During 2020 Te Kura Umanga | UC Business School delivered seven webinars as part of the Hihiko Webinar Series. Hihiko means to be inspired, lively and invigorated. Three of these webinars formed the Focus on Asia series delivered in partnership with the Asia New Zealand Foundation | Te Whītau Tūhono. The Focus on Asia webinars were designed to bring together industry experts, alumni and academics to share insights with New Zealand organisations and individuals interested in developing or strengthening connections with Asia.
Asia New Zealand Foundation executive director Simon Draper says, “We’re delighted to be partnering with UC on this series. It is more critical than ever for business to keep up with developments and innovations in Asia, as the region will be central to New Zealand’s economic and social recovery from Covid-19. It’s not just business as usual in the region, and New Zealanders will need to be very savvy in their engagement.”
2020 Hihiko Webinars Series (available on YouTube):
- Hidden Dragon? NZ Business Perspectives on Viet Nam
Haike Manning, Linh Nguyen, and Warrick Cleine discuss emerging opportunities for New Zealand business in Viet Nam. Facilitated by Dr Anna Earl - China Future Directions 2025: Changes and Trends NZ Businesses Need to Monitor
Clare Fearnley, Greg Au-Yeung, and Jerry Clode discuss the most significant future directions in China that New Zealand business should be monitoring now. Facilitated by Associate Professor Laura Meriluoto. - Plugged In: How will Asia’s digital innovation impact on New Zealand business?
Mitchell Pham, Stephanie Honey, and Susan Chen discuss how Asia's economic growth has generated a robust innovation ecosystem, particularly in the digital world, and how that will impact New Zealand businesses. Facilitated by Associate Professor Christopher Vas. - Marketing in the New Normal
Mike Pero, Jane Anthony, and Professor Ekant Veer discuss the issues that managers, professionals and directors need to know to support the success of their ventures, now and in the years to come. Facilitated by Michelle Polglase. - Climate Change - Fact, Fantasy and the Real Choices
Dr Rod Carr discusses the facts, fantasy and the real choices facing us in response to climate change. Facilitated by Anzac Gallate. - What can we learn from the Canterbury Quakes when facing COVID-19? The case for Adaptive Resilience
Associate Professor Bernard Walker, Roger Sutton, and Adjunct Associate Professor Venkataraman Nilakant discuss strategies to enhance personal and organisational adaptive resilience in these uncertain times. Facilitated by Lloyd Mander. - Effective Social Media Marketing with Sam Frost
Sam Frost discusses getting ‘more for less’ when it comes to social media - perfect for both start-ups who don’t have $10,000 to dump into digital marketing!
The Hihiko Webinar Series was established by Te Kura Umanga | UC Business School during New Zealand’s first COVID-19 lockdown as a way of continuing to engage industry, and alumni, with the academic researchers of the Business School when the regular annual programme face-to-face events was disrupted by strict gathering restrictions.
The webinars attracted over one thousand registrations and following the live events the videos have been viewed more than five hundred times.
“Like many organisations during lockdown, the UC Business School was forced to reconsider our engagement plans for 2020 and explore digital ways of bringing people together to share insights from our researchers and our extensive networks of industry experts. The Hihiko Webinars really demonstrated our ability to pivot quickly in a crisis and showcased our connections with industry both in New Zealand and Internationally through our collaboration with the Asia New Zealand Foundation.” Says UC Business School Head of School Paul Ballantine.
Panellists and facilitators from the 2020 Hihiko Webinar Series included:
UC Alumni
- E. Clare Fearnley, New Zealand Ambassador to China, Bejing
- Michelle Polglase, Digital Strategist, Mindset Lab Co.
- Warrick Cleine, Member, Asia Pacific Board and Global Council, KPMG International, Chairman and CEO, KPMG in Vietnam and Cambodia
- Roger Sutton, Chief Executive Officer at EA Networks, former CEO of Orion Networks during the Canterbury Earthquakes of 2010/2011
- Dr Rod Carr, Chair of the NZ Climate Change Commission
- Sam Frost, B2B Digital Marketing Consultant, Ace Digital Marketing Ltd
- Lloyd Mander, Deputy Chair, Institute of Directors, Canterbury Branch
- Anzac Gallate, The Gro Up Group
Industry Experts
- Haike Manning - Former New Zealand Ambassador to Viet Nam, Founder & Managing Director, LightPath Consulting Group
- Linh Nguyen – Associate Director and Vietnam Lead Analyst, Control Risks
- Mitchell Pham - Chief Sales & Marketing Officer (CSMO), Augen Software Group
- Stephanie Honey - Senior Trade Policy Manager, Beef and Lamb NZ
- Susan Chen - Senior Vice President: Global Head of Leadership and Talent Development (Tech and Corporate), Gojek
- Jerry Clode – Founder, The Solution, Shanghai/Dunedin
- Greg Au-Yeung – Senior Advisor Fudan University and former CIO (Greater China), Saxo Bank, Shanghai
- Mike Pero - Founder and CEO at Mike Pero Real Estate
- Jane Anthony - Chief Customer Officer, Z Energy New Zealand
UC Academics
- Associate Professor Bernard Walker
- Adjunct Associate Professor Venkataraman Nilakant
- Professor Ekant Veer
- Associate Professor Christopher Vas
- Associate Professor Laura Meriluoto
- Dr Anna Earl
If you are interested in featuring in our webinar series, contact Tim Winfield, Industry Engagement Manager tim.winfield@canterbury.ac.nz