September 26 was without a doubt an unforgettable day for students Ms. Yi-ling Lin and Mr. Huan-chi Chang, for it was the day the pair enjoyed the chance to shadow Mr. Sheng-yi Dai as he performed his duties as chairman of the Wang Group. The two had earned this opportunity by being selected to fill the only two spots offered through the Creativity and Entrepreneurship Program to shadow a chairperson on the job. It turns out the first experience Chairman Dai shared with Ms. Lin and Mr. Chang was attending a farewell ceremony for a departing Wang Group employee.

The Wang Group is a major multinational restaurant conglomerate whose operations include steakhouses, Japanese restaurants and other food businesses. The group has emphasized attentive service to win over the hearts of it patrons. Yet, the students witnessed firsthand that the group’s success was due as well to the personal attention Chairman Dai demonstrated in caring for his employees.

Ms. Lin and Mr. Chang must have been surprised to discover the Wang Group office in Taipei is actually relatively small, covering only 4,320 square feet of floor space in an old office building. Nonetheless, Chairman Dai’s standard is “big enough to use is good enough.”

In explaining to the students the reason the Wang Group has been able to continue to create new brands, Chairman Dai said, “Service isn’t simply about differentiation. Superiority is an indispensible element. For a business to exert its influence in the right markets, it must position itself in the appropriate markets and find the superiority of differentiation, and then pursue a focused, deep development.”