How to say and do ‘skål’ the proper way, and appreciate and understand Scandinavian food, was the theme of a recent dinner at the Admiral’s Restaurant, Bangkok, for a group of Thai students currently engaged in an international management programme at the Mahidol Scandinavian Management Centre.
The dinner was one of the final pieces in the Sweden orientation preparations given to the students by Professor Toni Ivergard, who runs the centre which belongs to the College of Management Mahidol University.
This batch of students have some years of working experience and Thai academic studies at MBA level with them, when they take off to the Baltic Business School at Kalmar University College in Kalmar, Sweden, next month.
There they will enter a ten month International MBA programme together with students from all over the world.
“Key features of the new economy are an understanding of our total dependence of people and their knowledge, aspirations and desires. To understand how to make business in the new economy era we must understand and rely on the nature of people and their role in the society. The basic nature of people is essentially the same, but still there are huge differences in traditions and culture in different parts of the world,” says Toni Ivergard explaining why the programme came about.
“Business is increasingly international and the environment of the new business is multinational. In this new situation we must learn how to handle the uncertainty of the complexity of multi national culture in business.”
The objective of the Mahidol Scandinavian Management Centre is to facilitate the adaptation and the application of the north European experiences in the Asian environment and culture and to create an arena for mutual Asia/EU learning and exchange of experiences.
There are currently several programmes offered at the centre.
So far it has been one way education, with Asians going to Sweden, but Professor Ivergard is also planning a course for Scandinavian students here in Thailand. In the near future the centre will also offer programmes for Thai executives who would like to learn about the Nordic Management Culture.
