HKUST Business School Magazine

Biz@HKUST Biz@HKUST 38 39 // Cover // Insight machine learning talents are hired in various academic departments. It may not be surprising to know that many are housed in our multi-disciplined department of ISOM, and obviously Marketing. One can find such faculty in all departments including Accounting and Management. Furthermore, the utility of big data within fintech is showcased in the Business School’s RGC-funded theme-based research project, “Contributing to the Development of Hong Kong into a Global Fintech Hub”, under the leadership of Dean TAM Kar Yan. As is the general case when new subfields that employ new methodologies and viewpoints emerge, there are challenges, in terms of competition for more talents, retention and promotion. MSBA Business School Education In reaction to the commercialization of big data, the Business School, like many academic institutions, has introduced various courses and professional programs. Most of our masters of science programs have significant elements of analytics within their curriculum. Here I will focus on our Master’s of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA), which was, until recently, under the directorship of Professor Mike K.P. SO. The MSBA is a one-year technically intensive interdisciplinary program which is housed in our department of ISOM. ISOM faculty members deliver the core curriculum, and the majority of electives. There are also electives offered by other departments. The program is designed so that graduates leave with much more than the typical technical skills to execute data analytics, but also with developed data-analytic thinking, business acumen and communication skills to play front office roles in the process of leveraging data for adding value to their firm or clients. A director’s task, especially in a dynamic field such as business analytics, is to always look for ways to add value for students and prospective employers. Furthermore, it is important to understand the issues that these parties may encounter. One of my sources for a general view of the field has been the internet. After spending time on LinkedIn, blogs and in other formats, one sees for example, problems with ambiguous job titles. More alarming is the frequent post lamenting mismatches between expected deliverables and employee capabilities. I am also quite conscious of the growing role, and inevitability, of automation and AI within analytics. A Holistic View of Business Analytics at HKUST I have taken a holistic view of the Business School departments as all having potential relevance to the added value of students in Business Analytics without changing the usual core competencies and valued electives. Naturally this cannot be done without the cooperation of departments, individual professors, and the MSc office. I will discuss some details and acknowledge some individuals who have shown enthusiastic support for the program in various ways. This year, responding to the need in the industry, new electives will be introduced. Professor Chris DORAN and Professor Joon Nak CHOI from Management, will teach management consulting courses with some tailor-made adjustments for the MSBA, and Professor Song LIN and Professor Coral PUIG- GARRIGO, of Marketing, will teach Marketing Analytics related courses for the program. Industry-based projects will be directed by some of these faculty as well as Professor Kris Baoqian PAN, the Associate Director of MSBA. In general, there is a welcome sharing of electives across the various MSc programs, now headed by Salad KWOK. Professor Veronique LAFON-VINAIS, of Finance, and Executive Director, Career Development & Corporate Outreach SBM, has helped me with public relations, and my search for Business Analytics-specific corporate partners. As an important start, with the help of the Kellogg- HKUST EMBA Office (KH-EMBA), the program has been fortunate to establish a formal collaborative agreement with Sprint Milestone, which is a data management advisory firm specializing in data warehouse, automation, analytics and AI solutions for companies. Its founders, Akihito KATAYAMA and Khai San BAN, are alumni of the KH-EMBA, with extensive analytics experience in the banking sector prior to starting their company. Their willingness to graciously, and frequently, share their expertise is invaluable for understanding how to prepare students for the future of business analytics. “Exactly what I was looking for!” While there are many developments envisioned specifically for the MSBA program, including a professional business analytics advisory board, I believe that the business school itself can treat Business Analytics in a more holistic fashion. There is currently the recently established Center for Business and Social Analytics (CBSA), under the directorship of Professor HUI Kai-Lung. However, as a vehicle to expand the MSBA and other MSc program capabilities, there is room for a complementary entity for the taught professional postgraduate programs, which can serve as a nexus for fostering Business Analytics- specific corporate partnerships to help provide a practical training ground for MSc students, and perhaps expanded to include MPhil/ PhD students who may wish to pursue a career in industry. The Business School’s positioning in Hong Kong and its strengths, for instance in Logistic and Supply Chain Analytics, as in our MSc program in Global Operations, suggest that training could also target individuals in Belt and Road nations 4 and likewise train local students for a similar purpose. These considerations will serve to make the university an enduring go- to place for students, and potential employers, for an elite Business Analytics education which develops value driven data-analytic thinking for a cybernetic 5 future. 4 One may find the 2019 report by the British Chamber of Commerce in China on “Education on the Belt and Road” to be of interest. BritCham Report - Education on the Belt and Road - British Chamber of Commerce in China | Beijing 5 Thanks to Prof. Joon Nak Choi (JC) for the terminology within this context and discussions related to this. A director’s task, in a dynamic field such as business analytics, is to always look for ways to add value for students and prospective employers