This Tsinghua University MBA course is a part of the Global Hybrid Classroom (GHL) and Global Open Courses (GOC) initiative. This course is jointly designed and developed by Zhang Jiayin, associate professor of the Department of Leadership and Organization Management, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, and Deng Feng, founder of Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) and distinguished visiting professor of Tsinghua University.
Based on China’s most promising cutting-edge technology and business innovation, the course offers new insights, new discussions and new perspectives on the commercialization of new technologies as well as key elements of the creation and growth of technological enterprises.
The course is organized based on five important aspects of the commercialization of new technologies and the development of technological enterprises:
- business opportunities and market positioning;
- product positioning, design and development;
- corporate organization development;
- venture capital and impact investment;
- leadership.
Prominent business leaders will be invited to share and discuss real corporate cases with students. After taking this course, students are expected to understand the core elements and processes of the commercialization of cutting-edge technologies, and the general principles of the creation and growth of technological enterprises. Additionally, students will be able to perform competitive analysis, increase market and product awareness, and develop their overall vision, comprehensive capabilities, as well as leadership.
Course Timetable & Registration links:
Each session will be offered in both Mandarin Chinese and English. Students will be able to register for each individual session and are welcomed to participate during the live interactive section. In addition, we will also make part of the course accessible afterward so that learners from all time zones can enjoy it at their own pace.
The registration link will be made available two weeks prior to the respective session. Stay tuned!
Topic: Course introduction
Course arrangement and expectations
Opening lecture:
– Key characteristics and development path of technological enterprises
– Market positioning & business model
– Thinking as a product manager
– Leadership (competency development and values)
Guest lecturer:
Mr. Deng Feng holds BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from Tsinghua University, an MS degree in computer engineering from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Deng co-founded Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) in 2005 and serves as the Founding Managing Partner. He currently oversees 6 USD funds and 4 RMB funds, with assets of more than 30 billion RMB (4.5 billion USD). So far, he has led NLVC in investments in more than 400 companies in advanced technology, TMT (Technology, Media and Telecom), clean technology, consumer goods, and healthcare.
Topic: Discovering Business Opportunities
Miss Fresh (每日优鲜) was established in November 2014 as a technology-driven innovative community retail company, which strives to become a representative digital platform for community retail in China and promote the digital transformation of the community retail industry in China with innovative technologies and business models.
In first- and second-tier cities, Miss Fresh pioneered the “Front-end Warehouse” model, providing tens of millions of families in 16 cities with a selection of over 4000 products that could be delivered within as short as 30 minutes. In order to further promote the full-chain digitization of the community retail industry, Miss Fresh launched its smart vegetable farm business in the second half of 2020, and launched its retail cloud business in 2021, which leverages the core technical capabilities obtained in retail and its self-developed intelligent system, “AI retail network”, further empowering community retail industry participants to achieve digital transformation. Miss Fresh was listed on the NASDAQ on June 26, 2021, the first stock of community retail digitalization of China.
Guest lecturer:
Li Yang joined Miss Fresh in December 2014 and has served as our chief technology officer since July 2019. Mr. Li currently also serves as the head of our on-demand DMW retail business. Mr. Li received his bachelor’s degree from Renmin University of China.
Li Yang will elaborate on the business opportunities in enterprise digitalization and industrial Internet, and introduce to students business opportunities, market positioning, business models and so on.
Topic: Product Definition and Development
Xiaoice, was known formerly as AI Xiaoice Team of Microsoft Software Technology Center Asia, which Microsoft spun off as a separate entity on July 13, 2020. After the spin-off, the team has accelerated the integration of global cutting-edge technologies and localized products, and gone further ahead in basic research on artificial intelligence (AI). At present, the Xiaoice framework is one of the world’s largest comprehensive AI frameworks that carry the largest amount of interaction, with technologies covering natural language processing, computer speech, computer vision and AI content generation. Xiaoice has made outstanding achievements in various fields.
In various fields, Xiaoice constantly goes beyond the limits of AI, taps the potential of the industry, offers mankind new inspiration and a broader space for development, and strives to enable everyone to benefit from the development of AI. Based on the development of Xiaoice, LI Di will give students chances to discuss and learn product definition and development, such as spotting the essence of the industry and market positioning of products.
Guest lecturer:
LI Di leads a global team — responsible for the research and development, product innovation, and commercial implementation of the Xiaoice artificial intelligence framework system — and presides over the company’s daily operation, administration, and business activities. LI graduated from Tsinghua University and served as Executive Vice President of Microsoft (Asia) Internet Engineering Institute, Global General Manager of Microsoft Xiaoice, and General Manager of Microsoft Bing (Asia). He joined Microsoft in 2013, founded Microsoft artificial intelligence emotional computing framework in the same year, and launched Microsoft Xiaoice in 2014.
Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CzC4Hc9OQIujnT642BBVAw
Deadline for registration: October 10, 2021
Approval of registration will be made shortly after the deadline. As spaces for live participation are limited, we will prioritize currently enrolled university students and high-quality registration responses, thank you for your patience and understanding.
Topic: Corporate organization development
The registration link will be made available two weeks prior to the respective session. Stay tuned!
Topic: Venture capital and impact investment
The registration link will be made available two weeks prior to the respective session. Stay tuned!
Topic: leadership
The registration link will be made available two weeks prior to the respective session. Stay tuned!
Topic: Group presentation by MBA students
The registration link will be made available two weeks prior to the respective session. Stay tuned!
