The Global Pulse: Expect the World!

The University of Maine Business School offers a unique experience to its students in which they are required to participate in an international trip during their program of study. In these trips, students learn the culture, business practices and opportunities in a country. Past trips have included Germany, Bulgaria, Belgium, Canada, France, Cayman Islands, China and the Czech Republic from 2003 through the present. This year, students are going to China or France.

Dr. Donglin Zhang, Associate Professor, Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences and Dr. Hsiang-Tai Cheng, Associate Professor, School of Economics, are leading the China trip for the second year. Dr. Zhang emphasized that MBA students should recognize changing business environments stating, "China is one of the rapidly developing countries in the world today. She has rich traditions, diversity of (business) culture, ample opportunities, and endless market. Almost all businesses around the world are more or less associated with China. When our students visit China, they will experience much more diversified business culture from any other country and they will gain experiences. Professor Paul Myer, Executive in Residence, who spent time in Beijing as a business executive, mentioned that he is always fascinated with China’s rapid change, adding, "China is not likely the easiest place to learn, but the ability to go there and at least get a sense of what China [is] probably the first important step for an MBA student. You can learn so much about a market by experiencing and observing, this is what MBA students will get from this course.”

Students are expected to go to China with an open mind, learning not only differences but also similarities between China and the U.S. The goal of this trip is not only to experience and learn cultural and business practices, but to understand core value systems and business differences that will help an American business person succeed in China, according to Professor Myer.

Dr. VanderLinden, Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Southern Maine is organizing the international trip to France. He has mentioned the wide variety of experience in international travel and business, saying "Some have never been abroad, while one is now visiting France, and several are from other nations (Germany and India); some have little business experience, while at least one deals with international issues frequently. My hope is that each student gets a rich understanding of French culture and business practices, and can use that as a starting point from which to learn much more about doing business internationally.” The University of Maine System established partnerships with French universities in France and Quebec through Partnership Maine-France-Quebec (PMFQ). Dr. VanderLinden defined the origin of the interest in France, “France has a particular interest in Maine because of the French heritage in the state, and because of the relative proximity of Maine and France. This year, students are going to visit businesses in Angers (pronounced awn-zhay) and experience the connections with business and the University of Angers through PMFQ. Students will also visit a story-book castle (chateau) downtown, and have a day and a half to visit Paris."

Next year, the University of Maine Business School is organizing an international trip to Japan with Dr. Borgman and an international trip to the Amazon with Dr. Harold Daniel.

Dr. Borgman defined Japan as one of the U.S’s best allies and one of the great economies in the world, which MBA students need to have a better understanding of. "Japan is not only one of the great economies of the world; it is also the home of great companies and a great culture and a fascinating land." According to Dr. Borgman, learning about Japanese business practices would help students understand other Asian businesses.” Although the details of the trip have not yet been decided, Dr. Borgman mentioned visiting the sister state of Maine, Aomori as well as visiting Tokyo.

Dr. Daniel is very excited about Maine Business School’s Amazon’s trip because of its uniqueness from the previous destinations. Daniel defined the Amazon as the best eco-tourism place in the world capitalizing on the assets in the best sustainable way it can.” Dr. Daniel is planning to invite tourism entrepreneurs of Maine to this trip as well as students to observe “the sustainable development that can be accomplished.” There is a lot to learn from the Amazon for the state of Maine in terms of eco-tourism opportunities.

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