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Michigan State University
Center for International Business Education and Research
C I B E R     N E W S

February, 1997 Volume 7, Number 5


From the Executive Director

Our MSU CIBER web site has a new look! We have just added new features and enhanced the site's usefulness for international business professionals. I trust you will find your visit to be worthwhile. (http://ciber.bus.msu.edu)

In addition to regularly updating the International Business Resource pages, we will also announce new MSU CIBER initiatives. Many new projects have been announced in the "What's New" section. For example, several new faculty development programs are underway. The May 1997 International Business Institute for Community College Faculty has again attracted many more applications than we can accept.

Other FDIB programs are also planned with the University of Memphis CIBER. The Faculty Study Abroad program will be held in Belgium during May 11–23. A FDIB event will be held in Memphis between June 19–23. MSU CIBER will present the program on international marketing. We are also pleased to announce that MSU CIBER will host the 1998 American Marketing Association's Faculty Consortium In International Marketing. The event will be held July 11–15, 1998, in East Lansing. Several other CIBERs are expected to co-sponsor this week-long consortium. Professors Preet Aulakh and Glenn Omura will be responsible for this faculty development program that will accept applicants from around the United States.

In addition to several new overseas study programs, we are now developing a semester-length, university-integrated study abroad program in Beijing, China. Professor Michael Song will join other MSU faculty in a visit to Beijing in March to negotiate the academic and logistical details of the program with Beida University.

Finally, we would like to extend a warm welcome to MSU's newest Title VI resource center—the Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR). Under the capable leadership of its co-directors Professors Patricia Paulsell (who is also director of MSU CIBER's Business Language Initiatives) and Susan Gass, CLEAR will work closely with CIBER and other units on campus in promoting international and foreign language education. Congratulations!

S. Tamer Cavusgil

Riegle addresses IB Forum

"One thing I've learned from serving under seven presidents of the United States since Lyndon Johnson," said former U.S. Senator Donald Riegle, as he addressed one of the largest International Business Forum luncheons ever, "Is that you are never going to be any stronger overseas than you are at home."

Drawing on his experience as a congressman, Riegle spoke to an audience of over 70 local international business professionals. While he extolled the virtues of internationalism, Riegle also warned that the United States must continue its efforts to modernize its workforce. Riegle highlighted intensive education and increased cultural training as important goals for the future.

During his 28 years of service in both the U.S. Senate and the House, Riegle was widely recognized as a leading voice on trade, U.S. competitiveness and health care reform issues. Among his many other accomplishments, Riegle was chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and served on a number of other economic committees involving finance, commerce and the budget. Retiring from the Senate in 1994, Riegle is now working with Shandwick Public Affairs, the largest independent public relations firm in the world, where he is helping promote U.S. business interests abroad. Riegle is also an adjunct professor to MSU's Broad College of Business and a CIBER Advisory Council member.

"China, I think, is a particularly interesting juxtaposition and set of conditions," noted Riegle.

Quoting the success of Procter & Gamble, Riegle believes there is an overwhelming demand for U.S. products in China. Last year Procter & Gamble sold over $600 million of its Head & Shoulders product alone in China, with sales of its other products totaling an additional $1.4 billion.

"The middle class in China is bigger than the entire U.S. population," said Riegle. "Now that's a big market."

But in order to capitalize on these emerging opportunities of the future, the United States must start preparing now. Success in the future will rely on a completely new set of skills and competencies than in the past.

"We're not really well focused as a society to think our way through this because we don't have any experience with a transition of this magnitude," said Riegle. According to the former senator, Americans should learn more languages as the key to not only communicating with other people, but also to understanding how they think.

"We share this planet, and we share its economical potential, but we are also in direct competition," said Riegle, explaining how many other nations have distinct advantages in acquiring foreign languages, communicating cross-culturally and thinking internationally. In order to remain competitive, Riegle recommended that students and business persons diversify their skills to accommodate other cultures.

"If we want to project anything internationally over a period of time, we better make sure we're solid as a rock here at home," said Riegle of our increasingly more global future. "Believe me, it is crashing down on us so much faster than anybody realizes."

The International Business Forum is sponsored by MSU CIBER, the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce and Lansing Community College.
Professor studies Japanese management

With partial funding from MSU CIBER, Professor Anil Shivdasani in the Department of Finance recently completed a study titled "Corporate Restructuring During Performance Declines In Japan." In this study, he compares how poorly performing Japanese and U.S. corporations restructure their operations in response to performance decline.

Some of the major findings of this study are that Japanese firms often implement a number of downsizing measures such as asset sales, plant closures and employee layoffs. They also respond by expanding and diversifying their operations, as well as by restructuring their internal operations. However, compared to U.S. firms, Japanese firms are less likely to downsize and layoffs affect a smaller fraction of their workforce. These downsizing measures improve the subsequent earnings performance of corporations in both the U.S. and Japan. The study also investigates why Japanese companies prefer certain restructuring measures over others.

Shivdasani presented this work at seminars at Indiana University, Purdue University, University of Arizona, Michigan State University and the University of Pittsburgh. His work was also presented at the 1997 American Finance Association conference and the 1997 meetings of the Association of Financial Economists.

The paper has recently been accepted for publication in the Journal of Financial Economics, which is one of the most prestigious journals in finance.


Norway trip offers Nordic hospitality

MSU's School of Hospitality Business will offer an overseas study program in Norway this summer.

The program will be held at the Norwegian College of Hotel Management in Stavanger, Norway. The college has been considered a leader in hospitality management for more than 80 years and is designated by the Nordic countries' governments as the central higher education institution for hospitality and tourism.

The program cost is $1,083, not including tuition or travel expenses. For more information regarding this program, please contact the MSU Office of Study Abroad at (517) 353-8920.


MSU CIBER publishes two new volumes

Volumes 7 and 8 of Advances In International Marketing are now available from JAI Press, Inc. These books compile selected papers presented at recent conferences and symposia.

Volume 7 was guest edited by Professor Charles Ray Taylor at Villanova University. The volume features selected essays presented at the conference on "Marketing in Asia-Pacific: Challenges and Opportunities of Marketing in a Dynamic Region" held in Seoul, Korea, in May 1995. Topics include corporate strategies in the 1990s, issues in global distribution and the marketing of services, international advertising and methodological contributions to the international marketing literature.

Volume 8 was guest edited by Tage Koed Madsen of Odense University, Denmark. It highlights papers presented at the 1995 Consortium for International Marketing Research meeting. Papers explored various topics in internationalization and export performance, as well as researching and adapting to export conditions.

For more information, call the IBC at (517) 353-4336


KPMG offers international internships

KPMG Peat Marwick LLP is now accepting applications for their international accounting internships. To qualify, students must be at least second-semester accounting sophomores, have a minimum 3.0 GPA and be fluent (read, write and speak) in a foreign language.

These three-month positions will be in foreign countries and take place between January and March of 1998. KPMG will pay all expense, including a stipend for food and local transportation costs.

Interested students should contact Neal Lao in the IBC at (517) 353-4336, or Andréa Bradford from KPMG at (201) 307-7491. Deadline for applications is April 18, 1997.


The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management

International Business Center
Michigan State University
Eppley Center
645 N. Shaw Ln Rm 7
East Lansing, MI 48824-1121
USA

Exec Director's Office
N356 North Business Complex
Tel (517) 432-4320
FAX (517) 432-4222

IBC Office
Eppley Center
645 N. Shaw Ln Rm 7
East Lansing, MI 48824-1121
Tel (517) 353-4336 FAX (517) 423-1009
http://ciber.bus.msu.edu
UPCOMING EVENTS

Lecture: "International Job Assignments: When, Why, Opportunities, Costs and Risks" 10 March, 1997, 4:10–5:50 p.m. in N100 North Business Complex, MSU. For more information, contact the MBA Office at (517) 355-7603. Lecture: "Is Learning By Exporting Important?" by James Tybout, Georgetown University 10 March, 1997, 3:30 p.m. in the Koo Room, Marshall Hall, MSU. For more information, contact David Neumark at (517) 353-7275. International Business Institute for Community College Faculty 18-23 May, 1997 at Michigan State University. For more information, contact MSU CIBER at (517) 432-4320.

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Document last modified on Friday, April 04, 1997.