As bestselling American journalist and author Thomas Friedman puts it, we are living in an era of accelerations, and nowhere has this been more keenly felt than in the field of marketing. Something of the urgency of this ongoing transformation is captured in Professor Julie Li's imaginative opener The future of marketing is now. Starting from a real-life wedding event, we are taken on a hair-raising exploration of the near future, where frontiers are pushed beyond familiar horizons!
Our follow up article, Blockchain - A revolution in e-commerce, by Professor Wenyu Dou, takes us on a kaleidoscopic tour back through marketing innovations in world history, before succinctly assessing the potential of the coming technology - blockchain.
Have you ever had the suspicion that as a loyal customer you are being cheated? In Special customer, special price Dr Xi Li examines this unsettling prospect and the inequities of behaviour-based pricing. Dr Huazhong Zhao then assesses the remaining hurdles to the emergence of a full digital marketing ecosystem in Digital marketing: Transcending physical barriers. The tech revolution is of course impacting the way we run business, and in The dying art of leadership? Dr Chak-fu Lam surveys the state-of-play and the future of human leadership itself.
As change accelerates in the business world and complexity increases, there is a need to transcend conventional knowledge silos, and in Spring 2019, we launch Asia's first EMBA + MPA programmes in partnership with the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University. These innovative programmes highlight leading-edge knowledge and practice across the Belt-and-Road Initiative. Applications from potential learning partners are being accepted now.
Transformations in the job market are of crucial importance for our graduating BBA students. Bruce Lam, CMO of CSL Mobile Limited, is a member of CB's recently established Career Development Advisory Committee, and in The loyalty factor he explores opportunities in the current job market and his take on how to manage a career in the current corporate world.
The impact of digital technology in the corporate arena is a hot topic in the MBA SHARP Forum “Cashier-less Stores Initiative – The Arrival of New Era of Shopping?” In Clicks into bricks, Dean Samuels of Amazon Web Services, Ricky Wong of Hong Kong Television Network Limited, and Derek Ng of CRMG Holding Limited debate the future landscape of Hong Kong retail.
Meanwhile our BBA programme is offering ever greater choice with a double major option, a dual degree programme with Columbia U, and two flagship College-based programmes - the BSc in Computational Finance and Financial Technology, and BBA in Global Business. In The BBA of choice Dr Raymond Wong, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Programmes) explains how the programme is opening doors to great experiences and opportunities.
A big thank you to all of you who entered our photo competition, and congratulations to our winner Kenneth Kwong Kan-lap, whose photo on the centre pages demonstrates that smart phones have their attractions for all age groups! I do hope you enjoy this issue.
Houmin Yan
