The Lauder Institute: The First Five Years The Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies was founded in October, 1983 through the vision and generosity of Penn alumni Leonard Lauder W'54 and Ronald Lauder W '65. The 10 million dollar gift honored their late father, Joseph H. Lauder, co- founder of Estee Lauder Inc. "Joseph Lauder used to tell his sons that he was concerned about the lack of education available for Americans conducting business overseas. He perceived that Americans were at a disadvantage in the international marketplace because so often they knew little or nothing about the language, culture, and customs of the country with which they were dealing." To meet this challenge, the Institute was established by the Wharton School and the School of Arts and Sciences. A faculty council which reported to the Provost, Tom Ehrlich, and was chaired by the Insti- tute's founding Director, Professor Jerry Wind, was formed. The Council, with the assistance of the two deans and the Board of Governors, estab- lished the Institute's mission, goals and strategies. These goals were: " to develop a program that will prepare future business leaders who can operate comfortably and effectively in a language and cultural environment other than their own: " to attract to the Institute the best and brightest students who combine a commit- ment to international business with a Renaissance perspective: " to find the best placement for these students and thus enhance and improve the internationaliiation of the corporate community: " to establish close links between the program and the international business community: " to stimulate the international orientation, research and teaching of the faculty: " to serve as a model for the internationalization of management education. As the Institute celebrates its first five year anniversary, we can proudly point to the attainment of our original objectives: the Institute's dual degree MBA MA program educates Americans and students from other countries about the prob- lems, prospects of and approaches for doing business in the changing global economy. Overall, the purpose of this report is to delineate our specific achievements and to assess the impact the Institute has had on students, faculty, and the business community. We conclude by identifying some of the future challenges facing the Institute. The Lauder Institute At the specialized level, students elect a The Institute's innovative language and University of Pennsylvania Wharton major (e.g finance, marketing, culture program focuses on cultural under- and indi- and as well as Suite 3001 Steinberg Hall/Dietrich Hall strategy, operations management, standing sensitivity the achieve- vidualized majors) in order to a ment of 3620 Locust Walk develop superior language proficiency. functional specialty. Individualized majors The Lauder program begins in late May. Philadelphia, PA 19104-6368 allow students to design programs tailored After three weeks of campus coursework, (215) 898-1215 to their individual needs. Popular individual- students spend the remainder of their first ized majors include entrepreneurship/fi- summer in Beijing, China; Caracas, Venezuela; Goal: To prepare future business nance and entrepreneurship/marketing. Moscow, Russia; Munich, Germany; Paris, France; leaders who can operate effectively Each major requires in-depth knowledge Philadelphia, the United States; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and comfortably in the global econ- and includes an Advanced Study Project and Tokyo, Japan. The summer program is omy and in a language and cultural demonstrating disciplinary mastery in the designed to learn language in context as an environment other than their own. context of a geographic concentration. Such ethnographer would, from "a native's point a functional/geographic specialty enhances of view." Cultural studies complement lan- The Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Man- international job placement. guage instruction by providing contempor- The M.A. in International Studies cur- agement and International Studies is a twenty- ary and historical perspectives with which to four month program which offers an internationalized riculum also includes both general and spe- understand the subtleties of the various M.B.A. from the Wharton School and an M.A. in cialized coursework. countries. One student described his class's International Studies from the School of Arts and General international studies include: in- collective summer experience thus: "In eight Sciences. The Institute's innovative curricu- ternational economics, international politics, weeks we covered Brazilian folklore, art, lum includes internationalized management international law, international negotiations, geography, urbanization, politics, econom- courses, social science and humanities and international technology transfer and ics, music, theater, literature, contemporary courses which focus on cultural understand- management. These disciplines address is- affairs, agriculture, and the 'Piano Cruzado,' sues ing, advanced language training both on which influence international business an unorthodox economic plan to eliminate between campus and abroad, an International Execu- dynamics nations. inflation without recession." tive Internship, and extracurricular events Summerdesigned to enhance the program academi- ISummer II cally and culturally. " Orientation " Executive Internship (12 weeks overseas) " Comparative Social, Political & Economic Institutions Academic Year II " Language & Culture International Man- Programagement Studies (8 weeks overseas) " Focus on Disciplinary Concentration Academic Year I " Language & Cultural " Internationalized Perspectives Management Studies " International & " Language & CulturalArea Studies Perspectives " Integration: Inter- " Internationalized Areanationalized Manage- Studies Perspectivesment & Area Studies Russell Palmer, Dean, The Wharton School (The Reliance Professor of Management and Private Enterprise) and Jere R. Behrman (The William R. Kenan. Jr. Professor of Economics and First Asso- ciate Director of The Institute). Specialized area studies address inter- Overall, the Lauder "concept" combines disciplinary dynamics within particular re- both and studies thatcut of the world. These studies general specialized gions comprise Herbert S. Levine, c Economics and Co- across the of and the Institute's and Cultur- Professor disciplines management unique Language Director, The Lauder Institute. international studies. This approach dev' al Perspectives Program. The program inte- ops skills and perspectives essential to the grates cultural, historical, and comparative repertoire of the international manager. coursework with advanced language acqui- The newly revised Lauder curriculum sition. The program focuses on four regions Area of Specialization integrates management and international and their associated languages: East Asia studies in the following ways: (Mandarin Chinese and Japanese); Latin The M.B.A. curriculum includes both gen- America (Spanish and Portuguese); the Uni- eral and specialized courses. ted States (English, for non U.S. nationals) Western At the general level, the Lauder "core" is and Western Europe (French and German). Europe (38%) significantly internationalized. It includes In addition, one or two students are admit- the functional disciplines of accounting, fi- ted annually to study Eastern Europe (Rus- Latin America nance, management, marketing, and opera- sian). While the program demands expertise (26%) tions management. A course in interna- in particular languages and cultures, it also tional business is offered, as well as in students a to cultural policy develops sensitivity East Asia (20%) courses in the"tool" areas of statistics, quan- differences world-wide. titative methods, microeconomics and macro- Overall, the Lauder "concept" combines economics. Such a broad-based foundation both and studies thatcut general specialized United States (14%) in the fundamentals of management pre- across management and international disci- pares graduatesasgeneral managers through- plines. This integrated approach develops out their careers of their skills and essential to the regardless particu- perspectives reper- Eastern Europe/Soviet Union (2%) lar industries or functions. toire of the international manager. II ALMA NA C SUPPLEMENTSeptember 6, 1988 Corporate visits continue to be one of the highlights of the summer program. These excursions into foreign business environ- ments demonstrate the variety of work ethics as well as the distinct cultural compo- nents of multi-national and indigenous com- panies. In describing these visits, according to one student "after they exhausted the supply of commercial banks in Paris, they branched out and visited Young and Rubi cam, CNES, NBC's foreign correspondent, Pierre Salinger, the American Commission to the Common Market in Brussels, and even spoke about politics with Flora Lewis of The New York Times. Fellow students in Caracas treaded the red carpet as they Claire Gaudiani, Director of Language and Cultu- boarded the corporate jet of the state oil ral Perspectives Program (1984-1988) company, Lagoven, and were greeted by the company's private boat for a guided tour of the oil rigs. While the American contingent Summer Program in People's Republic of China of firms of Gold- Following the first summer, the pursuit was visiting the prestigious and cultural the Scott enhanced language training man, Sachs, Inc., Paper Company, the academic at