tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2553573712479659356.post8374784933744157289..comments2024-03-08T02:36:39.440-06:00Comments on Women of Color Living Abroad: Does International Business still exist in the states?Women of Color Living Abroadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755592974758554623noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2553573712479659356.post-65705499841256791822012-07-01T12:32:01.710-05:002012-07-01T12:32:01.710-05:00Thank you for your comnents and for reading the bl...Thank you for your comnents and for reading the blog. This blog was written by an anonymous contributor. So I'll forward it to them for feedback.Women of Color Living Abroadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04755592974758554623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2553573712479659356.post-22110234014757892802012-07-01T08:36:52.502-05:002012-07-01T08:36:52.502-05:00Since you studied business you should know a thing...Since you studied business you should know a thing or two about competitive advantage. Learning a language is just another element that may set you apart from the packs of other students from around the world hungry to land a plum role in a global company. So in a way you need to treat yourself like your own business or your own brand. If you were in the position of the hiring manager for a job you want, would you hire you? Why or why not? Language is one thing, but if you go abroad without knowing yourself really well and without having done your homework on the culture, you will set yourself up for some hard lessons learned the hard way. But at least you will learn, which eventually becomes another advantage.<br /><br />I am a bit perplexed by your definition (or lack thereof) of international business. As you very well know, the purpose of a business is to create profit to maximize shareholder value. You can make an argument for the triple bottom line (People Profit Planet), but essentially if you don't have a profit, you don't have a business. This is why US companies take their manufacturing overseas. I don't understand why you dismiss this. Work needs to get done in these places to US standards and they often send managers from the US to oversee it. Why should you dismiss outsourcing as a potential avenue for doing international business?<br /><br />I don't think you've done a really good job at articulating what you want to do. Saying you want to do international business can mean almost anything or nothing at all. My advice is to get good at something, preferably something you enjoy. Examples? Project management. IT or information systems. Marketing ESPECIALLY as it relates to social media (so much room to grow there and so few people with true know how) and measuring it's impact on the bottom line. <br /><br />Companies don't like risk. If they hire you, they want to know you are a sure thing. Either that or you're the CEO's daughter. If you don't have connections, you have no choice but to be the best at what you do. They don't really tell you that in the textbooks because selling textbooks and education is a business as well. Know your value to a company and work to increase that value. Note that there may also be tons of opportunites with smaller companies that may be leveraging technology to globalize. Put the books down and start talking to people actually doing business. Pick up the phone and do an informational interview. Do some research and find a mentor that's doing what you think you might like to be doing in 10-15 years. Take him or her to lunch. And finally my last piece of advice to you is to be open to advice but learn to keep your own counsel. And when everybody else zigs, you be sure to zag.<br /><br />Best wishes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com