Going GlobalA Newsletter of International Programs

Spring 2009

As he exited the plane into a dense wall of heat and the cacophony of 12 million people moving around

him, the reality of being in Bangkok, Thailand hit home. “I just thought, ‘Okay, here I am, nobody speaks English, what do I do now?’” says Amin Aaser, a junior majoring in fi nance, supply chain management, and marketing who last December completed an undergraduate semester exchange at Thailand’s Thammasat University.

Aaser decided on Thailand in order to challenge himself academically and culturally. “When a country speaks a different language, generally its culture is also substantially different,” Aaser says. “I wanted to

gain a global business perspective as well as to better understand the struggles that many around the world face day to day.” The Thammasat exchange provided him those perspectives as well as increased confi dence and valuable personal insight into his own goals and values.

Aaser was impressed by the rigor of his business classes, taught in English and attended by students from around the world. Much of the coursework emphasized applying theory to cases and presenting them formally. For example, Aaser’s group identifi ed health clubs for

A life examinedAaser’s semester abroad at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand changed how he thinks about himself, his opportunities, and what he owes others.

men as an unserved market, and surveyed Thai citizens to come up with a marketing plan for a hypothetical case study.

On the streets, meanwhile, Bangkok citizens were protesting the government regime. While Aaser was there, Thailand, a monarchy, cycled through three prime ministers. Thammasat staff communicated regularly with Aaser and with staff back at the Carlson School to ensure that all the exchange students were safe.

Aaser says he was impressed by the warmth and willing assistance of the Thai people, who sometimes preferred to point him in the wrong direction rather than offer no help at all. He was also impressed—and inspired—by their gumption. “In Thailand, students begin building businesses during college,” Aaser says. “The Thai people take pride in having an entrepreneurial spirit and doing what they are most passionate about. They made me realize that my own professional goals are unlimited. ”

Spending a semester abroad gave Aaser plenty of time for self-refl ection, and he came back more grateful than ever for his educational and professional opportunities. “Being exposed to the many people who would never even dream

of attaining a college-level education in Thailand has made me appreciate the opportunity I have,” Aaser says. Although he plans to pursue a career in management consulting or fi nancial analysis, he is considering doing a Peace Corps or Teach for America stint fi rst. While in Thailand, he volunteered as a substitute English teacher to elementary students, and that experience stuck with him.

“This trip was a chance for me to pave the way for future students from the Carlson School of Management who study in Thailand. It gave me confi dence in myself—if I can thrive in a foreign country where I don’t know anybody or anything, I can thrive anywhere.”

Since coming home, Aaser has started an organization called DREAMS—

Developing Responsible Educated and Aware Multicultural Students,

that encourages university students to become mentors for high school

freshmen in at-risk neighborhoods. “Our goal is to aid them in achieving

post-secondary success through a college education,” Aaser says. “My

experiences in Thailand provided the motivation to give back.”

2 Going Global

The two weeks he spent on the Carlson School’s new Global Enrichment seminar “Doing

Business in Brazil” opened Graham Arntzen’s eyes to one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Arntzen, a consulting and public policy major with a fi nance emphasis, feels he could go there now as a manager of a plant or business, armed with a much deeper understanding of the business environment.

Students and Carlson School Director of Teaching Services Paul Wieser say the program gave them a real sense of Brazilian history and culture—and their impact on the country’s economic development. Carlson’s partner school Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), the largest private business school in Latin America, arranged class lectures and projects as well as site visits to three Brazilian companies and the stock market. FGV professors went out of their way to engage students with questions and tie their own personal experiences to

Give us two weeks, we’ll give you

Braziltheir lectures. “All had major corporate or government experience,” says Jennifer Carnahan, director of integrated brand marketing for Caribou Coffee who is majoring in marketing and strategic management. “They were able to apply their fi rst-hand knowledge to what we were learning.”

Brazil’s stark class differences and emerging middle class present business development challenges, as does the country’s volatile history with runaway infl ation. “After hearing about 1,000 percent infl ation year after year, you understand how Brazil’s decisions are infl uenced by wanting to keep infl ation in check,” Wieser says. “It’s very expensive to borrow money there—about a 13 percent rate—and the economy runs less on credit and more on cash.” Brazil is very open to foreign business and investment. However, students noted, the challenges come in navigating the nuances of cultural differences and government regulation. “They won’t do business with you simply

Students were impressed by the depth of learning offered in this new Global Enrichment education abroad program

Carlson School MBA students in São Paulo

Spring 2009 3

because it’s a good deal—they need to cultivate trust fi rst,” notes Paul Craig, systems engineer for Lockheed Martin who is studying operations and strategic management. “Also, a lot of regulations are changing because of the opening of different industries there, so you need someone with local expertise to keep you up to speed.” Carnahan also notes that although businesses are encouraged to market to the emerging middle class, it’s not necessarily easy. “Wal-Mart is having a hard time there because the people in lower classes actually want to buy iPods and expensive things. You have to understand how to change your whole business strategy going in.”

Students were encouraged by the progressive nature of the São Paulo-based companies they visited. For instance, Natura Cosméticos works with rain forest communities to ensure it doesn’t disrupt forest ecology, and gives some of its profi ts to build schools. Brasilata, a can manufacturer, calls its workers “innovators.” And both a private fi nancial services fi rm as well as Brazil’s fl edgling stock market emphasize the importance of socially responsible investing. “At the stock market, if a community wants to build a school and needs $1 million to do it, they would do an IPO of this opportunity and sell ‘social shares,’” Wieser says.

Carlson School MBA students note that their experience on the “Doing Business in Brazil” program gives them an edge with current or prospective employers. Says Arntzen, “Any executive looking to do business in Brazil would learn a lot from this program.”

Lasting impactPolish entrepreneur refl ects on lessons from the Warsaw Executive MBA program

Tomasz Niesluchowski’s career has taken him from assembling and selling computers, to recruiting IT managers, to building and running a successful resort hotel. Today he is director

of Polish human resources fi rm HRK’s information-communication technology group (HRK ITC), president of software company

Perseus, and co-owner of Zagroda Kuwasy Hotel. The critical foundation underpinning of all of his endeavors, he says, has been the Warsaw Executive MBA program (WEMBA). Niesluchowski is a 1997 graduate of WEMBA I, the very fi rst program jointly offered by a partnership between the Carlson School and the Warsaw School of Economics. “It really changed my life,” Niesluchowski says of earning his master’s degree in business administration. “Without it I could not have done what I did, or made the contacts I still have today.”

As a vice president in the 1990’s at Dell Polska and then country manager at Acer Polska, Niesluchowski decided to apply to WEMBA after realizing he needed to shore up his

understanding of fi nance. He had a master’s degree in electronics, and natural abilities in managing, sales, and marketing. “But I understood I would have problems without more fi nancial knowledge,” he says. “I was having problems talking about fi nance on the same level as the fi nancial managers at Dell, and I knew I couldn’t learn enough by myself.”

Since his WEMBA classes, Niesluchowski has gone on to write up his own fi nancing proposals for his hotel and manage a tricky turnaround of Apexim SA, a fi nancially troubled information technology and services company that has since liquidated. “Without my WEMBA knowledge, that would have been too risky for me,” he says.

An early strength of the WEMBA program, Niesluchowski says, was the case-based focus of many classes, where students examine in-depth problem and solution examples from real companies, illustrating principles of class lessons. “That was something new for me,” he says. “It was good to test the theory against reality.” He also appreciated meeting fellow students from a variety of industries, many of whom he keeps in contact with today. “I met a lot of fantastic people from other sectors and companies, which was very important for the exchange of ideas and who still infl uence me today.”

Niesluchowski believes so strongly in WEMBA’s lasting infl uence on its graduates’ careers that he is the current chairman of the alumni association. “My main target this year is to bring alumni even closer together,” he says. “Knowing where everyone works and how we can help each other is very important.”

CELEBRATING A 15-YEAR PARTNERSHIP

In 2008, the WEMBA program achieved the quality standard of “Mastery Class” in Poland’s

Association of Management Education FORUM’s rankings of MBA programs. This fall the Carlson

School and the Warsaw School of Economics recognize their long-standing partnership as WEMBA

celebrates its 15th anniversary.

4 Going Global

Yes, you canMaking a difference with business know-how in Equatorial Guinea and Angola through the MBA Enterprise Corps

Katy McIntosh had her work cut out for her. For her year-long MBA Enterprise Corps stint in Equatorial Guinea, a tiny Spanish-speaking country in Central Africa, McIntosh

was charged with developing small local businesses as potential suppliers to Equatorial Guinea Liquid Natural Gas (EG LNG) company, a joint venture between Marathon Oil and the national government.

While the tiny country’s recent discovery of extensive petroleum reserves has boosted its economic status and infused more money in the region, its infrastructure is still that of a third-world country, McIntosh says. “There are few institutions or resources for businesses,” she says. So McIntosh and fellow MBAEC volunteer, a graduate of Thunderbird University in Arizona, started a training course in business skills for 24 local businesses.

They matched up supplier capabilities to opportunities in EG LNG. “We have identifi ed eight specifi c opportunities and are working with the [small businesses] to develop business plans, do market analysis, and improve operations,” she says. “The opportunities include agriculture, light manufacturing, services, and warehousing and procurement.”

Developing these opportunities also should contribute more broadly to Equatorial Guinea’s business community as a whole, McIntosh says, noting that this is the broader mission of her MBAEC trip. “Even though we were hired by EG LNG, our objective is to create sustainable businesses that are not completely reliant on the oil companies.”

The MBA Enterprise Corps, a division of the Citizens Development Corps, is a non-profi t, private volunteer organization founded in 1990 by a consortium of leading U.S. business schools. The Carlson School continues to be a strong participant in this consortium. In February 2009, Carlson School MBA alum Jeffrey Seltz traveled to Angola to begin a new assignment training suppliers for the oil industry.

For the past decade, the MBA Enterprise Corps has worked to enhance trade, technology transfer, and investment opportunities in emerging markets and transitioning economies through the experience and energy of recently graduated MBAs. To date, the Corps has sent more than 1,000 volunteers on assignment to four continents. Assignments are typically 12 to 15 months. Benefi ts to volunteers include extensive training, a monthly living allowance, student loan deferment assistance, and more.

SNAPSHOT

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

AREA

28,051 sq km

POPULATION

633,441

CAPITAL CITY

Malabo

GOVERNMENT

Republic; constitution vests all executive

authority in the president

CLIMATE

tropical; always hot, humid

TERRAIN

coastal plains rise to interior hills; fi ve islands

are volcanic

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Spanish

NATURAL RESOURCES

petroleum, natural gas, timber, gold,

bauxite, diamonds, tantalum, sand and

gravel, clay

MAJOR INDUSTRIES

petroleum, fi shing, sawmilling,

natural gas

ANGOLA

AREA

1,246,700 sq km

POPULATION

12,799,293

CAPITAL CITY

Luanda

GOVERNMENT

Republic; multiparty presidential regime

CLIMATE

semiarid in south and along coast to Luanda;

north has cool, dry season (May–Oct)

and hot, rainy season (Nov–Apr)

TERRAIN

narrow coastal plain rises abruptly to vast

interior plateau

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Portuguese

MAJOR INDUSTRIES

petroleum. diamonds, iron ore, phosphates,

feldspar, bauxite, uranium, and gold.

cement. basic metal products. fi sh

processing. food processing, brewing,

tobacco products, sugar. textiles. ship repair

SNAPSHOT

> Looking to make a difference internationally with your MBA degree? For more information, please contact the Carlson School’s representative for the MBA Enterprise Corps: Abby Pinto, apinto@umn.edu, or view the Corps website at http://www.mbaec-cdc.org/.

Spring 2009 5

Students who study abroad invariably do so to expand their perspectives. Adrian Suncar had a more personal

reason—he always wondered about the Dutch infl uences in his family tree. Suncar grew up in Indonesia, which was once a Dutch colony, but knew little about the Netherlands itself. So he jumped at the chance to study abroad for a semester at Universiteit Maastricht, and applied for a Carlson Family Foundation scholarship to do so. As a product of Dutch colonialism, Suncar wrote in his application essay, “I am intimidated by how I will fi t in there.”

The Carlson Family Foundation, which helps students gain global perspective in business through study abroad, found Suncar’s story compelling enough to award him $1,000 toward the costs of housing and tuition. The trustees of the Foundation’s supporting organization agree that helping people work in multicultural settings is of paramount importance, and they are committed to increasing students’ access to international educational experiences.

Suncar, an accounting major with an interest in retail merchandising and fashion, appreciated the rigor of his business courses at Universiteit Maastricht, which is recognized as providing the fi nest fi nance and accounting bachelor-level education in Europe. He also was pleasantly surprised to fi nd how profoundly Indonesian culture has infl uenced the Dutch, from the art they display in their homes to the food

Carlson Family Foundation Scholarship recipient Adrian Suncar

they eat, to the phrases that trip off their tongues. Although Indonesians make up little more than 2 percent of the Dutch population, “There is still quite a strong connection between the two countries today,” Suncar notes.

Suncar says he has returned home with a deeper understanding of who he is, where he came from, and where he might want to go. “If in the future I do something with international business, I’ll be so much more aware and open to many different perspectives because of all the people I met there.”

STRICTLY BALLROOM

Suncar’s goal to immerse himself fully in Dutch culture was a swinging success.

Already a competitive ballroom dancer in the States, Suncar joined a Dutch dance

group in his spare time during his Maastricht semester. He did so well that he

placed fi fth in one international ballroom dance competition. “I was able to bond

with the team and really be part of the school spirit there instead of viewing it

from the outside,” he says. “And I promised my team I would come back and

dance with them again.”

“If in the future I do something with international business, I’ll be so much more aware and open to many different perspectives because of all the people I met there.”

6 Going Global

On the moveInternationalization efforts at the Carlson School continue apace

The 2008-2009 academic year has ushered in more changes for the Carlson School.

Already underway is an international experience requirement for all Carlson undergraduates. Recently the faculty voted to roll out a similar requirement for students entering the full-time MBA program in fall 2009. These students will participate in a 3-credit course during their second year that includes a two-week program abroad. While all participants will study a common theme, each course section will travel to a different location and return for a comparative analysis of regions visited.

This new initiative, one of many signifi cant revisions to the MBA program curriculum, strengthens the Carlson School’s commitment to experiential learning and students’ development as globally competent business leaders.

Such efforts, along with those in units across the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, were rewarded in March with the 2009 Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization. Awarded to the university as a whole, this prize recognizes outstanding and innovative efforts in campus internationalization, and is sponsored by NAFSA: Association of International Educators. The University is just the 10th public research institution to win the award over the past nine years.

Notes Michael Houston, Associate Dean of International Programs at the Carlson School, “The Simon Award is a wonderful acknowledgement of the university’s long-time commitment to internationalization. And we’re proud of the contributions the Carlson School has made to this effort.”

Graduate Exchange to the University of OtagoDunedin, New Zealand

Located in a natural harbor on the southeastern coast of New Zealand, the city of Dunedin is home to the University of Otago, New Zealand’s oldest university. Its business program has an international focus and offers a wide range of courses in accounting, business law, fi nance, economics, information science, and marketing, as well as a special tourism program. A great deal of emphasis is placed on the collaboration, communication and peer management processes of business management. Exchange students are able to select from a variety of courses in the graduate and MBA programs.

OtagoHECTwo new opportunities

The Carlson School Offi ce of International Programs is excited to announce two new exchange opportunities for the

2009-2010 academic year.

Undergraduate Exchange to the HEC School of ManagementParis, France

The Carlson School has had a successful graduate exchange relationship with the HEC School of Management for many years. As of fall 2009, we are opening our HEC Paris exchange to undergraduate students. HEC was recently ranked the #1 business school in Europe by the Financial Times, and is consistently ranked among the top business schools around the world. The campus is located 20 km outside of Paris, and students can choose to live on-campus, or fi nd their own accommodations in the city. Students have the option to take courses in English or French in a variety of business and culture topics.

46 204 81

Spring 2009 7

China Executive MBA program

Vienna Executive MBA program

Warsaw Executive MBA program

By the numbers

Number of Carlson School Students abroad(spring-summer 2009)

In Carlson School In Carlson School In University of Minnesota Global Immersion programs Global Enrichment programs Learning Abroad Center programs

Exchange students(spring 2009)

30Number of

international exchange

students at the Carlson School this semester

12 Number of countries

represented

Countries represented by students in education abroad exchanges and Global Executive MBA programs

ArgentinaAustriaAustraliaBelgiumBrazilChinaCosta RicaDenmarkFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIndiaItalyJapanNetherlandsNew ZealandNorwayPakistanPeruPoland

SingaporeSpainSwedenSwitzerlandThailandUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomVenezuelaVietnam

Global Executive MBA Programs

This spring the Carlson School welcomes its graduating Global Executive MBA students:

These Global Executive MBA students, along with peers from the Carlson Executive MBA program in the U.S., have been working on a virtual team project during the 2008-2009 academic year. Students will present their business plans to peers and faculty in 26 cross-cultural teams, representing 20 different countries.

40

29

34

o

Brands that become cross-cultural icons will dominate a global economyCarlson School Assistant Professor Carlos Torelli discusses the implications of his research for global companies

Heinz Ketchup is such a hit in Ven-ezuela that locals identify more strongly with this foreign brand

than with a locally produced margarine. In a global economy, where brands are

made will have increasingly less infl uence on their staying power than on their ability to communicate cultural identities, says Carlos Torelli, assistant professor of marketing at the Carlson School, whose research focuses on the cross-cultural psychology of marketing. “We believe that in the end it doesn’t matter whether a brand is made in a country or not, but rather how well its image matches what people have in mind about the culture it represents,” Torelli says. To that end, companies will need to study the values of communities they want to target, whether or not these groups tend to be “I” or “we” cultures, and how groups react to the juxtaposition of brands.

For instance, Torelli says his research to date indicates that American brands seem to benefi t from a blurring of the lines in so-called “collectivist” countries, he says, where people tend to identify themselves fi rst as members of a group rather than as individuals. “In collectivist cultures, people will say, ‘I am the third son in my family,’ instead of ‘I am tall,’ ” Torelli says. If an American brand like Heinz Ketchup is able to strongly

connect itself to these community values, it is able to overcome its “foreign” stature more easily than a non-U.S. brand can in America.

Brand juxtaposition is an excellent way to tease out true consumer feelings, Torelli says. “Most people are not consciously thinking about their cultural values all the time, but when they see a cultural contrast, that makes them pay attention to the cultural implications.” For instance, Torelli’s data indicate that Americans react negatively to foreign brands of typical American products, such as Chinese breakfast cereal, and American brands of foreign products, such as Budweiser-brand tequila. “In this way you can see how sensitive people are to cultural ‘contamination,’” Torelli says. People immediately grasp that the brand is communicating competing values or messages

about a culture, even if they can only articulate that as, “It doesn’t feel right.”

Now Torelli will study whether a campaign for Budweiser Tequila that emphasizes cultural similarities can overcome the negative reaction. “We hypothesize that we can do this.”

You’ll be able to read a full account of the outcomes of Torelli’s research in a forthcoming book, Contemporary Branding Issues: A Research Perspective.

International ProgramsCarlson School of ManagementUniversity of Minnesota

321 Nineteenth Avenue South, Suite 2-210Minneapolis, MN 55455612-625-9361carlsonschool.umn.edu/internationalprograms

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