BY RETIRED
DEAN JOHN D. HOGAN

Every university that sees itself as a major player in business education has made international business a top priority. From a condition common a decade or so ago, when international outreach programs required carefully documented justification, top schools have now moved to a state of deep international program involvement as a matter of course. Curricula have been revised to emphasize international issues, students are expected to gain international experience and faculty development increasingly includes direct experience in one or more international markets. These important developments are reactions to a realization that a nation's power and the well-being of its citizens are inextricably bound to success in international commerce.

Georgia State's College of Business Administration (CBA) has built strong relationships with many universities and business organizations all over the world in fulfillment of its mission. We must prepare students to analyze business issues within an international context, sensitize them to cultural diversity and enable them to function as managers in a globally competitive world. Every student or faculty member who goes abroad, and every student or faculty member from abroad who visits CBA, helps us fulfill our mission.

To reach a state of operation in which we are making steady progress toward internationalizing CBA programs has required extensive debate and reorientation. As a consequence, every subject matter area is today understood to be international. Marketing that is not now international marketing, finance that is not now international finance and policy/strategy that is not now international policy/strategy can scarcely be imagined. Even an enterprise operating solely in the domestic market must contend with international competitors. Thus international issues pervade the entire curriculum - much as do ethical, technological, information and other issues.

Success in bringing business school curricula to a satisfactory condition of international awareness is not easily accomplished. Major changes must be made and developed in a resisting medium. Our students are not more naturally disposed to an international view of business than is the American culture. Our culture developed from a perspective that sought a "new world" that was to be superior to the "old world"; and this "new world" became insular. An unexploited continent offered unlimited opportunities and the new world developed an advanced industrial civilization surpassing all others. A vast domestic market until recently offered such a base for growth and prosperity that international opportunities had little appeal. Only when the new world economy began to mature, and international mobility of capital, technology and entrepreneurship created today's globally competitive environment, was the sufficiency of the domestic market questioned by American entrepreneurs. And the lesson has not been learned rapidly nor universally.

A small number - some 300 - of major multinational companies are responsible for the major share of exports of merchandise from the United States. Of all enterprises in the United States, only about one in five is engaged in international marketing, although the percentage varies widely by industry and is increasing. Business schools have a key role to play in sensitizing students to the role of international marketing in business strategy and providing the educational experiences that will counter a domestic marketing bias.

In addition to providing these educational experiences, we must also expose students to areas of the world where their knowledge base is thin. South America is one of these areas - and the likelihood that the Americas will be our principal trading bloc in the future makes student ignorance worrisome. Africa is another unfamiliar area. To improve student knowledge in these areas, the textbook and case materials that we have developed to explore companies in Europe and Asia must be duplicated in the developing areas of South America and Africa. We must engage partner companies and universities to help us in this process. Thus, CBA has recently developed relationships with San Salvador College in Buenos Aires, the National University of Brazil in Recife, the University of Cairo, and the University of South Africa.

If the recent past has presented challenges in building a business education program appropriate to the realities of international competition, the future looks more promising. Business school stakeholders agree on the necessity of preparing students for a world of global competition. And corporate recruiters, who a few years ago rarely demanded students with language skills and cross-cultural experience, more often do so now. A number of forces are converging that may substantially increase demand for graduates of our revised programs. These include a rapidly increasing participation by small firms in international trade, an increasing role of developing countries as host sites of multinational companies, and the coming together of federal government programs to form an export strategy. In the end, all of our efforts at internationalizing business school programs will prove worthwhile as our students benefit from a combination of faculty with firsthand international experience, a curriculum that deftly weaves international issues into every course, an expanded world of business experience that includes South America and Africa, and international student internships that become a common experience.

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