Experiencing the World

• Summer Internships in China

  • Two Crosby MBA students had the opportunity to work in China last summer for VanceInfo, a leading IT service company located in Beijing. VanceInfo is currently the second largest outsourcing company in China and has grown from only 1,200 employees to 10,000 employees in just 11 years. The company is Chinese, but it is traded on the NYSE and has many customers from the United States. Most VanceInfo employees speak at least some English, a culture that aided in the students' transition, but not without challenges.
    
    Elliott McClelland, Crosby MBA '10 enjoyed living in Beijing, although his one-hour, 7-mile commute took some getting used to. During his stay, Elliott learned that people work long hours in China. At VanceInfo, working from 8am-6pm is normal, and employees who work until 7pm receive a free dinner. While adjusting to the Chinese work ethic, Elliott interned in the Global Sales and Marketing division where he helped redesign the English-facing website and clean up its translations. Elliott also attended an international “Green IT” conference. Mistaking him as an important American executive, the hosts of the conference gave Elliott a VIP pass. The pass allowed him to attend the elaborate conference dinner and dine with the CIO of Daimler-Benz!
    
    Elliott gained invaluable working experience at VanceInfo. He also successfully expanded his network and collected multiple good job contacts. Most importantly, though, Elliott knows that his new understanding of Chinese corporate structure will help him in his future career, especially as he hopes to someday work in China.
    
    Elliott's internship overlapped with that of Chris Eckhardt, Crosby MBA '11, and they worked together on one project at VanceInfo. They helped develop a client assessment survey for Expedia.com, which gauged the company’s satisfaction with VanceInfo’s services. Later, Chris worked to make the survey scalable so that it could be used to increase business with other clients as well. In addition to the survey, he performed market analysis and calculated the return-on-investment for a number of worldwide trade events. Chris definitely enjoyed his working experience in Beijing, as well as his travels to many other Chinese cities, including the World Expo in Shanghai!
    
    Rachel Yang, Crosby MBA '12, began the MU Crosby MBA Program in August, 2010. She previously worked full-time at VanceInfo as a specialist in the marketing department and was excited to meet our students over the summer as she prepared to come to the U.S. She enjoyed working for VanceInfo, because the company combines the Chinese and American cultures and felt it prepared her a little for the transition to the University of Missouri Crosby MBA Program.
    
    

• Six Sigma and Business Enterprises in Ireland

  • A summer studying and working in Ireland! A study abroad program which will be offered again in the summer of 2011 gave MU Crosby MBA students the chance to study and intern in Dublin this past summer. They studied Six Sigma Consulting Methodology, taught by an MU professor of Industrial Engineering, as well as Enterprise Development, taught by an Irish professor. In the Six Sigma Consulting course, they each worked directly with a company, where they applied the Six Sigma skills they learned in class to real-life projects in the company. Through this experience, all students also earned their Six Sigma Green Belt, which signifies their certification in Lean/Six Sigma methodologies.
    
    Being based in Dublin, Ireland, allowed many students to travel around Ireland and Europe on weekends and experience many different cultures. One group travelled to London, Rome, Paris, and Munich, and explored the beautiful Irish coasts during their free weekends.
    
    After the four week session was over, a few MBA students stayed in Dublin for an internship. Mark Seier, Crosby MBA '11 worked with the same company he had been working with in the Six Sigma course, Novum Overseas, Ltd. This company manufactures refrigeration and heating equipment, and Mark had the opportunity to work directly with their two main shareholders. Mark created an Excel template that analyzed the company’s budget so the shareholders could see the expenses, the changes in employee levels, and employee efficiency.
    
    Dan Flynn, Crosby MBA '11 also stayed for an internship with Blueface, a telecommunications company that operates over the internet. Blueface managers involved Dan in meetings to help train and teach him about the company. Dan’s projects consisted of analyzing competitor pricing, supplier pricing, competitive call rates, and popular areas of calls. He then performed a sensitivity analysis in order to recommend more uniform call rates for the company.
    
    Both Mark and Dan gained a unique working experience to add to their résumés, and they learned about the cultural differences in the Irish working environment as well. For example, Mark and Dan noticed that their coworkers used blunt and straight-forward language, and they were also very laid back. Their coworkers dressed casually in the office, and the work day was very flexible. Both students had direct exposure to the executives at small companies and were able to make an impact on those companies, and they returned to Columbia with much more than souvenirs and photos.
    
    

• Australia/New Zealand and India

  • The Crosby MBA Program offers students the opportunity to earn three credits during the winter intersession through a study abroad experience. In January, 2011, some students spent three weeks in Australia and New Zealand, visiting and learning about international companies and the economies of the Pacific basin. It’s not all work though, for they had high adventures, experienced warm pristine beaches, and spent New Year’s Eve in New Zealand, the first time zone to welcome in the New Year.
    
    Meanwhile, other students explored five different cities in India, including the high-tech centers of Bangalore and Hyderabad.  Bandhana Katoch, Crosby MBA '08 coordinated the trip and led the group as they visited multiple domestic Indian and world-class international companies and learned about Indian business culture and practices with a focus on how India’s economy is rapidly changing and attracting large amounts of foreign investment. Cultural experiences included a visit to the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort in Delhi, and the Lotus Temple.

• Sarah's Blog from Europe
  

  • Sarah Riley-Land '11 completed her Crosby MBA degree as an exchange student at Maastricht University in the Netherlands April-June 2011.  Follow her experiences  via her blog!