South Carolina Business Students Go Global
Moore School students present export plans to their SC SBDC client Widget Works. From left to right: Professor Frank Rydzewski, Paul Audet of Widget Works, Kelsie Stanley, Pak Sze Leung, Lindsay Wille, Thomas Chang, Emily Watkins and John Vandermey of Widget Works pictured in front of the client’s E-Board.
The South Carolina Small Business Development Centers (SC SBDC) and Professor Frank Rydzewski of the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business recently joined efforts to bring real-world experience in export planning to undergraduate business students. In the class “Global Competitiveness,” students learn the right questions to ask to understand a client’s business, team building dynamics, leadership skills, and business writing and presentation skills. The curriculum this semester included speakers from the US Commercial Service, the SC Department of Commerce, and various banking institutions.
The class, which examines growth opportunities in both domestic and international markets, matches students with SC SBDC clients in a consulting capacity. Eight teams of business majors worked for six weeks to develop export plans for a wide variety of products and services. Working alongside SC SBDC business consultants Beth Smith, Scott Bellows, Mickey Conway, and Chad Hardaway, students learned the challenges and rewards of negotiating the international business environment.
“Every year it is wonderful to see how students grow through this hands-on learning process,” said Rydzewski. “We received very positive feedback from all the clients. It shows how positive the partnership can be when the SC Small Business Development Centers and the International Business Department of the University of South Carolina work together.”
Students examined distributors, freight forwarding, licenses, intellectual property issues, financing, insurance, competition, roadblocks, taxes, market trends, efficiencies, profit margins, supply chains, political climates, partnerships, customs, and the business friendliness of countries like Germany, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Most projects focused on business-to-business products and services such as degreasers, paint removal, electronics, turbines and telecommunications. Student teams made recommendations about international trade show opportunities and bi-lingual marketing materials.
SC SBDC Technology Commercialization Consultant Chad Hardaway directly facilitated the working relationship between his client, Barberwind, and their student team.
“I was surprised when my team recommended Morocco as a viable international market for Barberwind’s turbines,” Hardaway said, “but their research into syndicates that have financed global wind projects revealed strong potential. Their research into the country’s infrastructure needs was thorough and convincing and their export plan was well-considered. Our client was so impressed that he expressed interested in hiring some of the team after graduation.”
At the end of the presentations, each client was presented with a symbolic invoice underscoring the value of each team’s export plan.
“We appreciated the challenging considerations our student team brought to us concerning the manufacturing of our products internationally,” said Paul Audet of Widget Works, which makes the E-Board, a multi-purpose, ergonomically designed workstation. “Collectively, our student team was very strong and our results impressive. This is an outstanding program.”
International Business junior, Emily Watkins, who worked on the Widget Works team found this project to be the capstone of her academic career.
“This real-world consulting project teaches skills that could never be learned from a book, no matter how many years you spent in academia,” Watkins said. “This project brings fresh inspiration and confidence as you see how your skills are already being valued and used to solve real problems.”
