Real Stories

Shoes, Hardhats, and Global Corporations

Associate Professor of Business Dan Duran and student
Course:
BSAD 333: Managing Multinational Corporations
Department:
Business Administration
Faculty:
Professor Dan Duran

In Prof. Dan Duran's January Term class Managing Multinational Corporations, the first two-and-a-half weeks explore theoretical practices in managing a corporation across cultural boundaries. The class then ventures to Central or South America locations to experience a marathon of theory in action, by visiting super-conglomerates such as Mitsubishi, native-operated companies, and a selection of maquiladoras. Students take plant tours, meet with senior-level executives, and learn first-hand the challenges in building a productive environment when labor and management is a lopsided mix of native and foreign peoples.

"On one of our trips to Mexicali," Prof. Duran recalls, "I brought a group of students to do a walk-through of a large Kenworth truck manufacturing facility, with its overhead cranes carrying multi-ton components, welders at work on cabs, and conveyors moving half-formed, 16-wheel truck chassis. So, the students had to wear protective goggles, hard hats, and covered-toe shoes."

"A couple of the male students didn't have the right footwear, so we had an instant negotiation session where size-12, covered-toe shoes were loaned to guys with size-10 feet, and several of the young ladies borrowed footwear from the office workers to walk the factory floor. It was a hoot! The girls were flopping about in industrial type shoes, and the guys were complaining about unfamiliar shoe smells and 'sloshing' while walking."