Caroline Perry ’18 collaborated internationally to develop a business proposal for a large multinational company.
Caroline Perry, a junior international business major, presented an international business plan for Willowy Mom, a company specializing in baby products, at the annual X-Culture Conference held April 19 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Each year, the X-Culture Project brings together students in international business/international management courses at universities around the world. Perry completed the project within her International Business course and after submitting it to the X-Culture management team, was selected by X-Culture organizers to present the project at the conference. On average, there are 45 universities in 30 countries on 6 continents participating in the X-Culture Project.
“Presenting my group’s work was an awesome experience,” Perry said. “I was able to show how we collaborated internationally and describe the challenges that we faced. Although sometimes it was daunting to organize Skype interviews with people in different time zones and overcome language barriers, the X-Culture Project experience was so worthwhile. It gave me the opportunity to strategize and research for a real company with team members from around the world. This unique experience let me put a lot of the theories that I heard about in my class into practice.”
At the conference Perry also had the opportunity to interact with other attendees, who included representatives from companies potentially interested in contributing to the X-Culture challenge. Organizers of X-Culture invited these representatives to witness the hard work of students who receive the challenges. They also wanted to showcase the students’ work to encourage companies to participate in the future and share their challenges with future X-Culture teams.
Perry noted presenting at the conference was of great benefit to her professional career. “This conference benefitted me by giving me the chance to practice my public speaking skills, of course, but also by allowing me to network with companies and educators who are essential to the growth of international business,” she said.