In the future, marketing graduates will face an increasingly diverse and multicultural workplace both within and outside of their home countries. Newell D. Wright, NDSU director of the Center for Global Initiative and Leadership, and Irvine Clarke III from James Madison University, pose a crucial question in an article recently accepted for publication: How can marketing educators better prepare students for this complex and changing work environment? According to the authors, one solution is a study abroad program.
In the article titled "Preparing Marketing Students for a Global and Multicultural Work Environment: The Value of a Semester-Long Study Abroad Program," some anecdotal claims about the value of the study abroad programs in preparing students for the work environment were tested.
The study's results show that the study abroad programs help students become more globally minded, communicate better across cultural and national boundaries, and become more sensitive to new and different cultures. The article will appear in the fall 2010 issue of Marketing Education Review.