Short-term global business immersion courses: Short-term program,long-term effects?

This article explores the potential impact of short-term global business immersion courses designed for undergraduate students at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. As part of the Global Foundations Core curriculum, the school offers students a unique opportunity to study a country or region in depth in the classroom and then participate in an accompanying short-term study program abroad. In this article, multiple Kelley faculty who teach global immersion courses offer context-specific strategies and insights into classroom teaching and observed outcomes for student learning. Research shows that short-term study-abroad programs can offer transformative opportunities for students when intentionally designed as part of curriculum, affecting attitudes toward environmental citizenship and shaping global careers. The Chronicle of Education reports that even short study-abroad programs can have a lasting effect. To date, the Kelley School has not measured for standardized learning outcomes across its 14 existing global immersion courses, so this article does not offer commentary on program-wide student learning. However, through analyses of their on-campus course design and respective overseas program activities, Global Business Immersion program faculty share insights into student learning as observed in their individual programs. Our intent is to capture the impact of the courses through the lens of faculty program directors and student participants in three programs across three continents. In addition, we contribute to future research on similar global academic initiatives and add to the expanding body of knowledge on the impacts of short-term study abroad.     

The motivation of international entrepreneurship: The case of Chinese transnational entrepreneurs

The ventures of transnational entrepreneurs (TEs) are a new business phenomenon, representing a fluid context in which established arrangements may be expected to change. In terms of one particular relationship, motivation has been found to be a key construct in international entrepreneurship (IE) research, with two established features of motivation comprising entrepreneurial vision and its implementation. At the same time, nationality has been found to be a consistent influence on entrepreneurial orientation through the impact of culture. Employing qualitative case study methods, this paper investigates these relationships in the new context of the internationalization of Chinese TEs socially embedded in their host and home countries. Subtle changes in established patterns of IE motivation are detected, and Chinese cultural influence may also be weakening to meet the environment of host countries.     

Taking international business education programs and pedagogy to new heights: Fundamental questions for educators and students

As the dynamic global business environment continues to force organizations to be agile and adaptive, international business (IB) education pedagogy is transforming. Building on previous literature describing gaps in IB pedagogy, as well as unaddressed stakeholder needs, we first use our institution—the United States Air Force Academy—as an example of IB program development. In examining our program's evolution, we develop five questions that may provide insight regarding more generalizable IB pedagogy trends. To assess this possible generalizability, we explore questions related to the development of our program using self-reported, publically-available websites of the top full-time MBA programs throughout the United States. Our questions focus on the role of foreign languages, study abroad opportunities, integrative courses, capstone/thesis projects, and faculty development. Our exploration indicates that these five questions are important not only for educators developing future programs, but also for students examining potential IB programs. Additionally, our research examines a sixth question focused on the development of competitive positioning and program differentiation in IB programs. We hope to motivate future inquiry into IB pedagogy, which could inform more effective means of improving IB education.     

Getting what we wish for: The realities of business education for a global economy

Business schools around the world have embraced globalization and, as a result, attempted to attract international students to their programs. Teaching diverse student groups has many advantages, but is not without its challenges, including cultural differences in educational expectations and student self-efficacy. The goal of this article is to suggest that we can create plans and activities capable of helping Asian students adapt more quickly to the expectations of Western education. We herein describe Rotterdam Business School's experiences in working with a diverse—mainly Asian—population of students, focusing on strategies that may assist them in adapting to the expectations of the global business school classroom.     

Theoretical milestones in international business: The journey to international entrepreneurship theory

For many decades global business was considered the preserve of large multinationals and traditional international business theory was developed to explain the behaviour of these firms. However, increasingly there is a realization that the small entrepreneurial firm has an important role to play in international business especially given that there are strong globalization pressures that both pull and push the small firm into international markets to ensure its very survival. On the questions of how and why international business takes place, several theoretical approaches have been developed that appear to run parallel to each other. However, this paper posits that the point of convergence is international entrepreneurship.     

Impact of International Business Education on Ethnocentricity

Abstract

As evidenced by recent surveys of American managers, there is a serious shortage of qualified candidates on the US job market. This shortage is most evident in two specialization areas: high-technology knowledge workers and internationally competent managers. Indeed, American companies rate lack of qualified high-technology personnel as their number one reason for slower than desired business expansion. The other less glamorized, yet serious shortcoming of the American educational system is its inadequate training of cross-culturally competent workers for this truly global post-industrial era. In response to this human resources crisis, realizing that “the future economic welfare of the US will depend substantially on increasing international skills in the business community,” the United States Department of Education began an active campaign of promoting international education and research in several major American universities in the late 1980s. Since 1988, nearly 40 universities have been awarded tens of millions of dollars to engage in such activities as developing formal international business curricula, offering foreign language courses, promoting internationally-oriented research, provoking international education and research dialogues among the faculty, exchange programs between American and foreign universities for students and the faculty and similar activities. This research is a first attempt in evaluating the impact of one such program on the internationalization level of American students. It will be shown that the international education program at one major American university has successfully produced a cadre of more global and less ethnocentric workforce for American corporations.     

Experience and a firm's performance in foreign markets: A commentary essay

Wu and Lin (2010) extend several prominent themes in the experience and subsidiary performance literature in their empirical examination of the foreign expansion of Taiwanese MNEs. This commentary essay considers the themes in Wu and Lin (2010) against the backdrop of the considerable volume of research that has been conducted on experiential learning and firm performance in both the international business and strategy literatures. Five weak axioms about the relationships between experience, foreign market entry strategy, and performance emerge in this review. Based on these weak axioms, the commentary concludes that scholars need to concentrate future research on understanding the management and process-related issues that concern the effective management of a firm's experiential learning processes to foster better capability and knowledge development from a firm's experience, as well as translate such developments into improved performance prospects for a firm.