Northern exposure: MBA students reflect on Norway study trip

Study trips are an important part of an education at the David Eccles School of Business, opening students’ eyes to myriad career possibilities and the differences between U.S. companies and their international counterparts, while also exposing them to real-world work environments they might never consider otherwise.

For international trips like one undertaken by several MBA students to Norway this spring, the experience is amplified to the extreme. Not only did the travelers get the opportunity to explore a number of different industries during their time in Europe, they also learned about a different culture from the states, about different work ethics and protocols. Even the simple nuts-and-bolts aspects of international travel–obtaining a passport, navigating foreign transportation systems, overcoming a language barrier and eating unfamiliar cuisine–will prove valuable to the students in the long run.

The students also got a taste of what an MBA education is like at a peer institution in Europe, thanks to a visit with one of the professors at the MBA program for BI Norwegian Business School. BI is the largest business school in Norway and second largest in all of Europe, and the visit gave students a greater understanding of why Norway’s economic culture is so successful–a perfect complement to their company visits in the country.

The trip was led by Sarah Johnston, director of the Graduate Career Management Center, and Nancy Hendrickson, Full-time MBA program coordinator. The students on the trip were MBA1s Stu Barnes and Chad Salvadore, and MBA2s Anders Aabo, Chris Shipley, Joel Nelson, Eric Peterson, Cody Neville, Sean Sampson, Kris Loken, Michael Bobbe, Tom Melburn and Chuck Haugan.

Here are reflections from some of the students who made the trip:

Stu Barnes, MBA1, on visiting Aker Solutions, and oil-and-gas drilling services company

Aker is a multinational company that operates in over 30 countries and had an operating revenue in 2012 of $7.7 billion. Their office, located on the outskirts of Oslo, certainly did not disappointed. Upon entering the building, we were escorted to the “engineerium,” a museum showcasing Aker’s products and the history of oil extraction in Norway. During our visit, we were given fantastic presentations on the company, its corporate social-responsibility initiative, and its new carbon recapture plants. The latter two presentations were by far the most interesting. The CSR presentation showed us that over the last two years, Aker has trained all of its 21,500 employees in business ethics and anti-corruption practices, and the carbon recapture plant showcased the company’s efforts to recapture and reuse all emissions from cement manufacturing plants. It was an extremely interesting visit and I personally enjoyed my time networking with them.

Chad Salvadore, MBA1, on visiting Norske Skog, Norway’s largest paper producers

The company is Norway’s largest paper producer and one of the leading newsprint companies in the world. The conversation was an invaluable learning experience and provided an interesting counterpoint to many of the other company visits. While a number of the companies we visited are experiencing strong growth, Carsten Dybevig, Norske Skog’s vice president of corporate affairs, did not shy away from discussing Norske Skog’s challenges of operating in a contracting market. To combat the decline in newsprint demand, the company has been aggressively “right-sizing” operations by divesting several production facilities, trimming staff, and renewing a culture of creativity and innovation.