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MarchApril2014

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51 BizEd March/April 2014 AlAn Thor nTon /G eTTy I MAG es; r-sTu dIo/sh uTTe r sTock Partnership By Jim LittLe W hen Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, launched its Executive MBA program with Fudan University in Shang- hai in 2002, it adopted the cautious approach of Deng Xiaoping, who introduced unprecedented economic reform in China with this maxim: "We must cross the river by feeling out the stones with our feet." By taking small steps in an unfamiliar market, the Washing- ton University-Fudan Executive MBA became the first joint venture program to be formally recognized by China's Ministry of Education, as well as the model for Fudan's own Chinese-language EMBA program. Washington University first began planning its Shanghai EMBA in 2000, when China's economy was about a third of its current size. Some multina- tional companies had locations in China, but many were relatively new to the market and their Chinese operations typically accounted for only a small percentage of their global revenue. Their challenge at the time was getting established in China and, in particular, attracting and developing talent. Fast forward to 2014. The strategy of both multinational and local Chinese companies has shifted from exporting low-cost products "made in China" to selling products to a more affluent and open Chinese market. Competition has become more Westernized, no longer based almost solely on price, but now focused on product features and quality as much as price. At the same time, multinational corporations are grappling with the challenge of managing incredible growth rates of up to 100 percent a year. But still, just as in 2000, companies see their greatest challenge as a short- age of management talent. Washington University in St. Louis and Fudan University in Shanghai launched an EMBA program 12 years ago—and despite the enormous changes in China's economy since then, it's still flourishing today. Partnership

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