BUAD 492: Global Business Strategy

Class notes, a rather brief summary:

1.       “Where’s the money?” -> China!

2.      “In the world of global business strategy, the answer is always: It depends!”

3.      “How do you know what the question is?”  -> Know everything.

So I mentioned in my bio that I’m participating in W&M’s DC Summer 2010 Business Institutes. What does this mean? Well, over the course of 12 weeks or so, this essentially breaks down into 2 weeks of a compressed, intensive course and a 10- week long internship.

The class:

My two weeks as a Global Business Strategy student flew by so quickly, it makes me dizzy just thinking back upon it. It was perhaps one of the most exhilarating learning experiences of my academic career and also very unique in the sense that most of our learning took place outside the classroom.

As the course title implies, there was an emphasis on all things global and business-oriented. Our class syllabus fulfilled these two aspects of the course by having us embark upon daily excursions to many corporate and government organizations. In the time span of two business weeks we met with corporate leaders, managers, and founders and engaged in active dialogue concerning a variety of issues ranging from trade relations, globalization and cultural awareness, the importance of innovation and R&D investment, competition, climate change, and corporate social responsibility. Because our course readings and lectures were integrated with our site visits, we students always had something to say during Q&A. Although it took a couple of site visits to get us out of our shells, by the time our class was coming to an end, we often ran out of time because we kept asking questions!

Some organizations we spoke with:

• Sirius XM Satellite Radio
• Embassies: Australia, Qatar, Germany, UK, Egypt
• US-China Business Council
• Deloitte
• Organization for International Investment
• Department of Commerce: US-India Business Council, Japan, China, Korea
• Lockheed Martin
• Intel
• European-American Business Council
• UPS International Public Affairs
• The Business Council for Global Development

After our sessions, we’d regroup and review the different business strategies each organization applied to move their agenda forward.

Overall, I came out of this course feeling extremely informed about the relations between global business organizations and public policy and the importance of being culturally aware when working with other countries. Even though our class walked and metro’d throughout DC, in some ways I feel like I’ve made a whirlwind trip around the world!

As a hands-on learner, I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to sit in a classroom for eight hours, two weeks in a row. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there was still a semester’s worth of reading crammed into our schedule, but the bulk of classroom discussion centered around interactive learning.

In a nutshell: 12 interactive students + 1 great professor + relevant site visits concerning global business relations + DC’s humidity = priceless class experience

The internship:

I am currently interning with WUSA Channel 9 as an Assignment Desk Intern. Although I’m technically stationed to the assignment desk, I’ve been given some leeway on what my duties entail. Some of my responsibilities include answering phones for breaking news, reporters, and the general public; assisting the assignment editor and manager schedule interviews; retrieving archive videos; assisting producers with their stories; going out into the field with the unit crew, holding cables, etc.

I’ll continue to keep you updated on what’s going on with that and the interesting people and situations I happen to encounter!!