MBA Students Partener with German Businesses
If Idaho consumers see a Prinz von Hessen German Riesling land on retail shelves it will be partly due to the work of some Boise State MBA students.
A winery owned by the German prince was one of seven German companies and organizations to benefit from a new cooperative project between Boise State’s College of Business and Economics and the Applied Sciences University in Heidelberg.
International business professor Nancy Napier has helped facilitate partnerships between U.S. companies and German student teams for three years, assisting 17 companies this semester. This fall as part of MBA 536 Global Economic and Business Analysis, jointly taught by Napier and economics professor Charlotte Twight, Boise State students assisted German companies who wish to export to the U.S. or draw business from North America.
“The students benefited enormously from this hands-on international business experience,” Twight said. “And the German firms were pleased with the first-rate analysis they received. I was very impressed with the results.”
Erin Teagle King, an MBA student who worked with three fellow students to study the feasibility of introducing Prinz Von Hessen wine in the U.S., said her team believes it would be a good business move for the German company to enter the U.S. market with a high-quality wine, but that it will take a good deal of marketing and patience to find success.
The students researched customs issues and shipping rates, contacted more than 400 restaurants and wine retailers to determine what German wines were competitors and what they sell for in the U.S., visited with local German wine buyers and distributors who are interested in talking with the winery, passed along photos of retail displays in the U.S., compared the wine’s label to other successful imported wines and made recommendations regarding getting reviewed in national and international wine publications.
Neither the German companies nor the U.S. companies are charged for the work the students complete on their behalf.
“During these projects students learn how to do international business with real firms, companies get on-the-ground research that would cost them thousands of dollars otherwise, and if any of the companies generate business abroad, their local economies thrive because of the additional revenue it brings,” Napier said. “It’s a win-win all around.”
The students were given the chance to provide companies with information that influences their business decisions and several of the companies have already taken steps to implement student recommendations, Napier said. For some students, the projects were their first chance to do business internationally.
“These projects are one of the ways that Boise State can bring the world to Idaho and Idaho to the world,” Napier continued. “Our ambassador students and companies made friendships in Heidelberg that could continue long after the courses end.”