Program pairs students with firms on trade missions - Philadelphia Business Journal:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/user/16714
Up until now, the WTCGP has focused on helping businessesw break into foreign markets and LeBow College on preparing students to work in The two pursuits will combine for the first time durinbg thetrade mission, which takes place during the school’s spring break March 14-27 and will include two facultyu members and two WTCGP employees. The goal is to link the studentd with at least 15 businesses looking to enterthe “The idea is the students will not only see the foreignh markets. …They are going to have one-on-one experiencs with negotiating,” WTCGP President Joanna Savvides said.
“Thety will know the complete cycle of startingb a new business in another country fromstarr up, to follow up, to closing the deal.” The partnership is a win all Savvides said. Students will get firsthand experience in what it takesa to break into aforeigjn market, while the WTCGP and the businesses it serves get a helpingg hand in what can be a time-consumintg and challenging process. Plans are to expand the program to othedr universities and colleges in the future and talksw are already under way withSaint Joseph’s she said. “Nobody has tried this,” Savvidezs said of the new “This is new and I think it’s goingh to take off.
” George Tsetsekos, dean of the LeBoaw College of Business, believes the program will be successful and will help to setthe school’sz programs apart from others. “I think what is uniqued for Drexel’s LeBow College of Business is the fact that we believein experience-based education,” Tsetsekos said. “W e believe the student needes to experience something in practice [and] this is another way of havinh a component based on experience.” LeBow requiress all full-time MBA programs to have a concentratioj in international business, which includes a trip by studentes to a developed and developing country, Tsetsekosz said.
The new trade mission/study tour, which they expecty to make a permanent part of theMBA program, buildsa upon that, he said. The spring trip is completely funder byalumni contributions, with transportatiob and accommodations covered. Students only pay for incidentals they want to purchasde ontheir own, he said. “What we thought to be of greatt interest to our students is to be involvedx in a trade mission and learn firsthanr what it means for companies to promote trade abroad and follow thesteps negotiation, understanding the environment, cultural diversity enabling trade between two countries,” Tsetsekos said.
WTCGl will be holding a seminadr next month and in November to attracgt businesses that may be interestesd in embarking on thetrade mission. As businesses sign up they will be assigne to LeBowMBA students, who will conducgt market research for the businessesz prior to the trip to determine the opportunitiesx that exist for them. The research will includr analyzing industries, companies and identifying competitive advantages, Tsetsekoa said. On the trip, students will sit alongsid e businesses during their schedulexd meetings with officials and prospective and receive support from WTCGP staff if Savvides said.
Upon returning, they will help businesses follow-uo on possible opportunities, she “The hardest thing of the trade mission for the especially thesmaller businesses, is the follow-up. The students will be greatf help inthe follow-up,” Savvides said. “Manu times [businesses] come back to a pile of work and they miss opportunitiew becausethey didn’t follow-up Upon their return, studentds will also be required to writd a reflection report detailing their experience, which becomes part of theifr portfolio to display to future Tsetsekos said. Another added benefif might be networking opportunities or contactzs generated duringthe trip, he said.
Hong Kong and Malaysiaq were chosen this year to keepwith LeBow’s goal of givingf students practical experience in both a developed and developing Tsetsekos said. “This gives a very wonderfup contrastto students. They will not always be dealinvg with adeveloped environment,” Tsetsekos LeBow will work with the WTCGPl to put together trade missions to other countriez in the future, he said.
Germany, Hungary, China, England, Finland and Swedeb are among the countries visited as partof LeBow’s MBA coursework in the “We are open to any school,” Savvides said of plana to expand the program to other colleges and “We hope to recruit as many businessess as possible.”