McDonough School of Business
News Story

Undergraduates Consult in France for First Time

The undergraduate Global Business Experience was expanded to include one additional section this year. For the first time, a group of 26 juniors traveled to Belgium and France during Spring Break in March, while a group of their classmates traveled to Barcelona, Spain. Student teams spent the semester analyzing global companies, including Starbucks, Decathlon, Kiabi, Phildar, and Kusmi Tea, and then traveled to present their final recommendations.

“The experience taught me the importance of clear communication,” said Kelsey Read (B ’17), who consulted for Phildar. “Language can sometimes be a barrier, but technology today has really broken down this barrier. In regards to the industry I consulted for, I learned that the knitting industry is much larger and more popular than I first realized. As our company taught us, knitting will be the new yoga.”

Georgetown McDonough students, under the guidance of Professor of the Practice Charles Skuba, also met with executive leaders from Decathlon and Phildar to learn more about the global sporting goods and the knitting/fashion retail industries. In addition to company visits, Georgetown GBE students had the opportunity to interact with students and faculty from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales du Nord (EDHEC).

After several weeks of teamwork, students presented their final strategic recommendations to company executive management as well as EDHEC faculty and staff. The week-long program ended with a trip to the city of Brussels, host to several EU institutions, where students visited the European Parliament and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium.

The undergraduate Global Business Experience was established as a collaboration between the Undergraduate Program and the school’s Global Business Initiative, with a gift from alumni Joseph (B ’93) and Abigail (SFS ’96) Baratta. In addition to the students who traveled to Belgium and France, another cohort of students studied the confectionery industry in Spain. To learn more about Georgetown’s McDonough’s Global Business Initiative, visit http://dev-guwordpress-msb.pantheonsite.io/experience/global-business-initiative and follow @MSB_GBI.