Big-ticket program reveals secrets of luxury goods
Learning about luxury can be as costly as living a luxurious lifestyle, at least if one does it at a certain university in Shanghai.
A program co-organized by Shanghai's Fudan University and Italy's SDA Bocconi School of Management offers 15 days of learning about fashion and prestige management - for 75,000 yuan ($10,500).
Lu Xiao, a professor in charge of the program, told China Daily that the tuition is not unreasonably expensive.
"It only covers accommodations and the travel costs of our Italian professor and textbooks," he said.
"We are going to reveal to the students the secrets they need to understand to succeed in China's rapidly booming luxury industry."
There is a growing craze for luxury brands in China, but the industry is desperately short of qualified professionals, from CEOs to retail sales staff, Lu said. Most big brands hire their senior managers from Singapore or Hong Kong.
"Most of them speak Chinese and can help the brands to establish their business in the Chinese mainland," he said.
"But with meager knowledge of the mainland market, they face challenges in further developing their market share."
"And we are going to tell them how to do it."
Lu said they are also hoping to teach Chinese professionals how to explore the international market. He said he is confident that the program will draw enough recruits.
The university first opened the course on luxury management to its MBA and EMBA students in 2005. It was so popular that 300 students applied for the course - which could only accommodate 58 students, Zhang Chunming, a professor at the university, said.
"That is one of the main reasons that we launched the program," he said.
Zhang said no one had registered for the program, which was opened for registration on Monday. "But about 50 companies and individuals have called to inquire about it," he said.
"There are diamond and jewelry companies, wine companies, clothing companies, investment banking companies, trading companies and logistics companies," he said.
"Their biggest concern is how to fill the gap between their company's position and the changing market."
Fecilia Deng, the representative of Cartier in Shanghai, said the industry, which started to boom only in the past decade, lacks qualified professionals, but doubts 15 days training will be enough.
Deng said she had been in the industry for 15 years and that she had never studied luxury management.
"Training would be a plus, but not a must," she said.
(China Daily 03/21/2008 page6)
