In late spring, School of Global Business students Anmy Nguyen ’16 and Mayreli Ramirez ’16 were two of around 100 students honored as Best Students in Spring 2015 X-Culture for developing business plans for a tour company and an Italian shoe company, respectively.

Nguyen’s group developed a plan for a Ghanaian tour company, Memorylane Photographic Tourism. They recommended expansion into the U.S. market, identifying a high number of people with disposable income for international travel and a shared national language.

“Some of my groupmates were a little more aggressive in how they communicated their expectations and their worries,” said Nguyen. “You have to take into consideration that, if that’s just how they communicate, it’s not an insult.”

Ramirez’s team worked with Italy’s Pantofola d’Oro, which is seeking to enter the children’s soccer shoe market. They examined target markets and chose Germany, citing location, current economic environment, and population of soccer fans. As a speaker of English as a second language, Ramirez overcame challenges in serving as team editor for the international group.

“This wasn’t just communicating face to face, it was communicating through typing and writing,” she said. “Sometimes putting together a strong report involved back and forth communication with teammates and the ability to say ‘I don’t understand what you’re really saying.’”

Dr. Raghu Kurthakoti, assistant professor of marketing, and his students have participated in X-Culture, an international student business program in which nearly 4,000 students from more than 40 countries collaborate, for three semesters. Dr. Kurthakoti has been honored twice as a Best Professor, out of more than 100 participating instructors, for his work in the program.