Barney School of Business, University of Hartford, West Hartford Connecticut

Associate Professor of Marketing Terri Albert (second from right) and her class at Otis Elevator in Singapore

Barney MBA student John O'Leary IV poses in front of the Merlion Fountain in Singapore.

The group atop the Skytower in Bangkok.

Dr. Terri Albert's Class in Bangkok and Singapore

The Barney School broke new ground this summer in its efforts to integrate international educational experiences into its programs, with the first MBA class visit to Asia.

Associate Professor of Marketing Terri Albert led six MBA students on a visit to Bangkok, Thailand and Singapore in July as part of an International Services Marketing class.

During the whirlwind trip, Albert and her students spent two and a half days in each of the two locations, visiting shopping malls, factories, and corporate offices and meeting with a number of business people. Using Thailand as an example of a developing country and Singapore as an example of a developed country, students examined how the two nations differ in the way that services are provided.

“I really enjoy the opportunity to see how the world works. You gain an appreciation for different cultures and different ways of doing business in different parts of the world,” said John O’Leary IV, senior collections coordinator for IKON Office Solutions and one of the students in Albert’s class. “It really opens your eyes as to what’s out there and what the possibilities are.”

O’Leary embodies the global perspective that the Barney School is trying to incorporate into both its graduate and undergraduate programs. Last summer, O’Leary traveled to the Czech Republic as part of another class that Albert taught. Later this year, he is hoping to take part in a trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as part of a class for both undergraduates and graduate students that will be taught by Associate Professor of Management Steven Congden.

“One of the Barney School's four key strategic initiatives is to provide more opportunities for our students, faculty, and staff to have international academic experiences as a way to foster greater global awareness throughout the school's programs,” said Barney Dean James Fairfield-Sonn. “Over time, we hope to be able to provide study opportunities throughout the world as well as being able to host traveling international scholars at the Barney School as part of our quest to play an increasing role in the international business education community.”

During their recent visit to Bangkok, Albert and her students examined the differences between a mall that sold mostly local products and a more upscale shopping center that sold global brands. They met with GE Money’s chief marketing officer for Southeast Asia and with the chief economist at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok.

In Singapore, Albert presented a paper at Singapore Management University, and her students attended the presentation. The group visited Otis Elevator and Pratt & Whitney facilities in Singapore, as well as the Singapore office of AC Nielsen, the international marketing information company that is best known in the U.S. for providing television viewership ratings. The students also studied the provision of services by Singapore Airlines; much of the research was based on their first-hand experiences during the marathon flights to and from Asia.

The class met on campus twice before the trip and twice after the trip, and students had to write two papers based on their research, experiences, and observations in Asia.

“The Bangkok and Singapore trip provided an entire new way of thinking for me about how U.S.-based multi-national companies do business abroad,” said Tim Blevins, Aetna senior program manager. Like O’Leary, Blevins is a veteran of the 2006 trip to the Czech Republic as well as this year’s trip. "These new view points that we gained on the trip are especially relevant right now as almost every major sector considers new opportunities in the global marketplace.”