At 7:00 p.m. on April 12, Prof. Alan B. Kerzner from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania gave us a classical business lesson at A 401 Kun Luan Building. This lesson had attracted over 200 students to come and it was hosted by Mr. Bin Hong from the International College.

Prof. Alan firstly introduced the teaching characteristics of business school in North America, whichis to get the students more involved in the case teaching. Then by taking the examples of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, he explained the application of SWOT analysis and Porter’s five force model in marketing, company strategy and competitor analysis and led the students to make careful discussions and analysis. At last, Prof. Alan and the students shared their opinions on the development of Pepsi-Cola in Chinese market, making the atmosphere lively and warm.

After the lesson, Mr. Bin Hong made some comments. He pointed out that case teaching is the most important teaching method of business schools. Compared to the traditional teaching method, case teaching tries to discover the core of the knowledge by analyzing common economy life. It’s like peeling the onions,the students can find the principle step by step during the discussions. What’s behind the happy atmosphere is the fully preparation of the lesson, which requires more professional ability from the teachers.

The lesson ended up with a warm applause. Apart from the knowledge the student learned from the lesson, the more important is that they have truly experienced the overseas teaching method. The international College always puts teaching quality on the first place and keeps learning from famous universities all over the world of their curriculum, teachers, textbooks and teaching method, gradually exploring the best teaching system that fits China’s condition.

Introduction of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania is located in Philadelphia and it is one of the best business schools in the world. The University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1740, is a member of Ivy League. There are 4 undergraduate colleges and 12 postgraduate colleges. The Wharton School has created many brand new business courses. It established Joseph H. Lauder Management and Foreign Language College and started the first double degree project in business. It pioneered international forum, which is one of the earliest course for senior managers.