skip to main content
Tuesday Oct. 4
MSU President Stanley who will discuss the spartan impact and how MSU is innovating for a better future in mid-Michigan and beyond
Thursday Oct. 20
The International Business Center, in conjunction with African Studies, invite you to our event Doing Business in Africa as part of the Tea Time series. The session will be moderated by Marilyn Johnson, Department Chair, Accounting. The panelists include: Dr. Leonidas Murembya (Faculty, Dept. of Economics) Dr. Patrick Lukulay (Alumnus, Analytical Chemistry, class of 95. Currently, president of Technology Solutions for Global Health firm, Ghana) Dr. Anastacia Mamabolo (Associate Professor, Gordon Institute of Business, University of Pretoria. Currently at MSU as African Futures Scholar with the Alliance for African Partnership) Pius Mithika (Student, M.S in Finance) Click on the link to see the recording of the event.
Thursday Oct. 20
Exporting is arguably the most consequential international business (IB) and international marketing (IM) activity undertaken by firms. It is also the backbone of IB initiatives, with MNCs and other large international firms being among the largest exporters. Recently, the anti-globalization theme has regained momentum, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and subsequent supply chain bottlenecks. These disruptions have demonstrated the importance of exporting and importing not only for finished goods but also commodities. Paradoxically, as compared to the past, far less research on exporting topics is published in academic journals lately. Research activity on exporting as an alternative to more involved forms of IB/IM engagement does not appear to have gained much momentum among scholars. Our goal in this webinar is to present exportings role in IB/IM research and practice. We will also discuss how exporting strategy can respond to fundamental shifts in globalization (e.g., digitalization, anti-globalization, strong dollar), and disruptive changes in global climate (e.g., politics, economic, the pandemic). The webinar will highlight country and company illustrations and will provide various lenses through which scholars and practitioners might approach exporting. The target audiences include academics, researchers, and practitioners Key Takeaways: The ubiquity and importance of exporting within IM/IB Responding to fundamental global shifts and disruptive forces through exporting Issues and topics for future export research consideration (areas, conceptualizations, and methods) To register click website link
Thursday Oct. 27
Rarely does a company sustain its global industry leadership for more than a few decades, and most that do so are very well-known global brands. YKK, an 87-year-old Japanese manufacturer of zippers, is not a household name, yet it has quietly and impressively, stayed atop of the global fastener industry for decades. It has remained relevant and preserved its leadership globally and in the U.S. market. What enables YKK to do so well for so long? Join us for a conversation with senior leadership of YKK North America and learn how YKK has beaten the odds, and provides a possible roadmap for other companies looking to sustain a viable, profitable business in international markets. Key takeaways: Learn about key factors that contributed to YKKs longevity Gain insights from YKKs senior leaders as to future challenges and prospects Learn about implications for other firms seeking persistent success in global business Click the website link for registration information
Friday Oct. 28
IBC/MSU-CIBER is organizing an international business case competition in the Broad College. The student teams will have 3 days to work on the business case and present their solutions to a panel of industry judges. Each presentation will last for 20 min, followed by 10 min Q&A session. You are invited! $4,000 competition award fund: $2,000 for the 1st place, $1,000 for the 2nd place, $600 for the 3rd place, $400 for the 4th place Gain valuable experience and make yourself more marketable (unique line on a resume, topic of conversation in interviews, etc.) Each participant will receive Case in Point: Case Competition book, a great toolkit for case preparation Potential to represent Broad College at the national case competitions Eligibility The competition is open to Broad College undergraduate students Each team must consist of 4 students. Participants can either: form a team of 4 students (preferred option) or express interest and be assigned to a team by organizers Entrants will be accepted on a first come first serve basis, Apply early! Detailed competition rules are presented in the attached file (below) Competition sign-up deadline: Oct 14, 2022 Registration Link: https://msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5dx160WWNi9HKpU For more information, please contact Janhavi Venkatesh at venkat50@msu.edu
Tuesday Nov. 1
Lansing Economic Club series is presented by the Capital Region International Airport. Celebration of Regional Growth Awards is Co-sponsored by PNC and Loomis, Ewert, Parsley, Davis & Gotting, P.C., five organizations are recognized for investments that are making a transformational impact on the community. This years CORG honorees include: Farm Bureau Insurance McKesson Moneyball Sportswear TechSmith Red Cedar Development
Friday Nov. 4
In this webinar, four area editors of the Journal of International Business Studies will discuss key trends, topics and issues in IB research, as well as the best practices for publishing in leading international business journals. This webinar will include short presentations followed by a discussion moderated by the co-hosts, Dr. Ahmet Kirca and Dr. David Griffith. Key Takeaways Learn topics of significant interest to a variety of international business areas Tips related to best practices for publishing international business research Gain insights into the JIBS review process Webinar Meeting Time Conversions: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM (CDT) 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (EDT) 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM (GMT) Registration is not available, but you can view the recorded session in the website link
Friday Nov. 11
A one-day conference to transformbusiness education for a globalized world.
Wednesday Nov. 16
Join expert Jon M. Huntsman, Jr, former US Ambassador to Russia, China and Singapore,in the national conversation of US-China relations! Jon Huntsman, Jr. began his career in public service as a staff assistant to President Ronald Reagan, and served each of the five presidents since then in critical roles around the world, including as deputy assistant secretary of commerce for Asia, U.S. trade ambassador, and ambassador to Singapore, China, and most recently, Russia. Twice elected governor of Utah, Governor Huntsman brought about strong economic and tax reforms, tripled the states rainy-day fund, and helped bring unemployment rates to historic lows. During his tenure, Utah was named the best-managed state in America and ranked number one in the nation in job growth. Ambassador Huntsman was a candidate for president in 2012. Previously he chaired or served on the boards of several major companies, educational institutions, and nonprofits. He has been a visiting fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, and a distinguished lecturer at Duke Universitys Sanford School of Public Policy. Huntsman is a seventh generation Utahn and has been married for 36 years to Mary Kaye Huntsman. They are the parents of seven children, including two adopted daughters from China and India. Huntsman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and has ten honorary doctoral degrees. Registration in the website link.
Thursday Nov. 17
A key concern in business education is creating solid and sustained bridges between school and career. Career readiness remains a central focus and challenge. Recent studies by Pew Research points to the lack of preparedness of college graduates for the workplace and the need for novel approaches in what we teach, and how we teach it, to address the skills gap. In international business, partnerships and virtual exchange are increasingly valuable ingredients in developing the skills required of todays global managers. Using selected virtual exchange projects with partners in North and South Africa, we discuss how global competencies, cultural awareness, and international virtual-teaming skills can be imparted as integral aspects of an international business curriculum. The three panelists representing academic and business groups will describe their roles in designing and implementing these collaborative cross-border projects, their value to different stakeholders, including students and employers, and propose ways to assess and sustain these career readiness, impactful initiatives. Key Takeaways Conceiving, implementing and assessing team-based, virtual exchange projects, involving international partners. Leveraging academic-business partnerships to ensure career relevant virtual exchange initiatives for students. Identifying funding sources for signature international business projects.
Thursday Dec. 1
When Martin Richenhagen joined AGCO Corp. in 2004, it was already a $3 billion publicly traded firm. But sixteen years later, when he retired from his posts as chairman and CEO, it was a Fortune 500 powerhouse combining some of the biggest brands in the business of agricultural equipment. With $10 billion in sales, it doubled in size during his tenure to more than 20,000 employees around the globe. This extraordinary growth story, rooted in metro Atlanta, is linked with Mr. Richenhagens vision to expand aggressively via acquisitions while peering constantly around the corner to see future trends in food and farming. Key Takeaways: -How multinational corporations should navigate a strategy of growth through acquisitions versus organic sales -Lessons on hiring, training and deploying executives in various emerging and developed markets and across functions, from management to marketing to manufacturing -How leaders can use embrace cultural differences as an advantage rather than a hindrance
Thursday Jan. 26
FREE and open to all, but registration is required. Recently, the nature of entrepreneurial activity has gone through tremendous change with entrepreneurs designing business models challenging even the strongest global players, and responding to urgent calls such as sustainability. Fashion industry have showcased numerous striking examples of how new ventures change the rules of the game in a well-established industrial domain. This has been traced in the rise of several international brands founded by fashion entrepreneurs (i.e., ACBC Shoes, Reformation, Everlane, Patagonia), in the increasing number of collaborations between incumbent firms, new ventures and NGOs (i.e., ACBC shoes collaborating with luxury brands like Missoni and Chloe, Gucci collaborating with Wordrise and Artolution, Adidas collaborating with Parley for the Oceans), as well as in criticisms towards the current business models of established global brands (i.e., fast fashion companies like Zara). With the purpose of providing insight both from the academic domain and practice, this webinar will present a discussion to highlight following questions: - How does a strong orientation towards sustainability transform the playground of big multinationals in the fashion industry? What kind of opportunities have emerged for international new ventures? - How do digital technologies change the nature of fashion entrepreneurship and affect the achievement of sustainability-oriented goals? Is technology a part of the problem, or is it the solution? - In the face of these changes, what are the high priorities on the agenda of practitioners? What are the striking research questions for academics? Key take-aways: Hearing about the personal experience of a fashion entrepreneur with international coverage. Gaining a viewpoint on various business model implications of sustainability orientation with a special focus on how entrepreneurs change the face of international competition in the fashion industry. Learning about new research questions and strategies
Friday Jan. 27
Are you looking to offer an education abroad program? This webinar will provide you with the knowledge, experience, and resources you need to design an education abroad program at the two-year college level. The workshop is specifically targeted towards educators and will focus on all aspects of education abroad and international internships. View program flyer in the File Upload Please click the website link to register.
Thursday Feb. 2
The Lansing Regional Chamber Economic Club, in partnership with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan will welcome Donzaleigh Abernathy, actress, author, and civil rights activist on Thursday, Feb. 2. Sponsored by LAFCU, Abernathy is the goddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the daughter of Rev. Ralph Abernathy, who was a leader in the civil rights movement with Dr. King, and will focus her talk on the business case for diversity, equity and inclusion, economic justice, and civil rights.
Thursday Feb. 2
A new world order is in place. Globalization is taking a different turn and evolving further. Businesses operate in a deeply interconnected yet polarized world, facing disruptions at multiple levels. Local relevance is one of the pillars for companies to maintain resilience and to thrive during times of turbulence. How do multinationals win with local consumers, customers and stakeholders? What are some of the critical enablers for success in the face of a VUCA environment and scarcity of resources? Where do you centralize and how much do you localize to create scale and maintain focus? What is the impact of talent, organizational structure and culture to drive global scale and local relevance? Todays radical change in context requires us to review and refresh past learnings on some of the questions which have been discussed for decades. Recycling our knowledge might be helpful as we design the next phase of global business where the dichotomy of local and global is becoming both blurred and further contrasted. Key take-aways: Gain insights into how multinationals operate in local settings Learn about different approaches in adapting global value propositions Obtain learnings on talent, structure and culture in leading and executing multinational operations
Thursday Feb. 23
Diversity, equality, and inclusivity (DEI) concepts are gaining a critical role in teaching. DEI is particularly topical for International Business (IB) studies that are explicitly interested in managing and benefiting from various market, firm, and individual differences. But how to ensure that diversity goes hand in hand with equality and inclusion in IB teaching methods and content? The webinar will take a critical view on DEI in IB education discussing inclusive teaching practices, diverse materials to be adopted in the classroom, and teaching DEI as a topic in IB programs. The webinar takes a broad view on DEI (considers diverse abilities, socio-economic status, religion, age, sexual orientation, etc.) and therefore will go beyond traditional diversity dimensions such as gender or race. The webinar will shed light on some simple ways of putting DEI principles into practice when teaching IB and DEI topics in IB programs. Moreover, webinar will explain how DEI issues link with the social sustainability and the pressing need to adopt Sustainable Development Goals in the IB curriculum. This is a free webinar, but registration is required.
Friday Feb. 24
For this webinar, we invited three well-established international business/marketing scholars. Our panelists will discuss the use of meta-analysis as a methodological tool in international business and global marketing research. Specifically, panelists will cover contemporary conceptual and methodological best practices that need to be considered when they conduct meta-analyses. This webinar will include short presentations followed by a discussion moderated by the co-hosts. Time listed in EST KEY TAKEAWAYS Learn areas of research opportunity that can best be explored via meta-analysis Gain insights into the best practices for different stages of the meta-analytic research process Tips related to best practices for designing and executing meta-analyses for publication in the international business/marketing literature After the webinar, please return to this page to access a recording of the event.
Thursday Mar. 9
The March Lansing Economic Club will feature a panel of distinguished women leaders who will discuss their leadership insights including the importance of having a mentor, what it takes to be a great leader, and how to inspire others to become leaders. The program will be moderated by Jessica Tramontana, community affairs specialist, Consumers Energy. Panelists include: Jill Marlan, founder and CEO, Peak Performance Physical Therapy Re'Shane L. Lonzo, co-founder and CEO, DRM International Learning Center Jo Sinah, president and CEO, Peckham Inc. State Senator Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing)
Thursday Mar. 16
The supply chain has been one of the most studied and researched areas of business due to its criticality for the continuity of manufacturing and the flow of goods. The disruptions experienced globally within the last few years such as those labeled as the container crisis, the chip crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, etc. further reminded everyone the importance of effective supply chain management. As it is critical for all industries, the topic has some specific peculiarities when we focus on tightly controlled and highly technical aerospace, space, defense, and industrial markets. How do companies operating in highly technical and tightly controlled industrial markets manage their supply chains? What are the key external factors and how do they come into consideration? What are the key traits that they would be looking for in selecting key supplier partners? How do they find sources to supply these key/critical technologies and how do they manage those suppliers? How do they attract customers and how does this impact their operations? What is the impact of advancements in manufacturing technology, digitalization, cybersecurity, environmental and societal concerns on supply chain designs? Our highly experienced executive speaker will delve into the world of such industries and provide valuable insights in understanding the dynamics of global supply chains through the lens of hi-tech and tightly controlled industries. This is a free webinar, but registrationis required.
Friday Mar. 24
Speaker Panel discission, see description for detailsAs part of the Global Business Club series, the IBC/MSU-CIBER is partnering with the U.S. Commercial Service to hold a panel on the need for DEI in global supply chain management. This event will be moderated by Assistant Professor of Supply Chain at MSU, Simone Peinkofer, and panelists will include: Kaori Koide – Senior Consultant specializing in supply chain at Deloitte in Tokyo, Matt Anderson – Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at MSU Broad College of Business, Vandana Bahl – Vice President of Trade Management at Supply Chain Solutions, Bill Grice – VP and Executive Director for the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council and Michigan MBDA Center, and Bob Lundquist - Procurement Manager with Global Procurement at Steelcase. Following the panel will be refreshments and time for networking. This in-person event will also be available for viewing online, please specify type of attendance during registration. To watch: https://youtu.be/t_D0HnEDAecThe Global Business Club of Mid-Michigan focuses on global issues of interest to the mid-Michigan business community. The monthly GB Club luncheons provide outstanding speakers and relaxed networking opportunities. With extensive international experience, the speakers wrap personal insights around a practical and up-to-the-minute approach to conducting international trade.
Thursday Mar. 30
Globally responsible research is gaining critical attention for both scholars and practitioners across multiple disciplines. What are the paradoxes, challenges, and opportunities in conducting globally responsible research? How can multiple stakeholders address the polarizing demands of value creation, inclusion, and sustainability, in timely and timeless ways? This webinar will take a critical view of globally responsible research by discussing research topics, methodologies, and assessments to be adopted by scholars and administrators in higher education. The webinar takes a historical and broad view of globally responsible research and will offer insights for scholars, educators, and other stakeholders. Additional information on webinar and panelists can be found by clicking the website URL The webinar start time is EST.
Monday Apr. 3
When Ravi Saligram joined Newell Brands in 2019 as President & CEO, the company was experiencing poor performance, low employee engagement, and excessive complexity. In 2020, Ravi and the world-class leadership team hed built were also faced with leading through the unexpected and monumental issues presented by COVID. Despite these challenges, employee engagement scores increased significantly, and the companys turnaround efforts persisted. While Ravi announced his May retirement earlier this year, theres no doubt the company has strengthened during his tenure. Complexity and overhead costs have been reduced; Project Ovid, a multi-year initiative consolidating 23 unique supply chains into one, was successfully implemented; a new innovation operating model was introduced, and innovations were launched that leveraged COVID trends; automation has been scaled, and the company has best-in-class productivity and safety records. Notably, Newell Brands was named one of Fortunes Most Admired Companies in 2022 and 2023, a recognition it had not previously received. Ravi is a three-time public CEO, also having led OfficeMax, Inc. and Ritchie Brothers. Despite arriving in the United States with less than $20 in his pocket, he earned an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has lived in six countries and worked in many more during his nearly 40-year career, which began at Leo Burnett in Chicago. During this [webinar/course/event], Ravi will speak with Global Atlanta Managing Editor Trevor Williams and share: The importance of a people-first approach and how to drive a culture of engagement How companies can foster diversity, inclusion, and belonging and be a force for good The necessity of cross-cultural competency and how international experience shapes perspective All times are EST. This is a free webinar, but registration is required.
Thursday Apr. 6
Learn more about the goals of the MSU Athletics Department and the current state of MSU Athletics from Alan Haller, vice president and director of athletics at Michigan State University during theLansingEconomicClub.The conversation will be moderated by Audrey Dahlgren, sports director, WLNS.
Friday Apr. 14
The time shown is EDT. For this webinar, we invited three international business/marketing scholars who have recently published important work related to global marketing in a digitally connected world. Our panelists will discuss their perspectives on the opportunities available for high-impact global marketing research in the digital context, as well as address contemporary conceptual and methodological best practices necessary for publishing work in the area. This webinar will include short presentations followed by a discussion moderated by the co-hosts.
Thursday Apr. 27
Spatial transaction costs -- the cost of undertaking business and economic activities over geographic space -- have been declining since the beginning of the industrial revolution mainly through technological advances. The ocean-going sailing ship, railroads, the telegraph, the telephone, and fax machines all caused spatial transactions costs to fall. However, with the advent of the internet about 1990, these declines have become exponential. MNE strategies have leveraged these technologies to create increasing wealth, so the average levels of wealth around the globe have risen. Yet, these MNE global strategies also feature a dark side. KEY TAKEAWAYS: In the 20th-century, birth geography determined income and welfare. In the 21st-century connected knowledge economy, human capital determines income and welfare. Low human capital workers in rich countries have seen catastrophic declines in income and welfare. Global connectedness often generates local disconnectedness which is the basis for rising inequality that fuels populism. Global connectedness is often strongly driven by ethnic ties. This webinar is FREE, but registration is required. Zoom details will be sent to participants.
Tuesday May. 9
Murray is amultipleEmmy and Cannes Lion award-winning Director of Photography with more than 17 years of cinematic experience.He filmed HBOs hit showHard Knocks, for which he won an Emmy for Best Cinematography.He also was Director of Photography for ESPNs30 for 30, Funny or DiesBetween Two Ferns, and Pepsis Uncle Drew. Brian is a Senior Director at Electronic Arts in Orlando, Florida, working on games such as MADDEN, NCAA Football, PGA Golf, FIFA, and more. Brian uses his extensive and varied experience to usher EA Sports into the cinematic future of gaming for the more than 600 million active players and fans across the globe.