Irememberwalkingintotheconferenceroomandlookingformyteammates.Wehadmeetmultipletimesbefore,throughvirtualmeetingsusingwebcameras,butthiswasthefirsttimewewouldmeetinperson.

LaunchweekendfortheGlobalBusinessProject,commonlyreferredtoasGBP,isanin-personkick-offevent,forstudentsenrolledattheUniversityofNorthCarolinaandpartneruniversities.TheGlobalBusinessProject,ledbyProfessorPaulFriga,isanexperientiallearningconsultantproject.Basedonskillsandinterests,studentsaregroupedtogethertocollaborate,synthesizeanddevelopsolutionsforanissuechallengingacompany.

ThecompanywearedevelopingsolutionsforisLi&Fung,aglobalsupplychaincompany,headquarteredinHongKong.NancyTrieuandMattOgleareourteamleaders.JimVanNess,LarryZeng,GregMorrissey,andI,EricaLeBlanc,arestudentsatTheUniversityofNorthCarolina.WhatmakestheGBPprogramespeciallyuniqueisateammemberfromTheUniversityofHongKongBusinessSchool,MazingHu.OurteamiscoachedandmentoredbyfacultyadvisorandProfessorofthePracticeDavidJacobson.

MostoftheteammetattheUniversityofNorthCarolinaattheendofJanuarytodiscusstheframework,whichwewillapplytodevelopasolutionforLi&Fung.OurteamwasfortunatetohaveemployeesofLi&Fungattendthekick-offeventinChapelHill.

Thekick-offeventwasinformative,throughpaneldiscussionsandclassroomsessionsandsmallbreakoutdiscussions.Moreimportantly,itgaveustimeasateamtobond.PaulFriga’sMcKinseybasedmethodologyofTEAMFOCUSwasputtothetestearlyonaswecametogetherasagroup.Oneinterestingexercise,wedidasateamwastobuildaLegohelicopter.Thecatch?Ininstructionswerenotprovided.Onlyoneteammemberatatime,couldlookatafullycompletemodelatthefrontoftheroom,thenwalkbacktothetableanddescribewhatthehelicopterlookedlike.Wasthischallenging?Yes.Wasitworthit?Absolutely.Buthowdidtheexerciserelatetoconsultingforacompanywithareal-lifechallenge?Theexercisewasatesttoseehowwellwecouldcommunicatetherealitiesofasituationwhenallteammembersmaynotbepresent,yetneedtobeinvolvedindeliveringasolution.WhatmadethisparticularexerciserelevantwastheinvitationtotraveltotheLi&FungofficesinHongKongandmeetwithLi&Fungemployees,beforethefinalin-countrypresentation.Duetothetimeframeoftherequest,someofourclassmateswouldnotbeabletoattend.Therefore,theLegoexercisewasadryrunofwhatwemightexpectasateamwhenonlyafewofuswouldbeattheLi&Fungofficeandwouldhavetoreportbacktotheentireteam.

Beforetheweekendended,theteamsharedconversationandideaswiththeLi&FungoverafantasticmealatCrooksCorner.Thisprojectwillundoubtedlybringoutinnovativeideas,butmoreimportantlylonglastingprofessionalandpersonalrelationships.

I’mlookingforwardtosharingthenextphaseoftheprojectwithyou.

Greetings from Hong Kong! One thing you learn quickly as a UNC Global Business Project (GBP) student, is to collaborate with the client early and often. We were invited by Li & Fung to visit their headquarters, before the final presentation, for in-country research and met with employees to learn more about daily business operations. Although only part of the team was able to make the first trip, Larry, Greg, David and I made the most of the trip, by starting off getting adjusted to the time zone difference with a traditional Canton Dim Sum. For a week, we experienced the life of living and working in Hong Kong. We kept to a traditional schedule of working 9am- 5pm. At the start of every meeting we did a formal business card exchange with every individual we met—regardless of title, or role. Receiving a business card with both hands and presenting your business card with both hands, is a must when doing business in Hong Kong. Failure to do participate in a business card exchange is a failure of the meeting. While originally scheduled to meet with some executives for an hour each, the interviews all ran long—to at least an hour and a half each. All of the executives were extremely engaged with the team and were very generous with their time. We each had several pages of notes to comb through for each of the interviews. However, to keep up with our GBP project we dedicated our evening to discussing our findings and hypothesis. The discussions about the project struck a balance of new insights and iterations of current hypothesis. Each day we worked well into the night, providing daily updates to the team in the US. By the end of the week, each of us had completely filled notebooks with our research findings. Although the days were long, it was energizing to work alongside my classmates. For our last night, we went out in trendy Lan Kwai Fong culture district and caught up with a few contacts we met during the week. It was an incredible experience, and I’m looking forward to the next in-country visit to present our final presentation.

DeliciousearlymorningDimSum.Canyouguesswhichplateisgoosefeet?

TryingtofindtoMangoCha-Cha,aTaiwaneseshavedicerestaurant.Greg'sfirsttimetastingmango!

Theteamdiscussingdailyfindings

Enjoyintheconversa0on!Dinnerwiththeteam

DinTaiFung-Usethethickendofyourchops0ckswhenpicking

upfoodfromashareddish

不倒翁中日火鍋BudaowengHotpotCuisine-theshrimpwerealive!

Gregsendingupdates

LastnightinLanKwaiFong

First0meselfie(forsome!)

MBAstudentsconsultingforLi&Fung,aspartoftheGlobalBusinessProject(GBP),attheUniversityofNorthCarolina,presentedtheirfindingsattheLi&FungofficesinHongKong,duringthelastweekinMay.(Fromlefttoright:EricaLeBlanc,MattOgle,ProfessorofthePracticeDavidJacobson,JimVanNess,NancyTrieu,LarryZeng,GregMorrissey)

TheGBP,Li&FungteamarrivedinHongKonglateFridaynight,andwewerewelcomedbysmatteringofrain.Despitethestartoftherainyseason,theweatherwassunnyandwarmthenextdaytoenjoyadayoutonajunk.Ajunkisthenameofanancientsailboat—howeverthetermjunkisusedtodescribemosttypesofboatsthatsailfromtheHongKongharborforrecreationaluse.WemetwithourhostfromLi&FungattheharborandalsowerejoinedbytheDirectorofGBP,PaulFriga.

Lotsoflaughsandplatesoffoodwereshared,whenwestoppedatlunchatLammaIsland.Wetastedandtriednewdishessuchasjellyfish,seasnailsandfriedcuttlefish.AfterlunchtheteamallwentswimmingintheSouthChinaSea.AllwereveryimpressedwithPaul’sdivingskills!AfterweenjoyedtheswimwereturnedtoHongKongharboranddisembarkedtoscoutotherlocalrestaurantsfordinner.

However,thefunwasshortlived.Thefollowingdaytheteamwasbacktoworkpreparingforared-teamreviewtoaselectgroupofexecutivesatLi&Fung.Thefeedbackfromthered-teamreviewresultedinsomeminorstylisticchangestoourpresentation,toensurewedeliveredacohesiveandsuccinctmessage.AllofusworkedwellintotheeveningtopracticeourpresentationandprovidedsomeTar-Heelencouragement!

Bythenextmorning,wewerewell-restedandweregreetedtoroomwithover40managersandexecutivesfromLi&Fung.Itwasaveryengagingpresentationandthedialoguewasinsightfulandinformative.LâleKesebi,theChiefCommunicationsOfficer&HeadofStrategicEngagementatLi&Fungsaid“ItisthebestpieceofworkI’veseenfromanMBAgroupinthe13yearsI’vebeenhere”.Followingthepresentation,theteammetwithasmallergroupofLi&FungExecutivestodebriefanddiscussadetailed,strategic,implementationplan.Afterafulldayattheoffice,theteamreceivedanoteofsupportandcongratulationsfromtheAssociateDeanfortheMBA,andMBA@UNCprogram,Dr.SridharBalasubramanian;“WeatUNCKenan-Flaglerareproudofthehighstandardsofrigorandperformance

wesetacrossprograms,andhighqualityperformanceofthistypeexemplifiesthatideal.Welldone,andkeeptheflagflyinghigh!”

WiththeprojectcompletedweallwerelookingforwardtospendingtheeveningrelaxingandexploringtheNightMarket,ledbynegationenthusiastandourteamLogisticsOfficer,GregMorrissey.AdditionalculturaltimewasscheduledovertheweekendtoexperienceShenzhen,ChinaandMacau.InShenzhentheteamvisitedaculturalmuseumandtriedlocalfood.(Wereallyareintotryingnewtypesofcuisineasateam!)

TheGlobalBusinessProject(GBP)atUniversityofNorthCarolinawasanacademicallyandculturallyrigorousprogram.Welearned,indepth,theiterativeprocessofconsultingandthevalueofprofessionalandlonglastingfriendships.Ifwewereaskedtodoitalloveragain—wewould.