International Business Capstone Students Present Final Projects
On April 29, Professor Maria Jell-Ojobor’s International Business capstone students presented their final projects to their families, friends, fellow students, and faculty in the Aula Magna Regina.
The theme of this semester’s capstone project was “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability strategies in multinational companies. Best practices in emerging and developing countries in various sectors.”
This topic is of great importance to JCU’s “Sustainability for Education Initiatives,” coordinated by Professor Michèle Favorite. In her opening speech, Professor Favorite stressed the importance of these works for the student’s future.
Professor Jell-Ojobor explained the overall topic of the projects: “Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are considered key factors in environmental harm and are under scrutiny by global stakeholders. But it is also innovative MNEs that combine critical resources, making global business, products, services, behavior, and operations “green,” “social” and “ethical,” thus turning this tremendously important challenge into a competitive advantage.”
During the course, students acquired expert knowledge on (CSR) strategy from Luca Regano, CEO of Froneri Italia. Alfredo Cuzzupoli, Senior Manager for Business Transformation at Ernst & Young, provided advice to the students throughout the development of their works.
Students analyzed the CSR and sustainability of the assigned MNE from different angles in sectors, such as pharmaceutical, automotive, furniture, and oil and gas, and their operating practices in emerging and developing countries like India, Nigeria, and South Africa.
The real task for students was to tackle their projects from a research-based perspective. Professor Jell-Ojobor added: “It was definitively not an easy learning journey for the students to enter this new territory. Students had to identify a concrete research problem and formulate research questions and the goal of their project. They had to conduct a thorough literature review, and follow a rigorous methodological approach for data collection and analysis.”
“The students should be very proud. They did an extremely good job, and it was a pleasure to see them grow and handle difficult situations successfully during this course. We hope they will apply this knowledge outside of JCU,” added Professor Jell-Ojobor.
