Graduate Business Students Work with Tractor Supply Company, Travel to China
The Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business, in partnership with Belmont’s Center for International Business, has added an International Business Concentration, allowing students to travel and work alongside a local organization that operates internationally.Created out of the need for MBA graduates to have experience working in international markets, the concentration will include aspects of international business throughout all courses. Additionally, the newly created practicum experience allows students to serve in a consulting role for an international organization, travel abroad with the organization’s team and complete the 5-week course with a presentation of suggested solutions.
Tractor Supply Company (TSC) was the pilot organization for the program, working with a group of three students and ending the spring semester with a trip to China. While there, students attended TSC’s Asian Vendor Summit, visited factories and testing labs, toured the Port of Shanghai and participated in a factory human rights audit. Following the trip, the students were asked to develop recommendations for issues they had been working with throughout the year.
Vice President of Product Development and Strategic Sourcing Ken Strait said the opportunity to work with the graduate students was mutually beneficial. Student and trip participant Horace Grant said his time in China ignited an interest in international business and deepened his understanding of working and living abroad. “The most significant takeaway, among others, was that the Chinese population moves with a purpose – whether to school, work or elsewhere – reminding me of the importance of finding purpose in all areas of life.”
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Graduate Business Students Work with Tractor Supply Company, Travel to China