X-Culture Project: Nick Waters

Guest Blogger: Nick Waters

The Nathan M. Bisk College of Business’ International Business course is filled with thought provoking case studies. The premier assignment is the X-Culture project. This task pairs the NBM CoB students with foreign students around the world. My experience with this undertaking is a mix of elation and apprehension.

My team is comprised of six other people, four of which come from outside the United States. The main challenge of this project is collaborating with students in Turkey, India, Singapore, and Korea. The time-zone difference is a major limiter of when the team can meet. Fortunately, there are a number of tools available for free to assist online collaborators: Google+ Hangout, Doodle, Dropbox, etc…

I was highly apprehensive entering the project. I was not sure if I was going to be stuck with teammates who did not answer emails and left to do a 30-40 page business plan on my own. Luckily, I was placed with two other American students and two foreign students who take the project seriously. One teammate has yet to respond to any of our emails – c’est la vie.

I am looking forward to working with these students to create an excellent business plan. This will require some patience, leadership, and hard work. The students in this project are essentially learning what it is like to work in a multinational; it is a truly interesting experience.