Cross-Cultural Virtual Collaboration: Temple CIBER and Dubai Women’s College

Overview

• Students will utilize a case study to examine a U.S. company and develop a foreign market entry strategy for entering the Dubai, UAE, market. Students from Temple University’ Fox School of Business and Dubai Women’s College (DWC) will participate in bi-continent teams on a virtual collaboration project.
  
  
• Project Goals
• Will forge U.S. relationships with Dubai and the Middle East
• Will give students cross-cultural/cross-national experience
• Will teach students to work in teams through a virtual media: virtual teaming is often used in international business
• The focus will lie heavily on process, as opposed to outcome
  
  
• Teams
• Three teams of 3 students from DWC paired up with 3 students from the Fox School
• Communicate through TU virtual medium, Blackboard; instant messaging; video conferencing
• Students will be assisted by Professor Arvind V. Phatak, Fox School of Business, and Professor Johan De Klerk, DWC

The Project

• Fox students will cultivate research questions needed from DWC students and vice versa: knowledge transfer should occur from both sides
  
  
• Students will be asked to focus on four parts:

  1.      Identify and describe the critical external environment: economic political, legal and cultural factors in the Dubai market that would impact the company’s operations and strategies in that country

  2.      Identify favorable and unfavorable environmental forces for the business, and the corresponding opportunities and threats/challenges faced by the company

  3.      Analysis of the business in the target country: competition from firms already in the market, and their distinctive strategies

  4.      Should the selected company enter the Dubai market and how: stand alone, joint venture, licensing, etc.

The Presentation

• Temple CIBER will host the students and faculty from Dubai Women College’s in early May each year.

• Student teams from both schools will meet with their teammates in person for the first time and will spend several days together finalizing their projects and preparing the final presentation.
  
  
• Student teams will present their findings before their peers, faculty, staff, a representative from the client company, and selected guests.