Planning, Organizing, and Executing Short TermInternational Exposures for U.S. Students ofMarketing and Business

Peter Gordon and D.K. (Skip) Smith

Background

B oth Academicians and practitioners believe thatU.S. business students need exposure to interna-tional business, markets, and economics. The pream-

ble to the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Busi-ness's (AACSB) new accreditation standards identifiesthese as key dimensions of business which must be ad-dressed by U.S. management education. The new AACSBstandards also say that "both undergraduate and MBA cur-ricula should provide an understanding of perspective thatform the context for business." AACSB goes on to indicatethat "coverage should include ethical and global issues, theinfluence of political, social, legal and regulatory, environ-mental, and technological issues, and the impact of demo-graphic diversity on organizations."

The authors and their institution strongly support the rel-evance and importance to our students of exposures to di-verse political, social, legal, cultural, and economic environ-ments. However, at non-urban, medium-sized public institu-tions such as ours, where many students are resource con-strained, it is difficult to provide such experiences. Few ofour students have traveled widely enough to experience thediversity of social and cultural environments in the UnitedStates, let alone in non-U.S. settings.

In an attempt to simultaneously broaden the horizons andexposures of our marketing students and expose them to in-ternational markets and managers, we have organized afour week class which incorporates a three week interna-tional trip. This program has now been successfully con-ducted three times. In the process, we believe we havelearned a great deal about the successful planning, organiz-ing, and executing of such programs. While our program is"mission-driven," (that is, it is keyed to our particular stu-dents and environment), we believe our comments will beof interest to diverse readers willing and able to fine-tunesuggestions regarding the nature and balance of interna-tional trip activities to their own unique student and environ-mental characteristics.

The primary purpose of this article is to share sugges-tions on how readers wishing to run such endeavors mightproceed. This paper discusses the objectives of our programand the strategy used to achieve them. In the process, weidentify some of the problems first-time organizers arelikely to encounter, and suggest ways in which to deal withthem. Discussion also touches on the costs and benefits flow-ing from such programs, not only for students, but also foreducators/organizers.

Objectives, Constraints, and SolutionOverviewAs indicated earlier, the primary objectives are to exposeour students to international business operations and the en-vironments in which they operate. Activities, such as toursof overseas businesses and institutions, discussions with ex-ecutives holding non-U.S. operating responsibilities, and ex-posures to cultural, historical, political, and technologicallandmarks outside of the United States all contribute tothese objectives. In order to make the trip "saleable," how-ever, we begin our planning process by surveying studentsto see which cities they would most like to visit. Ulti-mately, we incorporate as many highly desirable destina-tions as possible in our itinerary.

Several practical matters constrain the scope and timingof our project. First, we have established a per-person ex-pense ceiling of $2,000 on a self-liquidating basis, meaningthat the amount must cover all direct program costs. Sec-ond, as the program necessitates absence from campus forseveral weeks, it is important that neither attendance inother classes nor graduation timetables are disrupted. Fi-nally, the trip should be relatively short, so as to not overlyinterfere with the work schedules of our many non-tradi-tional students.

Our strategy to achieve the objectives, within the con-straints listed above, is a course which provides backgroundto students during spring semester and then takes them over-seas during the break between the end of spring semesterand the start of summer classes. This interim is a periodwhen students are not taking other classes, and when over-seas tourist traffic is relatively light.

Target MarketMany universities conduct short term international trips ap-pealing to students across a broad range of disciplines. Bycontrast, ours is a focused business trip with limited enroll-ment. Only students who meet minimum prerequisites of In-troduction to Marketing and Fundamentals of Managementare permitted to enroll. This means that the majority of ourparticipants have completed their junior year. Only studentsmajoring in business, or minoring in business with a "re-lated" major, such as political science, are included.

We believe there are several advantages to our approach.First, the homogeneous background of our upper divisionbusiness students makes possible a high level of academiccontent and expectation. Second, academically prepared stu-dents are more likely to present themselves effectively as

Vol. 2 (Spring 1992), 47-53 Marketing Education Review 47

48 Planning, Organizing, and Executing

representatives of the university. Third, students can gradu-ate on schedule. Finally, those students who will be back oncampus for one more year can share their experiences andpromote the program to other students.

Several additional suggestions may be considered whenrecruiting and selecting students for this trip:

1) Part-time students can be a real asset. The fact that they tendto be older and more mature can be very useful. In addition,our experience is that these students often have better finan-cial resources than full-time students, and, therefore, aremore likely to be able to afford the trip.

2) Having one student along who is familiar with trip routinesand at least some of the destinations reduces substantiallythe executional burden on the faculty organizer. Providing apartial scholarship to a student who has previously travelledin Europe may be an advantage. Certainly, one should at-tempt to have a student from the previous year's trip retumfor a second year. The presence of an experienced studentmakes it possible for the faculty member to increase thesightseeing and cultural options which could be offered toother group members.

3) Readers may wonder how many students to recruit. Our ex-perience is that fifteen students is a good number. Fifteen isenough to ensure a free air ticket for the trip leader, andenough so the leader's other expenses can be allocated outto students without dramatically increasing their costs. In ad-dition, a group of this size can use public transportation forlocal movements, rather than having to charter buses. Notonly is public transportation cheaper, it provides a greater op-portunity for cultural exchange and immersion.

PlaceWithin tbe context of an intemational student trip, "place"is a multidimensional construct involving issues sucb as des-tinations, selection of intemational and local transportation,and lodging. These issues will be addressed in tbe sequencein wbicb decisions must be made, starting with choice of des-tinations and ending with selection of local transportation al-tematives overseas.

DestinationsEach year. Western Europe has emerged as tbe favoredvenue for our course. Surveys completed by prospective stu-dent participants continue to indicate that Amsterdam, Ber-lin, London, and Paris are preferred destinations. Further-more, many non-European destinations are impractical.Asia's costs, in terms of both time and money required totravel this huge area, are a major disadvantage. While LatinAmerica is a very dynamic and exciting area for businessstudy, a Mexican or South American trip would offer farfewer destinations that are most desired by students.

If, like us, you find that Westem Europe is the most attrac-tive destination opportunity, we have several suggestions tooffer:

1) In many ways, London is an ideal first destination. It pro-vides students with initial exposures to foreign exchange,local transport, and hotel procedures but does so in an envi-ronment which is safe, conservative, and English speaking.Another advantage is that good quality lodging is availableat relatively reasonable prices. London's deep and broad as-sortment of' both commercial and cultural institutions makesit attractive from a programmatic perspective as well. Fi-

nally, the communications and transportation networks inLondon make it easy for students to begin practicing a dailytrip routine (for example, appointments in the morning andself-organized sightseeing in the aftemoon) which will de-mand considerably more initiative and self-confidence innon-English speaking environments.

2) If one starts with London, and is operating a relatively shorttrip (say, three weeks), some cities (for example, Rome,Madrid, and Athens) are too far away to be practical. Thecompact area of the northem part of westem Europe pro-vides the opportunity to visit a large number of coimtrieswhile minimizing travel time.

3) Backtracking becomes very costly not only financially butalso in terms of time. The implication is that organizers ini-tiating their trips in London are likely to limit their travelsto a combination of Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland,Italy (the northem portion), Germany, the Netherlands, Den-mark, Austria, Luxembourg, and perhaps, Czechoslovakiaor Poland.

Airline SelectionFor short, intensive trips, U.S. air carriers usually providegreater flexibility. This is not to suggest that foreign carri-ers should not be contacted. The advantage of domestic car-riers is two fold. First, since one end of any flight must bein the carrier's home country, by using, for example. AirFrance to fly from the United States to London the tripmust be split into a U.S.-France segment and a France-England segment, thus necessitating an additional stop overand resultant delays. The advantage of using a U.S. carrieris that it may be possible to arrive in one country but departfrom another. Last year, we arrived in London but departedEurope from Amsterdam, after traveling by surface throughBelgium, Netherlands, France, and Germany. Again, avoid-ing costly backtracking contributed substantially to our abil-ity to keep trip costs per student under $1,500.

Second, U.S. carriers are more likely to provide servicefrom smaller U.S. cities. For example, to fly Sabena to Bel-gium, one must get to Chicago to pick up the flight, an ad-ditional expense. On the other hand, TWA, American,United, and Northwest provide connecting service from ourregional hub (and even some direct flights) at no additionalcharge.

Special promotional fares to a single European destina-tion (in other words, arriving and departing from the sameEuropean city) may be worth considering. However, if Lon-don is also on your itinerary, you are now committed totwo trips across the English Channel. The time and moneycosts associated with an extra channel crossing (approxi-mately $80) are likely to offset a large portion of the sav-ings on airfare.

As part of the movement toward a single market, Europeis scheduled to revise its air transportation system so that ar-rivals and departures will be treated as ending not in a par-ticular nation but rather simply "in Europe." When this hap-pens, the advantage of using U.S. airlines will be reduced,since it will be possible to arrive in one European destina-tion on a European carrier and depart from a different citywithouf backtracking. Until this happens, U.S. carriers arelikely to be the carriers of choice for student trips such asours.

Marketing Education Review 49

There are a couple of additional observations regardingthe selection of the intemational air carrier:

1) If fifteen students can be recruited for the trip, the tourleader will receive a free ticket for their own travel. Somecarriers may be slightly more liberal; one year we were of-fered a free ticket for a group of only twelve students. Thekey is to shop around.

2) Try working not only with a couple of local travel agencies,but also with the group desks of individual carriers. Greatdeals are possible!

3) One reviewer has informed us that some universities requirestudents to travel on U.S.-flag carriers, if possible. Beforemaking travel arrangements on a non-U.S. carrier, makesure there are no institutional prohibitions against doing so.

Overseas LodgingMost European countries offer a number of lodging altema-tives including university dormitories, large hotels, small ho-tels, and families. For short intensive trips such as ours, it isunlikely that living with families would work well. Giventhe daily programmatic activities, having everyone beginthe day at the same place simplifies getting up and out formorning appointments.

Large hotels (that is, those included in directories usedby travel agents in the United States) tend to cost more. Dor-mitories and hostels tend not to work well either, given theneed for large numbers of students to share bathrooms inthe morning. Furthermore, some dormitories do not providepillows or blankets, and some may not provide breakfast.Our experience is that small hotels work best.

There are several advantages associated with small ho-tels. First, they tend to have either individual bathrooms ora small number of rooms sharing a bath, which makes it pos-sible for students to get up and out together. Second, theytend to include a continental breakfast, wbich makes it eas-ier to move directly from the hotel into the main program-matic activities of the day.

Locating small hotels is not difficult. One approach is tocall the Washington embassy of the country for which youare seeking lodging and ask for the phone number of thetourist hotel reservations office in your destination city. Ifyou call them directly, they will usually fax a confirmationwithin 24 hours. Last summer, this approach yielded dou-ble rooms in a good location in Amsterdam for $18 per per-son, including breakfast.

There is one caution which we would like to mentionwith regard to lodging. Students, who have travelled in Eu-rope, may suggest that spending the night on an overnighttrain or ferry is a good way to maximize the hours availablefor programmatic activity and minimize lodging expense.For tbese reasons, we tried an ovemight ferry one year. Tbeexperiment was not successful. While students did notsleep well on the boat, tbey did sleep during the next day'spresentation at a French firm in Paris. Management of thefirm was understanding, but our conclusion is that overnight-ing to a programmatic activity is possible, but not desirable.

Local Transport OverseasFor groups of up to 15 students, use of public transportationis recommended. Bus and train networks in Europe are well

organized, reasonably priced, and very convenient. In addi-tion, the purchase of tickets and/or day passes by studentsprovides them with opportunities to conduct small transac-tions, calculate foreign exchange equivalents, and becomeparticipants in the local economy.

In planning train travel, consider the purchase of unlim-ited mileage passes. These "Eurail" passes can providegood value if one is doing multiple trips and/or coveringvast distances. However, if your trip incorporates only onelong train trip (say, from London to Paris, and then on toBrussels, Cologne, and Amsterdam), the cost of an individ-ual ticket is likely to be about half of the cost of a Eurailpass. It is also important to remember that Eurail does norcover travel in Britain, the Channel crossing, or most east-em bloc countries. In addition, some trains are first classonly (not much good if you have a 2nd class Eiu^il ticket),and additional fees are levied for reservations on many ex-press trains.

One Final PointPart of our local transport strategy is to rotate each studentthrough a "tour officer for the day" position. The studentfilling this role is responsible for knowing the day's sched-ule and making sure his colleagues know when and wherethey need to be for travel and/or programmatic commit-ments. This requires students to read maps, familiarize them-selves with metro systems, and ask for assistance whenthey get lost or confused. One benefit is that this experiencesubstantially increases the confidence of students in theirability to operate in unfamiliar territory and cultures. A sec-ond is tbat by using this system, no student has ever misseda programmatic commitment in the three year history of theprogram.

ProductAs indicated earlier, the learning objectives for our shortterm intemational experience—the justification for design-ing and executing this activity as a "for credit" course—include exposure to global businesses and executives aswell as the cultural, historical, and political environmentswithin which such businesses and businesspersons operate.Perhaps the best way to describe our approach is to beginby discussing our pre-trip background activities. Havingdone that, we will provide an itinerary for a recent trip anddescribe how it was assembled.

Pre-Trip Background ActivitiesOur strategy is to conduct fortnightly meetings with the stu-dents during the semester preceding the trip (i.e., spring se-mester). These country and/or city-oriented sessions, whileinformal and often held at local restaurants, have proven use-ful in several ways. Students have a chance to see videosand/or hear presentations by individuals from the areas theywili visit. In addition, these fortnightly sessions help builda group spirit which can be useful when stresses and ten-sions increase during the overseas portion of the trip.

The week before the overseas portion of the trip begins isspent in class covering academic materials. During this pe-riod, an intemational business textbook is reviewed briefly.

50 Planning, Organizing, and Executing

with each student assigned to siunmarize in writing (andshare with his colleagues) synopses of two or three chaptersin the text. Other pre-departure activities include discussionof articles on companies the students will visit in Eiux)pe.

Schedule of Events for Overseas TripAs indicated earlier, the model for the daily routine duringthe three weeks overseas is usually (1) programmatic activ-ities during weekday mornings and (2) sightseeing, per-sonal time, and travel in the aftemoons and evenings. How-ever, there is some variation around this standard. For thisreason, it may be useful to walk through the overseas por-tion of oiu" coiu:se on a day-by-day basis. The following com-ments relate to our upcoming trip, which will begin in Mayof 1992.

Day I. Depart from domestic airport.Day 2. Arrive in London approximately 8:00am. Go to

hotel, check in, and buy lunch for everyone. In the after-noon, lead group to see the Tower of London, WestminsterAbbey, and Parliament. In addition to exposing students tothese historical, cultural, and political landmarks, the pri-mary objective of this day is to keep everyone up until eve-ning to minimize jet lag.

Day 3. Spend the moming in a presentation on how 1992is likely to impact publishing opportunities in Europe givenby an executive of tbe British subsidiary of a multinationalpublishing firm. The initial contact for this meeting wasmade through the U.S. division's textbook representative inour area. After a luncheon hosted by the Managing Direc-tor, take students to either the Bank of England or the StockExchange (the world's most automated). Finish the day's of-ficial activities with a visit to nearby St. Paul's Cathedral,the historical landmark and architectural masterpiece by SirChristopher Wren. Evening activities are informal andmight include a visit to Picadilly and the theatre district.

Day 4. Moming tour at the Canary Wharf redevelopmentarea, the Greenwich Naval Museum, or one of the major re-positories of culture, such as the Victoria and Albert or theBritish Museum. Depart London in the aftemoon; arrive inParis early evening. After hotel check-in and dinner, savorthe cultural diversity of a Parisian night spot in the ChampsElysees or Pigalle area.

Day 5. Spend the moming at a presentation given by anexecutive at the headquarters of the European subsidiary ofa multinational entertainment company. Discussion willfocus on adapting entertainment offerings developed in theUnited States to European audiences. The initial contact forthis meeting was made by calling the public relations offi-cer of the U.S. parent. After lunch, students are free to ex-plore Paris, culminating in a group cruise on the RiverSeine in the evening.

Day 6. Saturday. Students are likely to travel to the his-toric summer palace at Versailles, the modernistic CentrePompidou, La Cite, or Montmarte. In the aftemoon, thegroup will tour the La Defense hypermarche with its 85check-out registers, to observe how retailing in Europe isevolving. Other cultural, historic, and political landmarkslikely to be visited include the Eiffel Tower, the Arc deTriomphe, and what used to be the largest MacDonald's res-taurant in the world.

Day 7. Sunday. In support of our cultural diversity objec-tive, students are encouraged to attend one of the great ca-thedrals during services. The Sacre Coeur or Notre Dameare particularly inspiring. In the aftemoon, the group de-parts for Geneva on the 270 kmh Tres Grand Vitesse(TVG) train.

Day 8. Spend the moming in a presentation given by anexecutive of the Swiss subsidiary of a major multinationalmanufacturing or banking firm. The initial contact with themanufacturer was made through friends at the U.S. parent.The banking contact was made by getting a directory ofmajor firms in Geneva and sending out twenty letters ask-ing if an executive would be willing to talk with our group.Students will have the aftemoon to visit cultural, historical,and political landmarks in Geneva.

Day 9. Up before dawn to catch a bus/train to Inter-lacken, Switzerland, to experience the Jungfrau, one of Eu-rope's highest peaks. Arrive late that night in Munich, Ger-many.

Day 10. Spend the morning in a presentation on the im-pact of 1992 on the pharmaceutical industry in Europegiven by an executive of a major multinational pharmaceu-tical firm. The initial contact for this session was made byusing a directory to identify the public relations officer ofthe firm's U.S. subsidiary. In the aftemoon, visit Dachau,the notorious World War II concentration camp ten milesfrom Munich.

Day II. Travel to Maastricht, the Netherlands. The day'strain ride is broken up by taking a boat from Main toKoblenz (the Rhine's castle region), then reboarding thetrain to Maastricht, arriving early in the evening.

Day 12. Spend the moming at the University of Lim-burg, with a presentation discussing the EC meetings on po-litical and financial unity held in Maastricht in December,1991. In the aftemoon, students will break into two or threeinterest groups (for example, manufacturing, marketing,and financial services) and visit a local business firm.

Day 13 and 14. (Saturday and Sunday). Students arelikely to travel to Aachen (major cathedral and tomb of Char-lemagne), to Luxembourg, to Cologne, to Liege and itshuge flea market, or explore castles, caves, hot springs, andthe casino in the Maastricht area.

Day 15. Spend the moming at the Dutch School of Inter-pretation and Translation (our university has institutionallinkages here), which will give the students an opportunityto experience first hand the specific business language train-ing that European students and executives receive. In the af-temoon, depart for Amsterdam. After hotel check-in and din-ner, address cultural diversity with a visit to Amsterdam's fa-mous red light district.

Day 16. Spend the morning at a presentation on thefirm's global strategy given by an executive of a major mul-tinational consumer packaged goods company. The initialcontact for this session was made by writing to tbe firm di-rectly and requesting one of their executives to meet withour group. In the aftemoon, students may toiir the fiowermarkets, cruise the canal, or visit artistic and/or historic land-marks (for example, the Anne Frank house).

Day 77. In the moming, travel to Bmssels. Spend the af-temoon at a presentation on manufacturing for the Euro-

Marketing Education Review 51

pean market, pre- and post-1992, given by an executive ofa multinational consumer durables manufacturer In the eve-ning, go to the Grande Place for dinner, refreshment, andthe nightly light show.

Day 18. Spend the moming at a presentation given by anexecutive of the Belgian subsidiary of a major U.S. manu-facturer, including a plant tour. In the aftemoon, toxu: thescene of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.

Day 19. Catch the train to the airport. At this point, ourgroup has met with business executives in six nations and ex-perienced firsthand major cultural, historical, and politicallandmarks in major overseas cities including London, Paris,Geneva, Munich, Brussels, and Amsterdam.

PriceOnce air fare, hotel, and train costs are available, a totalcost can be established. Additional amounts need to be in-cluded for meals, some admissions, and similar expenses.Approximately 10 percent should be added as an adniinistra-tive surcharge. This covers the costs of the faculty mem-ber's expenses, as well as the "out of pocket" expenses,such as photocopying, printing etc.

After the program and its costs are firmed up, it is possi-ble to begin promoting the experience to students. Word ofmouth. Marketing Club announcements, and in-class an-nouncements have been the primary promotional tools.

Students indicating an interest in the trip must make a con-firmation with a sizable down payment. Our approach hasbeen to collect a deposit of approximately $200 by January15th, with monthly installment payments of a sufficientamount thereafter, to have students fully paid by April 15th.For us, these monthly payments have run between $400-$500 per month, per student. Early cash fiow is important,as one needs to make a multitude of payments from the ac-cumulated funds—airline tickets, hotel deposits, rail tickets,etc. Ideally, this whole program can be set up witbout anyfinancial support from the university. There should alwaysbe a positive casb balance in the tour fund account.

For students, the total trip cost has ranged from a low of$1,495 in 1991 for a 6 country trip, to a high of $1,820 in1990, when the trip included a side-trip to Berlin before"the Wall" was eventually demolished. These prices in-cluded transportation to our regional air hub (some 100+miles from campus), airfares, ground transportation through-out Europe, English Channel crossing, all tours, most break-fasts plus one or two other meals on most business days, allaccommodations, and some admissions, such as the EiffelTower and River Seine cruise. A simple proforma budgetmight look approximately as follows:

Domestic ground transportation $ 30Intemational Airfare 70017 night accommodation @ $25 425Eurail Pass 325London/Channel crossing 70Other European ground transportation 50Meals, 17 @ $10 170Miscellaneous 25Total 1,795+10% 180Grand Total $1,975

We have one additional observation on the pricing andfmancial aid aspects of intemational trip planning and exe-cution. As indicated earlier, many of our students are re-source constrained. For this reason, our program includesopportunities for students to eam a portion of the cost of thetrip. Activities, which students have used to eam money forthe program, include car washes, merchandise sales, andvarious other service activities. In addition, sponsorship ofspecific students or activities can be solicited from area ser-vice clubs (Lions, Optimist, etc.) or from area businesses. Fi-nally, although local travel agents are prohibited by the In-temational Air Transport Association (IATA) from discount-ing intemational fares, they may be willing to make smalltax-deductible contributions to the university that can beused to reduce student travel costs.

PromotionWe have tried many different approaches of promotion, in-cluding advertisements in the campus newspaper, directmail to students who meet course prerequisites, and fiyersin student dormitories. Our perception is that none of theseadvertising approaches are very effective. The most effec-tive promotional approaches involve in-class personal salespitches to eligible students and/or positive word of mouthfrom recent participants. Our perception is that the relativeineffectiveness of advertising is due largely to the fact thatit is difficult to address the complex issues of trip schedul-ing and funding in an ad. Both student word of mouth andin-class sales pitches address those complex issues directlyand in detail.

Other Key IssuesTiming is one issue touched on earlier which merits addi-tional comment. The end of our spring semester (May) isan excellent time for traveling to Westem Europe. Such tim-ing gives one the opportunity to travel Europe before theheight of the summer tourist season. In addition, it gives stu-dents the benefit of "shoulder fares" for the intemationalair travel portion of their expenses. While this is not as in-expensive as "low season," it is preferable to the high sea-son rates which come into effect around the start of June.While round trip tickets to Europe were as low as $395 inlate winter/early spring 1991, fares for May travel were ap-proximately $650. This is still a considerable savings overthe high season fare of $850.

Another key issue warranting comment is faculty selec-tion and/or self-selection. Our experience leads us to be-lieve that there are certain qualities which are essential forsuccess. First, the faculty member must be able to win com-mitment from both students and tbeir institution. Our tac-tics for generating student awareness, interest, and desirehave already been discussed. As for institutional commit-ment, we took advantage of the first year of an institutionalmle allowing a course to be run experimentally for one se-mester. Subsequently, the lead author used his own descrip-tive materials on the day-by-day activities of that first trip,as well as two-page write-ups by every student participant,to win ongoing approval for the intemational trip coursefrom both academic (undergraduate credit) and graduate

52 Planning, Organizing, and Executing

councils (graduate credit). Approval by these bodies meansnot only that the course can be listed in the catalogue and of-fered for credit, but also that the trip counts as half of the fac-ulty member's paid summer teaching assignment.

Winning student and institutional commitment is neces-sary but not sufficient for success. A second key success fac-tor for faculty is the ability to plan and organize the myriaddetails, including air transport, lodgings, and programmaticactivities. Third, once the group begins the overseas portionof the experience, the faculty member must be able to relateto the students not only as "co-explorer and discoverer,"but also, when necessary, as leader and arbiter of last resortfor disputes and/or decision situations.

A high energy level, a sensitivity to cultural difference,and an ability to discuss subjects which may be embarrass-ing or even taboo in an ordinary classroom situation arealso useful. Last year's trip schedule called for a 7:00amwalk or jog to Kensington Palace, Albert Hall, and HydePark, followed by breakfast at 8:00am and a business ap-pointment at 9:00am. As for cultural sensitivity, an abilityto sense the differing ambiances of several major Europeancities and then to design activities that capture some ofthose differences is useful. Finally, we believe that an abil-ity to dialogue comfortably with students on topics such asthe nightlife in the Pigalle area of Paris or the red-light anddrug boutique areas of Amsterdam is critical to the successof the faculty member and the program.

Of course, there is an institutional side to the issue of fac-ulty selection and self-selection. Organizing a student expe-rience, such as the one described in this paper, is energyand time intensive. At our institution, the criteria for promo-tion and tenure are based primarily on intellectual contribu-tion (e.g., read, referred joumal articles), and are ratchetingupwards every year. The fact that our institution is movingtoward AACSB accreditation is increasing the publishingpressure on junior faculty.

We suspect that the institutional envirormients of manyreaders will be similar to ours. Assuming so, planning, or-ganizing, and executing international trips such as the onedescribed above may not be a good use of time for unten-ured faculty. We do not believe that delegating trip detailsto travel agents and graduate students is likely to lead to ahigh quality/reasonably-priced trip experience. Therefore, itis unfortunate, but true, that untenured faculty interested inbecoming involved in such programs need to consider care-fully whether they can afford to invest the amount of timeand energy required to develop and execute a successful pro-gram. In addition, they, as well as tenured faculty in meritpay environments, may wish to check whether these activi-ties are rewardable within institutional reward structures.

First-time faculty members who do decide to initiate aninternational trip program are likely to have a number ofquestions relating to institutional and/or individual liability,as well as student medical and/or financial problems. Our ap-proach to institutional Hability is two-fold: (1) students signwaivers indicating that they participate at their own risk and(2) our faculty leader purchases a million dollar profes-sional liability waiver insurance policy, which is availableas a rider on his homeowner's insurance at minimal cost.While such liability waivers may not provide total protec-

tion should litigation occur, they are standard at all schoolsoffering overseas programs. As for medical problems, thecountries we have travelled to date all have national healthprograms which cover tourists, including our students. Re-garding student financial problems, we tell students tobring cash for incidental expenses (the recommended mini-mum this year is US$250) and encourage them to bring abank or travel and expenses (T&E) card as well. Our fac-ulty leader follows a similar strategy; he carries cash andcredit cards with unused credit lines. To date, no studenthas experienced an insurmountable financial problem.

A final key issue, which begs attention, is the question ofassessment. Both extemal reviewers, questioning whetherour course serves primarily as a vehicle to provide tenuredfaculty with free trips to Europe, and outcomes-oriented in-ternal reviewers sensitized us to the importance of thisissue. We'll address this issue by commenting first on the as-sessment of student performance in the course, and second,by commenting on die subsequent impact of the course onstudent attitudes and behaviors.

Students participating in this course do receive a grade.Twenty-five percent of the grade is based on pre-trip-re-lated activities including preparation and presentation inclass of summaries of materials relating to intemational busi-ness and/or the companies to be visited. Fifty percent isbased on vigorous and professional-style participation inthe day-to-day activities. The final 25 percent is based onessay questions administered to the students either the lastday abroad or during the fiight back to the United States.Essay questions range from specific questions on particularpresentations to more general questions regarding differ-ences between U.S. and overseas environments and their im-plications for marketers and strategists. In answering thesequestions, each student is free to use the dairy that he or shekeeps as one of the course requirements.

In regard to the impact of this course on student attitudesand behaviors toward intemational business and/or culturaldiversity, we have not, as yet, attempted a systematic assess-ment. Because cultural diversity is often assessed using dem-ographic measures, detection of individual changes on thisdimension is problematic. Difficulties in sorting out whichchanges in student attitudes and behaviors are due to a par-ticular treatment (in this case, participation in our shortterm intemational course), together with the small numbersof student participants each year (twelve, plus or minusfour), is a second restraining factor. However, we wouldlike to share with readers the small amount of anecdotal in-formation we have on the impact of our course on the atti-tudes and behaviors of some students.

As indicated earlier, few of our students have travelledoverseas prior to this experience. However, what we see hap-pening is that many retumed participants actively searchout additional opportunities for ongoing intemational in-volvement. Some do so by seeking advanced training withan intemational focus; one recent graduate and participanthas enrolled at a major university in an internationally-oriented MBA program. Others do so by seeking project orprogram opportunities overseas; another former student isleaving soon to teach in Japan. A third group of studentsseeks additional intemational exposure by focusing their re-

Marketing Education Review 53

cruiting efforts on multinational enterprises, and our senseis that many of our graduates and participants have takenthis route. While we do not now have empirical evidence tosupport our claim, we are currently organizing a follow-upsurvey of past participants to address this issue and attemptto assess other long term impacts that our program mayhave had.

A final outcome that deserves mention is the increasedreal-world experience with which the faculty member can re-turn to the classroom. There have been innumerable in-stances where some knowledge gleaned from the trip hasbeen utilized in classroom discussion or lecture.

Tactical ConsiderationsThere are a few tactical issues which we would like to men-tion. These include:

(1) While travelling in Europe, a European Train timetable isnearly essential. If no travel agent loans you one, they canbe procured for $20 from Thomas Cook Travel Agents.

(2) Students must be counseled and then reminded to travellight. We believe that one soft-sided bag per student, plus asmall carry-on bag, is the limit. Hard-sided suitcases onwheels do not roll easily over cobblestones and large rigidframe backpacks can be a problem in tight spaces.

(3) Faculty leading such trips will be confronted by numerouschallenges along the way. These are likely to include theneed to roll students out after a night in which both hostsand students have overindulged, romantic entanglements,lost luggage and tickets, and all the other issues normally en-countered by international travellers. Faculty need to becomfortable and willing to deal with not only the hard skill

challenges associated with planning and organizing, butalso the soft skill challenges of working with a young stu-dent devastated by the thought of leaving behind a newlyfound girlfriend or boyfriend, or a group of students not ac-customed to bouncing out of bed early in the morning aftera very late night.

Concluding CommentsIt is very important for business school students to experi-ence first hand international business and competition, aswell as cultural diversity. This is especially important for stu-dents, such as ours, who are not likely to have traveled ex-tensively even in the United States, let alone overseas. Mo-tivated by these beliefs, we have developed a short-term,low-cost intensive program to provide our business stu-dents with exposures to international business and competi-tion as well as cultural diversity. Anecdotal evidence sug-gests that the behaviors of participating students have beenimpacted by our course.

We believe this description of our program and processesshould be useful to all educators interested in creating "on-site" international business and culturally diverse experi-ences for their own students. Readers who have never be-fore attempted this will find suggestions on nearly every as-pect of planning and executing such projects. We suspectthat those who have experience in planning and executingshort term international trips will find at least a few usefulsuggestions. Finally, we hope that readers with comments,questions, or suggestions will give us a call.