Of the various components of international business—compliance, manufacturing and shipping come to mind—where does education fit in? Where does education fit in anywhere these days? Is it all about getting a job, or is learning an end to itself? Is an MBA still the degree that allows you to write your own ticket in business, or do schools need an international component today? And as always in this column, we’re wondering if Buffalo is a good place to study international business. 

I asked Dr. Dion Daly, a professor at D’Youville College in Buffalo, and one of the instructors within the college’s international business degree program. 

“International business as a specific topic of study is a fairly recent phenomena,” Daly says. “We entered this more global-thinking position post-World War II. We were a fairly protectionist country until WWII. After that war America took a truly globalist view in the business sense.”

Why did American business take a more global view? Because business is about profit maximization. Economics is a diverse course of study about how to manage components of society, but business is about making money. American business saw opportunity post-war. If we could sell planes and tanks to the world, why not pots and pans, as they say. The world was busy, rebuilding itself, the architects could not care, if you get some of your economics knowledge from Joe Strummer. 

Veterans played a key role in the resulting globalization, and continue to play a key role in the global business world. “One of the things we’re proud of at D’Youville is our veteran population, and we consider that part of our international business program,” says Daly, himself a retired Navy supply corp. officer. “Most, if not all, of our veteran students have international experience. Most came from Western New York, went abroad, and have returned. They’ve got an international perspective they bring to all our programs.”

During the early days of globalization, an MBA was a key degree. “The traditional MBA back then tended to be American-centric, teaching our worldview. But there are some core differences between an MBA and international business study. An MBA focuses more on the nuts and bolts of business and organization, and a lot of MBA students bring real life work experience to the classroom. The MBA student who’s coming into the classroom after having practical experience in the workplace makes an engaging student. They understand, and can often lead a dialog on efficiency, production, and cooperation with your fellow employees—real life examples to share and develop with their classmates. There’s obviously a lot of overlap with the International Business learning experience, but a couple of key differences also. Two main factors of international business study are the global supply chain and the cultural element. Those two topics get more emphasis when you study international business specifically.”

When American business decided to sell globally they had to get product moved globally, first shipping out product, but then just as importantly shipping in raw materials. Global supply chain became a key element and a factor within that element is speed. When Amazon delivers that box to your doorstep—often within 48 hours of hitting the submit button—you just cannot fathom how many people and countries were involved in that transaction. Think people and think jobs; think countries and think government tariffs and treaties. Global supply chain—this is probably the cutting edge study of for the current generation.

With the MBA student bringing classroom value through work experience, the international business student brings value simply being conversant internationally, or even foreign born. “You ask if Buffalo has any edge, either geographically or strategically, and I would say yes. We’ve grown up with an international border. We understand from a very young age differences in currency, international laws and languages and the complexity of border crossings. We’ve lived it, so we don’t have to learn it. That’s a huge advantage someone growing up in Tennessee might not have, not to pick on Tennessee.” Add to that the fact that Buffalo has a pretty healthy mix of foreign-born students and residents—a rich culture of immigration if you will.

A mix of international students studying international business is part of the success formula. “Say we have a class discussion about creating a product and we call the product ‘Black and Tan.’ And we’re going to sell globally. The American student or the Hungarian student might not understand—at least at first—why the Irish student is arguing that if we use that name we will probably not sell very well in Ireland. The Irish student grew up with more intimate knowledge of the Easter Uprising and the battle of British rule vs. Irish independence. The Irish student imparts that visceral cultural knowledge the American or Hungarian just might not be aware of.”

Which brings me to my final question relative to education. Must we all become techies? Do we all need to study computer science and develop a killer app and work at an incubator in a cubicle at a start up? “What we do is help students to develop their ability to think critically, analyze situations and develop those higher thinking skills so they can analyze and synthesize the situation before them. There’s a strong liberal arts component to a business degree and I always challenge students that if they don’t believe me look up the CEO’s of the Fortune 500 companies and see what their degree’s are in. More often than not they are well rounded and diversely educated.”

Find out more about Dr. Dion Daly by visiting his bio page at D’Youville College or email him at dalyd@dyc.edu To hear more from this week’s subject, follow The International Buffalo podcast on dailypublic.com and at internationalbuffalo.com.