A group of delegates from Vietnam visited Leavey School of Business in order so they might better understand business practices in Silicon Valley, according to a press release from the school. Juan P. Montermoso, Professor of Practice, hosted the group during their visit due to his first-hand knowledge of Silicon Valley. Montermoso previously worked for Hewlett-Packard for 27 years before teaching at Leavey and is also currently the president of Montermoso Associates, a high-tech consultancy that focuses on helping organizations reach and retain their most profitable clients. The delegates were led by Tran Van Tung, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology.
The main goal of the trip was to better understand the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship that pervades Silicon Valley. Montermoso arranged a series of presentations that explained the past and present trends in Silicon Valley, with an emphasis on the importance of talent development. He also highlighted the role that Leavey and SCU at large have played in the development of Silicon Valley, citing their Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, their Retail Management Institute and their Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, which all encourage engagement between businesses, entrepreneurs and SCU. MBA candidate Ron Kwok also gave a presentation from the perspective of a current entrepreneur on the difficulties of growing markets and evolving products with his family business.
The delegates, a mix of government and private-sector employees, left encouraged about their ability to encourage entrepreneurship in Vietnam. Montermoso felt that the visit was productive and was optimistic about its effects in the future. “I believe the delegation left with a much deeper and broader understanding of the elements that make Silicon Valley successful and a stronger appreciation of how a university institution like SCU can help foster a dynamic ecosystem for economic growth in their own home country,” he said in a press release.