Print VersionCIBER News
MBA Students Visit China and India
Wisconsin MBA students at John Deere in Beijing
Thirteen MBA students visited India
Two groups of MBA students from the Wisconsin School of Business traveled overseas during the semester break to observe firsthand the international aspects of conducting business. Each of the trips combined tours of cultural sites with visits to U.S. and domestic businesses. One group traveled to China and the other to India. The tours were organized as part of an ongoing effort to incorporate more international content into the MBA curriculum. CIBER supported the two interdisciplinary groups in order to augment overseas experiences offered by several specializations, allowing approximately 70 percent of full-time MBA students to go abroad. An international study tour is required of executive and evening MBA students.
The China group comprised 15 MBA students and a staff adviser. While in Beijing they met with staff at the U.S. embassy and visited the offices of Citigroup, John Deere and AOL-China. The president of AOL-China personally led the group on a two-day tour of the city, giving students the opportunity to ask candid questions about the history and government of China. The group then traveled to Shanghai where they visited Baird Asia Private Equity and Medtronic.
The trip was eye-opening for students planning to work in international business. “Going to a country that does not speak English as its first language, but where it is widely spoken throughout, showed me how challenging it can be to live and work abroad,” said Justin Mayer, a student associated with the Grainger Center for Supply Chain Management. Getting lost on the way to his Shanghai hotel because he could not communicate with his taxi driver taught him that “the simplest tasks instantly become more complicated.” In addition to company visits, the group toured several cultural sites, including Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Shanghai museum, the Jade Buddha temple, and Yuyuan market. Mayer noted the constant military presence on the streets and at most locations in Beijing and Shanghai.
Mayer feels the study tour prepared him for situations he might encounter when working overseas, such as dining out with business colleagues. “Most of our meals were ordered family style where we shared plates of food. The most senior person would order meals for the entire group,” he said. “If I do business over there, I now feel much more comfortable in a dinner setting having already seen all of this.”
As that group toured China, another 13 MBA students and a staff adviser visited India. In New Delhi, the group met four Indian businessmen who had earned their MBA degrees in the United States through the Fulbright Program. The men “shared their insight into India’s current business prospects and demonstrated the great perspective that a study abroad experience affords,” said Thomas Carmona, an MBA student associated with the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship. Before traveling to Mumbai, the group toured the Taj Mahal in Agra, a sight Carmona described as “breathtaking.”
The next stop, Mumbai, included visits to Merill Lynch, the Bombay Stock Exchange, General Mills, the Securities Trading Corporation of India, Kotak Investment Banking, and an Indian law firm. “Even though 10 days was a short period of time to learn about such a large and diverse country, the students were able to meet with a number of different businesses that gave valuable insight into the Indian business climate” said Carmona. A highlight was a visit with a Bollywood director and producer who discussed the “booming film industry in India, with all of its commercial and social implications for India and the rest of the world,” he said.