Date: March 24-30, 2013
Program Fee: $2,607
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND RATIONALE
This is a one-credit course that includes the study abroad experience in Brazil, Spring Break 2013. The trip includes visits to numerous companies and other organizations in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In this course we study fundamentals of international business, (ii) the environments and challenges of emerging markets, (iii) strategies and operations for succeeding in emerging markets, and (iv) specific aspects of business in Brazil, the world’s sixth largest economy.
Brazil is the most important emerging market in Latin America. Other emerging markets include China, India, and Russia that, in contrast to advanced economies (such as Germany, Japan, and the United States), are undergoing rapid industrialization, modernization, and economic growth. Emerging markets represent attractive markets and low-cost bases for manufacturing and global sourcing. Emerging markets are also high-risk business environments with evolving legal, governmental, and commercial systems. Increasingly, emerging markets are spawning “new global challengers”, top companies that are becoming key contenders in world markets, and challenging multinational firms from the advanced economies.
Brazil is one of the world's fastest growing economies. Its export sector in high-value products is booming. It is a founding member of the United Nations and numerous other supranational organizations. It is an excellent location to study corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and the “bottom of the pyramid” paradigm described in CK Prahalad’s text The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits. In addition to corporate and non-profit sites, we will visit the largest slum in Latin America, the setting for several non-profit projects. We will also visit famous touristic sites, such as Pao de Acucar (Sugarload mountain) and Sao Paulo’s historic downtown.