Creating innovation culture, key to success

This time we were honored to welcome Heidi Chang, Ph.D. for the second time as a guest speaker in Cross culture management class. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Entertainment Management at I-Shou University and an adjunct assistant professor at National Sun Yat-Sen University. Chang has experience in the hospitality and tourism industry in addition to her academic career.

At her last visit, Chang talked about the Chinese approach to management, and this time we carried the discussion a bit further. She introduced some ideas about how to create innovative culture and how to identify the keys to success in the global business. This topic is considerably broad, and it can open students’ mind to many new global business ideas.

This session was quite different in the way that it was organized. The whole session mixed theory with practical ideas. It was essentially a large group discussion in which everyone participated by sharing their experiences and bringing out some new ideas related to the topic. The students contributed a great deal and the discussion grew exponentially. Each discussion was initiated by a question presented to the class by Chang.

 During the session the students participated in a special activity.  Students were asked to find partners from different countries and to discuss the differences in cultural dimensions between their respective countries. After the discussion they shared their results with rest of the class.

Toward the end of the session, Chang introduced some new trends and innovations. The most discussed topic was the food delivery industry. She introduced the ways in which food is delivered to customers with use of new technologies, and how trends in food demand are changing rapidly. Chang also discussed no tipping policies.  The class discussed how food is becoming an engine of tourism and how food/culinary tourism will shape the industry in the future.

This session was very interesting and practical.  It brought many opportunities to all students to participate in the discussion and share ideas among many different cultures and countries. Everybody really enjoyed the energetic atmosphere, and we are looking for the next session with Dr. Chang!

(Texts and photos provided by Jiri Libal)