Recognizing that business functions in a global economy, it
clearly benefits UT COBI students that Melanie Lorenz, one of the newest Assistant
Professors of International Business in the Department of Marketing, has both
lived international business and loves international travel.
“Since I was an undergraduate student obtaining my Diplom
Betriebswirt in European Business Management, University of Applied Sciences,
Worms, Germany, I’ve been interested in international business. During my
studies I also worked on internationally-oriented consulting projects with SMEs
and studied abroad in the U.S. and Mexico, and that gave me a solid foundation
for my career.”
 |
| Dr. Melanie Lorenz |
Beyond the appeal of international business, Dr. Lorenz also
just loves to travel and interact with people from different cultures.
“One major foreign experience I had was living with a
Mexican family for six weeks,” she recalled.
“I was not a tourist; I was part of a family, and was forced to adjust.”
Also she has been to many different countries, one of her
favorite places to travel being Switzerland. “I love Switzerland because of the cultural differences
you can encounter in four hours going across one country.”
Prior to joining UT, she worked in consulting, banking, and
as a subject matter expert for McGraw-Hill, both in the United States and Germany.
“This is a perfect
field for me, the combination of researching and teaching,” Dr. Lorenz said.
Her research is focused on micro- and macro-level issues in the international,
primarily in the emerging market context. Her interests include global
marketing, innovation, and global work in MNEs, in general, and the concept of
Cultural Intelligence, specifically.
Dr. Lorenz’s research has been published in peer reviewed
journals such as the Journal of World
Business, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and Academy of Management Learning &
Education. She has had papers accepted at multiple national and
international conferences.
She also has a great fondness for the University of Toledo.
“I love the campus, it’s a really beautiful campus. Love the architecture, the
mall area and the façade of the buildings. Also, everybody is really nice and
helpful!”
Dr. Lorenz endeavors to share her enthusiasm for the world
of international business with her students.
“I’m direct with the students that my major goal is to
understand the global environment, the challenges and opportunities, and to
inspire them to go abroad. You have to be open to different cultures. Just try
to explore how people are, what the locals do. Many students have not left this
country, and I know it will change their lives.”
“If I could do anything, I would travel and educate people to
be more culturally sensitive. The more people understand they need to understand
others, the more you can see people in other cultures do things, the better we
all will be.”
“I like to research cultural intelligence and teach it to
students,” Dr. Lorenz said. “I think it is really important to teach cultural
intelligence and learn how it affects us. I believe I can change things if I
teach students to explore, to pay attention to what is going on around them to
recognize opportunities, and see things differently.”
No comments:
Post a Comment