Students prepare for a borderless business world

RCB students are developing hands-on international experience without stepping on a plane.

This summer, two marketing majors from the College, Grace Arseneau and Anteo Chevere, completed a one-month virtual internship with Koç Zer in Istanbul. Koç Zer is a division of Koç Holding, the largest industrial service company and the only Turkish company in the Fortune Global 500. Students met weekly with team leaders and other employees to provide updates on their projects and share knowledge.

“A social media marketing plan as well as a thorough competitive analysis provided the company with ideas for new sales channels for their procurement platform,” said Dr. Berrin Guner, professor of marketing. She met with the company’s team leaders virtually and in Istanbul to promote experiential learning at RCB after Joseph Delgado, senior director of development, contacted a Rowan alumnus who worked for the company.

“At the end of four weeks, I made a presentation of my research findings of all these companies and their competitors, which included the platforms that they use to target their audience and social media strategies,” said Chevere ’22, an Ocean City resident. At their request, he also provided his recommendations on how the company should move forward.

Guner subsequently met with leaders virtually to discuss the outcomes of the internships and future plans. Company representatives were so pleased that they are discussing an expanded experience where students will begin internships virtually and complete them in Istanbul in the summer. “They will be able to work within the organization and implement their recommendations, if approved,” Guner said.

While performing market research and competitive analyses, Chevere said, he learned more about Turkey, developed a new level of market research skills, expanded his networking skills and was offered reference recommendations and the potential to work with Koç Zer in Istanbul next year. “I was happy to find an international company to work for because my future goals are to go into corporate law and practice in international affairs,” he said.

As Koç Zer plans to expand its operations in the United States and around the world, it will partner with RCB on other student projects. “We’re currently finalizing a project-based learning opportunity in spring 2022,” Guner said. Students will perform a marketing research project for expansion into the U.S.

Through international work experience, students develop a variety of skills, from problem-solving, project management and time management to cross-cultural communication while learning to manage cross-cultural teams, Guner said.

The experience will be useful whether they work internationally or domestically. “All of these skills are transferrable,” she said. “The workforce in the United States is becoming increasingly diverse. The Caucasian population dropped from 82% of the total American population to 61% within the last 40 years. International internships can play a critical role in developing an appreciation for diversity.”

The international internship is a new experience for RCB students. Experiential learning is the core of the RCB business model, but most experiential learning has been within the region.

“Extending experiential learning into international platforms in the era of a borderless world can be a critical component of our education that would differentiate our students in the job market,” Guner said.

Pictured above: Top: Grace Arseneau meeting virtually with the team at Koç Zer. Center: Marketing major Anteo Chevere. Bottom: Dr. Guner (left) meeting with executives from Koç Zer.