International Business Project- Turkey (Yasar University)

Abstract

The International Exposure Program (IEP) is an integral part of the Executive MBA at NUST Business School. The EMBA 2k19 and 2k20 batch students took part in this program and attended a week-long summer study trip to Yasar University at Izmir, Turkey. The program was led by the EMBA program Head Associate Dr. Adeel Ahmed. The summer school program involved 3-day classroom style training sessions, where key business topics were taught, and an industry visit to Pinar. Giving the students an opportunity to have an in-depth look at the educational system at Yasar as well as connecting with the on-ground professionals at Pinar. The industry visit gave the EMBA students a chance to gain an insight into the operational activities at Yasar Group of industries, one of the key market players in food and beverages in Turkey. Yasar manufactures high quality consumer products, established in 1927 with Pinar, its sub brand launched in 1973. This brand was introduced to break further into the Turkish market with innovative and healthy product lines. On the industry visit, the EMBA students were taken through the supply and production lines at Pinar by the site production engineer with an opportunity to not only see how the dairy products were being produced but also taste and enjoy some of the items. This visit gave the students a chance to attend a presentation set by the on-site staff of first a detailed history and introduction of Pinar and then the different products that are being manufactured on the site. This report will be divided in three sections. Section 1 of the report will cover a history of Turkey, its geographical significance and the cities visited by the EMBA students on their visit to the country. Section 2 will cover the topics and courses covered in the 3-day classroom sessions at Yasar University, Turkey. Lastly, Section 3 will cover a comparison between PINAR and ENGRO Foods Pakistan, detailing the performance and the SWOT analysis of the two companies. A larger portion of the discussion is covered under Section 2 to cover all the topics taught during the in-class sessions. This report aims to cover the experiences gained by the EMBA students during their International Exposure Program, the topics learned and a comparison they were able to ascertain regarding an industry set in Turkey, compared to one operating in Pakistan.