Partnership with SMU bears fruit

In an interview with The Business Times, SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business students Sandy Lim and Bryan Ng shared their experience having taken an SMU-X course ‘Business capstone - The Design of Business’ and formulating business plans for Wanin Industries, a local SME behind the Pere Ocean brand and which pioneered the bulk bottled water and cooler rental business in Singapore.  Their team’s proposal of a new effervescent Vitamin C tablet product was deemed feasible by the firm, which is already in the process of developing the product. Wanin Industries’ manager Mr Eugene Tan said "The students are younger and have a different perspective, and that is something that is very beneficial to SMEs.” He added that the students are actually more in tune with the market than most people give them credit for. For him, the overall experience had been very good - he felt as if the company had the backing of a consultancy group. On the Design of Business course, SMU Senior Lecturer of Strategic Management Rick Smith said that in this course, “we are not giving the students a problem and asking them to solve it… instead we are sharing a business issue with them and asking them to develop new ideas. In a way, it turns the traditional education model upside down: Instead of providing answers to a problem or question, it is up to the students to determine the right question to ask."  Commenting on the SMU-X pedagogy, SMU-X Academic Director, Associate Professor Gary Pan, said, "The world is changing rapidly as we experience a new set of complex urban issues. It is crucial for universities to play a key role in creating and supporting 'smart' ecosystems. This creates a highly skilled workforce ready to react quickly to problems that arise and to proactively create solutions.”