TALES OF GREAT TEACHING
The Guide to Business in Europe
By Marcia C. Landskroener M'02

Following the credo that all business is international business, Professor Terry Scout devised a way to give his students their first international business experience while providing them a comfortable way to travel. Some of the best advice he and his students will pass along to next year's "Business in Europe" trek? Pack light and wear your walking shoes.

Terry Scout likes to send his students away. Far, far away. He was thrilled when, on two previous occasions, his students landed intern ships with a global industry and a small European specialty manufacturer. He encourages all of his majors to study abroad. Yet many students are reluctant to venture far from home solo, and the College's study abroad programs are geared more toward the study of languages and humanities than that of business.

The "Business in Europe" program pushes students out of the nest gently, providing a faculty-guided experience that introduces them not only to international business environments, but also to travel abroad. For four of the seven students on the inaugural trip that encompassed the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, this was their first visit outside of the United States.

"I've wanted to do this for some time," says Scout, "and Tahir Shad [director of the international studies program] made it happen."

The two professors selected Leiden University, one of the College's partner institutions, to host the two-week summer program. The University is well known for its law school, and could offer American students a fresh academic perspective on the European Union community. From the city of Leiden in southern Holland, students could easily make business excursions to Brussels, considered Europe's business and law center, visit Luxembourg, home of the European Parliament, and even squeeze in a weekend in Paris if they liked. Leiden University offered student housing, as well as access to professors giving formal lectures on European competition law, pricing and creative accounting, and logistical assistance in arranging their business itinerary and providing city guides.

"We wanted to look at all types of businesses—businesses that were unique to the area, businesses that have significant international markets, and subsidiaries of American corporations conducting business abroad. We ran the gamut from a small chocolate factory in Brussels to IKEA, a Swedish company with international corporate training headquarters in Leiden."

Also on the itinerary were visits to Heineken, Royal Delftware, Villeroy & Boch, Coster Diamonds, an international bank in Amsterdam and a traditional Dutch cheese farm.

PHOTO:
Nick Faherty tries out Leiden's early public transportation system.

The Heineken presentation got rave reviews from all the participants—and not just because the brewery guides offered their American guests product samples along with a tasty selection of meats and cheeses.

From a business perspective, Heineken gave the best corporate presentation, noted Allison LaMarca, a senior business management student. But she enjoyed the historic and cultural aspects of the group's outings to the Delft porcelain factory and to "Rustdam," a cheese farm in Zoeterwoude, even more. "

This was my first trip to Europe, and that was a real thrill," she says. "There is so much history in these little towns. The Delft porcelain museum, in fact the whole building, was awesome—the walls are covered with porcelain, these really massive, elaborate murals that took years to construct. We didn't have access to the master painters who work in privacy, but the company had exhibits set up with apprentice painters demonstrating Delft techniques. Everywhere else we went in Holland, there was imitation Delft, but here it was the real thing."

The cheese farm, too, had the ring of authenticity about it. The family-operated farm has been producing cheeses by hand since 1877.

Still, nothing calls to a college senior like a cold brew.

"The Heineken factory tour was great," said Nick Faherty. "It was neat to see the entire manufacturing and bottling process, from the handling of raw materials to shipping, and to learn about their marketing strategies. We all knew that Heineken exports two brand name beers to the United States— Heineken in its trademark green bottle and Amstel. What we learned is that Heineken produces 50 other beers, or microbrews, for its European markets, and bottles them all in recycled brown glass bottles. Also, the U.S. is Heineken's only strictly-export market. There are manufacturing plants in every other country where Heineken products are sold. The marketing strategy is linked to the concept that Americans consider an imported beer to be a more premium product."

Heineken may have a firm grasp on its American market, but IKEA has adopted a less aggressive approach to marketing in the US. They have only 18 stores in the States, and add only two stores a year worldwide, Faherty says. "Every store looks identical with the same merchandise, the same floor plan, the same marketing appeal— European style at low prices."

IKEA follows what Rui Pereira, a senior business management and economics major, considers a "shocking" approach to marketing. Instead of finding a product to sell and then establishing a price, as American companies do, IKEA first determines a price point and then finds or manufactures the product to fit that price.

"Say you are selling coffee cups," Pereira elaborates. "IKEA decides that its customers will pay no more than two euro for a coffee cup. They then find a manufacturer who can supply coffee cups at a price that will retail for two euro and still provide them a comfortable profit margin."

Students gained other important insights. Most international companies, IKEA excepted, adapt their product to their regional markets—McDonald's restaurants in Germany sell beer; those in India offer vegetarian items. No business in Europe—from chocolates to diamonds—has been immune to the post-September 11 economic downturn. Because the threat of terrorism has curtailed both business and tourist travel, consumable goods such as cheese and beer are in lesser demand. Furthermore, depressed economic conditions are hampering retail spending around the world; consumers don't have the disposable income they once had to spend on giftware, tableware or jewelry. And, finally, the group came away with a heightened sense of American commercialism. By the time they concluded their day's scheduled activities, there was no time for shopping.

"Europeans are more laid-back generally, and less aggressive in business," observes Pereira, who has family in both Venezuela and Portugal. "All the stores close at six p.m., and even the supermarkets close at nine. Because of the social welfare system, Europeans have less incentive to put in long hours—everything except their food, their homes, their cars, and their trips are provided. Essentially they work in order to be able to take a long holiday in August," he says.

Allison LaMarca also was struck by the differences in how European corporations treat their employees—although occupational safety measures are more lax in Europe, she notes, the businesses there are employee-driven rather than consumerdriven. Still, she felt the foreshadowing of a new industrial revolution, particularly at Villeroy & Boch, a fine porcelain manufacturer in Luxembourg City.

"They walked us through their old plant and the new plant, both in full operation," LaMarca recalls. "In the old plant, everything is hand-intensive. The place was full of employees working all day with no masks or goggles. In the new plant, everything is fully automated with one or two people overseeing the operations, and it produces ten times as much as the old plant produces. That handcraftsmanship we saw in the old plant will ultimately be replaced by machinery. We saw the same thing at the Heineken brewery. These massive vats were producing so much beer, and not a single soul was on the plant floor. Everything was completely computerized."

Even if weekday shopping hours were limited, the weekends more than made up for it.

"The Dutch are so friendly, Leiden is a beautiful city, and I felt completely safe," says LaMarca. We spent that first weekend in Amsterdam because there was so much we didn't get to see when we were on business—the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, the canal tours, the houseboat museum. It definitely made me want to travel more. I'll know better next time how to travel."

None of the students realized, for instance, how difficult it would be to deal with heavy luggage on public transportation, or to hike with suitcases through the streets of Brussels in heels or suits and ties. Pereira selfmockingly coined the phrase "executive backpacking."

"That, and the Dutch language barrier, was a minor discomfort," Pereira says. "I've had it easy my whole life. Lost on the streets of Brussels and faced with the prospect of missing our appointment, we managed to find our way to the train station, on time, by using our wits and a little French."

Even for those well-traveled students, the Business in Europe program was worthwhile. "We managed to accomplish quite a bit in two weeks," Pereira says. "We stayed one night in Luxembourg. We saw Brussels. A few of us went to Paris for the weekend. We learned a lot during our business trips, but we also saw so much culturally. That's what's so great about travel: the opportunity to open your mind, expand your horizons and to experience new things."

Senior writer Marcia Landskroener wants to go along next time.

PHOTOS:
Students learn how Villeroy & Bach maintains its tradition of fine craftsmanship while modernizing its production of painted porcelains. After the Heineken plant tour, students sample microbrews not marketed in the United States.