Why Study Business?

What do we learn from business studies? More specifically, what is ‘global business’ in the times of convergence of computer engineering technology also known as the ‘4th industrial revolution’? First, business is an applied science of researching all ways for enterprises to consistently earn money within the legal and ethical boundaries. In other words, it is aimed at becoming a professional businessperson by starting up a company or getting a job.

Curriculum of Global Business Administration

Major components of business study include finance that assist funding and investment decision making, marketing that assists advertising and sales, accounting that assists cost management and book-keeping, operations management that assists logistics and Supply Chain Management, and strategy that oversees all of the above activities and proposes short- and long-term business plan to win the competition. Also, in Management Information System, we also learn machine learning techniques such as big data to encompass all the aforementioned areas with new IT solutions.

In Global Business Administration, you start to take intro classes of the major subjects from the second year. In the first and second years, you will learn some of the representative basic studies or liberal arts in order to more effectively learn these subjects. They include Economics and Statistics that give foundational knowledge for business, and some computer programming courses. Also, to understand the behaviors of businesses, consumers and investors, you will also study eastern and western history, culture, philosophy, foreign languages, psychology and sociology that are basic liberal arts exploring the nature of human beings..

You will also take Business Communication class in order to more accurately and transparently deliver the knowledge and information to others in English. Anyone can obtain a quantitative answer to a business problem. But, as a business major, you should be able to interpret the answer from diverse perspective and communicate very clearly to your counterparty. Also, as a student of Global Business Administration, you should be able to clearly present yourself and ideas in professional meetings in English. So, in our curriculum, Business Communication is mandatory for all students. This turns out to be very helpful for the students when they search internships or when they are in the job market for permanent positions. We advise you to take this class in year two to prepare in advance.

Why Global Business Administration?

How is Global Business Administration different from the conventional Business major in SKKU? Do we still need the word “Global” in this globalized world? Our answer is YES! Globalization progressed since the second half of the 20th century and some people started to be skeptical in using the term ‘Global’ as the title of our major./p>

However, in the 21st century, due to the increased uncertainties and bi-polarization of the economy, we are also seeing anti-globalization movements such as the rise of protectionism by Donald Trump and trade wars in many places. In Korea, large conglomerates are well globalized, but individuals strongly wish to stay within the small boundary of country just like Japanese people. For example, the rate of university students seeking to become public officials is very high in Korea, and even when they enter a company, most intend to settle in their comfort zones inside Korea. GBA is a major for the students that are open-minded and wishes to realize their selves in the world that is full of talents with diverse backgrounds. This is a major for the students who are willing to take risks, and become bigger fish in greater ocean.

Hence, all lectures and presentations of major papers are done in English, and more opportunities to global experience are provided to students. The 7+1 system allows all students of global business administration to experience different cultures by going as an exchange student before graduation. For this, we provide scholarships to students. Naturally, students make friends with international students, look at Korea from more objective perspectives, and get closer to the opportunities to work part time in local companies or working as an intern in global companies depending on the local countries’ business cycle.

Moreover, we provide Global Camps – business field studies – in every vacation for which we select ten to fifteen students and send them to Global Business Centers around the world. For example, twenty of our students visited CES in Las Vegas in Moreover, we provide Global Camps – business field studies – in every vacation for which we select ten to fifteen students and send them to Global Business Centers around the world. For example, twenty of our students visited CES in Las Vegas in

Global Camp, January 2019, CES

Also, we organize Global Career Tours in almost every vacation, in which we visit global business centers such as Singapore and Hong Kong and meet businessmen in the real world and receive their career advice. We take this as an opportunity to meet our SKKU alumni working in the cities in various global companies and strengthen our alumni network. In spring 2019, we visited Mr. Jim Rogers at his home in Singapore who is recognized as one of the best three investors in the world. He gave us his great insights about investment in the Korean peninsula, and he recognized SKKU as the oldest university in Asia. In summer 2019, we visited Beijing and met Mr. Al Beebe, the President of American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Beijing, and shared his great insight about the trade war between America and China from long term US perspective, which gave a new angle to the students.

Global Career Tour, January 2019, Singapore

In particular, during global camps or global career tours, with diverse applications of students, we select only the students with the most competent proposals. The selected students receive scholarships that support their airfares and hotel stays.

During the semesters, we strongly encourage students to participate in various Global Activities in campus that gives our students great chances to make friends with the (exchange) students from all around the world. Because we are the university boasting the longest history in Asia, many universities around the world make short-/long-term visits. In spring 2019, 108 students and professors of Harvard MBA visited Seoul through their FIELD program and invited 35 of our GBA students to their consulting projects on Korean companies. Our students’ job was to give professional feedbacks to Harvard students’ consulting ideas and all of us participated in their networking event.

Moreover, in March, twenty-four undergrad students of Kelley Business School of Indiana University under the sisterhood relationship with SKKU visited Seoul. They teamed up with eight of our GBA students for a week and conducted business case study about doing business in Korea.

Also, we regularly hold networking events with numerous exchange students that came to Sungkyunkwan University so that they could make friends naturally and form global networks for the future.

Lastly, SKKU GBA operates a dual degree program with Kelley School of Business in Indiana University and with Fisher College of Business in Ohio State University in the US, in which each student can earn both degrees from SKKU and one of the aforementioned sister universities after completing two years from the third year of their curriculum and paying the tuition of the sister university. Through this, our students can enrich their global study experience and network as alumni of both Sungkyunkwan University in Korea and that of the sister institution. Also, they can enjoy potential advantages in seeking jobs in the US.

Features of GBA Curriculum

Structured Roadmap of Concentration & Diverse Choice in Liberal Arts

To meet intellectual demand of global business administration students who seek diverse experience in the times of convergence, we propose a systematic road map of major studies in the global business administration, and allow diverse fields of liberal arts papers within and beyond arts and sciences and over the national borders as exchange students.

For example, we recommend our students to take Calculus classes to set up foundational knowledge of engineering in the Natural Science Campus, and even take other liberal arts classes and science classes in NSC as long as they are interested in more intensive training of quantitative disciplines to do double majors. We also allow students to take liberal arts classes from their respective departments to learn languages, history and cultures of diverse countries in the world.

Integrative-Core (I-CORE) Program

I-CORE is a flagship program of SKKU GBA. This was originally developed by the Kelley School of Business in Indiana University. As a sister university, we recreated i-Core to suit the business environment in Korea/Asia. Our students simultaneously take four classes in Strategy, Finance, Marketing and Operations Management that are the most representative fields of business studies in the Spring Semester of their junior year. In the last two weeks of the semester, an actual case study of one Korean company is assigned. The students learn about the current issues surrounding the company, identify their business challenges from the four different perspectives, and explore possible future strategic directions. Also, students go through a process of evaluating the impact of a proposal in one field of business upon other fields in an integrative manner. For example, our students are expected to estimate the impact on the stock price of the company when they propose a marketing channel strategy. Through this process, students learn that a decision in one field of management has an organic impact on different fields. Over the process of i-Core, we sometimes invite industrial experts and visit the companies or their factories.

The final report of i-Core is written and presented in English, which is made into a 10-minute video to upload and share on Youtube. This presentation avenue gives the students the chance to cultivate the abilities to effectively deliver in English and using new social media, Youtube. We also evaluate the students in terms of their creative and confident presentation skills as well as their core contents of business strategy proposals. After comprehensively evaluating the reports and presentation videos of the twenty plus teams, we share the results of top three teams as an example to other students. We also share them to the officials of the companies being analyzed to create real world impact.

In 2019, by analyzing LG Chemicals for our i-Core project, we visited their battery factory in Ochang, Chungcheongbuk-do. The following is the presentation video of one of the top 3 teams

Others (Research Credit System, Alumni Network)

In GBA, we do not evaluate students only by their credit in their test takings. By listening to the opinions of professors, we try to identify the students who show leadership in classes, and who actively participate in presentations and lectures. This is to create an ideal academic atmosphere that is more cooperative and open-minded instead of being blindly competitive against each other. Such students get advantages in the screening process of various Global Activities.

Also, under the research credit system for undergraduate students, we offer opportunities to take part in our business professors’ cutting-edge research projects to foster ideal talents for the times of ICT convergence. Through this, we promote innovation in business and intellectual development of the students.

GBA strives to maintain a strong network with its alumni. Our alumni often visit the school with keen interest in the current students and share their knowledge in job seeking. We regularly hold “Finance Job GBA” and “Chaebol Job GBA” events to promote exchange of ideas and information among the students and alumni.