Hi, i'm an australian graduate from Indonesia. I have working experience of 2.5 years in my own company. With recent implementation of ACFTA (Asean China Free Trade Area), i feel the need of fluent in mandarin and understanding the way chinese people doing their business become increasingly important. My expectation after finishing my MBA course is to have relatioship with young chinese entrepreneur like myself, knowing some people from govenment circle and banking industry would be beneficial as well. So here come my question:
1. Which MBA program that suits my expectation?
2. How many intakes do they offer?
3. Is there any well-known B'school from US who affiliate with china MBA program?
4. I don't have good scores from my bachelor, would it be a big problem from getting into top B school?
5. so far i heard about CEIBS, Tsinghua, Beidia. anyone can compare these school according to my end goal?
6. I notice Tsing Hua and Beidia offer MBA in chinese, I'm abit worried that the students in their English MBA would be foreigner. any thoughts on this?

Thank you for any thoughts and comment for my post. I need to be sure that the 2 years i left my company will be worthwhile and bring brighter future for my group. Thank you

Regards,
Randy Guan

hi, here is a post that might give you some idea....


http://www.find-mba.com/article/402/mba-programs-in-emerging-markets-china-and-hong-kong

Tsinghua is best for government relation building.More, Tsinghua has the most resouces in enterpreneur and VC/PE network.

CEIBS is better for you while it's more internationalized. more than 40% of their student in 2009 is foreigners. It's a good ramp up for you to get closer to Chinese.

Given the best MBA in Shanghai, the future economic center of China, maybe it's better match of your goal

Have you considered Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF)? It's based in Shanghai just like CEIBS, but it's cheaper and it seems an approachable Chinese option in the same way that CEIBS is. They cover all the usual themes of global business education, but with a Chinese focus.

It's not always best to base everything on rankings, especially as schools can move so easily in and out of the top 100, like HKUST and NUS this year!

There's a video of some bright young SAIF MBA students online you can find it by googling: Is Shanghai the Next Wall Street?
Maybe not, but it'll give London and New York a run for their money say finance students at a top Chinese.

Hope that helps!

S

6. I notice Tsing Hua and Beidia offer MBA in chinese, I'm abit worried that the students in their English MBA would be foreigner. any thoughts on this?

From my understanding, Tsinghua's IMBA program is held in English only. The class is approximately 110 people with 48% - 50% of the class being international students. You CAN take the Chinese classes alongside with the standard MBA program, provided that your Mandarin is up to par.

I've been told that there is no problems mingling with the locals within the IMBA program and the MBA program. So you'll be able to build your network there - especially if you're attending the MBA classes.

Be careful when saying Tsinghua graduates all go to government. First, Tsinghua is a huge University with 30,000 students. Since you graduate from the School of Economics and Management, you become an alumni of that school. Their alumni department helps you keep in touch with everyone from the school through a database (separate from the MIT database you are given access too).

Government officials in China 101 - the people you want to know in the Chinese government when you want to do business are - the governor or vice-governor of a province or municipality, the Mayor or vice-mayor of a city, the party or vice-party secretary of a province. Other government officials are in departments and although can help you out in your business, they do not offer the same influence as the above in a variety of issues related to business.

Thus, who from Tsinghua in the School of Economics and Management gets these positions? Some MBAs have a good shot at these positions, especially if they are communist members and have worked in SOEs, military, or government prior to their work. These usually go back to the SOEs, work up the ranks, and when they hit their 40s, get much more active in government. Successful business owners and entrepeneurs in China are more likely to get into the People's Congress and CPPCC than be a mayor or governor. Their close links to the Mayors and Governors is evident. MBAs who want a higher paying job with a MNC and have the goal of getting vice-president of their department before 40 ((typical of any MBA) are unlikely to go to government.

Aside from MBAs - the School of Economics and Management's outstanding pool includes its undergraduate and PHd students. These students have the best chance of elevating high into the Chinese leadership. Sometimes, however, they rise so high, that they work in Beijing, and bypass being the Mayor of Kunming (or some other city) - which would help your company bring in a new technology or product for a market there. Networking with these students is not exactly like having a beer at the end of the day. It is more like networking the Chinese way which means joining ping pong and badminton clubs, volunteering in the Chinese New Year performance, and attending events all in Chinese which include both MBAs, undergraduates, and PHds. Then, the waiting game happens - if students are in their 20s, then you have 20 years to see where they go. Sometimes they go to Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, sometimes they do start-ups and IPO before 30, and sometimes they join Chinese companies.

Hopefully you are paying attention to where you are going too. Then 20 years later, earning money for a retirement house should not be a problem.

I hear networking in Asia is basically becoming family with those you are to work with. In the West, we always say "don't do business with friends or family." In the East, i hear they only do business with friends and family. Would you say this is true?

I hear a lot of stories about how, if you know the right people, they can make it really easy on you. Sometimes getting the stamps from various authorities may take half a year, but if you know the right people, the paperwork is done within days and sent to your house. If you've already started conducting business, having been doing business illegally for a year, having no proper paperwork for that period, if you know the right people, magically you've always had paperwork all along, sent to you today, dated a year ago.

How true is this? If this is the case, it almost seems like going to a school like Tsinghua or Peking, where a lot of potential government officials will come from, is the smart choice for China MBAs. Can make getting permits, licences, etc... much easier.

To be honest, it is important to have a good networking in China when you want to do great business in China. However, I don't think Tsinghua and Peking are the only choices. Even for chinese themselves, they would not just think Beijing, the political center. As an instead, more and more people, not only Chinese themselves but also from other countries in the world are stepping up to Shanghai, the international business center. Why not have a look at other MBA programs in Shanghai?

Your thinking is very right. The BRIC countries are the future and most people from the developed nations realise this fact. Just take a look at the state of the economy UK and many other European nations.

If you are looking at China and are interested in Finance then you should defnitely have a look at the Shanghai Institute of Advanced Finance(SAIF). SAIF is very different to other MBA schools in China and gets a lot more freedom from the Chinese Government which is quite an achievement.

Good Luck