By studying abroad, students are able to show employers that we can integrate into different teams, situations, and cultures in a successful and positive manner, adds Karole Verlage, BBA 98, who went to Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Santiago, Chile. Verlage s knowledge of different cultures, she says, has enabled her to easily navigate culturally sensitive situations that occur daily in Swiss Re, a global reinsurance firm. To really know a culture and economy, he insists, you need to complete a degree at a local school. It would have taken me approximately ten years working in our U.S. headquarters to achieve the same amount of responsibility that I now have after two years in Brazil. Gurtner says that, unlike most of the Americans he knows who work in Brazil, he is able to relate more to the culture and habits because he speaks Portuguese and participated in the Brazilian college system.
Smaller companies can have a cutting-edge impact on reducing the trade deficit.
The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that 97 percent of all U.S. export growth in the 1990s was contributed by small and medium-sized companies. And the majority of those are selling only in one country. The most common reason cited by U.S. businesses for not pursuing export opportunities is a lack of knowledge and understanding of how to do business in the global business environment. Cooper continues, A tremendous opportunity exists to expand U.S. exports and decrease trade deficits, and it can be met through increased international business education. Of course the United States has an enormous domestic market, which in part explains why American companies did not explore international markets as early as their foreign counterparts.