Roberto Piccioni teaching International MBA students in Bangkok. Photo by Angsumalin Burud.
Professors Roberto Piccioni and Ed Quevedo travelled to Thailand this spring as part of an ongoing exchange with Thammasat University. Ed taught Thriving Regenerative Enterprise in March. Roberto just returned from two weeks at Thammasat, where he held seven three-hour lectures with 50 students in Thammasat’s International MBA program; this is the second year of his teaching there.
Roberto reports:
The class –Macroenvironmental Issues in the Global Economy–focused on introducing an approach to characterize and understand issues from a broad‐based review of the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental (PESTLE) perspective.The students studied issues such as shrimp farming, electronic waste collection, rock salt production from aquifer sources, municipal power plant siting, and Thai wastewater management capabilities.
Before teaching the MBA class, my first assignment upon arriving in Bangkok was to participate as a judge in the Southeast Asia Finals of the Global Social Ventures Competition. Ten very strong business plans were presented – each of them fundable and viable business opportunities. Each of the business plans –like the plans presented by graduating Dominican GreenMBAs each semester*–besides being rooted in effective economic performance, provided a key and important contribution to society. The finalists from this competition (including one team from Thammasat) go on the global championships to be held in Berkeley later this month.
All was not ‘calm and collected’ during this time of economic growth in Bangkok. On my first Saturday there, there was a public uprising in the streets, to call for the resignation of the Prime Minister, dissolution of Parliament and General Elections. 65,000 ‘Redshirts’ took to the streets and choked the capital all day. As I was walking around the city that day, the atmosphere was festive – but the armed police and military provided a truer glimpse of the seriousness of the situation. The government had declared a National State of Emergency and was tracking the issue closely in the hopes that the demonstrations would dissolve quietly. But the demonstrations continued and the newspapers and media were focused upon this issue the entire time I was there. There were some explosions in the city center and some injuries. During the last week I was there, there were some signs that the current government and the Redshirt organizers were speaking and negotiating. But the talks broke down when the sides were far apart. And of course, the shopkeepers and tour guides and local business leaders are the ones most impacted as the uncertainty creates a downtick in all their activities. The monarchy has also had a role in current political discussions – so it will be fascinating to watch these issues unfold as the Thai people continue to evaluate their governance structure.
In mid April, Green MBA will host a symposium to address the resource of Water with students from the International MBA program at Thammasat. Water is a key issue in California as in Asia and Water is tremendously important to support life and is central to the success of any community, organization or corporation. From April 11-16, 32 IMBA students will visit Dominican to study the future of water in business and entrepreneurship. Students will hear lectures and take part in experiential field trips with thought leaders and organizations involved in breakthrough work on sustainable water use, supply, planning, and policy.
You can get a full account of Roberto’s two weeks in Thailand by reviewing his trip report.
*GreenMBA business plan presentations take place April 24-25. Go to our Facebook page for details.
