Create a Marketing Plan

This week you are to read  Chapter 7: Translating Global Vision into Local Action: Focus on Multicultural Teamwork and Collaboration  starting on page 281 in your textbook Doing Business Internationally.  The quote for this chapter is by Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”   I was speaking in front of a group of 500 people about ten years ago during a fund raising event and I used this quote.  It is perfect.  It is so true.  We as individuals can make a difference in this world.

During this semester I have shared with you in my Instructional Guidance write-ups each week about my international work experience.  As a human, these are my most memorable life experiences.  Not the work aspect so much as the human interactions.  I remember periodically something that happened in a country that I visited and I am taken back in time to a part of my life that was filled with travel.

My most memorable business trip was to Israel.  We arrived on Saturday and went into work as their work week did not call for Saturdays to be ‘off’.  We had one day to see the country on our own before we returned to work.  We hired a tour guide that drove us throughout Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Bethlehem…what a memorable trip!  We visited mosques, put a prayer in the wall at the Wailing Wall,  and visited the birthplace of Christ all one trip.     I think this was the most memorable trip I ever took. 

Another business trip I remember was when I visited the Corvette Club in Austria.  They were having their annual Corvette Club meeting for Europe and people drove from all over in their Corvettes to this small town outside of Salzburg.  This mountain village had old Corvettes lined throughout the streets leading up to this town.  The sights were gorgeous with the Alps surrounding us and the beautiful lake.  I actually took a helicopter transport back to the Salzburg airport – the views from the helicopter were spectacular!   I went to church on Sunday in a small village church that was lovelier than any I have ever attended anywhere in the world – not the biggest, but just beautiful.   We asked if we could go into Salzburg to shop on

Saturday and we were told, you are so lucky, this is the one weekend a month the stores will be open!  Something so ‘foreign’ to us that are used to 24/7 shopping.   I want to re-visit there someday and take it in all over again. 

Thank you for being part of our educational journey this semester.  I hope you enjoyed learning more about ‘doing business internationally’!

Reference:

Walker, D., Walker, T., & Schmitz, J. (2003). Doing Business Internationally: The Guide to Cross-Cultural Success (Second ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.