Entrepreneurial Innovation in International Marketing:
The NZ Merino Wool Industry
March 18 - 26, 2005

Mission

Over the course of Spring Break, CIBER and the MBA Graduate Marketing Association co-sponsored a trip to New Zealand for a group of 11 graduate students. The students on the trip analyzed entrepreneurial innovation along the international merino wool apparel marketing channel from New Zealand producer to international consumer.

The theme for the 2005 Illinois International Business Immersion Program is "Entrepreneurial Innovation in International Marketing: the NZ Merino Wool Marketing Channel." New Zealand merino wool industry was selected as the region and channel of study due to the unique opportunity to study an entire value chain from raw material to end consumer in which all channel participants have been forced to radically innovate as a result of various exogenous and endogenous shocks.

In addition, the students had opportunities to experience hands-on other industries vital to the New Zealand economy through vineyard visits and extreme tourism experiences such as white water rafting and swimming with dolphins.

The tour is being offered jointly by University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES) and College of Business (BUS) with financial and administrative support being provided by Illinois Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and the Illinois MBA Graduate Marketing Association (GMA.)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
College of Business
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