Students learn strategic management amid temples, calligraphy and chicken feet

It was seeing Daniel Craig swim in the rooftop pool in ”Skyfall” that gave Cal State Fullerton assistant professor Lorenzo Bizzi the idea.

That’s what he told the 30 business students who signed up to travel with him to Hong Kong and Shanghai when spring semester ended.

“I watched James Bond movie and I said, ‘I need to go to that place,’ ” Bizzi said. “It all started from this. If it wasn’t for James Bond swimming pool, we would not go. We got to find where this place is and we go.”

That wasn’t really his only motivation.

Even without the James Bond inspiration, Bizzi likely would have taken the strategic management class for two weeks of travel and instruction because he wanted them to have the kind of powerful experience that brought him to the U.S. from his native Italy.

“Why did I choose to do this?” he asked. “When I was an undergrad, I did it. It was such a powerful experience that I said we have to do something similar.”

The trip was the first of its kind for Mihaylo College of Business and Economics. Except for one class session beforehand in Fullerton and a final exam afterward, all the course material was presented on the trip. There was no textbook.

At the first group meeting, the students were full of questions: How early to get to the airport? Parking at LAX? Outlet converter? Messaging app? (WeChat, which also allows mobile payments.) Picking a roommate? Exchange money? How much cash to bring? Business attire to site visits?

Students paid their own way, with a subsidy from the university.

Once in China, the students met each morning in the hotel or a nearby classroom, where they learned about management concepts and discussed case studies. Then in the afternoons, they toured local businesses where those concepts might be put into practice. Or maybe they just went sightseeing.

“Learning experience is juicy and fabulous and enjoyable and cool,” Bizzi told the group before departing. “This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Some students had been to China before and spoke a little of the language. Some had never been out of the U.S. But all were eager to take part in “experiential learning” — a priority at the university as it equips students to quickly get a foothold in the real world upon graduation.

In one exercise, teams of students each picked an American company, such as Tesla, on which to conduct a strategic analysis. Using their newfound cultural knowledge, they recommended how the company could better enter the Chinese market.

That tapped class material the students had before they left Fullerton. Bizzi taught them about sustainable competitive advantage — that to keep generating profit, a company must have four characteristics: value, rareness, inimitability and non-substitutability. He held out Starbucks as an example, mentioning market research and supply chain management as two strengths the chain has that others don’t.

On the trip, the students were also asked to apply the concept of sustainable competitive advantage to themselves as they enter the job market.

The group didn’t get to everything on its initial list — including the stock exchange and the “Skyfall” pool (though they did visit the rooftop bar at the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong, the highest in the world).

But they visited a subway under construction in Hong Kong, learning about its engineering and business model, which includes surrounding retail. And they toured the National Basketball Association office in Shanghai to hear how the league is growing in China.

“Bizzi is good at promoting critical thinking,” said class member Vanessa Ganaden. “He challenges you to think beyond what’s obvious.” Bizzi, who calls himself “The BizziMan,” tied in his lecture topics with what’s happening now in China, she said.

The students developed a strong bond on the trip, Ganaden said, as they walked on the Bund along the Huangpu River in central Shanghai admiring the skyline. Ten of them continued their travels on a short trip to Rosarito Beach after returning to Orange County.

Bizzi would like to make the class trip a regular event, going to a different city every year or even semester.

“They conquer a lot of the fears they have,” Bizzi said. They take more risks, take more initiative and grow as individuals. International travel can particularly benefit business students and advance their careers, since so much of business is now global, he added.

Bizzi studied abroad — in San Diego — while he was in college.

“It completely changes the college experience,” he said. In fact, it inspired him to leave Italy about 12 years ago to move to Canada.

Waiting to travel doesn’t have the same impact, he added. “This is the time they’re really shaping their mindset and developing passions.”

Why they went

Several students went on the trip after stopping by Lorenzo Bizzi’s office for something else and were asked: “Do you want to go to China?” Some other reasons the students gave:

• Never been to China and because Bizzi is teaching the class.
• Want to finish a course in two weeks.
• Want to go to Shanghai Disneyland.
• Have a goal of hitting every continent.
• Want to take a summer class and study abroad. “What better than to do study abroad in China?”
• Saw a poster by the elevator after finding out he needed to go to summer school.
• Wanted to have crazy experiences in a foreign country while knocking out a capstone class.
• Just got her passport last year and wanted to fill it up.
• “China — You can’t compare it to anything else.”

One student’s impressions

Student Kimberly Eichel kept a journal during the trip. Here’s an excerpt:

“China is a beautiful destination immersed in culture, cuisine, and life so unique to ours in America.

“Our students experienced learning how to write, speak, eat and live life such as the locals.

“We visited temples, witnessed the Big Buddha. We adventured the ancient cities of Shanghai. Danced in Hong Kong in pouring rain as we found ourselves laughing and loving every moment amongst skyscrapers that went on for miles.

“Miles and memories walked to last a lifetime with the students at Mihaylo!”

‘This is what I wanted!’

Lorenzo Bizzi sums up his observations on the trip:

“I reached the goal that I wanted. Students coming to me and telling me they were born and raised in Orange County. They thought about having a simple life, with an ordinary job, pay a mortgage, buy a house.

“Now, I completely messed up with their minds. Their horizons are widened. They all escaped their comfort zone. They all want to become international businessmen and businesswomen. They are coming to me asking me how they can work internationally and become successful global managers.

“This is what I wanted! The power of experiences is a hundred times stronger than memorizing concepts many will probably forget in a couple of months. Their mind changed. Their eagerness to grow changed. Their perspective towards the world changed. A mighty experience.”

More summer exploring

To read about what other CSUF students and faculty did over the summer, see “Summer programs take CSUF students into new — and ancient — worlds.”