Final Blog Entry

         As the United States industries broaden their territory to other countries, they must not only worry about the standards and regulations of the United States, but of the countries to which they are doing business in. For example, Nextel is a phone company expanding to Chile to compete with the three main cellular providers which have dominated the Chilean broadband for a while. This company must now face new government regulations. For example, in Chile there are less environmental regulations set up so they have to decide whether or not to keep the U.S. standards or maybe save money by being less environmentally friendly. When it comes to gender differences in the work place, there is a much higher inequality between men and women in Chile. Women still make significantly less money in Chile as a man doing the same job. However, they have a more extensive maternity leave program set up allowing the woman to take off more time while still getting paid as opposed to the few months allowed here in the U.S.. This is another factor that will afflict U.S. companies doing business in Chile deciding whether or not to allow the same type of inequalities between men and women to save money but also being forced to pay their women for longer times for maternity leaves. Because of the differences between regulations in the U.S. and in Chile, companies are faced with the choice on whether or not to have the same standards for their company in both countries or to alter their business between the countries to try to save money in the different countries.

                Before traveling abroad, I did not think it was as necessary to gain a global education in engineering and business solutions because I did not think many American businesses did much work outside of the U.S.. However, after going through company visits and talking to professionals, it is obvious that global relations are a huge part of most businesses today. It is so important for students like me to have a broader understanding of business and engineering throughout the world because most successful businesses require this understanding. Additionally, I was extremely surprised by how much the Chilean students have already traveled abroad. Most of the students we talked to have studied in at least two other countries before! There are not many U.S. students I know who can say the same. If we want to compete in business in the global context, we have to actually go experience how other cultures and societies handle business and carry out their engineering principles. In the future, I want to take more language classes and travel abroad at least two more times so I can actually experience first-hand how more cultures are involved with business and engineering. By learning more languages, I will be broadening my marketability and open communication between people I would otherwise not be able to understand.

                Much of the basis of engineering and business can be learned in classrooms. For instance, how to do calculations or learning specific facts needed to create a product can be learned from a textbook. However, excelling at a job and improving a business must come with experience. For instance, our guide at the mushroom factory continues to travel to the U.S. and different parts of the world to get introduced to different techniques to help his business grow. A business will never prosper if it never changes. Some of the most important things we can learn must be learned on the job to allow us to try to improve things and give us the opportunity to apply what we learned in the classroom and identify what works and what does not work. For example, internships and co-ops are becoming an essential requirement for most jobs. If I never take a co-op or internship and get a job right after graduation, I will have no idea how to apply what I learned from class and really have no knowledge as to how the business works. However, by gaining hands on experience on the job, I will be able to learn things I never would have gotten from a textbook which will set me apart from other students without this experience when competing for a job.         

                As in the U.S., there is a connection between Chilean social life and professional life. Although there is obviously a separation between work and socializing, Chileans make business based on personal connections so a connection between social and professional life is almost necessary. For instance, the relationship between professors and students in Chile is even very close. The head of Industrial Engineering at the Universidad Santa Maria had all of us and his students over for a barbeque. Most professors here in the U.S. would not do this. I think in the U.S., many professionals like to keep business and social life separate. However, the model set up by the Chileans makes more sense to me. If you are doing business with someone, it should be important that you like them on a personal level. It makes doing business seem more friendly and allows for a more trustworthy relationship. Since business is done on a more personal scale in Chile, it is important for Americans doing business there to have an understanding of their society and their societal issues because these issues can affect a business. For example, one of the big issues is the newly set up government agencies involved in Chile business regulation tackling problems such as monopolies. They have pretty much free reign to make rules as they please in comparison to business regulators in the U.S. who must follow stricter guidelines. If we are not aware of new decisions they make, our business could be greatly affected without us even knowing. Another large societal issue in Chile is the expansion of human rights such as birth control and gay rights. For instance, divorce was just recently legalized in Chile. Will companies choose to supply birth control to their workers? Will they recognize gay partnerships to provide benefits? These are all questions based on social issues that businesses must address. Additionally, if a company does business in the U.S. and Chile, will they provide workers with the same rights in both countries where the laws addressing these societal issues are different?

                Communication is the most important aspect of any kind of job in my opinion. As an engineer, I will not only be working with engineers at work. I will be with people of all types of professions and it is important that I can understand their mode of work. Traveling with business students on this trip has given me a new outlook in the professional world. I will not only be focused on engineering principles but will also have to consider how it affects the business in different aspects such as profitability and reliability. As a team member, it is important to fully understand where each member is coming from because everyone will have something important to bring into a project. If everyone can effectively communicate with one another, the team will be able to more effectively achieve their goal. When working with people of a different field, it may be challenging to understand their ideas all the time. For instance, I did not know what Jaimes was talking about in parts of his business presentation because I had never learned about certain indexes or business terms. That is why it is so important to not only learn about engineering, but also about the business you are engineering for. It will be challenging if you are not aware of the business aspect of your job so putting forth an effort to learn what your team members already know is crucial and will make you a more valuable team member.