USC IBEAR Business Class
Expert insight into the world of business. Business Class brings in depth interviews with people on the inside of international business.
Episodes
June 22, 2023 • 14 mins
Cecilia Chan is the Managing Director of a Manhattan-based private equity firm, Octonovem. In over 30 years as an investor, she has honed a style that focuses beyond the bottom line, to assess success by including a project’s effects on its community and the world. “Asset-light” companies, such as content creators, travel companies and products like perfume are included in her portfolio. Her “Doing good” maxim is supported by spend...
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July 10, 2020 • 20 mins
Cairn Spring Mills is a company that surprisingly is growing during the pandemic. The company is a varietal flour mill that produces a high quality locally sourced product. While other companies have been strapped by failing consumer demand and disrupted supply chains, Cairn Spring has increased sales by changing their business model - pivoting from being a strictly commercial wholesale outfit to being a nimble retail business.
C...
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June 19, 2020 • 23 mins
The #Covid-19 virus is changing accepted business norms around the globe. In this episode of Business Class, we spoke with #MarcusLu as he sheltered-in-place at his home in #China. With deep insight into business in China, Marcus described how the virus is changing long accepted patterns of how business is conducted. “We realize and are starting to accept the fact that doing business can be easier,” he noted, while saying that,...
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June 12, 2020 • 18 mins
In this episode of #BusinessClass, we return to Thailand for an #MBA review of the business skills needed to face this financial crisis. We spoke with PJ Van Hecke, a 2018 graduate of the #USCIBEARMBA program. PJ used his time in the program to shift from a global career in maritime engineering to the entrepreneurial side of book publishing. He is now a Co-Founder in #Bangkok-based #TheReadingRoom.
In conversation with IBEAR MB...
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The moment the St. Patrick’s Day Parade was cancelled, Janet Lightner - General Manager of Boundary Bay Brewery - knew they were in trouble. In this episode of Business Class, we move to the Microeconomic impact of the pandemic and go to the craft brewery nexus of Bellingham, Washington, to explore how the virus has upended the business model of a classic brew pub.
Boundary Bay, 25 years old, is a pioneer craft brewery that has bu...
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In this episode of #BusinessClass, we look at how the #Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the ASEAN nations, particularly #Thailand. We turn to #Dr.NarongchaiAkaransee, a former Thai government minister with extensive business knowledge.
Dr. Narongchai explains Thailand’s successful approach to control of the Covid-19 virus. In comparing the government’s reaction to the #CovidCrisis vs. the 2008 financial crisis, he explains how the ...
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May 15, 2020 • 20 mins
It’s always difficult to know what’s happening inside China. In this episode of Business Class, we hear first-hand information and analysis on China’s Covid-19 response from Shanghai resident, Jim McGregor, the CEO of APCO China.
In an interview with USC’s Dick Drobnick, Jim notes that “China’s exports have fallen off a cliff.” They explore if: having a two month head start with the virus is affecting the country’s recovery strat...
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May 8, 2020 • 18 mins
Millions of sports fans across the Asian sub-continent are watching the results of Jasdeep Pannu working from his living room. In this episode of Business Class, we speak with the Head of Digital Programming for ESPN India about how his organization saw the virus coming and moved #ESPNIndia out of the studio and into the guest room. The biggest problem? The virus coincided with the country’s most anticipated sporting event – The...
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Overnight, the Covid-19 pandemic moved much of the world’s business and business interactions online. In this episode of Business Class, we talk with Paul Wilson, Managing Director for Google Cloud (Public Sector) Asia Pacific. We asked Paul how this pandemic has created a moment in time, where technology tools are being adopted for use by people all over the globe and being put to work in ways no one ever imagined.
We had many qu...
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April 23, 2020 • 19 mins
Are the numbers coming out of China real? Will China record any positive GDP growth for the year? Will global companies change their strategies to remove the China bottleneck in their supply chains? Business Class continues its look at the economic impact of the Covid-19 virus with Clay Dube, Director of the USC US-China Institute. “The Chinese economy fell off a cliff,” notes Clay Dube as he takes us through what is known and wha...
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April 17, 2020 • 19 mins
Business Class originates in Los Angeles, the home of the entertainment industry. In this episode, we look at how Covid-19 has brought the entire industry to a standstill. Movie theaters are empty, studios are closed, the few TV commercials being filmed are done so in isolation via Zoom and iPhones. Devin Mann, Founder of Iconic Talent Agency of Beverly Hills, takes us inside the pandemic effects on entertainment production. What...
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April 10, 2020 • 19 mins
Business Class begins a series of interviews to explore the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic. In this episode, Peter Guyer, Founder of Athena International Foods gives insight on the effect the virus has had on his business, his supply chain and his sector. What can a business do to prepare for this kind of event? What lessons from past experience have helped guide him? Is there a way to prepare for such a unique business disrup...
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Cintra is one of the world’s largest infrastructure building companies. In this episode of Business Class, Carlos Ugarte, Global Head of Corporate and Business Development, explains how a project must send the right economic signals to be successful. Using toll roads and managed pricing as examples, Carlos explains the right moves that cities need to make. He laments however that even though urban populations are projected to gr...
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December 23, 2019 • 15 mins
The battle lines are being drawn in the world of global e-commerce. JD.com is the #2 online retailer in China with a staggering $67 billion in sales. In this episode of Business Class, Jasmine Liu, Director of HR & Operations of JD.com’s Silicon Valley Research Center, gives us insight into why her company sees plenty of room for JD.com, Alibaba and Amazon.
Jasmine points out that research, creating a better customer experience ...
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November 9, 2019 • 17 mins
At heart, Indra Uno is a consultant. He did a case study of his country and came up with a powerful set of findings:
• manufacturing jobs are leaving for less expensive locations
• unemployment is steady of 5% - but is 15 – 16% for youth
• 98% of the countries businesses are micro-entrepreneurs with sales under $50,000 USD
• Regulations are slowing needed growth in Indonesia
The Recommendation
• The country needs to create 2,000,0...
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October 31, 2019 • 20 mins
Sidney Rittenberg led an exceptional life. He tumbled into the swirling waters of history as the communist revolution swept Mao into power. He was a friend of Mao. He was also a prisoner of Mao. Twice. He spent sixteen years in solitary confinement, six years thanks to Josef Stalin, and ten years courtesy of the Cultural Revolution.
Somehow he rebounded and started a consulting business that brought companies such as Intel, Le...
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September 11, 2019 • 13 mins
In this episode of Business Class, the subject is climate change and business. Interviewed by USC’s Dick Drobnick, Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Masagos Zulkifli explains how Singapore, a small country with few natural resources, may present a very realistic model for a world that is facing effects from its changing climate.
Masagos Zulkfli, is an engineer and looks to science and numbers to underst...
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August 12, 2019 • 16 mins
According to Sri Manchala, CEO of Trasers, “This is where the game begins.” Sri and Trasers are digging in deep to help companies understand the Digital Transformation. Trasers has recently completed an exhaustive, many industries wide survey, of just where companies stand and what they understand about the Digital Transformation.
The resulting reports are aimed at helping companies understand how this revolution will affect them...
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July 15, 2019 • 15 mins
Bob Zukis sees two corporate worlds. In one world, a company is smoothly navigating the Digital Transformation and using these new tools to connect with customers and advance their business. In the other world, he sees boardrooms that simply don’t comprehend how the digital world operates and that there are barbarians at the gates. Bob says, “this is a crisis in the boardroom” and that business are facing new risks while simultan...
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June 18, 2019 • 20 mins
How does the Cold War inform business strategy? What truism about strategy did Lord Nelson understand to win the Battle of Trafalgar? Carl Voigt, Professor of Clinical Management and Organization at the USC Marshall School of Business and Academic Director of the USC IBEAR MBA Program brings storytelling to Business Class to describe what makes a good and what makes a bad business strategy.
The basic definition of strategy? Prof...
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