Purpose This paper aims to illustrate a useful classroom exercise that addresses this challenge. International experiences help university students develop global cultural awareness and better understand culture’s impact on decision-making. As more companies grow their global operations, they seek students with global competency (Eaton and Kleshinski, 2014). However, less than 7 per cent of US university students have basic cultural intelligence according to Lopes-Murphy (2014). This presents faculty with the significant challenge of developing students’ global competency within the walls of the classroom. Design/methodology/approach This paper describes a phenomenological research classroom activity titled the “Global Consumer Exchange” (GCE) to help business faculty authentically build students’ global awareness, understanding of culture and understanding of global consumer behavior. In addition, the GCE offers a context to help faculty highlight the economic, logistical and technological concerns that global businesses must consider. The GCE was administered in an undergraduate consumer behavior course in cooperation with students from the Republic of Panama. Findings Following the GCE, US students reported new awareness of issues they had never considered before and also indicated an increased interest in understanding other cultures. The students also expressed a newfound willingness to personally reach out to international students. Originality/value This GCE offers business faculty an easy-to-implement and easily adaptable activity to authentically broaden students’ intercultural awareness and develop a deeper understanding of international business concepts. Through this activity, students are able to gain experience applying phenomenological research methods. The GCE can also be adapted for any course and applied to a wide variety of countries partnerships with university international student organizations and/or English as a second language programs.

中文翻译：

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在商务教室建立真正的跨文化意识

目的本文旨在说明解决这一挑战的有用的课堂练习。国际经验可帮助大学生培养全球文化意识，并更好地了解文化对决策的影响。随着越来越多的公司在全球开展业务，他们寻求具有全球竞争力的学生（Eaton和Kleshinski，2014年）。但是，根据洛佩斯·墨菲（Lopes-Murphy，2014年）的数据，不到7％的美国大学生拥有基本的文化知识。这给教师带来了巨大挑战，需要在教室的墙壁内发展学生的全球能力。设计/方法论/方法本文描述了一个名为“全球消费者交流”（GCE）的现象学研究课堂活动，以帮助商业教师切实树立学生的全球意识，了解文化和了解全球消费者行为。此外，GCE还提供了一个背景，以帮助教师强调全球企业必须考虑的经济，物流和技术方面的问题。GCE与巴拿马共和国的学生合作，在大学的消费者行为课程中进行了管理。调查结果在参加GCE之后，美国学生对他们从未考虑过的问题有了新的认识，并表示对了解其他文化的兴趣日益浓厚。学生们还表达了一种新发现的愿意亲自与国际学生接触的意愿。独创性/价值该GCE为商学院提供了易于实施和轻松适应的活动，以真正扩大学生的跨文化意识并加深对国际商业概念的理解。通过这项活动，学生能够获得应用现象学研究方法的经验。GCE还可以适用于任何课程，并可以与大学国际学生组织和/或英语作为第二语言课程，在许多国家/地区建立合作伙伴关系。