Doing Business In USA For Russian and French Managers

Published: September 3, 2015

Group Photo of Dr. Kuruvilla and students from Russia and France 
The University of Wisconsin Parkside hosted a pilot seminar titled "Doing Business In USA" for executive MBA students and entrepreneurs from St. Petersburg State Economic University of Russia, and the Montpellier Business School of France.

Dr. Abey Kuruvilla of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside had the idea to host the two week seminar in order for the student managers to learn how business is conducted in the United States. Kuruvilla has connections with St. Petersburg from his time teaching there as a visiting professor, resulting in a recent agreement between UW-Parkside and St. Petersburg that Chancellor Ford signed on a visit in May, 2015.  This seminar is the first step in that partnership.

For most of the 14 student managers, the seminar marks their first time visiting the U.S.

Over the next two weeks, the student managers have the opportunity to meet with different CEO's from greater Chicago-Milwaukee area, visit the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago and other companies, and immerse in American culture.  Chancellor Ford kicked off the seminar with an address on "Leadership in America."

"I'm looking forward to improving my skills, learning about American culture and how you do business here," Laure Boquet, a MBA student from Montpellier Business School, said. Laure is currently attending the Montpellier school of Business along with fellow students, Guillaume Rosati and Ian De Mideiros. "The experience will open a lot of doors for me in future," Rosati remarked.

Rosati, like Bouquet, is working as an apprentice while pursuing his Masters. He currently works in purchasing for a computer software development company in France called Septeo.

The third student from France, Ian De Mideiros, knew of Kuruvilla long before he came here for the seminar. Kuruvilla taught in Finland for a period of time where he met De Mideiros. Together they worked to open up this program for the French. Ian is pursuing his Masters like the other students from France. Along with going to school, Ian works at Bancarel as a marketing and sales representative.

Kuruvilla says he hopes that the seminar will open doors and help to break stereotypes in the global market, opening pathways for businesses to learn from each other.  Kuruvilla plans for this project to expand and develop more to include entrepreneurs from other countries.  Chancellor Ford hosted the participants at her residence on their first evening.

Doing Business in USA

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