2008 - Marketing Educators' Association

As shown in Table 1, the means of the two items
related to the real business situation and personal
satisfaction are 4.53 and 4.25, respectively. Similar
results can be seen in other research (Forman, 2006;
Li, Greenberg, & Nicholls 2007), and the results
confirm that real world experience and personal
satisfaction in career preparation benefit from
experiential learning.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
The business proposal assignment offers a valuable
alternative to the traditional case study for
International Marketing courses. Findings reveal that
students seem to learn more through this experiential
project than from a traditional case study, which of
course has great benefits to students too. Also, the
results of this study provide empirical support for the
inclusion of practical multicultural experiences in the
context of the International Marketing classroom.
The study produced five main findings:
(1) Analyzing the research and developing an
international business proposal are very different
than just reading about it. Preparing the research
paper to be accepted by both the real business
partner overseas and the professor is a double
responsibility for students. Students suggested
that they get a feel for the reality of international
business. Interestingly, the students tended to
feel much more comfortable preparing a business
proposal for a local market rather than for a
general international partner. Narrowing the
challenge to a certain sub-region allowed the
students to focus on a particular area allowing for
a greater sense of accomplishment.
(2) A major benefit of this new technique is that the
project can complement career interests.
Students said that they had great motivation to
have real international experience. They
preferred to have the business proposal project
with the real foreign partner’s response in their
personal profile, rather than a traditional case
study. Also, the project allowed students the
opportunity to work with an international business
partner without an expensive study abroad
experience.
(3) The experiential assignment helped students to
understand cultural differences between the U.S.
and an area of Russia. The project provided
students with an understanding of the breadth
and depth of the cultural responsibilities that a
marketer needs today to be successful in
international business relationships. For example,
students discovered that the Russian economic
environment is not stable; each sub-region of
Russia is unique and differs both economically
and socially.
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(4) The students indicated that this project made
the course more interesting and did not seem
silly.
(5) This is a challenging, rewarding assignment
for both the educator and student. In
establishing and maintaining an open
dialogue with the students and the foreign
partners, the educator can face two
challenges: (1) they need to carefully
organize, coordinate and to create the rules
between the students and foreign partner;
and (2) they must provide a supportive
environment with liberal outside assistance
so as to personalize interactions with each
student (Mohr, 2007). In addition to having a
clear understanding of the project, the
educator must introduce the project to the
students at the beginning of the term, get the
students to focus on particular products, give
examples, introduce the Russian market, and
prepare the appropriate library resources for
the students. The Russian business partners
enjoyed working with the U.S. marketing
students. One of the other challenges for the
educator is to maintain their relationships and
develop new contacts. In other words,
preparation is the key to the success of the
project. The main challenge for the students
was to understand the differences of the
foreign market and culture. The survey did
indicate that the new project was not as
enjoyable as compared to a traditional case
study. It may have been somewhat less
enjoyable because it was much more
challenging and time consuming than a
traditional case analysis. Sometimes the
most challenging project is also the most
memorable. Students’ most memorable
course experiences are often those where
they were challenged in a significant yet
meaningful way and where they
accomplished a lot through their own hard
work and determina-tion, even more than
they originally realized they were capable of
accomplishing (Mohr, 2007).
REFERENCES
AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate
Schools of Business). (2007). Eligibility
procedures and accreditation standards for
business accreditation. Adopted April 2003,
revised January 31, 2007. Retrieved February
2008 from http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/
standards.asp.
Burton, D. (2005). New course development in
multicultural marketing. Journal of Marketing
Education 27, 151-162.