Student Experience – Page 3 – Asia School of Business

Just as the MBA Class of 2020 gears up for the job hunt, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disrupts the global status quo. All around us, we hear news of some industries struggling to make ends meet, while others unexpectedly thrive. No matter the industry, a core resounding message is clear – pivot or face the consequences. This message is timely for MBA graduates too.

Many of us have entered business schools with well-defined career aspirations but find ourselves at a crossroads, deciding whether to pivot or stay true to our original paths. To support the Class of 2020 and soon-to-graduate Class of 2021 to think about the way forward, the Career Development Office at Asia School of Business launched a “Rejuvenation & Reimagination Series,” a series of panels that explore industries that have evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic and the new opportunities that opened up with that change.

The first installment of this series, “The Role of Blockchain in the COVID-19 Crisis and Recovery,” presents two experts – Shi Khai Wei, COO of LongHash Ventures, and Sharad Malhautra, an Independent Consultant of EY with 15+ years of experience in the blockchain domain – who shared their perspectives on the evolution of the industry and what opportunities lie ahead for MBA students. It was also moderated by our very own blockchain explorer and expert, Varun Singhi (MBA Class of 2020).

The Case of Blockchain Supporting Global Supply Chains

The general lack of connectivity and data exchange built into our global supply chains has become painfully clear [1] during this pandemic. Sharad shared that companies are challenged to provide greater “visibility and resilience for the global supply chain,” and that is where digital technologies like blockchain will help. He further broke down this situation by explaining, “When it comes to supply chain, the two [most valuable] aspects of blockchain are visibility and reconciliation.

Even before COVID-19, the majority of companies, both large and small, have struggled with moving assets across cities. That’s predominantly because companies are moving products across different functional, business, or system silos.” Any silo in the supply chain will cause a lack of transparency, and with it, inefficiencies. Companies would have more inventory in some places than others, which necessitates higher working capital.

MBA graduates, who understand how supply chains work and how technology can play a part in breaking down silos, can improve planning and increase visibility. “Ask any logistics manager or supply chain planning manager, ‘Do you have 100% confidence in the inventory and supply data in your system today?’ and he will say, ‘I still have to do a lot of physical counting and verification.’

I think that’s what blockchain helps to alleviate by giving more visibility and real-time accuracy to your data and products. When you have that, you can make better planning decisions,” Sharad explained. Shi Khai chimed in by describing the kind of start-ups that are drawing the attention of VCs during this pandemic: “When we were facing this pandemic, we wanted to see how blockchain could help address some of the most immediate pain points.

We brought together enterprises from China and Singapore. We even had McKinsey as one of our partners, along with the technology arm of MDA and OneConnect, to identify solutions and score them… It’s really about transparency and reconciliation or settlement. The top winner was actually a supply chain solution [for a vaccine], and they are now part of our accelerator program.”

This bears good news for us, MBA students, who want to add value to global supply chains or even start our own businesses. How then, can the Classes of 2020 and 2021 make ourselves relevant?

The Skill of Digital Transformation

Sharad asserted that future MBA students will need the ability to navigate digital transformation. Graduates should understand how different technologies like blockchain, machine learning and AI work separately and together, figure out how new technologies can create accelerated value creation, and then translate them into business impact.

“[As MBA students], you understand supply chain and operations, but do you really understand blockchain enough to know exactly how to use it to generate value? It’s more about understanding digital from a solutions standpoint. What would a blockchain solution, an AI solution, a process automation look like in a large organization?” Sharad said.

IDC predicts that “over 50% of all IT spending will be directly for digital transformation and innovation (up from 31% in 2018)” by 2024. In addition, DXC Technology, an American multinational corporation that provides B2B IT services, adds that “digital transformation initiatives will take large traditional enterprises, on average, twice as long and cost twice as much as anticipated.” [2] This is the opportunity presented to MBA students.

“I don’t think digital transformation in enterprises is going anywhere in another 10 years. It is going to give a majority of graduating MBA students careers, so make sure you have the right skills. We see again and again that most entry-level MBA students going into the workforce are dealing with a lot of new technologies and are responsible for harnessing these technologies in organizations.”

Conclusion

Where there is crisis, there is opportunity. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the gaps in many industries. This presents us with new opportunities, as long as we are able to see and seize them. As MBA graduates, we have been trained to look for the next opportunity and to position ourselves such that we could catch the megatrend of the next few decades. According to both experts, blockchain is one such opportunity. Shi Khai added:

“There is a lot of room to recreate a better version of the financial infrastructure that we see in the world today. There’s also a lot of room to make the fundamental blockchain infrastructure more mature. There’s so much more work to be done to make sure that security is waterproof, because once it’s on one chain, it’s gets exploited.

“When I came across blockchain, I thought it was something different, as it is the only technology that comes with a movement and a philosophy. The start-up industry for blockchain is [also consistently] different from the start-up industry of other technologies. There’s a lot of talk about decentralization and Web 3.0. Now, what do these mean?

“They represent a future where you no longer need the middleman. You could truly have peer-to-peer interactions. And with their open-source nature, you have a more inclusive and innovative ecosystem where anybody can come in and build on this technology, just like open APIs, by default. So fundamentally, it encourages open and inclusive innovation where everybody can collaborate on blockchain protocols.”

To learn more about blockchain, feel free to reach out to our very own blockchain explorer Varun, who would be more than happy to start a conversation about the opportunities available in this industry.

[1] AlMuhairi, 2020, Why COVID-19 makes a compelling case for the wider integration of blockchain, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/why-covid-19-makes-a-compelling-case-for-wider-integration-of-blockchain/

[2] IDG Communications (2020) Key to sustained digital transformation in 2020: People, https://www.cio.com/article/3519273/key-to-sustained-digital-transformation-in-2020-people.html

Like many of my peers at ASB, I’ve always been an entrepreneur. But perhaps unlike my peers, I’ve often tried to convince myself that I wasn’t — that I was destined for a more traditional career at a prestigious company, following a well-worn path toward the “top.” A year of that later, and I have finally realized that I was always meant to work with people, not for them.

I moved to NYC shortly after graduating from ASB in 2019, convinced I’d landed my dream job, working as a Business Designer for an international design agency. It was exactly the job I’d been aiming for post-grad, and I was so proud of myself for landing it from all the way around the world. I still am.

But as I put in my hours at work, I spent my evenings keeping up the side-hustle I’d had for six years: designing websites for small business owners around the US. Over time, I realized that my favorite part of my 9-5 job was the same part I loved about my side-hustle: working deep in the trenches with clients to help them tell their story in a more impactful way.

So when my former employer announced they had been acquired by a Big 4 firm, it felt like the time had come. In the two months since I left, I officially decided to set out on my own as a full-time web designer building a full-suite creative shop.

I’ve been a freelance web designer, in some capacity, for over six years. Until recently, I thought of it as a vehicle — something that helped me do something else — and never a destination. Becoming a full-time web designer with my own small business never felt like a viable option until the mental reshuffling of a global pandemic helped me realize what was right in front of me.

The reality is that I’m not the same web designer I was when I started six years ago. I’m a hell of a lot better at web design, for one, but I’m also more than a web designer now. Web design is my tool, but my artwork is helping businesses grow. We can embody job titles without printing them on our business cards. For example, I am strategic in my web design practice, but my job is not that of a strategist.

I help my clients develop their business models through the visual lens of my phased web design process. MBAs are inherently generalist degrees. People come from all backgrounds into an MBA and leave to achieve a wide variety of things. We often view MBAs as a machine for career switchers — enter as an accountant, exit as a program manager. I think MBAs actually offer another, alternative route: that of a genuine entrepreneur. We can enter as a jill-of-all-trades and exit as a jill-of-even-more-trades.

The point I want to make is this: working for myself is the least prestigious thing I’ve done in my career, and it’s already the thing I’m most proud of. I’m grateful to have attended a school that celebrates the gamut of accomplishments of my peers. I have won things in raffles exactly twice. In 2013, I won a web design course. This past week, I won a bundle of digital nomad tools I’d put in an Amazon wish list raffle.

Call it coincidence, but I call it a sign—things tend to fall quickly into place once you’ve aligned your passion with your vision. The name of this venture is pending, but for now it lives under my own name, at www.fionaolearysloan.com. I truly couldn’t be more excited to grow into my new role as a bona-fide, full-time, proud entrepreneur.

An engineer and manager at PETRONAS as well as a mother of four, Anis has a demanding schedule. Despite this, she not only survived the ASB MBA, but considers it “the best educational experience” she has had. Read her advice, and find out how she has grown her career post-MBA, below.

What have you been up to since graduating from ASB?

I started working for PETRONAS, the national oil company in Malaysia, in 2005 as Drilling Engineer in the Wells Department. After 15 years, I am back in the same department. I call this the “Unexpected 15-Year Comeback!” I’m now responsible for a different work function and portfolio with greater responsibilities. I have been appointed as the Head of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) for the Wells Department, Centre of Technical Excellence, Upstream Business at PETRONAS.

This is a Senior Manager position responsible for strategizing and executing HSE plans and programs across Wells operations globally. Due to the current pandemic, our offices are currently closed and the staff must work from home. On May 5, 2020, just weeks after graduating from ASB, I reported for duty using Microsoft Teams and will continue working remotely until our offices reopen.

Apart from working from home, I am also currently serving as an official homeschool teacher and an unofficial “mommy monster” for 2 high school students, 1 primary school student, and 1 kindergarten student– all of whom are my kids! I have also resumed my machine embroidery hobby, which was put on hold while I was earning my MBA.

What were you doing before you joined ASB?

Before joining ASB, I was a Senior Manager of Business Development in the Strategy and Commercial departments at PETRONAS, where I drove acquisition and divestment of Upstream exploration and development blocks for two years, from 2016 to 2018. Prior to that, I spearheaded the Wells Competency Assurance Section and was one of the key players who introduced the All Rounded Drilling program, a unique competency development program for fresh graduate drilling engineers in PETRONAS.

At the same time, I was also the first female Technical Coach in Wells, spearheading capability and competency matters for PETRONAS drilling engineers. I also spent 11 years in Wells leading, strategizing, and executing various complex drilling and completion projects, mainly in Malaysian waters. I was a PETRONAS scholar when I obtained my Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cardiff University, Wales. I had the opportunity to earn an MBA from Asia School of Business as a PETRONAS employee studying under corporate sponsorship.

What was your MBA journey like and how has ASB prepared you for your current role?

The first year at ASB was the hardest year for me. Managing my responsibility as a wife and mother of four sons while also fulfilling the MBA workload was a tremendous challenge. This experience has prepared me to handle even bigger responsibilities post-MBA which might demand more working hours, dealing with multiple stakeholders and being away from family. The learning curve at ASB was steep, like “drinking from a fire hose,” and taught me a great deal about prioritization and time management.

The ASB MBA was a journey for my family too. For the 20 months of my MBA, my husband and mother helped with the kids while I was on campus or on Action Learning projects outside of Malaysia. They deserve a special award, or at least the same MBA degree recognition that I do. Without them, I would not have been able to complete my MBA.

In particular, my husband has learned a lot of cooking skills and tried out different recipes which turned out to be delicious, and I must say that now he is a better cook than me! Being close to my big family and staying in my home country had its own benefits. However, it was also very demanding. On top of my existing commitments to my family, friends, and community, I also had a commitment to my new “family” – ASB. This prepared me to be ready to manage multiple stakeholders.

I also learned to say no to others while maintaining professionalism and not jeopardizing my commitments. This is the most important lesson I’ve learned from ASB. Additionally, the rigor and diversity of the program have not only taught me the value of focus and empathy but also heightened the value of friendship and trust.

The MBA has prepared me to fail forward – “try it until I make it,” be attentive to feedback, and widen my view beyond the energy industry. It has prepared me to learn about other industries and overcome my fear of networking, especially with those outside of my work circle.

What are some of your key takeaways from the ASB experience?

During the MBA, I have not only made new friends from more than 20 countries, but also gained a new family – the ASB family. The connections and bonds created within the ASB community, especially among the ASB MBA 2020 Cohort, are beyond words. My ASB experience was the best educational experience I’ve had so far, and it definitely ranks among the most unconventional and unforgettable memories of my whole life.

Looking back on my ASB experience, here are some of my key takeaways:

It’s important to take a break occasionally and reflect on your progress and past achievements. Don’t be afraid to let go and embrace new adventures.
Never underestimate your ability to learn new things and don’t be afraid to learn something new. It’s never too late to acquire new knowledge and skills. It’s important for your self-growth, and knowledge and skills are the things that no one can take away from you.
Never be afraid to fail but fail forward. It is the best way to learn and improve! It fosters growth and makes you a better version of yourself.
Be authentic and stay true to yourself – it’s the only thing that differentiates you from others and makes you truly happy
Age and experience do not make you wiser and more mature, but willingness to unlearn and relearn, to listen attentively, and to receive constructive feedback and reflect on it will take you far.

What are your plans for this next chapter of your life?

Looking forward, I am determined to continue learning. The MBA taught me a lot and prepared me well for my current role. However, I am determined to continue learning and equipping myself with new skills. While working from home, I have managed to up-skill myself with data science courses as a continuation of the R programming elective taken during my final year in MBA.

I hope to continue developing my data analytics skills. I am also looking forward to developing my coaching and mentoring skills and am currently looking for opportunities to get a professional coaching certification to complement my current technical and business skills. The 20-month journey at ASB was the time for me to learn more about myself, my strengths, my growth opportunities, and my fears.

I learned how to build valuable connections with other people and overcome the impostor syndrome. It was a golden opportunity for me to reflect on the last 39 years of my life, question my true values and beliefs, and set the path for my future post-MBA. For sure, there is a lot of room for improvement, and with the tools and knowledge gained through the MBA, I am all set for a great new adventure.

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.

MAY 1 – The last few months have been incredibly difficult. Life has never felt more uncertain. The pandemic has reshaped the way we live in very fundamental ways – we have established a new normal in every aspect of our lives, from how we work, consume, and the way we socialise. In these times, both the best and worst in people has emerged. We have recently seen a rising tide of anger towards migrants and refugees in Malaysia.

This has led to a debate on how we should deal with migrant and informal populations during this crisis. As researchers on migration issues, we strongly believe in our moral obligation to help refugees who have been driven from their homes by war and persecution, as well as migrant workers who do essential “3D” jobs for wages we would never accept for ourselves.

Read the full article here.
This article was originally published on Malaymail.com

Disclaimer
The views in this article are that of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of ASB as an organization. Readers should not act based on this article solely and should seek proper legal or other professional advise specific to their situation.

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.

Venezuelan-born, American-raised Klara Markus had always wanted to work in the public sector, and got her start in business working for education tech startup Quad Learning in Washington, DC after graduating from Yale University. “The idea was to work with students that would benefit from focused attention, and help them transfer to universities,” Klara explains.

“I ended up being much more interested in the business side, and moved into operations and business development.” In the end, it was a growing interest in business and a stint working with international recruitment in Vietnam that sparked her interest in an MBA in Asia—“I absolutely fell in love with the region! “In a way, it was going back to where I was from, but it was also very different,” she adds. “I found that super exciting.”

In the end, it was meeting an old college friend who happened to be in the first MBA cohort at Asia School of Business that sparked an interest in the school. While the school is still relatively new—it accepted its first cohort in 2016—Klara saw “academic rigour” in the program, while its collaboration with MIT Sloan School of Management also set it apart.

“I was super attracted to the fact that It was new, and as a student I would have a role in shaping the program,” she says. “I wasn’t just going to be passively sitting in a classroom—my input would help.”

From the education industry to business education

Though Klara initially started her job at education company Quad Learning as an honours adviser, directly assisting students and local colleges, she soon found that she wanted to “be involved in the decision making process, and helping shape the company,” she explains. “That meant being in a different role.” Moving up to associate director of international operations in Asia and the US, it made sense that an MBA was on the horizon.

“My background was very specific to the international education industry,” Klara reflects. “There are a handful of big players that dominate, but I wanted to broaden my experience and my understanding of different industries in the region.” Asia School of Business prides itself on its mission to develop business leaders in emerging markets around the world, especially in Southeast Asia. “It wasn’t a program in Malaysia, but a Southeast Asia program,” Klara points out.

It’s ASB’s Action Learning Projects that provide the most immersive experience during the MBA. Totalling five throughout the program, these semester-long projects can take MBAs all around Southeast Asia and worldwide working with companies from fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) to financial firms. For Klara’s Action Learning Projects, she was partnered with Astro, a media company in Malaysia; Big C, a hypermarket in Thailand; PricewaterhouseCoopers in Germany; and Unilever in Vietnam.

“One of the things I was really interested to learn was that there are different ways to run a business, and no right or wrong way,” Klara reflects. “Being in companies that were sometimes American and sometimes 100% Thai or Vietnamese, and trying to understand how to do operations—we needed to develop a common language to understand what the problem was and deliver results. “I used to just think ‘obviously we’re different,’ but that was a really interesting challenge that looking back now was really important.”

Working at Amazon

Aside from the time spent assisting real companies, Klara also managed to co-found the Data Analytics Club during her time on the MBA. “It’s a skillset that is key—we need to know how to handle big data,” Klara asserts. “We wanted to create a space where people that are really good at it can share their skills, connecting resources and people that wanted to learn more.”

In a stroke of serendipity, Klara’s post-MBA role ended up being “the heaviest role I’ve ever had in terms of data analysis”—at Amazon in Spain, working as a senior category merchant manager. Even though she’s left Asia behind, the diverse and multicultural experience at Asia School of Business still sticks with Klara. “Going into my MBA, I wanted to see other business models and learn from them, and I was able to do that at ASB.”

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.

2020 is looking to be a monumental year for Asia, as the continent’s total gross domestic product (GDP) is set to overtake the combined GDP of the rest of the world. Asia’s extraordinary market growth bodes well for MBA jobs and graduates in the region. But launching a career in Asia is by no means easy, with many differences and challenges that European or US job-seekers won’t face back home. Knowing the secrets and tricks of the market can make the difference between success and disaster.

Here are our insider tips for launching a career in Asia.

1. Employers are experience-seeking

For many, choosing to do an MBA is an assurance of quality and a fast track to a top job. In the US, the MBA is an established institution, and is widely recognized by employers. But in Asia, MBA graduates don’t necessarily have the same instant recognition. It’s much more about what graduates have done practically, and the experience they’ve got. MBAs must consider their value proposition differently when applying for jobs.

“Employers look more to experience, [looking at] what is the proven ability to perform,” explains Rhoda Yap, chief operating officer and MBA career development director at Asia School of Business (ASB) in Malaysia (pictured right). The Action Learning program at ASB ensures that students have a rigorous introduction to work in Asia’s most dynamic markets over the course of their MBA.

Each student undertakes five projects during their 20-month degree with 127 different companies including Nestle, AirAsia, and AB InBev. This involves immersion in the organization, addressing particular challenges, conducting research on the ground, and delivering actionable solutions to the company. “It gives students the opportunity to put five roles and markets on their resume by the end of the program, to show their proven ability in a specific industry or subject matter,” Rhoda underlines.

2. Soft skills are key in Asia’s fast-moving environment

The rate of change in Asia is a significant challenge for MBAs, particularly for those looking to lock down jobs there. Skills are transitory—useful training five years ago could very well be irrelevant today. The emphasis, for ASB, is much more on skills that will help graduates stand the test of time in the job market, such as creative problem solving, critical thinking, and strategy.

“It’s a future-proofing skill set,” stresses Sean Ferguson, associate dean at ASB (pictured right). This comes through in the iterative approach of the curriculum. The course is split into five semesters, with an Action Learning project in each. Students repeat the same process—class, work experience, research and data gathering, presentation—to ensure they can evaluate their approaches, learn from their mistakes, and build their skills for each new semester.

“It really maximizes what the learner can gain from the educational experience,” Sean adds. Tech and consulting firms remain the top employers in the region. Tech alone hired over half of ASB’s MBA class last year, with global companies like Google and regional players like DiDi snapping up graduates. For both of these industries, a person-oriented, creative approach is beneficial.

3. Adaptability is crucial

Asia’s geography—with lots of diverse countries and cultures in close proximity—is both an advantage and a challenge for MBA students looking to maximize their international experience. Grads must be prepared to navigate the differences of each culture to successfully launch a career there. “It’s about the adaptability of a candidate, and their ability to understand the nuances of cultural difference, and how each culture gets things done,” Rhoda imparts.

The Action Learning program might take students to Vietnam in one semester and to Japan the next semester. Given the highly localized focus of the placements, and the research projects which accompany them, adapting to new cultures is key. “It really builds their flexibility muscles,” Rhoda underlines, “Employers look for that because they want to be sure that whoever they hire will flourish wherever.”

4. The recruitment cycle is different

Asia’s rapid growth has considerable implications for hiring and recruitment. Employers don’t work in recruitment cycles like they do in the US, but rather on a more instant, real-time basis. This requires that students start to network and prepare for employment over a longer period. It’s what Sean describes as the “seeding, tending, and harvesting” model of applying for jobs, ideally timed perfectly to coincide with graduation in April.

ASB’s network is indispensable to this. The school, through its corporate partners and the Action Learning program, has strong links to over a hundred regional and global employers. Moreover, due to its affiliation with MIT Sloan School of Management, MBA graduates gain an Affiliate Alumni status, giving them access to MIT Sloan’s vast and influential network.