BYU Study Abroad Itineraries

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background

The BYU MBA Program offers at least two opportunities each year for its students to travel abroad.  These international experiences provide access and exposure to global businesses and cultures, which maximize education for all participants.  The MBA Program hopes these trips motivate students to focus on a global career and earn the BYU sponsored Global Management Certificate.  One of the requirements to obtain this certificate is an international experience; therefore, a plethora of BYU MBA students have gone on an MBA Study Abroad trip to earn the certificate as a step towards a global career.

Project Purpose

After traveling on the MBA Europe Study Abroad trip in January 2014, information, including travel (including flights), daily tourist excursions, business visits and names of business contacts was not distributed to those traveling on the trip.  This lack of information put the students at a distinct disadvantage, specifically when meeting with businesses and contacts.   We were not able to research the companies/individuals prior to meeting with them; therefore, questions posed  during meetings were haphazard and showed a lack of research and knowledge.  This project was developed to combat this lack of knowledge.

The ultimate goal was to build a project that can be adapted for use on future MBA Study Abroad trips so the participants obtain critical information about business visits and activities.  This project could potentially be a small part to an MBA student making a favorable impression on a business leader, while on a Study Abroad, that leads to a job offer in a foreign country.

Project Overview

The project builds individual itineraries for each participant on the MBA Asia Trip, which takes place in April and May 2014 and includes visits to five countries over 21 days.  The itineraries contain daily, and sometimes hourly, details for each country that will be visited.  All names of companies, business leaders, networking contacts as well as logistics like flights, hotel information, transportation from airport to hotel, when meals are provided.  These components are built into one itinerary that is saved as a spreadsheet and eventually shared with the participant. 

Project Solution

The key to the success of the project was obtaining the correct information.  The collection of all of the necessary information allowed the itinerary to be built using an automated system.  The automated system feeds details, specifically flight numbers and departure/arrival times, into the specific country itinerary and then produces and saves an individual spreadsheet into a desktop folder for easy organization and dissemination.  Now each participant has all of the information necessary to research companies, a better understanding of what to pack, when free time is available and when they have a scheduled flight.

Final Project Paper
Final Project Code