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Aboard the bus at 8:30 am on Friday, June 18 for the short ride to the General Motors Powertrain Plant on the outskirts of Strasbourg. GM Strasbourg makes automatic transmissions and torque converters for use in high end vehicles (Cadillac Escalade and BMWs, for example). Mrs.Julia Castro, Head of the Financial Department for GM Strasbourg, pinch-hit for the Division President who was called away to meet with a major customer.
Mrs. Castro is an American who worked in Spain for four years early in her career then went stateside and ended up with General Motors. She is nearing the end of a 3 year posting to GM Strasbourg. The unit is attached to the North American Powertrain group because of the importance of their product to the full line of GM SUV's and luxury vehicles. For comparison, the manual transmission factories in Europe are attached to GM Europe where a change in leadership was announced two days into our trip.
Mrs. Castro led a wide-ranging discussion about the challenges of being an American owned operation in Europe; the impact of the EU on strategy development; the opportunities and challenges associated with the ten new members of the EU; and the complexity of French "social law." In France, and most of Europe, the requirements for work rules, vacations, benefits, etc. are written into the black letter law. This leaves unions in the position of having to compete for the loyalty of the workers without being able to deliver specific wage gains of benefit changes. In this plant, three unions compete for worker support.
A very lively discussion ensued involving virtually all of the students who responded with penetrating and insightful questions that reflected superbly on the breadth of their experiences on the trip.
Dr. Rachel Price-Kreitz, Director of U.S. Exchange Programs for Robert Schuman University, and one of our partners in this adventure, commented on how extensive and thorough the questions were and how engaged the students were. Frankly, we could not have scripted a better wrap up session to this ten day odyssey.
An aside: GM Strasbourg has about 17% women in their work force, significantly higher than any of the other operations we visited.
Noon on Friday featured a panel presentation by our three educators, Ginger Godbold, Jenny Tolson, and Tanya Belvin, on their findings about the characteristics of the education systems in France, Germany, and Switzerland (respectively). Key to their findings is a very diverse offering from European education systems. The Europeans still hold apprenticeships and commercial work in high regard and accommodate the needs of those students up through secondary education. Apprenticeships can begin at age 15 (before graduation from high school) and there are as many, if not more, higher education options for the students in all three countries. Companies may work with students to develop work-study options that allow them to try each other out before making a major commitment. One cost of this is more aggressive early testing and career counseling than we have in the United States.
The Three educators (die Drei Lehrerin) also noted that the students they have seen on the streets (lines of urchins with teachers at the head, middle, and end of the line were quite common) seemed to mirror their own group experiences. Comments on the size and load in backpacks, the relationship with the teachers, and the relationship with each other (older kids helping and guiding younger kids) seemed to point to some similarities and some key differences between the European systems and ours.
An aside: On a national scale, there are 30 schools of business in France. The Graduate school at RSU is the only one that is housed in a University. All others are operated by local area Chambers of Commerce. The Robert Schuman Graduate School of Management receives 2000 applications per year for the 151 slots open. Students who apply have completed university-oriented high schools, studied for two-years at post high-school prep institutions and then taken the entrance exams. Total enrollment is approximately 500 for the school, which is considered one of les Grande Écoles (or the Ivies as we would see it).
The Program at Robert Schuman involves three years of study resulting in a Masters Degree. One year is spent abroad at one of RSU's partner Universities. (GMAT requirement for international study is 600 with a very strong TOEFL score.) Queens University of Charlotte is among the 20 or so institutions in the United States with a memorandum of agreement for student exchanges and we could be seeing our first RSU student here in 2005.
Back to the trip...
Friday afternoon brought welcome relief to the troops as they were excused to finish their last minute shopping, pre-pack for an early morning departure, and to ready themselves for the farewell dinner sponsored by IECS (which stands for the Institut European d'Etudes Commerciales Superieures). Loosely translated,this means the graduate institute for the study of European business.
The farewell dinner, held in the Strissel Restaurant at the foot of the Cathedral walk near the canal, was a delight. One of the two oldest restaurants in Strasbourg, the menu features Quiche, roast Duck with vegetables and potatoes, and a superb streusel-style dessert. (Cholesterol checks all around when we get home.) Dr. Price-Kreitz graciously agreed to sit at one table while her husband, Ludwig Kreitz, Director of the Office of International Relations for IECS, held sway at another. All in all a rousing end to a fast-paced, intense, and widely varied trip.
Up, packed, checked out, and ready to load at 5:30 am for the bus ride back to the Frankfurt airport. The last three topic presentations took place on the bus (PA systems are a marvelous idea) and many of the travelers got a two hour nap on the way. On arrival, the group, as per their habit, virtually swarmed the bus to unload the luggage.
The Godbolds left us at this point to join up with Joey's parents for another 9 days of European travel. Since the Pekruls (Kirk and Amanda) had joined up with us in Frankfurt, we ended up bringing back the same number of souls we left with... but not exactly the same ones.
Customs and security proved to be no big deal and the herd oozed its way toward the gate area. Just prior to boarding, we were joined by Dr. Billy O. Wireman, intrepid traveler and Emeritus President of Queens University. Dr. Wireman had flown some twelve hours from South Africa and was now ready to hop on our ten hour flight to Charlotte. The flight, except for some heavy chop as we came down the Eastern seaboard from the North East, was blessedly uneventful.
At approximately 2:30 pm, EDT, on June 19, 2004 in Charlotte, NC, the troupe disbanded... to meet again on Thursday, July 22nd for a picture party and to allow all spouses and significant others to meet the people the others from the trip. Final reflection papers are due on Friday, July 23 at the latest.
A parting note: My deepest thanks to Marcia Stefan for all her help in making this happen, to all of our speakers, guides, drivers, and support people who made the trip go well, to Neil Burkhead from International Travel Center for his expertise, to those back here who have translated these notes and posted them on the web, and finally... to the students of the McColl Graduate School of Business, their spouses, friends, and significant others who made this a joyful and transforming experience.
Until the 22nd...
David V. Rudd, Chief Herder for Europe 2004
Associate Professor of Marketing
McColl Graduate School of Business
Queens University of Charlotte | 
