This is a picture I took of the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech after our tour. The mosque was built in the 1100’s during the Almohad dynasty and is the most recognizable landmark in the city. Its tall minaret (used for announcing the calling of the prayer) can be seen from all around Marrakech, especially near…
Tag: Pitt Business
All Pitt Business student posts should receive this tag.
Palaces and haggling
Today was a very chill day. After getting up and enjoying an amazing breakfast, we went on a tour of the city as our schedule got swapped. We went to see the place where I got to enjoy the builders’ architecture and craftsmanship in the infrastructure. We then had lunch, a traditional Moroccan meal, followed…
Postcards from Morocco: Trails to Marrakech
Day 6 started with an early arrival at the CCCL for us to depart for Casablanca, and then head on our way to Marrakesh! Although today wasn’t my site visit day, I still learned along the way what I can connect to my work with Association Nationale du Développement Digital (ANDD). Our first stop was…
Day 5: You Got Games on Your Phone?
As an avid lover of video games (shoutout to The Last of Us), today’s site visit has definitely been my favorite so far. We visited GlassEgg, a game design company which makes vehicle, character, environment, etc models for games. It was so cool walking around and seeing all of the artists working on everything. Unfortunately…
Day 2 – Augsburg Arrival
Once we took the bus to Augsburg, we settled in at a room in our hotel. Elisabeth, who is helping us with our Industry Analysis project, greeted us with some snacks and a gift bag. We got a tram pass and some dining hall passes we will use at the University of Augsburg. Once we…
Day 5: This is Why I Stick to Video Games
Today we visited the video game art company known as Glass Egg. A company that is very, very successful in their field as they have worked with many companies on all kinds of games. We learned about their company structure and saw their strategies as to how they are able to competitive in the video…
Day 5: The Arts (Digital, Martial, and Rhetorical)
Glass Egg is one of the visits I was looking forward to the most. I am not a huge video game fan, except for Just Dance 2017 on my X-Box 360, but it was so interesting to learn about the work process at GlassEgg. One of the first things that they mentioned was the focus…
Day 4: Manifesting a BMW
After a loooooong ride through traffic to Munich, we finally arrived at the BMW headquarters. There, we attended a lecture on corporate strategy and the current challenges and opportunities in the automotive industry. It was interesting to compare the differences and similarities between the strategies discussed at Audi and BMW. After the lecture, we took…
Insert Corny Photo Dump Name
Selfie in front of the Koutoubia Mosque Group shot fruther from the Koutoubia Mosque Fountain in the Bahia Palace Photo of a Souk inside the Marrakesh Medina I chose to include these photos specifically in today’s blog post because I feel that it covered all that we as a group did today. Starting out with…
The University of Augsburg: Monday
The university was honestly not what I was expecting. It felt very similar to some of the smaller colleges I toured in the United States. However, the lake and vegetation surrounding the campus definitely gave it a different atmosphere compared to schools back home. The cantina was awesome as well. From the students I spoke…
I learned a choco-lot today at Sibö
On our excursions today, we visited Sibö chocolate, toured, and had a wonderful lunch at Riverside Gastropub, and attended an informational lecture about medical device sales in Costa Rica at the Universidad Latina. At first glance, I felt that this schedule was very disorganized, but as we made our journey through each location, I realized…
Day 1 – Here we go!
We are off! At 9:30 AM, our bus departed from Tower A, where we slept the night before, to the Pittsburgh International Airport. This is where we will begin the longest travel day I have ever experienced. There was no baseline for this trip, because I have never traveled internationally. Before our first flight, we…
Day 5 – Municipal vs Provincial Funding
We spent our entire day today looking at a hospital in the La Matanza municipality in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. While this hospital was public like the one we visited in San Isidro, the way it received its budget and funding was very different. With San Isidro, they were mostly funded through their municipality,…
Triple Bottom Line, Triple the Snacks
Today was one of those days that sounds random on paper but ends up making complete sense by the end. We visited Sibö Chocolate, had lunch at Riverside Gastropub, and sat in on a lecture about Costa Rica’s medical device industry. Three completely different businesses, but each one is asking the same question: what does…
Riverside is a win-win-win
Today’s visits demonstrated how the triple bottom line framework can operate across completely different industries and reflect Costa Rican values. The triple bottom line focuses on balancing profit, environmental sustainability, and positive community impact. First, at the bean-to-bar chocolate company, Sibö. One of the most interesting things I learned was that the founders entered the…
May 14th – It Finally Rained!!
Today we visited Sibo Chocolate, Riverside, and went to Universidad Latina to learn about medical technology, and I think the best example of the triple bottom line was at Sibo Chocolate. The triple bottom line measures business success by people, planet, and profit instead of profit alone, and today has made that concept a lot…
More Than Just Chocolate
I really loved our visit to Sibö Chocolate. Our presenter showed us how a business can focus on more than just profit. He was extremely passionate and knowledgeable, which made the experience much more interesting because you could tell how much he cared about his work and about Costa Rica. Sibö was founded because the…
Turning Cocoa Beans Into National Pride
Today we visited Sibo Chocolate, Riverside Pizzeria and Gastropub, and La Universidad de Latina to learn about medical devices. During our time at Sibo Chocolate we sampled lots of rich chocolates while learning about the history of it and where it came from. Lots of stuff we learned was super interesting and I heard lots of things…
Day 5: What is With the funding?
Today we went to the University of La Mantanza, Paroissien Hospital, and the UNLaM facility. Today we focused more on the funding from municipalities and provinces and how it affects neighborhood to neighborhood. La Mantanza has 3 million people in its area, which is an insane amount of people that need to be taken care…
Day 5: From Buenos Aires to La Montanza
Today we visited a public health facility in the La Montanza municipality and La Montanza University. La Montanza is a less wealthy municipality outside of the city of Buenos Aires. Before touring the hospital, we met with the director of the hospital. He explained to us the challenges of caring for over 3 million people…