On June 30, 2022, the online enterprise visit of the Action Learning Special Committee of the Shanghai MBA Education Steering Committee went well. With the theme of "Industry-education Integration: Integration of Management Theory and Enterprise Practice", the participants visited Shanghai Action Education Technology Co., Ltd., a leading company of management training in China. Also, famous business people and university scholars were invited to discuss the current situation, problems and countermeasures of the integration of management theory and enterprise practice.

This enterprise visit was organized by Prof. Chen Wansi of ECUST School of Business, the convener of the Action Learning Special Committee of the Shanghai MBA Education Steering Committee, under the guidance and support of the Shanghai MBA Education Steering Committee. More than 40 people, including members of the first session of the Action Learning Special Committee, Yangtze River Delta observers, business people and a team of scholars who are conducting related research, participated in this online enterprise visit. Moreover, the event specially invited Prof. Su Jingqin of Dalian University of Technology, Chairman of the Management Case Study Committee of Chinese Research Council of Modern Management, Founder of China Management Case Sharing Center, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management Case Studies, and Prof. Lin Haifen of Dalian University of Technology.

Prof. Su Jingqin of Dalian University of Technology was invited to give a speech for this event. Prof. Su emphasized the necessity of exchange and interaction between universities and enterprises and integration of education and industry from three aspects. First of all, universities need to communicate deeply with quality enterprises, extract the latest action practices and cases in business operation, which can be used in the classroom of business schools, so that students can gain new knowledge and keep pace with the development of the times. Secondly, after more than 40 years of reform and opening-up, domestic enterprises are flourishing and a variety of new enterprises with special characteristics have emerged, such as private educational institutions and consulting organizations. Universities and business schools in the system should work closely with educational institutions and consulting organizations in the society to build a good educational ecology by fostering strengths and circumventing weaknesses and complementing each other. Lastly, management knowledge and theories mainly come from the summary and refinement on the basis of enterprise practice. On this basis, business schools conduct theoretical research, knowledge sharing and dissemination and then return to enterprises for knowledge application and innovation. Therefore, universities and enterprises are required to maintain close communication and collaboration.

Li Jian, Chairman of Shanghai Action Education Technology Co., Ltd. delivered a warm welcome speech. Li Jian extended a warm welcome to the scholars and business people who participated in this event. Shanghai Action Education Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in 2006 as an effective business school for entrepreneurs, providing systematic services such as management education, consulting, advisory and learning tools for enterprises. The company is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs improve their business management skills. According to Mr. Li Jian, compared with the business schools in the system, Action Education considers itself as the "Jianghu school" and focuses more on practical management and practical experience, and has built a perfect teaching and operation system with this as the core. He expected to deepen the understanding of management theory through the exchange and discussion with scholars from universities. Also, Action Education has served many small and medium-sized private enterprises over the past ten years, including many leading enterprises, industry-specific enterprises and specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products. The company looks forward to working with university scholars in the future to explore the development rules and successful experiences of small and medium-sized private enterprises in China. It aims to achieve this through the analysis and summary of the development history and growth characteristics of growing private enterprises in the country, which will be meaningful to the whole social economy, to the development of the industry, to the development of small and medium-sized private enterprises, and to the theoretical exploration and practical summary of enterprise management with Chinese characteristics.

Later on, Chen Wansi briefed the process and arrangement of the online enterprise visit, which took the form of Q&A interaction, aiming to deepen the understanding of the integration of management theory and enterprise practice through the collision of ideas between academia and business. In addition, the 8th Action Learning Forum will be held at ECUST in mid-October 2022. She invited members of the Action Learning Special Committee, scholars from sister colleges and business people to join the event at ECUST.

After the speeches, the event went into the interview session. Li Jian took his legendary personal experience and the original intention of founding Action Education as the starting point, and recalled the ups and downs of Action Education and the life-and-death strategic changes it had undergone under the guidance of the questioner. He focused on the core management concept of Action Education, "practical management", and the whole set of teaching and operation system explored in practice with this core, and concluded with a brief introduction of the company's strategic development plan in the next five years. As the interview went on, the discussion gradually went from corporate strategies and management concepts to the implementation of management concepts and the design and execution of management methods and processes.

The event further promoted the practice of industry-education integration based on action learning, facilitated the exchange and cooperation between universities and enterprises, and deepened the exploration of the integration of management theory and enterprise practice.

Information source: Shanghai MBA Education Steering Committee           Reviewed by: Chen Wansi