Brett Leister ’16 and four teammates won the international corporate consulting competition sponsored by Louis Vuitton.
Junior finance major Brett Leister was a member of the winning team in the X-Culture Symposium business competition. The Oct. 23-25 event was hosted by Louis Vuitton and organized as part of the Academy of International Business-Southeast USA annual conference in Miami.
Twelve teams, each consisting of students from different universities, worked on one of two international business challenges. Teams could either research the long-term trends and development in Latin America or create recommendations on how Louis Vuitton can enhance the client experience in its retail stores.
Leister’s team, which consisted of students from the U.S., Brazil, Romania and Colombia, won the Latin America challenge. Carri Tolmie, assistant professor of international business in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, was the faculty coach of the winning team in the retail store challenge. Tolmie’s team consisted of students from Nigeria, Brazil, Spain and the U.S.
“The X-Culture competition brought different cultures together and directed their different influences to a specific measurable goal,” said Leister. “Fortunately, my team was able to overcome several linguistic communication barriers to not only format and formulate our ideas in the form of a research report, but also to present our findings to Louis Vuitton executives and win the competition. It was truly an interesting experience, both from an intellectual and cultural standpoint.”
Senior accounting major Nancy Chen also represented Elon in the competition. Her team included students from Italy, Colombia, Brazil, France and the U.S.
Teams worked virtually for 3-4 weeks prior to the conference. During the symposium, teams visited with Louis Vuitton executives and completed consulting reports. Finalists presented their reports to Louis Vuitton executives.
“Working together through different educational backgrounds and time zones, as well as overcoming communication barriers in order to successfully complete our project, gave my team a huge sense of accomplishment,” Chen said.
This is the first year Elon students have participated in the X-Culture Symposium business competition.
“I think it is important for Elon students to obtain cross-cultural competences and communication skills, and the X-Culture project provides a unique platform for them to apply these essential abilities,” Tolmie said.