Master’s students find the key to innovation in another country
In May, 26 students from Carthage’s graduate business program traveled to the innovation hub of Barcelona, Spain, on a mystery mission.
Once on the ground, they learned the details of their international consulting assignment: Help Barcelona Cricket League T20 bridge cultures and break into soccer-obsessed Spain.
With that, students were off on their “design sprint,” a one-week flurry of activity that involved immersing themselves in the local sports scene and strategizing in a co-working space. Their guides were the staff of Corkscrew, a company that connects colleges with European businesses for short-term work/study experiences.
Other than a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, every cohort has completed its capstone project in Barcelona since the graduate business program’s inception in 2017-18.
“It essentially provides students with a mini- internship,” explains Prof. Rockhill. “Working with a team of their peers, they develop professional communication skills by interacting with clients while applying business theory to the problems those clients are facing. Using all of that, they come up with an original and pragmatic solution.”
While he’s a big advocate for study abroad in general, this was a carefully chosen destination.
“Barcelona is considered a center for innovation and design, which aligns perfectly with our program’s focus on innovation, creativity, and design thinking,” notes Prof. Rockhill. “Those are all vital skills that will help students create forward-thinking solutions for businesses in any context.”
Applying social network theory to business, he cites strong evidence that exposure to multicultural perspectives breeds innovation.
“This is how new ideas spread — through exposure in different cities, both domestically and internationally.”
This feature story first appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of The Carthaginian magazine.
For Undergrads, Too
Barcelona certainly isn’t the only place where business students gain that global perspective.
Few schools in the country can match Carthage’s participation rate for short-term study abroad, thanks to the extreme popularity of J-Term study tours. Faculty experts lead special undergraduate courses each January, with additional offerings in summer.
There’s immense value in returning to the same area year after year, building on existing relationships and teaching from deep personal knowledge. Professor J.J. Shields has led such a tour to Gothenburg, Sweden, for many years.
Prof. Phegley’s recurring J-Term course (International Legal Environment and Business in the European Union) has taken on a twist, visiting a different country each year while maintaining the same theme. This past January, it was Greece’s turn.
There, Prof. Phegley and faculty colleague Margaret Zienkiewicz led a group of 20 students each spring, on a whirlwind tour of relevant sites. They visited the legislature and court system, talked to a newspaper editor, visited the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and toured an olive farm to learn about its business processes.
In January 2025, the two instructors will take another class to Italy.
Even for students who don’t pursue international business after graduation, the experience is valuable. They’ll likely have to travel for work, where they’ll be expected to accomplish a task in an unfamiliar environment with minimal lead time.
Carthage students return home from overseas knowing they can do just that.
An Unforgettable Week
If J-Term study tours fall somewhere between a vacation and a business trip on the intensity spectrum, the master’s capstone ratchets it up a notch. The 2023-24 cohort began preparing months before the flight took off for Spain, getting a sense of the market while consulting remotely for Barcelona-based clients.
During a Business Metrics course in fall, they put their skills into practice for a business specializing in artisan- made shoes and another that sells goalkeeper gloves. In spring, they drew on insights from the Ethical Decision-Making course to assist other clients with human resources challenges.
Accompanied to Barcelona by Prof. Rockhill and Jim Padilla, dean for the School of Business and Economics, the cohort hit the ground running. Students got an overview from the cricket league and then split into two teams to get to work.
BDI students strategized how to bring together cricket players from Pakistan and India — two countries with a historically rocky relationship — and help them integrate to Barcelona. Sports management students brainstormed how to market the sport to a country that’s unfamiliar with it.
“The experience of working together and immersing ourselves in the Catalonian culture of Barcelona was beyond incredible,” says Nicholas Renkosik ’21, MSc ’24, who completed the BDI track to complement his bachelor’s degree in music performance. “This experience truly taught me how to work in large teams, especially in a modern co-working space, effectively and efficiently.”
After full days at the office, the students went sightseeing, watched a flamenco dance, sampled local cuisine, and took a group cooking class where they learned how to make paella and other Spanish dishes.
“We were all able to come together to create innovative solutions for the client, as well as an atmosphere of camaraderie,” says Mr. Renkosik, a church musician and organ restoration technician. “That alone was well worth its weight in gold and will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Zachariah Veayo, MSc ’24, who completed the sports management track, particularly enjoyed visiting a new sports innovation hub based at the stadium where Barcelona hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics. He also appreciated the attitude around sports, which to him felt less profit-driven than in the United States.
Already working as operations coordinator for Elite Sports Clubs, a group of Milwaukee-area fitness centers, Mr. Veayo says he learned a lot about his own “strengths and weaknesses with working in unfamiliar places, with others, and regulating expectations with empathetic understanding. I think this experience provides a number of applicable skills that are immediately transferrable to day-to-day challenges and situations.”
At the end of the week, students presented their ideas to the league’s leadership.
“They gave a phenomenal presentation,” Prof. Rockhill says. “This year’s client, the Unio de Federacions Esportives de Catalunya, provided a lot of great feedback about the students’ ideas and professionalism.”
He found it especially gratifying to see even the quietest students step up and take leadership roles in Barcelona.
“This brought students out of their comfort zone, and there were a lot of students who really owned the moment and made the most of it,” he says. “That was really special.”