Guanghua-Kellogg EMBA Program Celebrated the 10th Anniversary!

GUANGHUA

10th

Anniversary

2014-2024

KELLOGG

On November 9, 2024, the GK Program hosted its 10th Anniversary Forum in Beijing, themed "Resilience in Change: Reconstructing Development Models and the Future Economy."Industry experts convened to discuss adaptability, innovation, and competitiveness in a rapidly evolving economy, focusing on key drivers of global economic transformation like sustainability, economic diversification, flexible policymaking, and the digital economy.

The Guanghua-Kellogg EMBA Program (referred to as the GK Program) celebrates its tenth anniversary, marking a decade of collaboration between China's Peking University Guanghua School of Management and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in the United States.Since its founding in 2014, the GK Program has set a high standard for cross-cultural business education by bringing together world-class faculties from two premier business schools and featuring a rigorous, cutting-edge curriculum that prepares students with integrated management skills, expertise in Chinese business, and a global perspective. Over the past decade, it has cultivated numerous cohorts of outstanding leaders in the business world.

At the forum, Fang Fang, Vice President of Peking University, delivered an online speech. Prominent guests in attendance included Craig Allen, President of the U.S.-China Business Council, Francesca Cornelli, Dean of Kellogg School of Management, Liu Qiao, Dean of Guanghua School of Management, as well as industry leaders, with faculty members, alumni, and students from both schools.

Associate Dean of Guanghua School of Management and GK Program Academic Director, Shen Qiaowei, presided over the event, expressing pride in the enduring partnership between Guanghua and Kellogg. She believed that cross-cultural understanding is key to addressing global challenges and fostering global leaders.

Welcome Remarks

Fang Fang

Vice President of Peking University

PKU Vice President Fang Fang opened the event, congratulating the GK Program on its milestone anniversaryand emphasizing the importance of open, international collaboration in education.

Thenhe also noted theGK Program's recent 12th place debut in the Financial Times global EMBA rankings — the highest ranking for a new entry.This achievement turns a significant new chapter for Peking University's international strategy. He trusted that the faculty, students, and alumni of both universities will redouble the efforts and view the milestone of new achievements as the springboard for their next journey. "Let cultural exchanges transcend estrangement, mutual learning transcend clashes, and coexistence transcend feelings of superiority," he remarked at the end of the speech.

Special Guest Remarks

Craig Allen

President of US-China Business Council

Craig Allen, President of the U.S.-China Business Council, discussed the forum's timely themein the context of the recent U.S. elections, exploring it through the lenses of reciprocity and a rules-based international order.

Craig Allen noted that while the WTO's rules-based order has benefited global markets, trade tensions and rising populism are shifting the paradigm toward a reciprocity-driven approach. He believes that the change is going to bring comfort and volatility, great opportunity for those who can manage it, and great struggle for those who cannot manage it. Therefore, business education is of utmost importance, as it should prepare leaders who are capable of managing global changes.

Subsequently, Francesca Cornelli, Dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and Liu Qiao, Dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, delivered inspiring keynote speeches respectively.

Keynote Speech

Francesca Cornelli

Dean of Kellogg School of Management

Francesca Cornelli, Dean of Kellogg School of Management, celebrated the joint program’s impact and paid tribute to Guanghua Founding Dean Li Yining and the late Kellogg Dean Donald Jacobs, who established the partnership in 1998.Building on the solid foundation they laid, the Guanghua-Kellogg EMBA Program was launched in 2014, marking a new chapter in the cooperation between the two schools.

Dean Cornelli emphasized China's growing role in global business and the importance of authentic cross-cultural exchange to navigate complexities in Eastern and Western markets. Business education should emphasize rigor, analytics, leadership and empathy, to create a holistic view that aligns with both Eastern and Western values. She also called for more integration between business and scientific fields like AI, Big Data, biotech, and sustainability, with a goal to "build bridges and help innovations impact society." At the end of the speech,she remarked that the GK Program, as a model of Sino-US educational cooperation, will serve as a cradle for cultivating leaders who understand both economies and possess a global perspective.

Keynote Speech

Liu Qiao

Dean of Guanghua School of Management

Guanghua School of Management Dean Liu Qiao stressed that while celebrating the GK Program's 10 years' achievements, it is also about anticipating what is going to happen in the future.Business education is at crossroads and is facing multiple challenges such as retreating globalization, changing value of international trade, and the reshaping of global value chains.He emphasized that Guanghua School of Management will continue to strive for focusing on solving practical "first-order issues." Through programs like the Guanghua-Kellogg EMBA, it aims to cultivate future business leaders with leadership and problem-solving skills.

In addition, Dean Liu Qiao also took China's economic growth as an example to delve into the first-order issue facing both the Chinese and global economies, which is to increase Total Factor Productivity (TFP). In this context, he emphasized that close cooperation between Chinese and American academic institutions is crucial and that more efforts should be made to promote interconnection between the two schools and the two peoples.Dean Liu urged GK students to lead in tackling similar challenges under a highly uncertain period. "Count on graduates of the GK Program — we believe you can make the impossible possible."

Panel I

Leading Green Growth:

Corporate Strategy and ESG Practices

As green growth becomes a key driver for sustainable economic development, businesses are expected to prioritize ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) commitments to meet stakeholder demands and enhance corporate reputation.In the first panel session, titled "Leading Green Growth: Corporate Strategy and ESG practices," experts convened to discuss the evolving role of ESG in corporate strategy.

Moderated by Professor Lu Hai from Guanghua School of Management, panelists included: Wu Bo from China Investment Corporation, China-U.S. Green Fund Chairman Xu Lin, Beiersdorf North East Asia Managing Director Shirley Xue, and Sino Carbon Innovation & Investment Co. Ltd. Co-founder Zheng Xipeng.

The panelists shared on the role of ESG in corporate strategy and the transformative changes it drives. Wu Bo drew comparisons between Europe and China's approach to ESG, with China focused on supply-side solutions like solar panel subsidies. ESG transition is not just an important consideration for companies, but also for governments, Wu said. Xu Lin advocated for non-governmental Sino-U.S. collaboration on green, low-carbon initiatives to build consensus. Zheng Xipeng pointed out that when companies implement ESG work, it is not just an information disclosure report, but also integrates sustainable development concepts and frameworks into the company's long-term development strategy. At the same time, it identifies and considers the innovative use of clean technologies in the implementation path to improve long-term competitiveness of enterprises. Shirley Xue encouraged companies to adopt digital tracking of carbon emissions and carbon footprints to transform supply chains.

Panel II

Riding the Waves of Change:

Consumer Insights and Market Foresight

The post-pandemic era has brought unprecedented changes to today’s market, with the average consumer becoming more discerning.To explore this evolving landscape of consumer behavior, the second panel session was held under the theme "Riding on the Waves of Change: Consumer Insights and Market Foresight."

The discussion featured insights from Vice President of L'Oréal China Group and General Manager of L'Oréal China Dermatological Beauty Angie Ma, Kellogg Associate Dean and Professor of Marketing Tom O'Toole, Founder and partner of XCap Partners Limited Ken Poon, and Xiao Lu, Executive Vice President of Decathlon China. The session was moderated by Professor Xu Jing from Guanghua School of Management.

Tom O'Toole started off by stating that as consumer centricity becomes more crucial in today's business environment, companies need to focus on customer differentiation. Ken Poon built on this opinion, comparing strategies of Chinese tech unicorns to illustrate that successful companies are those who ride new trends like short videos, e-commerce, and group-buying habits, to meet consumers' demands. Industry experts Xiao Lu and Angie Ma discussed the evolution of their companies' strategies. For Decathlon, the sports brand has moved on from offering entry-level sports gear to also providing specialized and professional products. Representing L'Oréal, Angie Ma observed that more Chinese consumers were turning to expertise like dermatologists to meet their cosmetic needs. Thus, the company now offers 31 brands in China, each targeting a specific group of consumers.

The forum concluded with a celebratory anniversary Gala Diner, where faculty from both schools, alumni, and students gathered to celebrate this significant decade-long journey.The Gala Dinner kicked off with a commemorative video featuring representatives from all eleven GK cohorts performing the song "You Raise Me Up." With heartfelt emotion, the performers infused the lyrics with deep affection for both Guanghua and Kellogg, expressing their gratitude for both schools, and appreciation for the decade-long camaraderie of the GK Program.

Speaking to the cohorts of alumni and students at the Gala,Dean Liu Qiao described the GK Program as "a great combination of Eastern and Western wisdom," while Dean Cornelli encouraged GK students to continue embodying the values of Guanghua and Kellogg in their professional roles.

Over the past decade, the program has nurtured numerous exceptional alumni and students.At this special moment, four distinguished alumni awards were presented in honor of their outstanding achievements.The awards are the "Distinguished Alumni Award," "Innovation Pioneer Award," "Women's Leadership Award," and the "Social Responsibility Award."

The award-winning alumni then took the stage, expressing deeply that this was not just an honor but also a recognition of their past efforts and growth, all of which were nurtured by the GK Program. They said,"It was the GK Program that built an excellent platform, provided us with an immersive global perspective, and allowed us to learn from peers and grow together. In the future, we will give back to society and bring honor to our alma mater."

Additionally, the program also awarded special thanks to the alumni and students in recognition of their contributions to the 10th anniversary celebration.Associate Dean and Director of EMBA programs at Guanghua, Ma Li, and Associate Dean and Academic Director of GK Program at Guanghua, Shen Qiaowei, expressed their heartfelt gratitude for the alumni and students' profound dedications. They also conveyed the utmost respect for the shared accomplishments over the past decade. Acknowledging the invaluable support of all the faculty members, students and alumni, Ma and Shen believed that the GK Program would continue to flourish and reach new heights.

As the awards ceremony drew to a close, the GK Band, composed of talented GK alumni, took the stage with a dazzling performance that elevated the atmosphere of the event. With the final note, the performance came to a spectacular end, bringing the grand celebration to a perfect close.

The 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Guanghua-Kellogg EMBA Program marked a significant milestone in the internationalization of education for both schools, injecting vitality into the thriving development of global business education. The forum reflectedthe "Dare to Lead" (Gan Dang) spirit of Guanghua School of Management, and the "High Impact, Low Ego" philosophy of Kellogg School of Management.

Looking ahead, Peking University's Guanghua School of Management and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management will continue to strengthen their partnership, advancing the GK Program to cultivate leaders with global vision, setting new benchmarks in international business education.

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来源 |北大光华EMBA

编辑 |刘畅

审核 |奂然