Day 10

It's Tuesday morning, and the students are taking their first exam. There was last-minute studying at the breakfast table. This afternoon's class will focus on governmental influence on trade. Today the students will also begin their work on team projects.

It's nice that class was scheduled to start a little later today, because we didn't return from Stratford-Upon-Avon until after Midnight. We arrived there around 15.15, giving us almost four hours before the play began. The weather was nice, so a few people spent time in the lovely park along the river. Most people walked around the town and saw the outside of some Shakespeare properties, such as the Bard's birthplace. Several people also visited the poet's grave in Holy Trinity Church. The site has been home to a church since 713, although the current building dates back only to 1210.

The RSC production of The Winter's Tale far exceeded everyone's expectations. The theatre itself, which is a temporary structure, was impressive with a thrust stage and two balconies.

We had fantastic seats in the first three rows! The sets and costumes were amazing, and the director made good use of the fly space above the stage. The acting was remarkable. More than a group of people reciting iambic pentameter verse on a stage, these professionals embodied their characters and kept the audience thoroughly engaged with their emotional performances. I'm sure nobody will ever forget the 12 hairy dancing men, or the bear. The video from the bus ride home is a little dark, but here is Ben's reaction:

Tomorrow morning we leave early for another trip to London. This time we will visit WPP, the world leader in marketing communications services and their retail practice, The Store.

Week Two Begins

The students are back in class this morning after a weekend of adventures on their own. Everyone had stories to tell at breakfast. I'll add some details about my weekend in a minute. According to the syllabus, this morning's class Globalization and Society, and International Trade and Factor Mobility Theory.

Immediately following lunch, we will head to Stratford-Upon-Avon for a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Winter's Tale. Stratford is, of course, the birthplace, home, and burial place of William Shakespeare. We will have several hours to explore the town before the play begins this evening. There are plenty of Shakespeare properties to see, and a number of historic or scenic walks.

My weekend was good. I spent some time with two IU staff members visiting on holiday. We took a walking tour and tried our hands at punting on the Cherwell. Saturday I drove to nearby Wytham, but it began raining when I got there and rained most of the evening. Sunday was packed: I drove to Stonehenge, visited friends near Bristol, and stopped in Bath. I went to Bath on a whim, but it turned out to be an excellent decision. The city is beautiful, and I got to tour the Roman Baths, which stay open late in the summer. I highly recommend visiting Bath. Here's some of what I saw yesterday:

<

Day 5

Everyone seemed to be a bit on the tired side after our trip to London, but everyone made it to class Thursday morning! The students turned in written reflections on the day before, including something new or surprising they encountered, and an insight related to international business and why it's important.

Dr. McDougall lectured briefly on how politics affect international business, before Professor Alan Rugman led a discussion with the class. Dr. Rugman is recently retired from the Kelley School, and is now on the faculty of nearby Henley College at University of Reading. Dr. Rugman helped to organize this trip, including arranging for our guest speakers on the first day.

The first portion of Dr. Rugman's class focused on multilateral systems affecting market economics, including the United Nations, International Monetary fund, World Bank, G8/G20, and World Trade Organization. The discussion then turned back toward the Flat World concept, but with a focus on Globalization versus Regionalism. We discussed various regions including the European Union. Dr. Rugman used some of his own research to illustrate his argument that Regionalism, rather than Globalism, is a more accurate description of the world's economy. He pointed out that only nine corporations are truly Global in scope.

The students had the afternoon and the rest of the weekend off. I'm sure some of them napped, like I did, and I know most of them finalized their weekend plans. Almost everyone is taking advantage of the opportunity to travel this weekend. One student is headed to Brighton, four are going to London, and eleven are headed as a group to Dublin! One student stayed here to rest and study. I'm staying nearby, but it turns out there are some other IU staff members visiting Oxford this weekend, so I'll be spending some time with them.

Day 4: London

Everyone was up early Wednesday for our first group trip to London. We left St. Catz at about 7.25 to walk to the bus station, where we caught an 8.00 bus into the city. Once there, we successfully navigated the Tube to Canary Wharf, London's "new" financial center. We arrived in good time for our 11.00 visit with Infosys.

At Infosys, we had a great meeting with Arindom Basu, the head of European Operations. During our two hours together, Mr. Basu shared a little about himself and his "typical" day as a consultant with a global company. He gave us some background information about Infosys, which began in Bangalore in 1981 and now has 100,000 employees and a market capitalization of $200 billion. The UK office has 150 employees. Infosys focuses on business success in the "flat world," and its vision is to be the most ethical professional services firm in the world. Infosys is also a Top Ten "Green" company, and is involved regionally in a number of charity organizations. More generally, the presentation touched on the evolution of the consulting industry, the Flat World concept, and how to be successful in a global environment.

Our students asked a number of insightful questions before Mr. Basu began his presentation about cultural awareness and some of the major differences between the East and West as related to business. This turned out to be an excellent follow-up to Tuesday's class discussion.

Upon leaving Infosys, we had about an hour at Canary Wharf to grab lunch and explore the underground malls. We next headed to Piccadilly Circus, where we hopped on The Original Tour until arriving at Parliament Square. That was the end of our day together as a group, but a number of students stayed in smaller groups for the rest of the day. Many of us took a Thames River cruise from Westminster to the Tower of London. Some students took a "flight" on the London Eye, others shopped, and some met up with friends and other Kelley students who are currently studying at the London School of Economics. Dr. McDougall attended a West-End play, while I chose to see a musical. It turned out to be a late night for everyone, but we all made it back safely to Oxford.

Day 3

On Tuesday, 7 July, I'm headed to London in advance of our class trip there on 8 July. I won't see the students at all, but they are scheduled to have morning and afternoon class sessions. Some students will present their "cultural briefings" to the class. These are on topics of the students' choosing, including such things as cricket, Wimbledon, football rivalries, the Monarchy, popular music, and Churchill. Scheduled lecture topics include cultural, polital, and legal environments facing business.

St. Catherine's College, as you can tell from earlier pictures, is a collection of modern buildings designed by Arne Jacobsen. Our class meets in a glass-walled seminar room. It's a little like being in a fish tank. However, there are actual goldfish in the water garden just outside the door. Ducks from the adjacent River Cherwell wander about.

Day 2: Class begins

Today is the first day of class for our students. Dr. McDougall is teaching a three week version of “D301: The International Business Environment.” The course examines cultural, political, economic, systemic, legal-regulatory, trade, and financial environments and how they affect the international business activities of firms in the United States and in selected other countries. Because we are offering the course abroad for the first time, we will of course be focusing on the United Kingdom. According to Dr. McDougall, “The location of the course at the Oxford University provides a unique opportunity to observe the diversity and complexity of the international environment. While the emphasis of the course is on analysis, the course will also acquaint students with many of the special terms, concepts, and institutions encountered in international business.”

Some people have asked me why we teach this particular course. It is an introductory course on International Business and is one of the required courses for our International Business major. For those students not pursuing a major in International business, the course can be used to help fulfill our International Dimension degree requirement. All Kelley students need six credit hours to meet this requirement, although there are several ways it can be done – including study abroad programs or study of a foreign language at an advanced level. I’m not sure how many of the students here are pursuing the International business major.

Today began with an awesome breakfast buffet. We're looking forward to a repeat of that every day.

Class began with some introductory exercises and an overview of Globalization, International Business, and Global start-ups. After lunch in the dining hall, we were visited by an Oxford Don, Kenneth Addison, who gave us a quick and broad overview of Oxford's history including geologic, climate, cultural, and political influences.

I learned that "Oxford" comes from "Oxen ford," because in this valley the River Thames (known locally as the Isis) braids into multiple small branches, making it easy to cross. Obviously there is an extremely long history. Over time, the area became a center of learning. Based on monastic societies, the college system eventually developed and became Oxford University. (I can't really do justice to the lecture in a blog!) The Colleges are independent organizations endowed by various royalty and benefactors. More than 500 years ago there were 10; 16 were endowed between the 16th and 19th centuries, and 13 have been founded since 1950. Five women's colleges were founded between 1879 and 1893, but the women were not recognized as students until 1878. They were able to earn degrees after 1920, but not until the 1970s did any of the colleges become co-educational. Currently there are about 12,000 undergraduate students (commoners, exhibitioners, or scholars) and 4000 graduate students, making the University much smaller than IU-Bloomington.



Following Dr. Addison's presentation, we experienced a lively lecture by Kelly Newman, a Shakespearean scholar. She taught us about Shakespeare's problem comedies, and specifically about "The Winter's Tale" - one of four tragic comedies, which we will see before we leave. I think her overview will really help us to understand this play. I've also purchased an annotated copy, which I'm reading now.

After class, some students completed their assigned reading. Many of them are now out exploring Oxford.

Day 1

Hello to everyone who has found this blog, Kelley in Oxford. I’m writing this on Sunday, July 5, 2009, but the blog site isn’t available yet, so I will post this as soon as I can. I am currently in Oxford, United Kingdom with 17 Kelley undergraduate students and one faculty member, Dr. Patricia McDougall, the William L. Haeberle Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Strategic Management.

It’s our first day here at St. Catherine's College. Unlike all of the previous short-term international study trips organized by Kelley, everyone travelled separately for this program. I arrived in London on the night of the 3rd and made it to Oxford at 9:16 this morning. Most of the students were here and checked in before 4:00 pm, or 16.00 as they would type here. We met for dinner in the dining hall at 19.00, where we were served tomato, courgette and basil soup, chicken a la king, and Summer Pudding. (I just learned that courgette is an alternate name for zucchini.) There was a brief rain shower this morning, but otherwise it has been a beautiful day, and both Prof. McDougall and I made it down to Broad Street to grab a bite to eat and do a little shopping.