Global Business, Culture and Travel course set for May 2008
Chris Pepple |
Applications are now being accepted for the Global Business, Culture and Travel course set for Hong Kong and Beijing, China, May 22-31, 2008. This graduate or undergraduate three credit hour course is designed to change your outlook on life forever. By experiencing business outside the United States, you will return with a global perspective that reflects your broadened horizons. Trip highlights include: visits and tours of Chinese multinational companies, a guided tour of Hong Kong, including Victoria Peak and Stanley Market, a ferry ride to Macau Island, a tour of Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, an amazing Chinese acrobatic show, and a Great Wall of China tour. More information is available online at business.lipscomb.edu.
Space limited to the first 30 students who apply and pay the $300 deposit. To register, download the application form online and submit your deposit. For more information, contact Dr. Susan Galbreath through e-mail or call 615.966.5952.
Last year’s trip can be considered a tremendous success. When Lipscomb students prepared to visit China this past spring, many knew they would have an exciting experience learning about global business and diverse economies, but they returned from China with more than an economics lesson. Most of the students said the trip, Lipscomb’s first business travel course to China, opened their eyes to new insights on social issues, their Christian faith, history and global issues as well as business practices.
Charla Long, Steve Yoho and Lipscomb President Randy Lowry and his wife, Rhonda, accompanied 20 undergraduate and 10 graduate students on the trip. The group, made up primarily of College of Business students, toured several companies and met with China-based executives. The group also attended an acrobatics performance, visited the Great Wall and took the ferry out to Macau Island. They had a guided tour of Hong Kong and visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
“It’s a different stage on which business is enacted today,” said Yoho. “Students need to be comfortable acting on that stage. The actual business objectives are not really that different, but the cultural climate in which business is done is so important. Many organizations have an international dimension, either as part of a multinational organization, selling abroad or drawing on foreign suppliers. To compete successfully in a global marketplace is difficult, if not impossible, without international experience. China holds many of the world's most dynamic regions today, and its complexities make it an ideal study for future organizational leaders.”
Lowry, who has previously served as a visiting faculty member at the City University of Hong Kong and Shantou University, knew the trip would help students think about the differences between American and Chinese culture and how that affects business operations and relationships. The Chinese culture engenders a very different view of the rule of law, individual rights and truths, all of which can affect a business relationship, he said.
“My perspective on the world was drastically changed when I studied abroad in Vienna, Austria, so I thought I was ready for what I would experience in China,” said Kedra Pharr, a student participant on the trip. “I was wrong. The trip impacted my thinking of the business world, what I thought of myself, and what I thought of China as a whole. Going to the different companies and meeting people who work there made me realize how fast China is growing and how important it is in the business world.”