Most of the young ventures fail within the first three years of their establishment by making some fatal mistakes. However, it is a business nature to make mistakes, particularly for those young entrepreneurs who enter the market without proper preparation because they usually do not realize the constraints and problems faced by new ventures. Since the Lecturer of this course strongly believes that it is difficult to repeat a ‘success model’, this course will concentrate on teaching the ‘failure factors’ that can bring down new ventures. It emphasizes on several major topics related to executing a business opportunity and securing required financial resources.

As the lack of financial resources is one of key failure factors and there are limited financial resources available to start-ups, students will be trained specifically for their fundraising skills. Since the investment community of Asia operates differently compared to the West, particularly USA, this course will concentrate on the assessment criteria of Asian investors in terms of the development and investment viability of ventures. This course covers critical issues concerning business ventures, especially ventures with innovative ideas and technology focuses, in detail.

This course is highly practical in nature. Existing quality ventures that encounter problems in fundraising will be sourced through the Pan Asia Venture Development Platform (http://pavd.info/) globally. The students are required to review the business model of those ventures and modify them from the view of Asian investors: angels, venture capitalists, private equity investors – industrial players and other strategic investors. At the last day of the course, students will make a fundraising presentation to approximately 15 – 30 PAVD investors from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan (http://pavd.info/Registered%20Investors/Judges/). The students may also see the performance of students from other programs and/or universities. In a nutshell, students of this course will work on real project and raise real money.

Making decisions, from the trivial to the fundamental, is part of the everyday life of every manager and investor. For the last 30 years, psychologists — and more recently also economists — have studied how people process information and make decisions. This research program has provided an insightful understanding of how people’s decisions deviate from “optimal” ones, and the consequences of such biases in financial and personal terms. This course is devoted to understanding the nature, causes and managerial implications of these limitations. It will help the students discover a series of serious yet often overlooked mistakes that most people would commit in a variety of decision contexts, including investment decisions, hiring decisions, purchase decisions and even marital decisions. At the same time, this course will also teach them how to correct these mistakes and how to reach optimal solutions. Instead of overwhelming the students with mathematical models or academic theories, this course will use many in-class exercises and questionnaires to convey the concepts.

This course introduces current research and thought on the negotiation process, and provides opportunities for course participants to apply the concepts and skills in simulations of actual negotiations. Strategic lessons are learned from different actual cases. The objective is to enable course participants to appreciate the art and science of negotiation, to understand how to resolve conflicts and derive the most out of bargaining.

This course provides an opportunity for the MBA students to apply what they have learned in the classroom to solving real-world business problems. A minimum of three and a maximum of five students are required to form a project team, under the supervision of a BA faculty member. A project proposal outlining the work to be undertaken by the project team must be approved by the supervising faculty member and endorsed by the Director of MBA Programmes or his/her representative within 10 calendar days from the start of the term. The project must be sponsored by a company in Hong Kong and approved by the Director. The sponsorship includes joint supervision of the project by an appointed senior staff of the company, pledge of assistance and support to ensure the successful completion of the project, and possible remuneration to members of the project team, other than the supervising faculty member, for the work undertaken. Students are expected to spend, on the average, one day a week throughout the duration of the project. The project duration must cover the term time as published by the University calendar, but should not exceed four months in duration. A final report of the project to be submitted to the supervising faculty member and an oral presentation of the results to the management of the sponsor is part of the requirements of the course. The final grades of the students will be determined by the supervising faculty member, in which the evaluation of the project by the sponsoring body should be reflected.

Eligibility: For Full-time MBA students only

This course introduces a framework for business valuation analysis using corporate disclosure and financial statement data. The framework identifies four key components of valuation: business strategy analysis, accounting analysis, financial analysis, and prospective analysis. Employing a case methodology, applications of this framework in a variety of decision-making contexts including securities analysis, credit analysis, and merger and acquisition decisions are examined.

This course provides a graduate-level overview of the principles and concepts that underlie corporate financial reporting and the economic consequences of accounting choices. The course focus is on developing the skills required to interpret the information contained in financial statements and its use in decision-making rather than on the skills required to prepare financial statements. Topics include the use of accounting information in evaluating firm performance, and corporate reporting policies.

This course delves into the major issues surrounding equity fund-raising in China. The principal focus is on initial public offerings (IPOs) and seasoned issues in Chinese stocks (including H- share, ‘red-chip’, private Chinese and ‘China-concept’ issuers) listed in Hong Kong. The characteristics of the various corporate entities and the nature of the funding methods utilized are critically explored. Case analysis of major IPO and seasoned equity issues (rights issues and private placings) features to amplify these objectives. Shanghai Ashare listings are also considered as well as the various reforms to its constituent issuers. These include the transformation of non-tradable stock holdings into tradable form, the development of QFII and QDII schemes and the key reforms to China’s leading state-owned commercial banks. Finally, dual listings, such as American depositary receipts, and alternative routes to listing (‘reverse takeovers’) are also assessed. Upon completion of the course, students will have developed key insights into a major global funding activity.

The world of global financial services is changing rapidly with the emergence of financial technologies, commonly referred as fintech. This course will cover key fintech concepts such as virtual banking, blockchain, digital currencies, tokenization, and others.

Examining a variety of case studies drawn from the industry, students will learn about recent developments in fintech from the perspectives of entrepreneurs, consumers and regulators. While Asian cases will be emphasized, some American and European examples will also be discussed so that students will acquire a global view of the subject.  A few industry practitioners will be invited as guest speakers to share their entrepreneurial experience in fintech with students.

This is an introductory course where computer programming is not required. However, basic knowledge in financial valuation analysis and statistics will be useful. The objective is to learn about the use of new technologies in solving business problems, and appreciate how current fintech trends will impact and shape the financial industry in the future.

Changes are becoming the new industry norm, especially those underpinned by Digital Transformation and Innovation (DTI). The course will start with an executive overview of DTI fundamentals, from technology landscape and industry maturity, followed by exploring the New Normal – from new products and services, to new intelligence and new experience.

Students would then be exposed to latest thinking and trends in the market, covering customer innovation with Design Thinking; New Economies grown on Digital Platform; and Reinvention of Businesses driven by Industry 4.0. Industry experts would be invited as appropriate.

Innovation is at its best when ideas are without boundary – students will review real cases from different industries, and from the analysis gain the grasp on DTI application. The course would wrap with a framework for students to apply DTI in their jobs.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are being used in the financial services industry worldwide. Financial institutions and Financial Technologies (FinTech) start-ups are using AI and machine learning methods to assess credit quality, to price and market insurance contracts, and to automate client interaction. Some of these companies are optimising scarce capital with AI and machine learning techniques, as well as back-testing models and analysing the market impact of trading large positions. Hedge funds, broker-dealers, and other firms are using AI and machine learning to find signals for higher (and uncorrelated) returns and optimise trading execution. These companies are using these technologies for regulatory compliance, surveillance, data quality assessment, and fraud detection.

After completing the course, you will have a basic understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), Financial Technologies (FinTech) and Blockchain (BC) from the core concepts to the main technologies. You will also learn how these technologies are being applied to finance industry from asset management to insurance, and from customer service to regulatory and compliance areas. Ethics and risks relevant to AI and machine learning will be explored.