Chinese business group visits NIU

by Joe King

Looking to learn more about operating in the global marketplace, a group of executives from PetroChina International recently spent about two weeks on campus learning about mergers and acquisitions from Finance Professor Robert Miller.

By familiarizing themselves with how the United States and other countries handle such matters, the company hopes to more successfully pursue its goal of expansion by acquiring foreign owned companies. As PetroChina already controls 90 percent of the market in the People’s Republic of China, there are few opportunities for growth in their own homeland.

The company has sent executives through similar programs at the University of Texas, but when the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce went looking for a university to assist PetroChina International, they looked closer to their Chicago base this time. The organization has strong ties with many universities including Notre Dame, DePaul and IIT, but chose NIU for this program after coming into contact with the office of Business Outreach in the College of Business.

“We were very impressed with how aggressive they were in pursuing this contract and how excited they were to work with us,” said Siva Yam, president of the Chamber of Commerce.

As they concluded the program in mid-January, the students were pleased with the choice of NIU.

“It has been very helpful to us,” said Zheng Jiong, who works in planning and development for PetroChina International, the subsidiary of PetroChina for which all five attendees work. “We learned different methodologies for valuations, taking more of a financial perspective. It will be very useful to us.”

The students also enjoyed Miller’s teaching style, built largely around case studies and class discussions.

“It is very different than in China,” said Zhang Pinxian, director of planning and development for PetroChina International. “There the teachers stick very close to the textbook, and classes are mostly lecture. This is much more enjoyable.”

Miller too enjoyed the course, calling the students quick learners who readily absorbed the material. “I tried to open their eyes to a variety of ways of looking at things and teach them some of the specifics of how Americans do business. They were an absolutely wonderful group to work with.”

Jane Mall, outreach specialist of Business Outreach, hopes that this group won’t be the last of PetroChina employees to pay a visit.

“PetroChina is an enormous corporation with some specific training needs that we can meet. I hope this is just the first of many collaborations between them and NIU,” Mall said.

The group’s time with Miller was divided into two segments, one week prior to winter break, and one week after. In between they made a whirlwind tour of the country meeting with experts on the legal, accounting and financial aspects of mergers and acquisitions.

Their travels took them to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston and Washington, D.C. They also spent a week at BP Amoco’s offices in Naperville. Along the way they also did a bit of sightseeing (including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia) and even took in a Chicago Bulls basketball game.

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