BMGT Year 1 Done!

After a brutal last week of six exams in just four days, my first year at BCIT has come to an end. It is hard to believe that it has been nine months since orientation. My expectations have been met in terms of the practicality of BCIT's applied polytechnic education.

On May 28th I will be flying to Shanghai, China for a summer internship. Being an avid traveler, I am very excited to explore all of China, a country with over 5000 years of history. I've always aspired to have a career that involved international travel and I feel this experience will enhance my marketability in the increasingly global economic environment. I hope everyone has a great summer!

TDMT1353 International Business Country Risk Assessment - The Philippines

The group project component of my international business course was an in-depth risk assessment of a foreign country.The purpose of this report was to strategically assess the risks of doing business in the Philippines. Through this assessment, strategies were formulated from identified business opportunities. The ultimate goal is to discover profitable ventures in the Philippines as global entrepreneurs.

Click here to view this report.

Before investing in a foreign country, all elements the operating environment must be throughly examined. These elements are:

• Physical Environment
• Business Culture
• Economy Environment
• Financial Environment
• Political Environment
• Legal Environment
• Technology and Infrastructure.

These elements are almost always interdependent, making the environment complex as before considering a strategy, one must examine if other elements would cause any conflict, etc. To ensure the data used was not government-biased, we used the databases of OECD, World Bank, CIA, Asian Development Bank, as well as numerous news sources.

I was the project manager for this assignment. I oversaw the research of five team members and formulated the business implications and strategies. I was also the sole person in charge the financial environment. This report ended with 80+ pages and was completed within the 9 week duration of the course. My team and I are particularly proud of this report as it is largest one we have completed at BCIT. The skills and knowledge of International Business learned through this project are very valuable in today's global economy. I give my highest recommendations to my instructor, Steve Turnbull, for his amazing expertise and his teaching ability.

TDMT1353 International Business Journal

For my international business course, our individual assignment was to write four analysis journals on news articles from The Globe & Mail, all of which had to be related to international business and presented viable opportunities. Were were to approach our analysis with the mindset of a raving capitalist, who will do anything to make a buck. Through using economic indicators and trade data between the involved countries, I learned how to identify the business implications of the news story and formulate business strategies that would take advantage of the situation. The four articles I wrote about were:

1. China and Tibet Crisis
2. China and New Zealand Free Trade Agreement
3. Cuba Reforms Economy
4. China and Taiwan Landmark Talks

Click here to see my journal.

COMM2200 Persuasive Presentation

As part of my Business Communications II course, I had to present a topic to my class persuading them to work abroad after graduation. This presentation enabled me to improve my selling and presenting skills. Also, a large part of my evaluation was how effectively I answered questions and objections to my topic. It is definitely challenging but since I believed in my idea, I responded well.

Click here to view my presentation.

I chose this topic because this summer I will be working in Shanghai, China. In addition, I love traveling and have been to six countries. My goal is to have a career that involves traveling internationally, whether it be for a large multi-national or my own company.

An interesting fact that I discovered while researching for this project was that according to Statistics Canada's 2006 Census, workers aged 25-29 earned 14% less than those of the same age in 1980. Despite media reports of Canada experiencing a labour shortage, the problem lies in a Catch 22 of post-secondary graduates. Graduates are being educated at much higher levels, but since they lack in work experience, they typically land $13/hr jobs after graduation and take many years before moving up the corporate ladder. Granted some degrees still pay such as nursing, engineering, and many skilled trades. Though as a business student and after looking at job postings, good job opportunities are very hard to qualify for, especially in BC. Also there is the baby boomer effect. The baby boomer's continue to work well past 65, preventing young graduates to enter the workplace at a decent level.

Thus why I am headed to China this summer. After apply for only a dozen listings online, I received two job offers in just four days. One as a Business Development Manager and the second as an Business Communications Instructor for a large commercial real estate firm. Both of which I could never land in Vancouver. If this situation for young workers in Canada continues, Canada will suffer brain-drain as more graduates wake up and see the immense opportunities the rest of the world is offering.