Internet-mediated distance-learning education in China as an alternative to traditional paradigms of market entry

Globalization and technology are two power forces that have shaped trade, investment, industrial development and people in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Faced with these forces, universities, on the one hand, internationalized their curriculums, students and faculty and, on the other hand, enhanced their technological base, such as the use of computers, internet infrastructure, and technology-based instructional capabilities. These two efforts have largely been mutually exclusive with little intersection between the two. This article analyzes the cross-over between a university’s potential to internationalize with respect to China, the most populous country with the second largest Purchasing Power Parity Gross Domestic Product (PPP GDP) in the world, and to use its technological capabilities to extend its educational outreach. Indirect presence in the Chinese market through Internet-mediated distance-learning education is thus proposed because of its attractiveness from effectiveness and efficiency perspectives, and because China has experienced an increase in its technological and infrastructural environments that enable this mode of entry. Distance learning education via e-commerce in China can be economically viable, consistently scalable, politically feasible, and expediently realizable. Jonatan Jelen is assistant professor of business at Mercy College, engaging academia after IT careers at the Bank of New York, PaineWebber and Bloomberg. He holds a J.D. from Ludwig-Maximilians Universitat, a Ph.D. in Law from the Universitie de Pau, LLMs from the Universities of Pau, Paris II and Fordham University, and MBAs from Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris, Edinburgh Business School of Heriot-Watt University and Baruch College of CUNY. He is currently working on a PhD in Business/CIS at Baruch College/CUNY and a DBA in Strategy/Project Management at Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Business School. His two most recent books are Chinese Culture, Organizational Behavior and International Business Management (Greenwood, 2003), and Chinese Economic Transition and International Marketing Strategy (Greenwood, 2003). Dr. Alon is a recent recipient of the Chinese Marketing Award, a dual award from the Tripod Marketing Association (China) and the Society for Marketing Advances (United States).