A University of Northern Iowa student was chosen to attend the Academy of Business Southeast USA chapter’s international conference.

Molly Banes, a senior supply chain and management information systems double major, will travel to Miami Oct. 23 to 25. Banes is the only student from the Midwest who was selected to attend.

At this conference, a symposium called X-Culture takes students from around the world to work on global teams for cases from an international company.  

This year, the students will work with Louis Vuitton and are looking at internationalization strategies and coming up with ideas on how they can best compete in international markets.

Each student is partnered with three or four other students from around the world. These students with different backgrounds will come together to invent an original solution to a problem that Louis Vuitton puts in front of them.

 “Molly hasn’t had experience in dealing with global groups, and the globalization of supply chains in organizations generally over the past couple of decades has really necessitated this drive to be able to function within these global groups,” said Dr. Andy Anderson, instructor of management.

“So I think she will bring a lot to the table with her technical knowledge and she will come out very well-versed on how to integrate herself into these global groups.”

The X-Culture project is a collaborative effort of instructors around the world who strive to enhance learning in their International Business courses by providing their students with an opportunity to gain first-hand experience in international collaboration and cross-cultural communication, according to the AIB-SE website. 

Anderson also thinks this symposium will be a fantastic opportunity for Banes.  “She will gain skills you can’t gain in the classroom, you just can’t get these skills in a meaningful way through classroom instruction.  She will put herself in a very strong position not only for jobs out of college but moving up in the corporate ladder if she chooses to go that route.”

The case that Banes’ group is working on is a scenario in which Louis Vuitton goes to Latin America to see where competitors are and where the best locations would be.  

The other case the group could have chosen was increasing customer service in Louis Vuitton’s stores.

“Things like this are really important and great resume builders and shows great experience,” said Banes. “Recently I did a competition in Detroit as well, so stuff like that and the experience with different companies as well as other people shows really good teamwork.”