Sungkyunkwan MBA offers global, interactive experience

Prof. Eric Chuan-Fong Shih speaks during his strategic marketing class at Sungkyunkwan University’s Graduate School of Business, on the school’s campus in Seoul, Feb. 21.

By Kim Bo-eun

The strategic marketing class at Sungkyunkwan University’s Graduate School of Business started with a booming “Good Morning!” from Prof. Eric Chuan-Fong Shih, in a classroom on campus Feb. 21.

Some 40 students were in their seats by the time class was due to start at 9 a.m. sharp.

The class was to cover a case study of Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, which was about selecting a branding strategy to increase consumer profitability and lifetime value.

From the very start, the Chinese-American professor actively promoted discussion among the students. A notable fact was the nationality diversity in the classroom. Various different accents were heard as the students spoke out in class.

The case was about a private hotel management company which was in 2004 considering a new branding strategy to go corporate with its name Rosewood.

Until then, each of its properties had had their own distinctive names, without any corporate identification.

This was aimed at providing the company with a platform to encourage guests who stay at one of its properties to stay at some of the others.

“What would corporate branding involve? What does it mean to go corporate?” asked Shih.

Standardization of operation, a single-strategic focus, consistency in execution and achieving economies of scale were some answers provided by the students.

Some pointed out that this would dilute the uniqueness of the individual properties, as each of them featured architectural details, interiors, and culinary concepts that reflected local character and culture.

After collectively exploring a number of facets to consider when making the decision, the professor asked students about the decision they would make as marketing executives, as well as their rationale behind it.

Shih then went over life-time value calculations which were built on several assumptions. According to the calculations, the corporate-branding strategy would derive greater life-time value. The difference arose from the customer retention rate.

Following a discussion on customer retention and loyalty, the professor went on to clarify the key concepts.

“Loyalty is based on attitude, emotional attachment while retention is actual behavior which makes customers put dollars on the table,” he said.

Throughout the class, Shih raised questions, and invited students to contribute their opinions and ideas. The professor also encouraged students to refute to each other’s arguments.

“Before I attended the class, I thought it would be best for Rosewood to choose corporate-branding as its strategy, but after the discussion in class, I realized that the company could also reap a lot of benefits by individual-branding,” said Kim Song-yi, a 31-year-old student.

“But ultimately, as one of the students mentioned, endorser branding seemed like the way to go, which would preserve the uniqueness of each of the individual hotels under the Rosewood umbrella,” she said.

Kim, who is in her third module, said she likes Prof. Shih’s classes because there are interactive debates and discussions, and because it encourages the students to think critically.

Sungkyunkwan University’s Graduate School of Business was established in 2004. In January, it ranked as the 51st best MBA by the 2013 Financial Times’ Global MBA Rankings, and ranked number one among domestic MBA programs.

As was evident in the classroom, the business school provides a global experience. Among full-time professor and students, 47 and 42 percent respectively are from abroad and all of the courses are conducted in English.

The school has a dual degree program with MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, and about 25 percent of graduates obtain dual degrees each year.