Touring the Lamborghini factory last summer in Italy, Kelvin Wong was struck by differences in the company's business model compared with what his North American textbooks told him was best.
The pace of work was decidedly unhurried even as customers sat on 18-month waiting lists for the high-end sport cars. Workers took their time crafting materials for the vehicles, which were assembled at a rate of fewer than 10 a day.
“They weren't willing to push [production] just to satisfy demand,” recalled Wong, a British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) student who spent a month exploring businesses in Europe with his peers.
“If you make your customers wait, you're going to lose business and they're going to go elsewhere. But Lamborghini has such a brand awareness, they're willing to wait.”
The 26-year-old, who is earning a bachelor's degree in technology and manufacturing, travelled with about 30 other students selected for BCIT's European field school.
The three-year-old program combines business courses and liberal arts studies for any adult looking for post-secondary credits during the summer months. Students can go to Italy and Austria, or Germany, Poland and Ukraine, to learn how business works in those countries.
Lectures take up the mornings, while on-site visits to businesses follow in the afternoon.
Denise Calvert, BCIT's international exchange co-ordinator, said the program changes students' perspectives on business models outside North America.
“Because our world is internationalized, there's not one major corporation that's in just one country,” she said. “Everyone is global.”
Although international trade in Canada took a steep tumble following the 2008 financial crisis, exports worldwide have grown steadily the past five years.
Exports increased from $367 billion in 2009 to $479 billion in 2013, according to Statistics Canada data.
Meanwhile, Canada imported $487 billion worth of goods in 2013 compared with $374 in 2009.
But those are all numbers on a page.
Helping students grasp the significance of globalization beyond just books and lectures goes a long way to changing how they approach the business world, according to BCIT business development manager Mark Chiarello.
He accompanied students last summer for the field school as they dropped in at companies such as Italy's Illycaffè and Austrian lock company Evva. Students would meet with managers and better understand how those companies operate.
Chiarello said “being able to see the differences in how companies run in Europe and how they run here” turned out to be a life-changing experience for the students receiving hands-on learning.
Wong said he wouldn't have been able to fully wrap his mind around how Lamborghini's brand power is “defying everything marketing would tell you” had he not set foot on the factory floor.
Attending the field school, he said, opened his eyes to how there are other ways to be successful in business than what he's witnessed most of his life.
“North America has a very individualist view of life,” Wong said. “In Europe, their business drive is not [about] you — it was [about] us.”
