me realize how small I was and how little I knew about the world beyond Malaysia,” she said Oxford’s emphasis of independence in academic and critical thinking stood out. The professors were constantly pushing academic boundaries but were also willing to provide extra guidance.

With high expectations and tight deadlines, Yizhen learned to confront her insecurities and re-frame her mindset. “In a furnace environment, you either melt or emerge as steel. Progress is most important, rather than ‘perfection’ and knowing when to seek help.”

Off the Beaten Track

Yizhen graduated in 2011 and returned to Malaysia to fulfill her scholarship bond. Realising early on that legal practice was not her true passion, she spent five years servicing her scholarship bond at a capital market regulator, working first as policymaker and subsequently speechwriter and advisor at the chairman’s office.

Despite the fast-paced career trajectory, she yearned for something more. “While regulators play a noble role in facilitating innovation, the private sector is at the forefront of innovation, disruption and change. I wanted to be a part of that.”

MIT-Asia School of Business

Yizhen decided to go back to school. The MBA program at the Asia School of Business in collaboration with MIT Sloan (ASB), with its campus in Kuala Lumpur, was the perfect solution. “A dear friend I met many years ago was part of ASB’s inaugural class. I witnessed his transformation first-hand from a self-made entrepreneur to a well-rounded corporate leader. This convinced me to do the MBA.”

Of the 20 months programme, Yizhen spent 8 months abroad, including in Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong working on projects across manufacturing, financial services and consumer goods. She also spent 4 weeks taking classes at MIT in Boston. And all this was done together with 46 other classmates from 18 nationalities. “It was a truly global experience that trained me for an environment of constant change and collaboration.”

Yizhen returned to Malaysia shortly before the Covid pandemic escalated and graduated (virtually) in April 2020, winning both the Dean’s Award for outstanding academic performance and award for Best Action Learning project. Due to Covid-19, Yizhen had to turn down a job opportunity in Hong Kong. But as one door closes, another opens. She recently started her new role as chief of staff at a Southeast Asian conglomerate that is innovating rapidly for a post-Covid world.

Freedom Enabling Future

In the spirit of Malaysia’s National Day, I asked Yizhen about what independence means to her as a young Malaysian. As someone whose journey has taken her across cultures and continents, her response was simple: “The freedom to shape one’s own future, irrespective of the background they were born into. Social mobility transforms lives and transcends generations.”

“The most empowering thing about social mobility is that the onus is not on the government alone; we all have a role we can play. I have grown immeasurably from the advice and help received from the countless friends, mentors and colleagues, all of whom were kind, generous and genuinely wanted me to succeed.” Yizhen’s final reflection, “Above all, be generous with your time and pay the kindness forward as you never know whose lives you might touch next!”

I believe Yizhen’s journey represents what an independent Malaysia has enabled us to achieve, from the opportunities to the possibilities. Malaysia is a still a work in progress, but 63 years on, there is a lot to build on. Happy 63rd National Day!

This article was originally published on The Star

One of the best things about ASB is the opportunity to explore multiple industries and functions that we may not have otherwise through hands-on projects. Action Learning arms us with relevant experience that maximizes our opportunities when we graduate. For Jonathan, Jenie, Utkarsh and me, it meant being part of the scaling journey of Green Packet, a fintech company based in Malaysia.

The firm boasts a track record of “firsts” such as the white label e-wallet as a service (WaaS), its latest “first” in the fintech industry. In this highly competitive industry, moving fast and executing well is everything. Despite COVID-19, companies cannot afford to decelerate lest they be left behind. So how does a company like Green Packet, which has recently shaken the industry, transform itself while keeping up with competitors?

With this question at the back of our minds, we “went and saw” what it would be like to scale a fintech company. We determined what worked and what didn’t and came up with the three key lessons below.

Lesson #1: When in unknown territory, map it out first

At ASB, we are trained to think like consultants, and the first thing consultants do when embarking on a new project is map the current situation. That way, no matter how unfamiliar the territory is, we still know what we’re dealing with. “Mapping out different processes and customer journeys is more important than it sounds. Operational issues may seem mundane, but they have a big impact on an organization’s overall productivity and efficiency,” Jonathan explains.

We began by mapping the customer journeys of two key fintech products. We interviewed every key team lead involved in the process to understand what worked and uncover the pain points and their root causes. After four days of intense interviews, we ended up with 61 opportunities. That’s when the exciting work truly began. Research has shown that when a company is ready to scale, it needs to part ways with its established systems, processes, policies and practices.

That’s because what brought the company this far may not bring the company further. MIT-ASB Professors Charles Fine and Loredana Padurean have written about this, noting, “The ‘scaling’ stage begins once a company has proven some key aspects (e.g., technology, customers, pricing) of its value proposition and must now grow in parallel to its market alongside its production and delivery capabilities.”

Bearing this in mind, we looked at the opportunities we identified, matched them with Green Packet’s strategy and operations, and put on our thinking hats to determine if these opportunities were worth pursuing. We asked:

- Is this really important?
- What difference would it make?
- Is it aligned with the company’s vision and direction?

Lesson #2: Develop a SWOT team dedicated to scaling the company

Professors Fine and Padurean stated in their research that companies have to consider ten strategic thrusts when scaling:

1. Professionalisation
2. Processification
3. Segmentation
4. Platformization
5. Capitalization

6. Culturalization
7. Automation
8. Collaboration
9. Multiplication
10. Evaluation

A scaling company needs “scalers,” or people who have the tools, frameworks and experience that provide structure and discipline in execution. These are people who can orchestrate change and pull different forces together to deliver excellent results. “Strategy may be the thing everybody fixates on, but without the ability to manage processes on a micro level, the best-laid strategy will fall apart,” Jonathan adds.

The Group CEO of Green Packet had this insight in mind when he brought our Action Learning host, Joel Wong, onboard. An ex-Accenture consultant, Joel has a plethora of experience in professionalizing processes and operations. In fact, he designed our onsite sessions with Agile in mind.

Lesson #3: The work is easy, the people are not

Spending four weeks with Joel provided us with many insights about what it takes to manage different stakeholders through change. He grilled us on the secret art of winning people’s confidence, building rapport and relationships, and establishing common ground from the onset. He also taught us the importance of clearance meetings to gain confidence and attain buy-in as we put together our final proposal.

Not just professional growth, but personal growth too

We started out with the desire to understand how to scale a fintech company, but we walked away with more than just that. In four weeks, we managed to put together a proposal of 29 recommendations and an implementation plan as a “blueprint” for the company to move forward. The journey has been challenging, but the team worked well together and made it happen.

But that was not all. “The Action Learning journey is a personal journey and one needs to make the most of it, regardless of the circumstances,” Utkarsh shared. We even walked away with tools that we could implement in our lives. “Seeing a company practice the ‘4 Disciplines of Execution’ was eye-opening. It’s something I would like to use in my daily life,” Jonathan added.

If we could go back in time, would we have done the same thing, the same way? Absolutely. We finished this project having grown both professionally and personally – and that has made all the difference to us.

“Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.”
— James Cash Penney, Founder, JC Penney

Earlier in March this year, the 32^nd ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) Chairs’ Meeting was held in Hanoi, Vietnam, to finalize actionable recommendations under the Roadmap for ASEAN Sustainable Capital Markets, the concept of which had been endorsed by the 5^th ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting just over a year ago in April 2019.

It was during this ACMF Chairs’ Meeting in Hanoi where four students of the Asia School of Business (ASB) presented their findings and recommendations to the heads of capital market regulators in the ASEAN region. ASB was commissioned by ACMF, with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in the Fall of 2019 to undertake an initiative that would further explore the opportunities for the ACMF to facilitate and mobilize private sector capital for the financing of sustainable projects via the capital markets in ASEAN.

ASB had taken this unique opportunity to allocate the project to its senior class students interested in capital markets and sustainable development. Students from the MBA Class of 2020 – Duncan Marwick (South Africa), Janice Tan Ying (Malaysia), Rajiv Chawla (India), and Zoe Victoria Tate (United Kingdom/Netherlands) – volunteered and were selected to embark on this journey to produce a roadmap as an ‘Action Learning’ project during their 4^th Term at ASB.

These four students were on the road attending different platforms in the region to comprehensively engage with high-level stakeholders from all three sectors – public/private/non-profit – so as to gather as much data and insights as possible in formulating a universally-acceptable set of recommendations.

The Roadmap provides a strategic direction and recommendations for the creation of a sustainable asset class in ASEAN to support ASEAN’s sustainable development agenda for the next five years so as to mitigate the social and environmental risks linked to climate change. The document sets out recommendations under four priority areas, namely strengthening foundations, catalysing products, and enabling access to under-served areas, raising awareness and capacity building, and increasing regional connectivity.

Deputy Chief Executive of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC Malaysia), Datuk Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin, thanked ASB and the students for their significant contribution towards the development of the Roadmap. “On behalf of the ACMF, I would like to express my appreciation for the efforts put in by ASB in delivering this collaborative work.

It was inspiring to have the students, tomorrow’s leaders of the world, take part in this important ASEAN initiative, which charts the path for the future in which sustainable finance will play a key role.” SC Malaysia is co-chair of the ACMF Sustainable Finance Working Group and served as a facilitator in the development of the Roadmap.

As expected, these findings and recommendations were not something that materialized overnight. For these four students, it was certainly not the typical 3-month ASB Action Learning project conducted in 1 academic term. Due to the extensive and complicated nature of this topic, this initiative was extended through to their 5^th and final term before graduation, making it a 7-month endeavor.

Under the continued attention and guidance of ASB’s renowned faculty in Central Banking – Professors Gabriele Ciminelli and Hans Genberg – the students had committed themselves to go above and beyond their required curriculum, taking in significantly added workload to digest their schedules on top of academic studies and post-graduation job search, resulting in the successful delivery of this Roadmap document.

“This project gave us deep exposure to the highly relevant and urgent topic of sustainable finance, which is a growing area of significant interest to our generation and more to come. The opportunity to engage with global leaders, navigate complex multilateral relations, and present our final report to high-level representatives from the 10 ASEAN member countries provided the team with an unparalleled MBA learning experience that we would not have had otherwise. We are grateful to ACMF, SC Malaysia, ADB, ASB, and all others who provided mentorship and guidance to ensure the delivery of a successful project,”

Duncan Marwick (MBA Class of 2020)

ASB Professor of Finance and Director of Central Banking, Dr. Eli Remolona, congratulated the students and said, “Our students worked hard on this 5-year roadmap. They helped develop it through extensive discussions with major stakeholders. We hope that this will contribute meaningfully to shaping ASEAN capital markets that support a sustainable future.”

The Roadmap was originally planned to be presented at the 6^th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in April this year, but that has been postponed to a later date due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation. ASB President and Dean, Professor Charles Fine, commented that “ASB is honored to have taken part in this regional initiative and we are truly proud of our students and the faculty who supported them through the School’s Action Learning program.

I believe this world-class, professional work that has been delivered in and outside the classroom demonstrates the level of excellence we ask of our students. It is also a reflection of the strong commitment that ASB’s faculty and staff have to offer its students, external partners, and ultimately, the community which we take part in trying to make a better place.”

A digital copy of the Roadmap has recently been made available to the general public and can be downloaded from here.

If you are interested to know more about hosting an Action Learning project with ASB, please contact actionlearning@asb.edu.my.

They say teamwork makes the dream work… but how do you make that happen in the face of a crisis like COVID-19? For the Class of 2021, this year was supposed to be the time of our lives. Full-time MBA students get to travel to different parts of Southeast Asia for their second, third, and fourth Action Learning projects, working with various host companies on real-life challenges.

Indeed, this international exposure is what many of us came here for and is a hallmark of the ASB experience. But as the virus spread across the region in February, it soon became clear that international travel was off the table. My team had to change plans in a hurry and let go of an exciting project with a fintech company in Jakarta.

However, the ASB Action Learning team came through for us and quickly secured Malaysian projects for all groups. It was a good alternative under the circumstances – we would still gain the invaluable real-world learning we signed up for while staying away from a potentially life-threatening infection.

Locked down, but not out

Just when we thought we had the virus beat, the Malaysian government issued a nationwide lockdown in mid-March. At the time, we were halfway through our Action Learning semester, and ASB had to think of yet another alternative. After several sleepless nights, the Action Learning team came back to us with a proposal to finish the projects remotely, effectively turning our “AL Onsite” into an “AL Offsite”.

The irony was not lost on us, and the projects would become even more difficult than they already were as most students had flown back to their home countries. For some groups, that meant being in completely opposite time zones. At least for my team, one thing that helped us pull through was the fact that we could count on each other through times such as these – or as they say, “we got your back.” Below are some thoughts from my amazing teammates Jenie, Jon and Utkarsh on how to stay together as a team when the going gets COVID-tough.

Start with empathy

“Having good teammates really helps!” says Utkarsh. “I am incredibly lucky to have team members who were understanding. They made sure we could have meetings and interviews scheduled after 11:00 AM so I would be comfortable working remotely in a different time zone.” For our group, being empathetic meant not only accommodating each other’s time zones but also personal time, which is easily forgotten in a work-from-home, always-on environment.

“Losing track of time has been the biggest challenge,” Utkarsh adds. “When you are working at home, you don’t tend to have a hard stop, so you continue working beyond the usual hours, leading to a loss of work-life balance.” Nonetheless, we tried to fill in for each other as much as we could. When I lost my internet connection during a Zoom presentation to our Action Learning host, Jenie quickly jumped in to continue where I left off.

When Utkarsh’s computer shut down unexpectedly during another meeting, Jon took over without missing a beat. What we found is that in difficult or even crisis situations, the team dynamic is more important than ever. Only by sticking together can we keep ourselves from going under.

Next, seek alignment

When things change or fall apart, the first priority should be to ensure the team can get back into alignment, and everyone is on the same page on how to move forward, says Jenie. In any Action Learning assignment, disagreements are a given because of the complexity of the projects and the fact that everybody has strong opinions. It doesn’t help that things tend to get lost in translation when communication is confined to a voice or an image on a screen.

But divided, we fall. As such, the team never lets any disagreements or egos get in the way of completing the project. For Jon, alignment means letting the team take the lead and listening to everyone’s perspectives. “It’s the team that makes the project,” he says. “Do whatever it takes to achieve alignment because without it, the same issues will resurface. Everyone gets to have a say – when it comes to people, slow is fast.”

Remote work is easier than you think

Action Learning is a hands-on affair, so you can imagine our initial disappointment when we were told we could only use digital hands. But we didn’t let that get us down as a team. We were enlisted to help our host accelerate its transition toward a high-performance culture, and our scope involved speaking to various employees across the organization to diagnose the “as-is” state.

Instead of meeting face-to-face, we conducted interviews and meetings on Zoom and other digital platforms, and successfully completed interviews with nearly 20 people over two days. To keep everyone in the loop in spite of our remote locations, we had daily check-ins on Zoom not only with the team but also with our faculty advisors and business coach.

On top of that, our host was extremely gracious with his time and guided us every step of the way. “I personally enjoyed working digitally because everyone has the autonomy to work at his or her convenience,” says Utkarsh. “It was easy for everyone to juggle work for Action Learning and personal work.”

Dream works

Action Learning is certainly not the same when an onsite becomes an offsite. But you can make it work, and that’s the attitude my team and I had going into it. The process can still be transformative if you let it. For me, it was about building resilience and not giving up when I encounter roadblocks. Just having a can-do attitude amidst these difficult times is a big win.

But the most crucial lesson from this experience is to work through problems as a team. That’s how anything great ever gets done. “I think it’s the team that makes the experience,” says Jon. “From afar or near, having a great team makes the ride enjoyable.” Ditto.

Many of us are waiting for the day that our respective governments declare the ‘lockdowns’ over and we can continue on with life as we once knew it. There is however a misconception that everything will go back to normal anytime soon. A lockdown is not a cure, it’s a measure to ensure that the spread of the virus is curtailed, buying us time to find solutions while keeping the healthcare systems able to treat those who are in need.

Bill Gates argues that things will only get back to normal once a vaccine is developed which will take anywhere between 18-36 months. Mobilizing such a vaccine for the world population is also another challenge which will inevitably take more time. In reality, what will probably happen is a scenario of a ‘Socially Distant Economy’. A Socio-Economic reality where trade and commerce continue while controlling and managing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

It is a fine balancing act between public health and economic disaster. The first step towards this ‘Socially Distant Economy’ is ensuring that the critical supply chains of food and medical services are kept operational and can meet the respective demand. While speaking in the ASB COVID-19 webinar series discussing critical supply chains, Prof Charles Fine, who serves as the Dean of the Asia School of Business & an authority in ‘Supply Chain Strategy’ , highlighted that the challenges are caused by both ‘not enough supply’ and ‘too much demand’.

Too much demand is caused by people increasing their safety stocks (hoarding) in the anticipation of no/limited supply, as well as movements in usage shifts as household consumption increases from more people staying at home. It is ok if a few families increase their consumption, but if all households increase its consumption by just 10%, it creates a major spike in demand on the larger scale.

On the supply side, lockdowns have caused bottlenecks in various points of the supply chain via inability to work, lack of mobility, closure of manufacturing, breakdown of logistics or even capital which is not able to flow. There are, of course, solutions to these problems but as the problems stems from government policy, the solution should also start from the same source.

Alok Mishra, CEO of a consultancy that helps MedTech companies build capabilities in strategy and marketing, argues that policy makers have a crucial role to play in ensuring that supply chains continue to function. In the same webinar which was moderated by ASB Senior Director of Corporate Development Zalina Jamaluddin, Alok who has vast experience in the medical supplies industry advocates that the medical supply chain is a critical function that must continue to work in our ongoing battle against COVID-19.

The medical services supply chain must be viewed holistically not only from a facility and equipment point of view but also from a human capital perspective. There are only a finite number of ready health professionals available and keeping them safe, able and willing to work is of utmost importance. Without them, all the facilities and equipment are rendered useless.

Governments need to pay attention to all the factors that enable the medical industry to operate and ensure that all the chains of supply leading up to it are allowed to run within the confinements of the lockdown. The question that arises now is how do you open up supply chains without the supply chains themselves being a potential cause for the spread of the virus.

Automation is of course what naturally comes to mind, but Prof Fine argues that the complexity and inter relation of modern supply chains makes it difficult to automate them in a hurry. Food supply chains are relatively heavy on manual labor and while automation can be introduced, it may take some time to do so. An immediate solution is to adjust work and processes to be ‘Socially Distance’ compliant and for industries to think about how they can protect their workers while keeping supply chains functioning.

A more data centric approach to assessing supply and demand may also help in determining what needs to be produced and in what quantities. For this, governments need to step in, collate and share such data with industry so that uncertainty is reduced. Governments also need to work closely with industry in identifying and then strengthening the weak links in the critical supply chains.

If this can be done, and with safety measures introduced, there is a chance that we may be able to strike a balance and create ‘Socially Distant Supply Chains’ that can feed the essential demand for food and medical services. It is then upon policy makers to look at other non-critical supply chains and see how they can be opened up safely as prolonged lockdown does not seem to be a sustainable solution.

The ASIA SCHOOL of BUSINESS holds a weekly webinar on topics in response to COVID-19.

Category: Action Learning