Does having a unique corporate culture contribute to the long term success of a company? There is no definite answer since its benefit is hardly quantifiable. However, qualitative case studies could always help bring us a little closer to the truth. Neusoft, the number one software outsourcing company of China, is an ideal candidate for such study.

Neusoft is a 17 year old company initially founded by a group of teachers and students from North Eastern University of China. Today, despite having more than 14000 employees, various levels of offices across China, and subsidiaries in USA, Japan, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Hungary and India, the company has managed to maintain its unique university culture.

When the MBA in Globalization team was in Neusoft's Dalian Software Park to film with its founder, Professor Liu Jiren, what was most striking was how much the atmosphere resembles that of a university. Managers here are being addressed as "teacher" by their subordinates. According to friends working in Neusoft, within the technical teams, the junior members will also call the senior members "teacher".

The Software Park features campus style large playgrounds, canteens and hostels. There is no uniform and young employees in their early twenties, looking still like students, form the majority of the workforce we saw. They eat together in the canteen, walk along the roads in large groups, play football or badminton during lunch breaks. If these were fresh university graduates, then life for them in the Software Park really did not need any adaptation at all.

In an industry where human capital forms the single most important success factor, has the university culture of Neusoft helped it attract good quality university graduates in large numbers?