MBA 2445 Asian Business Trends Programme: Emerging Windows of Opportunity
MBA 2445 Asian Business Trends Programme: Emerging Windows of Opportunity
This course is designed to equip EMBA participants with intellectual grounding and analytical discipline to identify, evaluate, and generate insights on emerging business opportunities in Asia. It examines the distinctive dynamics shaping Asian markets, including shifting economic conditions, technological change, cultural complexity, and regional challenges.
Asia remains one of the most important regions for growth, innovation, and strategic opportunity. As noted in the International Monetary Fund’s October 2025 forecast, Asia is expected to grow by 4.5% in 2025 despite heightened risks arising from trade tensions and broader external uncertainty. Against this backdrop, the course invites participants to examine a central question: why has Asia continued to demonstrate resilience in a brittle, ambiguous, non-linear, and incomprehensible (BANI) environment marked by geopolitical conflict, rising tariffs, and protectionism? It also explores what business leaders can learn from Asia—particularly from Singapore, as a small yet globally connected nation that has remained agile amid complexity.
By the end of this module at NBS-NTU (Singapore), participants should be able to:
- Understand the influence of Asian cultures on economic development, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
- Understand and appraise business planning strategies, practices, and management approaches in Asia.
- Identify the key success factors, opportunities, and challenges across Asian business contexts.
- Recognise and evaluate the differences and similarities in leadership styles, corporate sustainability, entrepreneurship, and innovation across Asia.
- Generate insights into emerging windows of opportunity, including AI and the growth trajectories of Asian economies.
By the end of this module at NBS-NTU (Singapore), participants should be able to:
- Critically evaluate and apply relevant theories and frameworks in Asian business settings.
- Reflect on emerging trends and developments in a BANI environment and derive meaningful managerial insights.
- Communicate persuasively and influence effectively in oral settings.
- Develop sharper insights into leadership qualities associated with both collective and crisis leadership.
By the end of this module at NBS-NTU (Singapore), participants should be able to:
- Understand the major emerging trends and developments in Asia.
- Critically assess developments shaping the Asian business landscape.
- Reflect deeply on the distinctive opportunities and challenges that define business in Asia.
This course is intended to expose participants to the emerging opportunities shaping Asia’s business landscape. It is delivered by faculty members from Nanyang Business School (NBS) and other schools within Nanyang Technological University (NTU), our partner university in Singapore.
The course is anchored in Singapore as a living context for learning. Through engagement with NBS and selected field exposure, participants gain first-hand perspectives on Singapore’s development as a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific, a globally recognised aviation hub, a major maritime and logistics gateway, and a preferred location for international business. These dimensions make Singapore a highly relevant vantage point for examining the broader opportunities and strategic shifts unfolding across Asia.
To achieve the learning outcomes, the proposed lessons (but not limited to) and field visits are customised with insights from an Asian perspective and added value to the comprehensive EMBA program.
Indicative topics:
- Corporate Sustainability: Lessons from Singapore and the wider Asia-Pacific region
- Innovation and the Technopreneurial Mindset: Growing new ventures in Asia
- Corporate Entrepreneurship and Tech Start-ups: Business creation and transformation in Asian contexts
- Industry Visits: Understanding Singapore as a dynamic business hub with new windows of opportunity
- Leadership in Asia: From heroic leadership to collective and crisis leadership
Note: Proposed topics are subject to change, and NTU has discretion to modify them.
1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours.
The course is conducted through a total of 40 hours of lectures, 8 hours of industry visits, and approximately 70 hours of self-study and preparations for team assignment.
Attendance to all sessions in the course is compulsory. If you have to miss part(s) of the course you must ask in advance for a leave of absence. More than 25% absence in a course will require retaking the entire course. It's the student's own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/ It's learning or other course materials.
Candidates may be called in for an oral hearing as verification/control of written assignments.
The course is a part of a full MBA programme and examination in all courses must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.
At the end of this module, participants are expected to submit a team reflective assignment with reference to one (1) of the six lessons and learning activities (see Additional information).
In all BI Executive courses and programmes, there is a mutual requirement for the student and the course responsible regarding the involvement of the student's experience in the planning and implementation of courses, modules, and programmes. This means that the student has the right and duty to get involved with their own knowledge and practice relevance, through the active sharing of their relevant experience and knowledge.
Software tools
Participants are expected to use Wooclap for class activities.
Granted admission to the BI-Fudan programme. Please consult our student regulations.
Disclaimer
Changes in exam type can be made until the course starts. In addition, unforeseen events or external conditions may call for deviations in teaching and exams.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: School Exam Form of assessment: Structured Test Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 30 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 30 Minute(s) Comment: An online multiple-Choice test on the last day of the module, counts 30% of the final grade. Exam code: MBA 24452 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination next semester, thereafter when next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Submission PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 70 Grouping: Individual Duration: 4 Week(s) Comment: Individual written assignment (3000-word essay), counts 70% of the final grade. Exam code: MBA 24453 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 40 Hour(s) | 5 Lessons |
Company visit and/or Study trip | 8 Hour(s) | Industry Field Visit |
Prepare for teaching | 20 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 50 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 4 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 110 hours.
