Business conference brings international experts to USC

Business professionals from all around the world will descend upon USC on Monday for the start of the 23rd annual Asia/Pacific Business Outlook conference, which is aimed at educating American business professionals about trade and investment opportunities in Asia.

More than 150 business professionals will participate in the conference, which is being hosted by USC’s Center for International Business Education and Research. The two-day conference will feature seminars conducted by more than 60 business experts from Asia and will offer private appointments with U.S. government commercial counselors from embassies in Asia.

Richard Drobnick, director of CIBER, said it is important for American businesspeople to be well acquainted with the economy in Asia.

“These are the markets that have been growing the fastest over the past 20 years, so to get American people to connect with experts in the field will be very beneficial,” Drobnick said.

The conference is a unique opportunity, Drobnick said, because it gives businesspeople the chance to meet in person with experts from around the world.

“By talking to the experts we bring, [participants] have an advantage because they know what they’re looking for and who they’re looking for,” Drobnick said. “There’s information the experts have that’s typically not available in newspapers, magazines or websites; it’s personal information.”

Shantanu Dutta, vice dean for graduate programs and research at the USC Marshall School of Business, said he also thinks this is a good opportunity for American business professionals.

“The idea is to create a better understanding of how to do business in the Asia Pacific and USC Marshall has very extensive business connections in the area,” Dutta said. “It provides opportunities for people who want to learn on different topics, connect with people in expertise and to just network.”

This year’s conference is focused on sustainability issues. It is the first time the conference has had a theme.

“With climate change and changing rules and regulations around the world, we thought that American businesspeople should become aware of these new sustainability opportunities in Asia,” Drobnick said.

Mehran Matloubian, a chief strategy officer from Topanga Technologies who will be attending the conference for the first time Monday, said he hopes to better understand how to export his product to various Asian countries and conduct business by attending the conference.

“The conference provides a unique opportunity to meet and talk with trade specialists based in several Asian countries in one location,” Matloubian said.

CIBER has been at USC since 1990 and is one of 31 centers nationwide funded by the Department of Education. The center at USC has won six competitions and brought $8 million to USC for research.

Drobnick said this conference is a “non-trivial” way to raise the reputations of USC and Marshall. He said it indirectly increases USC student applications from parents who want their children to think that Asia’s business is important to American business people, and it also brings research money to Marshall from some of the companies who participate.

“It demonstrates that USC is a source of learning about business opportunities in Asia; it demonstrates that to the whole world,” he said.