Saturday, June 13, 2009

3rd Semester begins - 6 months to go!!

The thirty of us remaining in the WFU MBA 2009 program returned last night from our international trips and a couple weeks off. It was good to see everyone again and catch up on their trips. The mood seemed to be slightly less intense than semesters past, partially because the weather is so nice and partially because it's been six weeks since we were here in Winston-Salem and everyone is trying to get back into a groove.

This semester is about all things International. We have three classroom courses and the International Practicum, which included the two week trips to either China, Japan or South America. The classroom courses this semester are all only six weeks (instead of eight), which means they consolidate quite a bit more reading into each session.

International Financial Management is being taught by Dr. Bruce Resnick. The course will focus on FX Markets, differences between Domestic and International Finance, International Strategy and overall International Portfolio Management.

International Business Management is being taught by Dr. Mike Lord. Mike was the lead for our China trip. The course focuses on a broad range of topics (Cultural, Economic, Political, Geographic) that effect how companies engage in international expansion and operations.

Global Strategic Management is being taught by Dr. Ram Baliga. The course focuses on many aspects of strategy as it relates to products, operations, M&A, market entry and competition.

The international trips seem to have changed the overall perspective of the world for many of my classmates. They seem to have a better understanding of how much bigger the world in terms of opportunities and competition. They seem to have a better grasp on how Finance, Culture, Government Policy and Global Economics fit together. And they seem to have a new sense of what to explore and question as they try and make sense of how they are going to fit into the global economy.

We still don't know what we don't know, and but this semester should help to fill in the blanks on a few questions. The courses are all in English, but there is definitely a different set of languages being spoken in class are still a little bit foreign. Hopefully the learning curve moves faster than my attempts at Mandarin.
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