Many students regardless if they are studying an MBA or an undergraduate degree in business are quite surprised to see a geography course indicated as required on their transcript. There are many theories as to why this has transpired in the corporate landscape; however, it has become increasingly common for those who are enrolled in a business school to take geography classes in order to apply that knowledge to foreign prospective markets or even domestic markets in many respects. That being said, the perpetual force that is driving this globalization train in academia is surely the fact that globalization has become the corporate reality and American firms are frankly trying to catch up in this respect in order to get the younger generation ready for a world that requires less egocentric American studies and more international awareness as the norm, (Partridge, Ben, 2011). It is for this reasoning that geography is surely the key to the future of the international business landscape because as the airplanes get fasted, emails get more reliable, and the phone plans merge into one, we will be looking at a corporate situation in the years to come that requires many markets that historically not interact to conduct commerce on a regular basis. Thus, geography could be one of the most useful classes that a prospective student could take in business school because it provides an invaluable knowledge that can be applied to one’s career for the rest of their time in the workforce.
Returning to the idea of globalization, globalization has entirely changed the corporate game. Inventions such as the Internet and more reliable airlines have made the world unite in many respects as it never had before. Cultures are moving a great deal to new countries, which causes there to be a need for the host countries to have an awareness of where the ideals and cultures of their new citizens come from. Additionally, this opens up the portal for the marketing departments of local companies to be able to successfully reach these new customers. Furthermore, the concept of globalization greatly changes the game in that it puts individuals into contact that may have never reached out to one another otherwise, (Partridge, Ben, 2011). This makes it absolutely crucial for business professionals to reach out to one another in order to promote cultural understanding. Globalization will continue to make geography one of the most relevant subjects to comprehend in order to be an asset to your prospective team in the business world.
One other aspect of geography in the business world is that it is imperative to understand why geography matters in that many developing markets have caught up with the United States, (“Redrawing the Map: Globalization and the Changing World,” 2016). This has become a major issue because even though the United States will always be a major global superpower, there is still something to be said about the other markets in the world who have subsequently caught up. What this has caused is that it has caused the American business professional to have a more diverse knowledge of the geography of the world in order to be pertinent on relevant global international security, business, and legal issues, (“Rediscovering Geography: New Relevance for Science and Society,” 2016). Even though this transition is still transpiring within the American educational model, the next generation of undergraduate students regardless of their focus on business studies will have more opportunities for study abroad, international internships, and global seminar conferences. This in addition to geography will produce a more global perspective for the next generation of the United States workforce.
Technology makes geography come closer to home. The world that we both live and work in is surely far more connected than it has ever been before. The reason that this has transpired is because of the wide variety of technological advancements that have produced a great deal of success in the business world. For those business professionals who decide to focus on information technology, geography is absolutely going to be relevant due to connectivity issues and the role that geography has on those corresponding issues. Some of these potential issues are the malfunctioning of IT systems on a global scale, which would force an information technology professional trouble shoot with Skype calls all over the globe.
Geography is absolutely critical to a firm’s prospective marketing strategy, (Houldsworth, Duncan, 2016). Where geography becomes particularly relevant is in regards to marketing because a firm has to know its market to certain regions in order to design a viable advertisement campaign, (Houldsworth, Duncan, 2016). In order to be in marketing, one has to be acquainted with their customer and guide their customer to their product. If the marketing chair does not know the geography of the land and where their target customer is located, they will not be able to meet their sales goals because they will be unable to reach their target customer successfully, (Houldsworth, Duncan, 2016). For example, within the United States, a firm will target their marketing based on the region that they are catering to. This is the same for many other countries around the world. Geography and knowledge of international culture is vital to this process because it allows the employee to be aware of what marketing campaign may offend someone in Asia or the Middle East and then save the business from a great public embarrassment. To the marketer, geography and demographic studies are essential to show consumer trends, which is precisely why the geography aspect of marketing is often overlooked when it really should not be in order to generate a higher profit in business.
Another very pertinent argument as to why geography is relevant to the business world is the notion that supply chain and logistics backgrounds in business have to deal with geography on a daily basis, (DeAngelis, Stephen, (2012). Supply chain and logistics take an entirely new shape in this globalizing era because the supply chain and logistics practices are now spread out all over the globe. Where these practices become quickly complicated is due to the plethora of outsourcing that now is being transferred to developing markets in order to substantially cut costs from both parties. Without knowledge of geography relating to mountain range locations or ocean coast line locales, a business is very far behind and they will make logistic decisions that are essentially impossible if they do not know the lay of the land in the region that they are working in. In order to avoid situations such as these, it is important to study geography of the place that you are going to be working regardless if you have the intention of staying there for a substantial period of time. Geography will allow you to design a cost effective supply chain that will promote a great deal of efficiency to your company overall.
What makes geography even more relevant as well is that geography also represents the plethora of languages that are associated with the different parts of the world. If a prospective business student decides to enroll in geography, it would be an excellent exercise of how linguistic talents are directly applicable to geography. By training the next generation of American workers to be able to be multi-lingual like the European standard, the United States is also going to have a major linguistic advantage for the plethora of business professionals that conduct meetings in their native language.
Depending on geography as well, many business students would be served very well by allowing themselves to study abroad. Studying abroad also is relevant to both geography and the business student because it allows the student to pick up the roots or another full language entirely. This is a sensational way to make the next workforce more prepared to converse and draft documents for the foreign executives that they are going to have to assist. Particularly as MBA students, these programs are immensely popular due to their utility to the population overall that merely wants to learn a foreign language. Geography makes all of these study abroad programs have more depth, purpose, and cultural programming that truly allows the student to experience their new locale with ease.
References
DeAngelis, Stephen. “The Importance of Geography and Place.” Enterra Solutions. 2012. Web. 18 May 2016.
Houldsworth, Duncan. “Why Geography Matters in Marketing Strategy – The Spatial Dimension to Customer Communications and Marketing.” Directions Magazine. 2016. Web. 18 May 2016.
Partridge, Ben. “Globalization and Economic Development: Why Geography Still Matters.” E-International Relations Students. 2011. Web. 18 May 2016.
“Rediscovering Geography: New Relevance for Science and Society.” The National Academies Press. 2016. Web. 18 May 2016.
“Redrawing the Map: Globalization and the Changing World.” EY. 2016. Web. 18 May 2016.
