By Wendy Guess, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Marketing and Logistics, FIU Business
After recently returning from an FIU Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) faculty development trip to India, nicknamed “FDIB” (Faculty Development in International Business), I began pondering my ‘takeaways’ from the journey. How had this trip developed me as a faculty member? What will I share with my students?
Priya Grover, associate professor at Symbiosis Center for Management Studies, with Wendy Guess, associate teaching professor of marketing at FIU Business.
Initially, I was strongly motivated to learn about the country, culture, and education system, and touring businesses was an intriguing opportunity. Seeing the Taj Mahal also checked a bucket-list box. The group included about 20 people, including tour guides, faculty, PhD students, and multiple CIBER universities. During the trip, we visited five cities [New Delhi, Agra, Kolkata, Goa, and Mumbai], took three flights, rode one train and one boat, took about 10 bus excursions, and averaged 8,000 steps per day.
At each stop, we spent one day visiting a local business and management institute, another day seeing key areas of the city’s history, then moved on to the next destination. There was much to see and learn. Partner institutions graciously hosted us: MDI Gurgaon, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade-Kolkata, Goa Institute of Management, and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) in Mumbai. We even visited NMIMS during the Indian Academy of Management Conference INDAM where several group members presented their research.
The group in front of Agra Fort
This trip was at its core a faculty development program, yet the development that was occurring went far beyond just meeting people and seeing places. Our faculty group did more than visit sites; we made connections that continued long after we returned to our respective universities. In our interactions, we planted “seeds of collaboration.”
For context, one of my roles at FIU is COIL faculty fellow for the College of Business. Under Stephanie Doscher's leadership, FIU has become globally known for the COIL program (collaborative online international learning), and FIU Business is one of the most requested partnerships from international universities. Last fall, I began a partnership with Priya Grover of Symbiosis Center for Management Studies, NOIDA, to complete a COIL this spring. As it turned out, our first stop in Delhi was close enough for her to come and meet me (a rare opportunity). As a direct result of this meeting, Grover and her colleagues are now connected to Anup Nair, managing director of Inspiration India, a tour organizer in India, and the Bandhwari Village project in India, resulting in an additional layer of collaboration with the International Business department at FIU. Grover has also connected with several FDIB group members to extend her research into the U.S. and Ireland.
The India trip itself was planned in collaboration with the CIBER program at Brigham Young University (BYU), my alma mater, another pleasant coincidence. That meant at least three of the group had direct ties to BYU, and, of course, the partnership with FIU connected the rest.
One FDIB group member from the University of Galway in Ireland, Josephine Igoe, was at FIU last fall on sabbatical in the IB Dept. We met on the trip and quickly found commonalities, deciding to collaborate on a few projects that will continue to increase collaborative opportunities among multiple universities.
Additionally, each stop at businesses and management institutes created future opportunities to engage in more collaborative exchanges, from research to course development, with our new colleagues in India.
During our many bus rides, we had many memorable discussions, including insights from Anup and the local guides in each city. We also discussed the rich context of Indian culture, history, and modern-day concerns, including the complexities of India, from becoming the most populous country in the world (having just passed China) to the rise and expansion of economic opportunities, to the sheer magnitude of managing a population of its size. One topic shared was the significant increase in domestic tourism, as we noticed during our sightseeing.
One major takeaway for me was a phrase shared in the hotels: “Atithi Devo Bhava,” meaning ‘guest is god’ and reflecting a desired level of customer experience. It highlights the importance of intentional goals that will help students as we talk about brand and customer service. This experience has expanded my connections with new global colleagues and led to additional COIL projects and partnerships.
Driven by its mission to bring business and cultural awareness to U.S. educators, FIU’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) has sponsored an annual trip to India, taking faculty to the nation’s top corporations and iconic historical sites, and has expanded its offerings since 2008.
Sumit Kundu, James K. Batten Eminent Scholar Chair in International Business and associate dean for CIBER and international affairs at FIU Business, leads the annual Faculty Development in International Business trip to India.
The program, sponsored by FIU’s CIBER and Brigham Young University CIBER, aims to teach American academics about India so they can bring experiences back to their students and colleagues and launch research projects.