Program Highlights

• Begin your international business courses your first semester to develop a solid foundation. Choose to spend a semester studying abroad in Europe, Asia or another region of the world through Champlain’s ISEP program.
   
• Develop or improve your foreign language skills while learning about the customs and histories of other countries and cultures. Champlain’s proximity to the Canadian border allows us literally to take your classroom to the international marketplace.
   
• Work in teams on real-life projects with Vermont companies including Burton Snowboards, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Isis Sportswear for Women, Boyden Farm Winery, New England Over Shoe (NEOS), Earth Toys, JetBlue and Mad River Rocket, as well as leading international business assistance organizations such as the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Vermont Global Trade Partnership and the State Chamber of Commerce.
   
• Learn international leadership skills through the Global Leadership Initiative, a hands-on learning program designed to teach effective leadership skills for future business leaders in the global community.
   
• Enjoy hands-on internships with multinational companies. Champlain’s International Business students have interned in New York City and in countries including Ghana, Honduras, Mexico, Switzerland, Australia, Taiwan, China and the United Arab Emirates.

What Will You Learn?

Hands-on, “real-world” assignments are a big part of the International Business program. Here are two sample assignments:

Semester Case Study for Introduction to International Business -- INT110

You are the International Business Director. The CEO of your multinational corporation has asked you how to expand the company’s business globally. Your task is to decide what product and/or service to provide, and which areas of the world you’ll expand to, and what form of market entry you’ll use. You will have three countries to evaluate and decide the best form of market entry -- from simply exporting to the higher-risk decision of establishing local manufacturing facilities. Based on your research and assessment of the global competitiveness factors, what would you decide? Evaluate the market potential and the foreign entry strategy that the firm should adopt for each country.

Semester Project for International Marketing -- MKT 260

International Vermont Company Report: As part of a Champlain College International Marketing Team, you will be given the opportunity to work with a Vermont company that is currently marketing and selling its goods and/or services in the global marketplace. Conduct background research on the assigned company and learn about its product or service through online research, tours of the facility, and interviews with the company’s management team. Your challenge is to uncover what works well and what obstacles this business is facing in the international marketing arena, then to make a presentation to the company with recommendations and suggestions on how the company could proceed on a more successful international marketing track.

 

World Class (excerpt from a Champlain View article) Riding in the back of a pickup truck through the remote mountains of Honduras, slogging over rivers and fighting mud bogs in the intense humid heat of the rainy season, Jeremy Quinn ’03 did some of the most valuable work he would do at Champlain. (Read more of this article)