French Connection: Foundations of Strategy Class Travels to Paris and Lyon by Thomas D. Craig, Ph.D.
A new course launched in Fall 2023 provided my students and me with a great opportunity to meet and collaborate with business students from around the world, travel to France, and study the challenges of managing multinational enterprises. In August, I began co-teaching the “Foundations of Strategy” course with two professors from the ESDES Business School at Lyon Catholic University. ESDES courses are taught in English, which made setting up and teaching the course much easier. Our class of fifteen DeSales students and seventeen ESDES students live-streamed each weekly session, and we covered a broad range of topics including mission development, environmental analysis, strategy formulation and implementation, and management of global value chains. Combined teams of DSU and ESDES students, formed at the beginning of the semester, were also tasked with analyzing one of seven prominent Lyon-based French firms for a semester-long research project. Each weekly session began (at 8 am Center Valley time, 2 pm Lyon time) with an opening discussion on a core topic of strategic management. Following the lecture, students connected with their teams in online video chatrooms for 45 minutes to work on a related assignment. After the breakout period the entire class regrouped, and several teams presented their analyses and recommended solutions. A wrap- up discussion, preview of the following week’s topic, and “au revoir” ended each session. From each lecture and assignment, the students gained new knowledge and teamwork skills which they would ultimately use to develop a comprehensive strategic analysis of their assigned French firms. And with each passing week, the excitement of traveling to Paris and Lyon and meeting our fellow classmates and professors from ESDES grew. On Friday October 6th we departed the Gambet Center and our journey to France began. Flying overnight from Newark we arrived in Paris around noon on Saturday and spent several days seeing the sights and soaking up the French culture and cuisine. Visits to the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Sainte-Chapelle, and the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur were just some of the many favorites. Another highlight was a visit to the BUILDING GLOBAL CONNECTIONS AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ARE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF ALL BUSINESS DEGREES AT DESALES UNIVERSITY.
Paris office of the Lutron Electronics Corporation and a discussion on global business and careers by Thierry Forin, Lutron’s Director of Sales for Continental Europe and Africa. Merci, Thierry! On Tuesday we boarded a high-speed bullet train at Gare de Lyon station in Paris for the two-hour trip through the French countryside to Lyon. As we arrived, we got our first glimpse of the ESDES Business School and Lyon Catholic University – a modern glass and steel complex that surrounds a now-defunct prison built in the mid-1800s. After checking in at our stylish retro hotel, the students ventured off in groups to explore Lyon and meet up with some of their ESDES classmates, while I met the ESDES program directors and instructors for dinner. For the next two days we worked and bonded with our ESDES classmates and instructors both in and out of school. And all too soon, it was time to board the train back to Paris for our final night (in a Star Wars themed hotel) before flying home. After the trip, the remainder of the semester seemed to flash by very quickly as the student teams (now with even stronger bonds of collaboration and friendship) finalized their projects and presentations and took the final exam. It is difficult to describe the truly amazing time I had working and traveling with my wonderful students, but one thing is certain: even though our class ended in December the memories of this experience will last a lifetime!
Business Matters • Summer 2024
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