Yum! University Asia-NTU
Advanced Management Program
Contributed by Edwin Ong, Edited by Cary Chan
Yum! Brands, Inc. became one of the world’s largest restaurant companies with over 41,000 restaurants in more than 125 countries and territories and it did not happen by sheer coincidence. Yum! restaurant brands – KFC®, Pizza Hut® and Taco Bell® – are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican‐style food categories today because of their central belief in putting people capability first. Their success today can be attributed to their people who are the foundation of their business. Yum! continues the relentless pursuit in being the best in building great brands and developing great leaders who will turn their vision into reality. Yum! University Asia was conceived to serve as a center of excellence for developing and growing the future generation of leaders for Yum! businesses in Asia and beyond. Nanyang Technological University’s College of Business is pleased to collaborate with Yum! University Asia on their first ever Advanced Management Programme in Restaurant Management. NTU is ranked 39th globally and is widely regarded as one of the world’s top business schools in Asia. Nanyang Business School Executive MBA was ranked 8th globally in the Financial Times rankings in 2014. On 25th November 2014, Yum! University Asia/NTU launched the first run of the Programme. This inaugural programme saw 28 participants from 10 different markets across both KFC and Pizza Hut as well as staff from the Yum! Restaurant Support Center. Yum! recently concluded two other successful runs in May and July 2015. In all the cohorts, every participant demonstrated extreme passion and energy over the three and a half days program which covered a comprehensive range of topics like Think like an Entrepreneur, Act like a Leader, Strategic Restaurant Leadership, Coaching, Problem Solving and Critical Thinking and Strategic Restaurant Decision Making. The last day of the programme concluded with a graduation ceremony. Beyond the certificate, each participant gained valuable insights on how they can use the process, skills and tools from this course to creatively solve real work problems and make strategic decisions that have an impact on the business. Equally important were the friendships and networks established throughout the course of this programme. Quotes from our participants: “The venue, materials & facilitation was excellent. The subject‐matters are timely, relevant and present an important and necessary way of looking at our restaurant business. The training was very inspirational, energizing, bringing lots of ideas together with case studies and learning from experience. The participants from other markets and AFBU’s RSC were amazing & I learned a lot from their experience and insights. I have personally gained enormous amount knowledge in rights based approaches of Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, Decision Making, and Coach ing – Unleashing Potential which are all very useful to be applied to my duties to become an Authentic Leader.” Long Kim Oanh – HR Director, KFC Vietnam “Exciting program. It targets on the critical elements needed to drive towards a behavioral change in better leadership. Excellent insights to better manage the restaurant business. Congrats!" Andrew Lau – General Manager (Training & Field HR), KFC Malaysia