Lessons from the Southern Cone

Mary Jo Burns, BBA 1997, had been there, but she hadn't done that. Burns, who was working on a Master of International Business degree, had been to Argentina. In fact, she had traveled extensively through Latin America, visiting Peru and Chile and even living for a brief time in Buenos Aires, where she taught English to businesspeople. But Burns had not experienced Argentina through a focused study lens nor had she gained access to some of the country's highest government and business leaders.

Along with 11 other students, Burns signed up for the RCB's study abroad program in Argentina in 2000, led by David Bruce, a professor in the Institute of International Business. Classes held at the RCB on the history, economy, government and culture of Argentina grounded the students in the background of this emerging market and prepared them for an 11-day trip to Buenos Aires.

"It certainly helped to have an understanding of the country and the economic situation before going on the excursion," said Kristen DiCarlo, an MIB student who plans to graduate in December.

In Buenos Aires, Burns, DiCarlo and other students visited international organizations and government agencies, touring the first Home Depot store to open in Argentina, an automated dairy cooperative, a national oil company that had been privatized, the U.S. Embassy and the Argentine stock exchange. "This was by no means a vacation," said Burns. "We had a very tight itinerary, but we learned a lot."

Much ado about management

When international companies operating in London find themselves having committed a cultural faux pas, they often call on Coghill & Beery International, a cross-cultural firm that assists international businesses in coping with issues abroad. Co-founder Carey Coghill herself is a former participant in this very program, an alum and an occasional lecturer at RCB. Co-founder Maria Jicheva was happy to discuss the business of Coghill & Beery with RCB students on their recent study abroad trip to Liverpool, York and London.

The study abroad program to Great Britain, under the direction of management faculty Marta White and Charles Burden, is a three-week program that hones students' skills in business management. The longest continuously running study abroad experience - offered by RCB since 1979 - the program alternates its location between Great Britain and Germany, exposing students to the cultural, economic, political and social factors on the theory and practice of management in those countries. Before setting off, students receive orientation lectures, and they prepare reports on the companies they will visit.

This summer's group studied the Industrial Revolution, with itinerary stops at museums, businesses and historic towns. Students began in Liverpool with a tour of the Bass Brewery in Burton-on-Trent and the National Coal Mining Museum in West Yorkshire, traveling later in the week to York, where they visited with the City of York Council. The Industrial Revolution theme received underscoring with a visit to the Bradford Industrial Museum and neighboring town of Ripon with the ruins of Fountains Abbey, destroyed by Henry VIII. In London, they absorbed the atmosphere of one of the world's major cities and had personal meetings with representatives at Lloyds of London and the Institute of Management.

White also leads the RCB's study abroad program in transitional market countries such as Russia, China and South Africa, a joint initiative between the management and accounting departments. Adam Phillips, an undergraduate student concentrating in economics and finance, participated in the program's recent trips to China and Russia. "Georgia State's international programs have provided me with incredible real-world experiences that I can apply not only to business but to life as well," he said.

The China trip taught Phillips that "the way the Chinese do business is dramatically different. They are patient, but they are just as eager to do business as we are. They would rather a foreign business partner establish a relationship with not only business but also the Chinese community and government," he said. "The business skills you have developed in America must be reassessed and applied from a new perspective - a perspective approached with a considerable amount of patience."

The students visited an electronic switch production factory in Beijing, where workers learned, lived and worked. They also toured Coca Cola's bottling facility in Guangzhou, a Suzhou silk factory, Shanghai Normal University, the Shanghai New Development Zone and a pharmaceutical clinic in Beijing.

In Russia, Phillips had a chance to expand his learning to encompass yet another culture. He found the visits to two strikingly different car manufacturers to be the highlight of the summer 2000 trip. The AZLK Automobile factory, an in-country car producer, did well in Russia until the 1980s, when a struggling economy forced the company into bankruptcy and a bailout by Moscow. At the time of the students' visit, AZLK was still struggling. In contrast, the DaimlerChrysler operation that students toured was a model of success, rewarding middle managers for creative ideas.

The most recent transitional market study abroad trip took students this summer to Johannesburg and Pretoria to experience firsthand a rapidly evolving country. Graduate and undergraduate students explored business and economic development, public- and private-sector relationships, and the role of business in South Africa with visits to the stock exchange, the universities of Pretoria and Venda, Georgia's Office of Tourism and the Sasol Mining Company.

"The idea behind our programs is that if you want students to understand business, they must also understand the social, cultural, political, legal and technological aspects of a country as well," White said. "These trips often are the best experiences of students' lives."

- Rhonda Mullen

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