Hi! My name is Ida Rogowska and I am just about to start my second year of an undergraduate degree in Business Management at University of Southampton. Over the summer I participated in virtually held International Summer School at Korea University. As I am thinking of working in an international company in the future, I chose International Business course that helped me improve my knowledge about this demanding field and broadened my horizons about global issues.
The course ran over four weeks in July and all the lectures were pre-recorded, which made it much more accessible for me and other students from various countries and continents. The lectures covered several topics, including cultural, political and economic environment as well as trade theory and ethics in international business. We also had live sessions, in which professor was briefly explaining the main points of each pre-recorded lecture. We were able to ask questions basing on examples from real multinational companies, which made it easier for us to understand each topic.
On our first live session we were assigned to groups that had to prepare a report on a case study in the second week and create a presentation about an international company with a branch in Korea or Korean company with a branch in other country. Our team’s case study concerned profitability of investment in Australian market in the time when Australian dollar was dropping against American dollar. There were three questions regarding the case and a limit of 1000 words, which was really hard not to exceed as the topic is very extensive. It was a really valuable experience for me as I had to consider various investment methods and analyze many strategies recommended for maximising profit of the investment. In our second week we also had our midterm exam, which consisted of twenty theoretical questions and one essay question. We had an hour and a half to submit the answers, which was a bit hard for me as the essay took me a long time to write.
In the third week, we focused on preparing a presentation about an international company with a branch in Korea. We chose Uber as the transportation services are extremely advanced in Korea due to KakaoTaxi – Uber’s biggest ride hailing competitor, local taxis and rapid transit system that covers an expansive area, especially in Seoul with their railway system consisting of 22 lines. Every group had to focus on a present situation of the company and the short-term future (1 year) and long-term future (a decade). It was a really interesting experience as we had to analyze the current market in order to predict how the company will be doing in next few years. We also had to include recommendations, whether Uber should withdraw their invest in Korean market or not and if so, how the company could improve their position in the future. During presentation time in our final week, both students and professor asked questions after each team’s speech, giving a bigger insight of the specific market and helping other students understand the topic even more. The next day after presentations we had our final exam that was in the same form as the midterm exam. This time it was easier for me to make it on time as I had already known what to expect.
At the end of the course we had a virtual graduation ceremony that was held in a nice atmosphere with the dean and some students giving their speeches concluding the International Summer School. I am very glad that I took part in this course as I was able to learn a lot about my topic of interest and I could listen to different perspectives on business. from students all around the world. The knowledge I gained in this course will definitely help me in fulfilling my dream of working in an international company in the future. I highly recommend taking part in this summer school if you are interested in learning various methods on how to manage international business and you want to gain critical thinking skills that will help you in your future career.