Business abroad has both similarities and differences to how business is conducted within the United States. For example, marketing practices for the companies we visited were similar to what would need to be done within the U.S. Most of the companies we visited needed to not only appeal to their home countries’ demographics but to people across the globe. Examples of marketing strategies that took a global approach included Heineken, Aston Martin, and Coca-Cola. All of these companies need not only to appeal to a certain geographic region but a global area in order to appeal to consumers world wide.
An area of interest that I would like to address would be the interactions we as Americans had with the locals of all of the seven countries we visited. For as many good interactions that we had, there were also an equal number of bad ones. I can honestly say that in my opinion the eighty students chosen to go on this particular study abroad represented not only Texas A&M well but also all of the United States of America. I think that many people across the globe have a poor image of Americans and to be frank I do not completely understand why. We treated them with respect and at times the respect shown was one-sided.
Things that I learned while abroad that made me more grateful for what we have in the United States. I am thankful for ice and free refills. I am extremely grateful for Texas companies such as Bill Millers, Whataburger, and H-E-B. I am glad to be back and able to drive in my own truck and not have to rely on public transportation. Most importantly, I’m glad for the patriotism and nationwide sense of pride; many places besides Switzerland did not have the same amount of respect for their countries as we do for ours.