Studying International Business solely in a classroom is a bit like learning how to swim on a pool deck. Even with a great instructor, you don’t learn how to swim without jumping in the water. The X-Culture project was developed to allow students to “jump” into the international business waters.
The X-Culture project allows business students an opportunity to experience the challenges of working on a global virtual team (GVT). Each GVT consists of six students and each student is from a different country and university. Over a two month period, the GVT must develop a market entry plan for a multinational company. During the project, the students must overcome communication, time zone, cultural, time management, coordination, “missing” team member, and other issues to successful complete the project.
Dr. Tim Muth’s International Business class. The X-Culture project is a major assignment in this course.
Students from Colombia, Brazil, USA, Malaysia, India and Netherlands working on an International Business project.
Dan is communicating through Skype with his Colombian teammate.
Kyle and his international teammates planning their project on Facebook.
Rachel at her PC communicating at night with her international teammates. She has to be aware of time zone and cultural differences to effectively work with her teammates.
Rosie and her teammates from Malaysia, Brazil and Colombia communicating via their Facebook group.
A global view of the location of Stephen’s X-Culture teammates and the communication tools they are using for the project.
Luke and his teammates from all over the world discussing aspects of their X-Culture project.
A sample of the communication between Khloud and her X-Culture teammates discussing key aspects of the project.
Alyssa and her teammates are located on four continents.
Assif is talking to his Colombian teammate about an upcoming milestone. Only one person was able to Skype with Assif because everyone else was busy or asleep.
Chris and his teammates discussing their marketing plan.
Dan and his teammates from Brazil and Malaysia.
Upon completing the X-Culture project, each student receives a personalized X-Culture certificate. The certificate contains the logo of all participating universities.