"World Market"

Where there's a developing economy, the Fisher College of Business is interested in its local businesses.

Each year, students in the college's Emerging Markets Field Study course spend one quarter learning about business in rapidly developing nations. (The college has sections for grad students and undergraduates.) When class is done, the students spend up to two weeks abroad, analyzing the foreign businesses they've picked to study during the quarter. Through the years, the class has traveled around the globe to locations including Egypt, Namibia, Peru, and Costa Rica.

When they get to the businesses, students get much more than a standard tour.

"They meet with top executives: vice presidents, presidents, CEO's," says Melanie Caugherty, manager of the program.

As a business grad student, Steve Fischer studied Brazil and Thailand in the class. Now a Student Affairs web manager, he remembers one experience--helping a Thai Coca-Cola plant work through distribution and refrigeration issues--as a particularly valuable lesson.

"The issues were so different," he says.

“They meet with top executives: vice presidents, presidents, CEO's. ”
—Melanie Caugherty, Fisher College of Business

In Thailand, distribution was a major hurdle for business: Issues with roads made it difficult to get the soda to stores.

Once the Coke had been delivered, there was the problem of refrigeration. In some parts of Thailand, the company provided fridges--a rarity in rural towns--for its product. But store owners would use the novelty appliance for "chicken or maybe Pepsi."

Solving cross-cultural problems like these makes for great anecdotes during job interviews, Caugherty says.

"Companies recognize that you've taken yourself out of your comfort zone and you've learned how to adapt," she says. "It's a great resumé builder because it demostrates that you've actually used the skills you've learned. "

The class and trips are organized through Fisher's Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), one of 31 such offices funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The office helps connect students with study abroad opportunities, hooks minority students up with area business leader mentors, and brings international business experts to campus to speak, among other things.

(text: University Marketing Communications images: Fisher College of Business)