Workshop shines light
on business relations in Mexico

Grant-funded sessions well received
by business professionals

Doing business in Mexico just got easier for the business people who attended Mike Pisani’s free training sessions on international business with Mexico.

“The major focus of the workshop was to create export awareness and capacity in the region,” said Pisani, a Central Michigan University management associate professor and specialist in international business.

The workshop occurred over three nights with a different speaker each night.

• Day 1: Pisani offered tips on adapting to Mexico’s cultural environment.

• Day 2: Dr. Van Miller, associate professor of management from Northern Kentucky University, discussed maquiladoras (foreign-owned factories tied to United States production).

• Day 3: Sonja Johnson, an experienced customs broker who serves as associate director of the Van Andel Global Trade Center at Grand Valley State University, laid out the nuts and bolts of trade and trade paperwork.

Lynn Berner-Kilbourn, director of marketing and sales for Powell Fabrication, in Saint Louis, Michigan, attended the first night of the workshop and couldn’t say enough good things about it.

“It was one of the most valuable workshops I’ve attended. Mexico is part of the area we’re trying to develop, so we had six or seven people from our company attend,” Berner-Kilbourn said. “All of us needed to better understand the broad cultural differences, and the workshop made it real for us.”

Pisani’s series of workshops – which in the near future will focus on the European Union, Japan, Canada, and India – are made possible through a $76,000 U.S. Department of Education grant, with matching funds from CMU, to expand international business education at CMU. These workshops will provide training for participating mid-Michigan businesses to support global competitiveness and boost the region’s economic outlook for the future.

Pisani directs the grant in partnership with Michael Vuillemot, who is associate director of the CMU LaBelle Entrepreneurial Center. The two receive support from several graduate assistants.

Beyond the workshop – one-on-one counseling

Besides the global business-related workshops, the grant project provides for the enhancement of undergraduate and graduate programs, faculty development, export certification for practitioners, international business study-abroad learning, and one-on-one counseling for aspiring mid-Michigan exporters.

Powell Fabrication took advantage of the one-on-one counseling and invited Pisani to give on-site training for 30 of their employees on the cultural aspects of operating in Mexico.

“The counseling was customized for our experiences,” Berner-Kilbourn said. “Basically, we wanted all our people exposed to the great learning experience we’d been exposed to.”

For more information on international export training visit the Web site: www.cba.cmich.edu/programs/export

Employees from Powell Fabrication in Saint Louis, Michigan, filled the front row at management professor Mike Pisani’s workshop about doing business in Mexico. The workshop was one of a series of training sessions designed to expand international business education at CMU.

During the first of the workshop’s three sessions, Mike Pisani offered insights into the various cultural differences between doing business in the United States and Mexico.

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