WKU CBPM Project Based Learning (PBL) Initiative

The purpose of WKU CBPM Project Based Learning (PBL) Initiative is to provide the experiential learning opportunities for WKU CBPM students through addressing the real business problems and cases from Wenzhou businesses. 

Detail processes of exercising the WKU CBPM PBL are: 

1. OHT coordinator recruits and summarizes potential clients who would like to solve their real business problems. 

2. CBPM PBL coordinator recruits and summarizes potential classes that can address the real business problems from clients. 

3. CBPM classes make visits to client(s) to make an initial contract for consulting project. 

4. CBPM classes and clients conduct consulting projects together

Potential Clients & Projects

Guide for Advisement for Course Registration. 

WKU CBPM Faculty Refreshment Space 

Since having the new College of Business and Public Management (CBPM) building in Jan. 2018, the CBPM faculty members had needed a space for refreshment, food feedings, class material supports, and communication. 

Thanks to the donations from those 2nd floor faculty members, CBPM building get the faculty refreshment space equipped with coffee maker, snack bar, and refrigerator. 

Thanks, Donors! 

To respect our "Female faculty members", a space of the refrigerator is solely dedicated. 

Sept. 25, 2018

Facilitator, 

Dr. Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi, 

Global Practicum Project (OneHRT, Wenzhou, China) 

June 05, 2018: Team Up

A Global Practicum consulting team for OneHRT at Wenzhou, China is set up. 

For learning and collaborative works, a dedicated space is assigned to the CBPM building (A202) at Kean University (Wenzhou). 

A learning management system (Mainly Google Classroom https://classroom.google.com/c/MTU4MDcwNDAxNjNa ; supplementary- Blackboard) was organized and structured. 

All necessary materials (class, lecture, consulting tools, template, team sharing, resources, Bloomberg database) are in the system. 

June 06, 2018: Site Visit

A Global Practicum consulting team made a site visiting at OneHRT, Wenzhou, China. We were kindly welcomed by the OneHRT company. We visited two sites, and we could get basic understandings about the company throughout observation, Q&A, and intensive communication.

The Kean Global Practicum Consulting team and the Company - OneHRT made an initial agreement that contained purpose, scope, period, benefit, and information confidentiality.  

June 07, 2018: Consulting Process & Bloomberg Terminal @WKU

The WKU consulting team learned about the consulting processes and basic tools. 

The team learned how to access "Bloomberg database terminal @ Kean University (Wenzhou)" - the most reliable business data source to cultivate the industrial knowledge and company profiles.  

June 08, 2018: Company Analysis & Benchmarking Analysis

The WKU consulting team learned about how to conduct company analysis and benchmarking analysis. The team started gathering data for analyses.  

June 09~12, 2018: Debriefing and Data Mining

The WKU consulting team analyzed the client's need and started mining data for Benchmark study. 

June 12, Fixing Schedules

The WKU consulting team fixed the project schedule. 

June 13, Transforming Data/Information to Knowledge

The WKU consulting team started creating new knowledge based on acquired data and information. 

Alpha Team (Global Leaders in the Workforce Management Industry)

Beta Team (Chinese Domestic Market Leaders in Workforce management industry) 

Gamma Team (Chinese Domestic Market - Competitors)

Delta Team (Client Analysis & Format Checker, Fact Checker, Relation Coordinator)

June 14, Client Meeting for Updating

The WKU consulting team had a progress meeting with the Client (OneHRT) to update our progress. Three team leaders and three coordinators participated in the meeting. 

At the meeting, the WKU consulting team got a fresh and extensive request for conducting Corporate Social Responsible study for the company. 

June 18, (Dragon Boat Holiday) Formulating Strategies and Suggestions

 QR Code for Kean Global Practicum Project (2018 Summer, OneHRT)

Dragon vs. Frog 

Recently, a few undergraduate students come to me and request for recommendation letters to apply for graduate programs. 

It is a great pleasure and honor to help students having my humble letters. And I asked a fundamental question: "What is your purpose of going to graduate school?". 

Students commonly answered: 

Because I want to get a better job! 

Because I want to experience foreign life! 

Because my Mom and Dad want me to go to graduate school!

Because I have good GPA, TOEFL, GRE/GMAT scores.

Then, I changed my question: "What problem do you want to solve for us by using your knowledge from the graduate program?" 

Students are puzzled because they think they must come back home to get a good job and serve for their parent. Absolutely, that is OK. But that cannot be a reason to study at a graduate program because the purpose of graduate study is not to train the future workers but questioners, problem-solvers, and leaders.  

[Zootopia: July Hopps's Family Talk about Judy's career]

Many Asian students are bounded by a certain strong social pressure. This is the reason why Asian students work hard: to get a better job; to build a good and stable life. 

But what if these Kids have a great potential that can lead us to a better world through their creative and constructive problem-solving actions? Is the mediocre expectation from parents and society appropriate? 

I wish my students can search for a tough problem that must be addressed by the young talent. And I wish my students would not afraid to listen and follow their own callings from the tough problem. 

Because I can sense that many of our kids are dragons, not frogs. 

Dragons, please rise and fly high to help people! 

Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi, PhD, MBA, ME

Lecture Room Improvement for College of Business and Public Management at Kean University (Wenzhou). 

May 10, 2018

Completion of Lecture Room Improvement for College of Business and Public Management at Kean University (Wenzhou). 

Nov. 14, 2018

Kean University (Wenzhou) Open House Event

Mar. 18, 2018

Demo Class1: Dr. Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi (Management) talks about "What you will learn at College of Business" 

Demo Class 2: Dr. Robert Marjerson (Management) talks about "Case Study in College of Business"

Event photo: 

Kean Business Plan Competition 

First Round (Executive Summary Competition)

EXAMPLES OF KEAN BPC 

First Round (Executive Summary Competition)

Executive Summary (1-2 pages single-spaced)

1. Company Name & Contact Information

• Company name and location:

• Your contact information (names, email addresses and phone numbers): 

2. Opportunity/Problem

• Briefly describe the key problem or unmet need that you will address for your customers. 

3. Solution

• What products or services will you offer to address the problem above to meet your customers’ need(s)?

4. Competition and Competitive Advantage 

• What other options do your customers currently have to address their needs, and what makes your solution better for them?

• What is your “crystal clear” competitive advantage?  What are you most counting on to encourage potential customers to buy from you?

• If you have a common business, explain why customers need your particular business. Do you offer lower prices? More convenient hours? A better location or distribution method? A specialty that is not otherwise available in your area?  Do you have a different way of promoting your business?

• If your company is doing something new and different, explain why the world needs your product or service innovation. What is it about existing businesses or situations that are subpar? Are you improving on a mediocre product or service category? 

5. Target Market

• Who is your primary target market?

• What is the size of that market?

• What are the key trends affecting your industry that will make it an attractive market (e.g. competitive, economic, cultural, demographic, lifestyle, technological, political/legal, environmental sustainability, etc.)?

6. Why Us?

• What is it about your company — your skills, experience, subject-matter expertise, business acumen, team, innovations, industry connections, key advisors, and so on — that makes you (or your team)the right one(s) to take advantage of this market opportunity?

7. Forecast

• Summarize your financial goals. How much revenue do you expect to make in the first year of your business? What kind of revenue growth do you expect in the following years? When do you expect your business to be profitable, or do you have a strategic reason for running at a loss instead? 

8. Financing Needed

• How much money will you need to raise and what will it be used for? 

•   How do you plan to fund your business?    Will you need to seek outside financing or invest your own money to get it started?

Definitions of Rubic

Business Opportunity

Presented the business opportunity and how the company will take advantage of that opportunity

Distinctive Product or Service

A unique/well-thought-out product and/or service that gives the company a competitive advantage

Target Market 

Explained the target market, its need, its size and the customer usage trends

Management Capability

Discussed how the founder and his/her team will develop this company and handle the associated risks

Financial Understanding

Displayed a good understanding of the financial requirements and projections for the business

Investment Potential 

Clear and compelling business idea, obvious investment potential

Quality of presentation

Presented business idea in a logical, persuasive manner, and answered questions convincingly. Visual materials effectively supported and enhanced the oral presentation.

• All ratings are on a 10-point scale, with 1 being poor and 10 being excellent.

Example of Business Plan Evaluation

Samples of 1st Round Winners' Business Plan Idea

Green Community Farming

zzzGreenFarming.docx

HealthyBlender

zzzHealthyblender.pdf

MasterPiece

zzzMasterPiece.docx

Intellectual Exchange community

zzzIntellectual exchange community.docx

Smart Mirror

zzzSmart Mirror.docx

Cougar's Food Truck

ZZZCougar's Food Truck.docx

Second Round (Full Business Plan) 

Here are several samples of Full Business Plans that won prizes in previous Kean BPC. 

Full Business Plan Example: 2017 Kean BPC Prize Winners

- Fly Solo: 

Fly solo full business plan .pdf

- Home Style Furniture: 

Homestyle Furniture-Full business Plan.pdf

- Leisure & Love Coffee Shop

WKU Leisure & Love Coffee Shop.pdf

You can also refer to the following website: 

Guide to developing a full business plan: 

https://articles.bplans.com/a-standard-business-plan-outline/

Finalist Notification 

Final Event (Business Plan Presentation, April 12, 2018)

HealthyBlender Team: PT Slide

https://www.slideshare.net/jeonghwan.choi/healthy-blender-team

Green Community Farming: PT Slide

https://www.slideshare.net/jeonghwan.choi/green-community-farm1

2018 Kean Business Plan Competition Winners

Green Community Team ($900)

李馥宇 （Fuyu Li, Fiona);  毛湘宁 （Xiangning Mao, Olivia）; 陈应方平（Yingfangping Chen, Sylvia);

Healthy Blender Team ($900)

Qi Zhang (Verna); Anqi Zheng (Carina); Jiayi Wu (Ashley)

MasterPiece Team ($150)

Jinxin Xu 徐金鑫 (Allen); Lantian Jia 贾蓝天(Sapphire)

2018 Kean Business Plan Competition Award Ceremony (May 11, 2018, Hall of Fame Event @ CBPM Building )

Introduction of Kean BPC & Winner of 2018

Kean Business Plan Competition QR Code

Guiding to Graduate Schools Workshop 

The Purpose: 

The purpose of sharing this information is to enhance the understanding about Graduate studies in foreign countries. Four international faculty members at College of Business and Public Management (CBPM), Kean University (Wenzhou campus) share their experiences of Graduate school application, admission, and completion. 

Speakers: 

Dr. Jahidur Rahman (PhD, City University of Hong-Kong)

Dr. Candy Lim Chiu (PhD, Kyoto University, Japan)

Dr. Mohammad Mousavi  (PhD, University of Edinburgh, UK)

Dr. Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Organizers:  From Left to Right

Helen (Hou Yiwen), Zagan (Chen Juefan), Afra (Man Quitong), Ariana (Xu Yunxin), Fredericka (Ge Yunuo). 

Dr. Jahidur Rahman (PhD, City University of Hong-Kong) talks about the importance of "Evaluation Metrics liks standard scores, GPA, and experiences from extracurricular activities". 

Dr. Candy Lim Chiu  (PhD, Kyoto University, Japan) talks about "Prepare a complete application package including SOP, required qualifications, portfoloio". 

Dr. Mohammad Mousavi  (PhD, University of Edinburgh, UK) talks about the unique characteristics of UK graduate programs and importance of "purpose of graduate study". 

Dr. Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) talks about American graduate programs and suggests a "Template" that can help applicants organizing and preparing graduate school applications.". 

Question & Answers:  

(In China, Bilibili Video)

Workshop Pictures:  

   

How to get a strong recommendation letter for Graduate school application? 

please refer to http://leadershipcenter.tistory.com/444

A Samples Recommendation Letter Instruction (Evaluation letter for an applicant)

Please evaluate the candidate and comment on the following:

1. What do you consider to be the applicant's primary talents or strengths?

2. Discuss the applicant's weaknesses and the efforts, if any, the applicant has made to improve in these areas.

3. Comment on the applicant's ability and willingness to work in a team environment.

4. Describe your observations concerning the applicant's leadership.

5. How will a graduate business degree contribute to new employment, or the candidate's managerial advancement in his/her current organization?

6. Provide any further comments that you believe would aid the committee in the evaluation of the applicant.

A Samples Statement of Purpose (SOP) 

Source: https://www.mbaadmissiongurus.com/sample-mba-sop/finance

I, _______ , am writing this essay to apply for the MS in Finance program at the University of _____________.  

First and foremost, my main purpose of applying for the program is to grow myself as a global financial problem-solver in the field of social entrepreneurial finance, particularly in community economy development through building innovation cluster in developing countries like China, Vietnam, and Sub-Saharan Africa in the global economy. 

From my previous research of the Development Trend of Industrial Cluster in Wenzhou, the economy in China now developed in an imbalanced way. That is a few leading cities are economically growing quickly while many underdeveloped cities are declining because of unequal financial resource distribution issue. The problem of unequal financing for community economy development is one of the most critical problems that need to be addressed in development country’s economy. I want to learn about advanced knowledge about the financial problem-solving skills from your institution – the best graduate program for social entrepreneurial finance to address the issue in developing countries.

Second and specifically, I want to learn from the case of St. Louis city’s transition to Small-Medium Enterprise (SME) friendly local community economy development model in the perspective of entrepreneurial financing. I was acknowledged that St. Louis was an example of declining community economy, which is similar to Wenzhou – a second tier industrial city in China. From my personal communication with Dr. Choi – a founder of UC Smiles (a local currency social enterprise) at Urbana-Champaign, IL, I get to know that WUSTL have been successfully addressing the community economy problem in terms of Entrepreneurial Finance. I get a keen interest in the St. Louis community economy development model speculated in developing SMEs through entrepreneurial financing strategies and policies. 

At the Wenzhou community economy development project, I observed that financing to a few number of Championing companies did not work well in developing the community economy. For example, those leading companies, who took most entrepreneurial financial resources from central and local government, encountered economic crisis when their big global customers (e.g. Samsung) faced a problem in 2016 (Galaxy Note 7 – burning battery issue). Consequently, many SMEs at Wenzhou bankrupted and the local economy quickly declined. I would like to learn what will be better entrepreneurial financing strategies and policies in developing SME friendly local community economy from the living case of _____ city. 

Third and finally, I would like to elaborate my inquiry of social entrepreneurial financing as a global initiative at _______. I know that _________ has a strong tradition of multidisciplinary and diversified global initiatives for public value creation. I want to be a part of it and I am eager to contributing the legacy. I strongly believe that my inquiry of social entrepreneurial financing for developing countries is well aligned with the mission of the __________ graduate program.  

Shortly, I will be growing as a financial problem-solver who would address the financing issues in developing innovative local community economy at developing countries. 

TOEFL Waiver Example 

As a four-year fully English speaking American college, WKU students can get TOEFL waiver from many English speaking graduate schools. 

This is an example of applying for the TOEFL waiver. WKU student can get this certificate from the "Registration Office" and provide it with the application package. Please check out the availability of the TOEFL waiver at target graduate programs. 

End of Document

How to get a strong recommendation letter for Graduate school application? 

Faculty members want to give a more practical guide and support for graduate school applicants

Photo: Kean University (Wenzhou campus) Faculty members at 2017 Graduation Ceremony. 

However, faculty members have difficulties in writing a strong recommendation letter for two reasons: 1) Lack of applicant's information and 2) Time pressure. 

Solution 1: Use the Recommendation Letter Request Form

A faculty recommender needs necessary information and sufficient communication with an applicant to write a strong recommendation letter. The necessary information are 1) Personal information, 2) Purpose and Goal for graduate study, and 3) Capabilities and Characters of graduate study.   

The best way to provide recommender an applicant information is making sufficient and continual interactions. If an applicant works for a recommender and makes continual communications, there will be no problem for a recommender to know about an applicant to write a reference letter. 

But this case is not many in reality.  So, proving a recommender the sufficient information is highly desirable. 

The following template helps an applicant providing necessary information to a faculty recommender. 

QR Code

The template is composed with 1) Applicant's personal information 2) Relationship with a recommender, 3) Necessary documents, 4) Applying schools, 5) Recommendation form, 6) Purpose of graduate study, 7) supportive capability, skills, and knowledge, and 8) Decision.  

It is noteworthy that an applicant can use the "Reference-letter.com" to fill in the "Any sample sentences do you want to include in the recommendation letter". 

Recommenders want to provide specific sentences that can highlight an applicant's strength and capability. And, an applicant can help the recommender to paraphrase the sample sentences.  

Click here to go to www.reference-letter.com

Solution 2: Make a Continual Communication

If an applicant completes the Recommendation Request Form, the individual should try making continual communications. Face-to-face interaction is the best form of making communication with a recommender. However, if it does not work, please never hesitate to make a phone call, Email, or message to refresh an applicant's request. 

Unfortunately, recommenders have limited time resource to write recommendation letters. For example, if a faculty get 10 requests for recommendation letter writing, the faculty may write more than 100 letters because an applicant commonly applied more than 10 different graduate schools. 

Frequently, a recommender misses or forgets to submit a recommendation letter for an applicant because of the reason. 

So, please do not assume that you will be a strong recommendation letter from a recommender simply because you 'requested'. But, please try to make a continual communication with the recommender. 

In short, use the recommendation letter request form for graduate school application and make a continual communication by using the form. It will help an applicant getting a strong recommendation letter. 

Can the Holacracy (no boss organization) work in China? 

After implementing the Holacracy practice at Zappos, the management practice gets special attention from managers and scholars. So far, the Holacrazy does not work well. But, I give a special attention to this new managerial concept because I believe that a new form of organizational structure is necessary to meet the business environment changes. 

A Chinese student thinks that the Holacracy can work in China. 

Do you agree with him? 

Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi, 

PhD, MBA, ME

REFLECTION ESSAY

Course: Principles of Management

Module 08: Organizing

Name (Pingyin & English): Shen Zhenyao (Stacey)

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, decided to use the creative idea- holacracy in his company. When facing his unexpected management method, a large number of people are hard to understand his action. 

   Holacracy breaks many thinking methods in traditional management. It shows Tony has his own creative ideas about managing his employees. People always cannot accept new things. At the time of the announcement, 14% of people left the company. And Zappos is becoming weaker during this time period. In society, many traditional managers and scientists do not think this will cause Zappos become more successful. After the implementation of holacracy, the situation of Zappos is becoming worse. As a good manager, there is no reason for Tony to take such a huge risk if there is no reasonable future benefit. Therefore, there are must have some reasons for him to make that decision. It is meaningful to analyze holacracy’s benefits. Holacracy will contribute a lot of benefits to companies. It will increase the relationship between workers, collect more imaginative ideas, and obtain more comprehensive information.

First, holacracy will encourage collaborate and communication by eliminating workplace hierarchy. 

   Hierarchy let workers just talk with their superior managers. However, in most of time, the manager cannot exactly recognize whether the idea is good or not. It is difficult for people to recognize their errors, but it is easier for other people to figure out their mistakes. Traditional hierarchy causes workers just focus on the work of their own area. If the people in other departments have some suggestion for them, they may consider that as provocation, and not accept it. And the people in other departments always do not want to share their opinions for the misunderstanding. However, holacracy let people dispel this concern, and speak out their advice freely. 

Second, more creative ideas will come out. Not only because there are more people can consider about creating new ideas, but also because they are not constrained by others. 

   In some situation, smart people’s minds are being constrained by knowing too much things. They will automatically think about other similar events and the possible results. However, some normal people may come up with some creative ideas, which are not reasonable but useful. Though the ideas of normal people are not practical. But there are many professional people, who can expand the original simple ideas. Thus, if there are more people can come up new ideas, the company can be developed more unexpected.  Moreover, many workers do not say out their ideas because they are not confident, they think they are ineligible to speak out their ideas. Holacracy will avoid they have this kind of concern.

Third, a company can have more detailed information from people. Hierarchy cause CEO just can hear the thought of superior managers. 

   However, according to a fferent situation, different people can see different aspects. Superior managers just can see the problems, which may happen in a more macroscopic way. Normal people can realize the problems, which may happen because of some tiny things. These tiny things are easy to be ignored by many superior managers, but these tiny things always can cause the deadliest problem. Collecting detailed information is critical for companies.

Holacracy changes a lot of thinking in traditional management. 

   It will bring many benefits to companies. Although holacracy changes many aspects in traditional management, it is one of the significant trends of future management. Managers should try to learn it and figure out the advantages in it. It is a wise and valuable decision to choose holacracy.