From The Sunday Times, April 6, 2008

The ability to work in a culture that is quite different from Britain’s could help your career

Steve Farrar

THE four months that Gemma Clarke, an oversea exchange student from Manchester to Tsinghua SEM (2006 autumn semester), spent in China changed her life for ever. That single term out of an MBA course at Manchester Business School threw up so many possibilities that she changed her career plans.

Her China expertise is now sought by British companies that want to do business with China. Clarke, a business consultant, believes this will give her a six-figure income next year.

Her own business interests have also focused on the country, shaped by the opportunities she spotted. These include selling a detangling hair brush that recently featured in the BBC series Dragons’ Den to affluent, image-con-scious Chinese people as well as launching Footprint International, a range of green consumer products.

“I had no idea of the potential for a future career when I arrived in China but my time there was as valuable as the rest of the MBA put together,” said Clarke.

She is one of a growing number of British MBA students who have taken the opportunity to study in the fast-growing economic powerhouse. Clarke did a term at Tsinghua University in Beijing just over a year ago as part of Manchester Business School’s global MBA programme, which costs £19,200 for the two-year part-time course.

Tuition was in English, but most of her classmates and all her teachers were Chinese. Working with them gave her a valuable insight into their different ways of doing business as well as a heightened cultural sensitivity.

Clarke is already drawing on the network of contacts that she built, and her career is now blossoming.

About 40% of Manchester Business School’s annual intake of 120 MBA students take the chance to study abroad. North America is the most popular destination, but Michael Luger, director of the school, expects demand for China to grow. “It is the fastest-growing economy in a lifetime and it is inevitable that many of our students will be doing business there,” he said. “It will be invaluable if you are comfortable in China. The experience will give our students a competitive edge.”

Luiz Crispim already had a strong international background in business development and strategic planning when he joined the two-year MBA course at London Business School, which costs £44,490.

He had worked and studied in America before moving to London and thought that a five-month stint in China would add a vital Asian element to his experience.

The semester he spent at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology was to prove highly significant. After graduation in 2006, Crispim worked for a private-equity group in London before joining the mergers and acquisitions group of EcoSecurities, an international emission-reductions company based in Oxford and with offices in 30 countries. With China providing its biggest market, Crispim’s spell in Hong Kong gave him an advantage.

“It was a good course and to live in Hong Kong was fantastic, but the most important experience was having Chinese professors, sharing the class with Chinese students, and learning to perform in Chinese business dynamics. It helped me to be respectful of other cultures and gave me a more mature outlook on doing business in Asia.”

The ability to work in a culture as removed from western experience as China’s can in itself help a career.

Brendan Wright spent four months at China Europe International Business School in Shanghai during his one-year MBA course at Durham Business School, which costs £20,000. A former head of finance for a London investment bank, he hoped the MBA would open the door to a new career. It did.

Since 2004, Wright has been the chief financial officer of the Sarajevo War Crimes Chamber Project, in charge of getting the internationally funded initiative off the ground and guiding it towards a sustainable future under Bosnian control.

The 42-year-old Londoner said: “Working in China provided the foundations for what I have been doing in Bosnia. When I came to Bosnia, I was well aware that I had to be careful with my assumptions, be sensitive, and understand the different value and belief systems. If I didn’t do that, I could not have got things done.”

This approach informed Wright’s decision to involve Bosnian ministers in drawing up the chamber’s financial plan, which helped to ensure its success.

It was that insight into how business is done in different cultures that also gave James Bolle, a market researcher from Leamington Spa, an edge after he spent eight days visiting companies in China during his MBA course at Cranfield School of Management.

On his return to his company, Consumer Insight, he was promoted to technical and development director with a pay rise of 30%. “Many of our clients are international and my experience of businesses that operate in different cultures gives me a different level of understanding,” he said.

David Simmons, international development director at Cranfield School of Management, said the school’s trips to China could be filled twice over, such was the demand. “It is an opportunity for our students to form friendships that will be important for their future careers,” he said. “You get under the skin of a culture by working with people you have worked with before. This network of trust is so important.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/article3688358.ece