Courses
Intercultural Courses
Since 2006, the Institute has successfully completed various intercultural course collaborations where students work virtually with peers at foreign partner universities.
For those interested in incorporating cross-cultural assignments into their courses, the Institute of International Business Collaboration maintains:
- A database of interested parties by institution and discipline
- A repository of assignment ideas that can be adapted to fulfill intercultural skill development objectives
Through the participant database and assignment repository, the Institute is able to connect interested parties from different institutions. The Institute continues to work to expand program offerings to all continents and to create collaborations in every discipline from college freshman to doctoral candidates.
Course Collaboration Examples
All of the collaborations listed below are ongoing. Additionally, we are working on course collaborations involving Operations Management, Finance, Business, and Marketing.
Marketing + Business Development
UW-Whitewater International Marketing & TH-Köln International Business Development
Graduate students work in multicultural virtual teams for 8-10 weeks. They conduct field research in their respective countries to determine the feasibility of importing specific products produced in developing countries. These extensive reports provide foreign producers and government agencies with the information required to assess market potential of their products in the U.S. and Germany.
Business Society + Leadership
UW-Whitewater Business & Society & JLU Leadership
First-year students at UWW are paired with third-year German business students to solve an issue presented in a case. For many American students, this 1-hour virtual collaboration is their first exposure to cultural differences. In fall 2019, Assumption University in Thailand will join the collaboration, increasing participation to over 2000 students each year.
Sales Negotiation + Advanced Sales
UW-Whitewater, Winona State University, and HAN Sales Negotiation
Bachelor-level sales students work virtually in two-person, distributed teams on an assignment that requires multiple rounds of negotiation. Students learn how to work and negotiate effectively with people from different cultures in this 5 week experience.
Project Management + Communications
UW-Whitewater Project Management & TH-Köln Cross-Cultural Communications
Bachelor-level students work with a foreign partner for 4 weeks to complete a series of assignments designed to identify cultural differences and how those differences impact
project management.
Case Studies
2018 Germany – USA Collaboration
In fall/winter semester 2018, third-year bachelor-level business students taking a leadership course at Justus Liebig Universität in Gießen, Germany collaborated with first-year (BBA) students at UW-Whitewater taking their first business course. While each course had its own learning objectives, they shared a common question to help students increase their preparedness, sensitivity, patience and flexibility when it comes to working with people from different cultures.