Prague & Northern Italy

June 2001

The international business trip for Class II was taken to Prague and Northern Italy, with visits to Skoda, Czech Telecom, Staropramen, Design Continuum, Tecnimont, Corning OTI, and Lowara. One of the most valuable components of the international trip is exposure to unique historical, cultural, and geopolitical factors that influence the actions and priorities of the people and companies. For example, without actually being in Prague it would have been difficult to fully appreciate the issues and opportunities associated with a country in transition from a centrally planned to a market-based economy.

Students heard from a member of the Institute for Industrial Relations about the economic transformation in the Czech Republic (CR). The GM for Johnson and Johnson described health care in the CR and differences from the US and Western Europe, including business conditions and drivers for growth, and demonstrated strong advocacy of a socially conscious business model. Our visit to Czech Telecom included an overview of the company's adaptation to a fully liberalized telecom market, competencies relative to W. European telecom companies, and an extensive review of their new b2b marketplace, Centrade. Staropramen represented an example of a very old traditional Czech company (brewery) faced with strong local and international competition. Finally, we toured the engine and assembly plants at Skoda, the largest manufacturer in the CR and a member of the VW consortium.

In Northern Italy, students visited Corning Optical Technologies (COTI) for tours and meetings with research directors, focusing on the developing relationship between COTI and Corning US, and efforts to improve commercialization of COTI's leading-edge photonics technology. Tecnimont, a division of Montedison, designs and builds turnkey manufacturing plants around the world, primarily in the petroleum, chemical, and the pharmaceuticals sectors. Of particular interest was Tecnimont's experience working across cultures with truly global teams; their international presence and project management expertise have allowed them to diversify (eg. to Iran) as economic conditions have changed around the world.

In Milan, students visited Design Continuum, an international consultancy specializing in breakthrough product design and development. A company director described Continuum's approach to end-user research and provided insights into uncovering customer needs and segmenting customers to develop tailored products. He also described a noticeable shift in emphasis from traditional industrial design to design strategy, and presented an interesting contrast between a team-based strategic approach to design and the more traditional "maestro" approach common in Italy.

We spent our final day in Vicenza visiting Lowara, a division of ITT Fluid Technologies. Lowara is a very interesting case study of an old-economy Italian company in significant transition.