June 9, 2009 issue
EMU's College of Business to host conference on global advances in business communications

By Amy E. Whitesall

 

In 1981, Eastern Michigan University hosted the first Conference on Language and Communication for World Business and the Professions — an event that came to be known in over the next 18 years as simply "The EMU Conference."

The idea that global business communications involved more than just connecting with an overseas operator was brand new at the time, so the conference met a need that hadn't existed before.

Twenty-eight years later, EMU is back in the forefront of global business communications, this time helping business people and academics meet the challenges of global business in the Internet age.

GLOBAL ADVANCES IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS: Eastern Michigan University's College of Business, together with the University of Antwerp and Macau University of Science and Technology, hosts the first Tri-Continental Research Conference on Global Advances in Business Communications (GABC) June 24-27 at the Student Center.

The EMU College of Business, together with the University of Antwerp and Macau University of Science and Technology, hosts the first Tri-Continental Research Conference on Global Advances in Business Communications (GABC) June 24-27 at the EMU Student Center.

Participants from at least 15 countries will gather at EMU to discuss their field from five distinct perspectives. In addition to the traditional language and cross-cultural communication/negotiations tracks, the new conference includes sessions on integrated marketing communications (IMC), law and ethics, and e-semantics.

"All of these (subjects) are important because there's no main conference for any of these," said David Victor, EMU's international business programs director. "...Even though it's nice for EMU, I'm glad, at a professional level, to be filling a need that hasn't been met in quite a while."

The plenary sessions feature Donald Cho, COO of Finetex Technology Global Ltd., a nanotechnology coatings company in Seoul, South Korea; Michael Lorenc, Google regional director of online sales; and Pure Visibility CEO Linda Girard.

Lorenc and Girard will lead a panel discussion on culture and search engine marketing during the conference's first day, while Cho will offer an executive perspective on cross-cultural issues the following day.

The Internet-driven changes that make this conference unique also highlight some of the strengths of EMU's College of Business's, both Victor and College of Business Dean David Mielke say.

Integrated marketing communication blends the traditional areas of advertising, public relations, promotion and business communication. It's all about building brand, and EMU's business school is the only one in the country that offers a graduate degree program in IMC.

E-Semantics deals with Internet advertising and the cross-cultural issues behind Web searches and Web sites. Online advertising is a hot field, Mielke said, one that's growing despite the economy. Think Google Ad Words.

E-Semantics help advertisers understand that a site selling "heavy-duty sweaters" to U.S. consumers' needs to have that same sweater searchable as an "all-weather pullover" if it wants to be found by shoppers from Britain.

"What appeals to me may not appeal to you, and what appeals to you may not appeal to someone else," Victor said. "Web page layout and a lot of these things are cross-culturally linked."

And EMU's College of Business, said Victor, has made global business ethics a focus long before Bernard Madoff or even the Enron scandal. While most business schools offer global business ethics, EMU is one of the few that requires it for international business undergraduates.

"It certainly increases the visibility of the College of Business and helps establish our expertise in these areas," said Mielke. "We not only have excellent representation (at the conference) from very strong universities abroad, but also here in the U.S. we've got Bentley (University), Wharton (School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania) the University of Michigan, University of South Carolina and the University of Southern California. So, we've got very top-tier schools being represented."

When all is said and done, the conference presenters will produce the first Global Advances in Business Communications Journal. The event rotates to the University of Antwerp next year.

The conference costs $245 and registration remains open. Plenary session tickets are also available for $49 each day. To register or get more information, visit http://www.cob.emich.edu/include/TemplateSubPage.cfm?ID=1232 .