In late January, 30 IT managers from organizations such as the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Economic Relation and Trade Commission, the Shanghai Real Estate Trading Center, and Lucent Technologies of Shanghai Ltd. completed a CIO training program provided by Internet consulting company Applied Theory Corp. Co-developers of the program included the New York State Education Research Network, the government-run Shanghai Information Office, and Shanghai Information Investment Co.

The course included three weeks of classes in Shanghai in October, followed by two weeks of U.S. travel in January to companies such as Apple Computer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies, and 3Com. The mission? To observe--and learn--good business practices from American CIOs.

"We paid visits to all kinds of firms--dot-com companies, big companies," says Yuan Zhi Qing, IT manager at Lucent Technologies of Shanghai, who introduces herself as Diana to U.S. business associates.

While other U.S. companies have provided training to Chinese IT workers, Applied Theory is among the first to structure a program around business goals rather than technical issues. "Technology is easy to learn if you're smart; you can get it out of a book," says Cindy Hao, a course instructor and consultant who has also taught courses on network technologies in the United States and China. "But management ideas can't be learned out of a book."

Shanghai companies sent their best and brightest employees to participate, many of them highly skilled technologists. The purpose of the program was to instruct IT managers on how American CIOs execute on technology-driven business goals--a skill set that's easier to adopt in the United States' capitalist economy. In contrast, the role of a senior IT person in China is typically limited to network and data processing administration. Says one Chinese trainee, who requested anonymity: "Before I took this class, I only knew about applying for money and ordering the equipment."

Instructors urged students to set aside linear thinking and be more open-minded, communicative, and aggressive with their approaches to IT projects and goals. Students who were tempted to pursue formulaic approaches to E-business projects "learned that there is no checklist," says George Sadowsky, director of the Academic Computer Center at New York University and one of the program's developers.

Peter MacKinnon, an instructor and technology consultant who taught a section on service agreements, business-unit processes, and business dynamics, says he encouraged students to develop what he calls "horizontal thinking" and view the CIO as a diplomat who participates in the success of a business. During his first day of class, he noticed that students wouldn't challenge each other's ideas or offer alternative solutions. "So we had a digression discussion on open thinking," he says. "By the end of the first day, people were answering each other's questions."

The students also formed four groups, each with the goal to develop a workable Internet business. For the final exam, each group presented its project to a team of judges that included James Kelsey, principal at venture-capital firm Grumman Hill; Sadowsky; and executives from the Shanghai Information Investment and Applied Theory.

The projects included two real-estate Web sites, an informational Web site about the Port of Shanghai, and an import/export marketplace for the Shanghai Trade Commission. Each project was judged on the business case, the technical solution, and the financial analysis. The winner? A site that was designed to link 10,000 real estate brokers in Shanghai through an online multiple-listing service.

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Illustration by Jim O'Brien
Photo of Hao by Larry Goldstein