A Cross-National Investigation of Students’ Views of International Marketing/Business Topics and their Preferred Learning Methods: An Abstract

As the globalization of production and markets continue to grow at an accelerated speed, the global business environment has become more competitive and challenging. Therefore, higher education institutions, especially business schools (hereafter B-schools), around the world have shifted its curriculum towards emphasizing an international perspective by adopting their teaching methods, activities and experiences offered to prepare students for the changing global business environment. A component of any international business curriculum would include the study of international marketing or some variation thereof. While the study international marketing is undoubtedly important, to what extent do students understand the role it plays? For the purposes of this study, we explore students’ views of various topical areas pertaining to international marketing and, to a broader extent, international business. These B-school students are from four emerging markets, namely China, Peru, Mexico and Guatemala. More specifically, how do students from B-schools in China, Peru, Mexico and Guatemala view different areas of study in international business and marketing? What are the preferred learning methods of B-school students from the aforementioned four countries? To answer the above questions, this study explores B-school students’ perceptions of topical areas in international business/marketing as well as their preferred learning methods. Data for this paper was collected using a survey administered in the classroom to university- level students matriculating in B-school in Peru (n = 320), Guatemala (n = 126), Mexico (n = 237) and China (n = 252). In general, we found the students from the three Latin American countries mostly shared common perceptions but quite different from their Chinese counterparts. Mexican and Peruvian students preferred multi-media and case analysis learning methods. Guatemalans preferred the use of guest speakers while the Chinese students preferred lectures and hands on applications.