By: Robert Barrington, Ad Editor
Saint Leo held its 3rd International Business Conference (IBC) on Feb. 8-10 with the help of its main sponsors Pearson eCollege, the Conference Committee, the faculty and staff of the Donald R. Tapia School of Business, and the Saint Leo community. The focus of the IBC was on “Strategic Alliances for a Global Economy” featuring keynote speakers, Thomas Stewart from Booz and Company, and Dr. Jeff Borden from Pearson eCollege. The featured speaker was Dr. Josefa Ramoni from the Universidad de Los Andes in Venezuela, with speaker Giampaolo Orlandoni.
The conference offered a full agenda of presentations along with the keynote and featured speakers offered Breakout Sessions presented by academic staff and professional practitioner panels, and Electronic Smartboard® Poster Presentations featuring work by the business students of Saint Leo. Thomas Stewart presented “Globalization – Are We There Yet?” and “How to Build The Capabilities To Be A Truly Global Company.” Steward emphasized how immigrants do not follow in their father’s footsteps, and that new industries have lots of immigrants. “We are all immigrants in a global economy,” said Steward.
Dr. Jeff Borden presented “Connecting in a ‘Flattened’ world,” and emphasized how quickly information travels, and how quickly our preferences affect decision-makers. Borden had the audience text a number on their cellular telephones and make choices based on a poll, and within 30 seconds the levels on a website bar graph started to change. Information is gathered instantly every time you surf the web, and he warns us that companies like Google are creating a “filter bubble” around each individual. Borden demonstrated that two different people on different computers can search a word such as Egypt, and the search results will be different for each person, and solely based on their own “filter bubble.” “Filters are shutting us out,” said Borden, and we are only being fed information on what web companies think are our personal preferences.
The Breakout Sessions were presented by the Saint Leo faculty, with support from panelists who had practical experience in the global business economy. Lorrie McGovern, Saint Leo University MBA Director, presented “Global Entrepreneurship – Helping the Economy Recover.” Panelists and the audience got to voice their views on what is needed from United States entrepreneurs in order to project the United States into emerging markets in global competitiveness. While the audience was venting their opinions, the room was heating up with the debate, and the session was saved by the bell, while time ran out before the room noise level reached extreme levels.
Similarly in another Breakout Session presented by Okey Igbonagwam, on “The Last Frontier and Economic Super Powers; who is doing what?” Panelists included The Lions’ Pride Newspaper Ad Editor Robert Barrington, and the room became heated with discussion as the panel and audience debated whether foreign aid to Africa should be eradicated. It was presentations, lunch and dinner, and a prime opportunity for networking. The panel suggested that what may be disguised as foreign aid from the superpowers, maybe a form of corruption that keeps the people of Africa dependent while they are being exploited and raped of their natural resources. Those in attendance got to witness why these presentations are called “Breakout Sessions.”
In the Donald R. Tapia School of Business building, SLU business students presented their topics on the innovative Electronic Smartboard® while demonstrating the newest technologies that SLU uses in its classrooms and lecture halls. Those in attendance enjoyed two full days of global presentations, breakout sessions, electronic Smartboard® poster
