The Piaggio Museum walked us through the history and development of the Vespa scooter. Vespa has a worldwide success and suitability for their global customer base. I was aware of the European scooter, but did not realize how vast and wide the product reached across the globe. Not only that, but the Vespa image remains consistent and only adapts itself to the particular market abroad, while keeping its origins. Some of their largest markets are a direct result of where the scooter is produced, including India and China. The United States and England continue to purchase for fun or commercial use rather than as a form of necessity or transportation. The foundation for the museum was founded in 1995 and works to manage historical archives, hosts scientific and art exhibitions, concerts and shows. The museum demonstrated clips of how Vespa's were used in different movies across the globe, the changes in marketing based off the historical era, and changes in design based of each global market need.
There even happened to be a Vespa scooter with a tiger design and I couldn't help but take a photo and say "Go, Tigers, Go!"
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PITOM sells state of the art robotic components in design categories of air, ground, and sea. They have a constantly evolving and changing atmosphere due to their concise focus on the future. PITOM’s global presence includes their primary customer base, where their customers may have headquarters abroad but have a central focus in Italy. The founder and managing director of PITOM, Roberto Mati, encouraged us to follow our heart when it comes to choosing a career. He explained that doing what you feel and what you are passionate about, instead of doing what others tell you to do, is more motivating and exciting for your own personal growth. In his opinion, the U.S. is the expert influencer and staple example of leadership to follow. He had the chance to attend Ohio State and see the differences between cultures and people in reference to the various countries represented in his PhD program. This was my first time visiting a robotics company, and two of their employees, Gianmarco and Federico were able to demonstrate their current software, mechanics, and physical designs. It was interesting to hear about their constant evolvement, and how the future of robotics will soon impact local consumers across the globe. For International Women’s Day we happened to visit the Amedei Chocolate factory formed by a woman in 1919. This international company has employees in various countries including South America, Indonesia, and China. All of their products are gluten free, have no artificial coloring or flavors, and are vegan.
They indicated that there are three different types of cocoa beans: criollo, trinitario, and forastero. The criollo bean has the best quality and is located in Central America. If the quality of any of the beans are not good enough, they sell it to another factory to be used for fertilization since it is rich in nutrients - which spoke wonders to me as I am an advocate for sustainable efforts. Additionally, Amedei must control the temperature at all times from fermentation, shipping, and to the factory. After the presentation we were able to taste test several of their chocolate bars. We had the full experience of smelling, hearing the snap, and tasting of each bar. What is fascinating about their international presence is that it is important to distinguish the difference in smell, snap, and taste between the countries they receive cocoa beans from. We tasted chocolate bars with cocoa bean origins from Jamaica and Madagascar. This was such an insightful experience and was a great way to celebrate international women’s day! I had to resist the urge to buy all of their products in their chocolate catalog, and instead bought three different bars to take home for friends to try. My first study abroad lecture began with gaining insight on international banking trends in Italy. Italy currently has the 7th largest economy in the world, where their unemployment remains high, but overall has improved and or declined since the financial crisis. Italy is known for their furniture, clothing, wine, jewelry and machinery exports which are the top important products produced in the country. After receiving information on banking and economic trends within the country, our group visited the Cassa di Risparmio di Volterra bank which is the only autonomous bank in the city.
One of the interesting takeaways from this site visit, was that their bank acts as an intermediary for selling various products while offering financial services. For instance, their marketing strategy includes promoting a specific scooter while offering ways to financially pay for it. Their bank strives to make products for their people, families or needs of the customers. Furthermore, the manager explained how the European Union controls debt financing in Italy but how in contrast, the US finances it’s own debt. I was able to ask one of the managers about the interactions between global markets and how it affects their small community investments. He was able to give me insight on how their current political election is setting specific market investment trends along with how the US presidential election created a downturn in the market. Now that Trump is in office and will require approval from the House of Representatives for his various economic plans, the market has created its own balance. The CEO’s advice to us as leaders in business was to focus on your responsibility in your time and not your power. Italy continues to be breathtaking and I am enjoying soaking in such rich information about international leadership. Welcome to my travel blog! I hope you enjoy reading about my experience in Tuscany, Italy for my study abroad trip focused on Managing and Leading in International Business. My travels started off with a delayed flight that caused 11 other business students and I to miss our flight from London to Pisa - but the London 11 received a free night’s stay including individual hotel rooms, shuttle and free meals. We roamed throughout the city, visited the Buckingham palace, and nearly froze due to the snowy weather; but overall I was excited about our free day to experience another country and its people. There was an array of different people who live and work in London, and I was surrounded by people speaking many different languages. We successfully maneuvered the tram system to and from our hotel, and casually shopped along Oxford Street. Although it’s unfortunate I missed the planned day trip in Pisa, I got an extra passport stamp and unplanned day to soak in the London culture!
Our group arrived in Italy on Saturday, where we drove from Pisa to the SIAF university in Volterra. Volterra is a breathtaking and peaceful small town located in such a lush and green mountainous area. Our first night involved interacting with SIAF University chefs for a pasta making class. All of us split into different groups where we focused on each course of our meal - I was apart of creating the pesto sauce which turned out to be very delicious. The other student groups included making a meat sauce with chicken, handmade pasta noodles, and tiramisu cake. Sunday involved visiting San Gimignano and Sienna. I tried vaniglia (vanilla) gelato ice cream in San Gimignano and it was an amazing blast of sweet flavor. Overall, the architecture and preserved structures enhance the respected arts and history that make Italy unique. The grand brick buildings, cathedrals, and cobble stone pathways are such engaging sites to see. I have become obsessed with taking pictures next to unique doors or arched entryways that would be hard to find in the United States. I am excited to continue learning about Italy’s culture, business structures, and economy during my lecture series this week! |
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