Ahmedabad:
The art of business warfare in the rival's language - that's the latest class at Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.
"No matter where we go, United States, Singapore, or Hong Kong, there are definitely going to be people from China. So to bridge the cultural gap in the near and short term, we are taking this course. Also in the long term I see business opportunity could be explored there," said Murlidhar, student, IIM-A.
Private equity players are one of the major recruiters at the IIM Ahmedabad, and recently many such players like Carlyle Group and TPG have signed deals with Chinese companies. That's the reason why many students believe it makes business sense to learn Chinese.
It's a 26-sessions course on Chinese business culture. And the teacher is straight from Tianjin University, one of China's biggest and oldest institutes.
"We teach policy issues, the business environment, how our policy work and our political system, because the political system influences the business policies," said Zhang Li Yan, professor, Tianjin University.
"The focus is on expression. How to speak, and more than the language, we are taught what are the cultural differences between the two countries, particularly the mannerisms and how to behave when you are in China," said Aadesh Raval, student, IIM-A.
All business roads these days lead to China. Then why should business classrooms not follow the new-age silk route.
"No matter where we go, United States, Singapore, or Hong Kong, there are definitely going to be people from China. So to bridge the cultural gap in the near and short term, we are taking this course. Also in the long term I see business opportunity could be explored there," said Murlidhar, student, IIM-A.
Private equity players are one of the major recruiters at the IIM Ahmedabad, and recently many such players like Carlyle Group and TPG have signed deals with Chinese companies. That's the reason why many students believe it makes business sense to learn Chinese.
It's a 26-sessions course on Chinese business culture. And the teacher is straight from Tianjin University, one of China's biggest and oldest institutes.
"We teach policy issues, the business environment, how our policy work and our political system, because the political system influences the business policies," said Zhang Li Yan, professor, Tianjin University.
"The focus is on expression. How to speak, and more than the language, we are taught what are the cultural differences between the two countries, particularly the mannerisms and how to behave when you are in China," said Aadesh Raval, student, IIM-A.
All business roads these days lead to China. Then why should business classrooms not follow the new-age silk route.
