New Seminar Fall 2006 Tues. 5 - 7:40pm

One of our goals in this project is to enhance curricular and experiential learning opportunities for students that engender entrepreneurial skills and activities, reaching across different sectors of the University. A new course, “Applying Asian Cultural Values in Business,” will be created to become a central component of the new Asian Studies Master’s program, but will also be open to undergraduate senior majors with permission. This new core course will be instrumental in introducing students to the pre-modern and modern values of Asian culture functioning in the business sector that have helped make Asian countries so successful in the postwar period.  It is the spirit of entrepreneurship that propelled these cultures so quickly into modernity and high-level economic and technological development.  The course, which shows the relevance of such values in the East and how they can be applied for success in the West, will provide graduates of Asian Studies programs with a marketable niche and competitive edge in pursuing further training or career possibilities. I. Course Objectives—The course will provide a critical survey of traditional Asian values, the ways they have been applied to the world of entrepreneurship, cultural constructions of the Asian business community in numerous examples of literature and film, and philosophical approaches to the formation of entrepreneurial strategies integrating premodern and modern perspectives. II. Major Topics—The following themes will be covered for 3-4 weeks each: 1. Traditional Values in Asian Societies: An analysis of the Confucian family system, Zen Buddhist discipline, Art of War strategizing, and Bushido, including their effect on social and economic structures in Asian cultures, especially the development of the modern Tiger economies. 2. Cultural Constructions of Asia: A study of the ways that Asian values have been portrayed in American popular culture, such as in Black Rain, Rising Sun, Gung Ho!, You Gotta Have Wa, Mr. Baseball, and other films and books that feature the role of Asian companies interacting with American businesses.  These works have often reflected a judgment or bias such as fear of Asian supremacy or the “Statue of Liberty Wearing a Kimono” syndrome, especially during the bubble economy of the 1980s and early 90s. 3. Business Practices in Asia and the West: A review of how literature has been applied to the business and professional world in both East and West, with examples including the role of start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures in the recent years of the East Asian economic boom. 4. Applications for a Philosophy of Entrepreneurship: An examination of various approaches in both business and non-business applications on how to be an entrepreneur by fostering cooperative and persuasive communication and teamwork building. III. Major Assignment: All students will have the opportunity to prepare – in creative, entrepreneurial fashion – a workshop based on integrating Asian values and contemporary business.  Examples, models and samples will be discussed thoroughly in class.  Workshops will be presented to the class, as well as an outside group of business people and professionals.  Special funds are available from the grant for all students to create their projects. Click here for the Tentative Syllabus Back to Kauffman Professorship Home Page