Anderson School hosts conference on business in China

Sixty years after his family fled from China to Taiwan, Richard Chang is planning a return to China to look for jobs.

Chang, a student at UCLA Anderson School of Management, spent fall quarter studying in China as part of a foreign exchange program. While there, he developed an interest in the automotive field, which he said is growing extremely quickly as more families become affluent enough to afford cars.

The government now provides financial incentives for carmakers to develop more energy-efficient cars and for consumers to purchase more environmentally-friendly cars, Chang said.

To help students like Chang to connect with Chinese businessmen and learn about business practices there, the Anderson School is hosting a China business conference today.

The Wilber K. Woo Greater China Business Conference, which is in its fifth year, will have panels about clean energy, finance, media and health care, said Holly Han, the director of special events at the Price Center for entrepreneurial studies.

The Greater China Business Association, a group of students who are helping organize the conference, chooses a different set of topics each year that relate to China. Past conferences have focused on issues such as real estate, investment and the Internet.

“These are markets that are growing at the moment,” said Fengxue Xu, the conference’s student organizer. “For example, media here in … Hollywood studios are trying to cater to Chinese audiences because it is a big market.”

The conference is open to everyone and usually includes a mix of industry professionals from around the L.A. area as well as business school students from UCLA and nearby schools.

While in the past, business people have outnumbered the student attendees, this year the number of students has grown by 20 percent, Han said.

“It’s probably better marketing, but we also have specific panel topics that are interesting to students,” she said.

With reports from Gordon Murray, Bruin contributor.