Texas Tech University

Program Intro and Day 1: Rede Globo

Joseph Kmetz

May 16, 2014

The group ready to start the tour

Over the next two weeks, we will be traveling to a variety of South American businesses to learn about cultural differences in business practices between North and South American companies - and in many cases, how international companies differ their business strategy in South America versus the United States. For the first week, we will be studying here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and next week we will be studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Welcome to the official blog for RBLP: South America 2014.  It's hard to believe the trip is finally here.  After months of planning by our faculty mentor, Dr. Mayukh Dass, and the generosity of many donors, we have finally made it to Rio de Janeiro to begin our study abroad experience with the Rawls Business Leadership Program.

Over the next two weeks, we will be traveling to a variety of South American businesses to learn about cultural differences in business practices between North and South American companies - and in many cases, how international companies differ their business strategy in South America versus the United States.  For the first week, we will be studying here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and next week we will be studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

We began the trip on May 14th from Lubbock, hustling to make sure everyone in the group made it onboard an over-booked flight to DFW.  After relaxing in the DFW airport for a few hours, we boarded our connecting flight to Miami; after a short layover there, we boarded the flight to Rio.  For international travel, the trip went surprisingly smooth.

We landed in Rio de Janeiro just before 9:00 AM, and Dean Nail met us in Rio from another connecting flight.  The Austral Group, our provider for the trip, met us at the airport to drive us about an hour across the city to our hotel in Ipanema.  The views are amazing, and the area is one of the safest in Rio.

View from Ipanema Plaza Hotel

At our first Brazilian lunch, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that food is pretty affordable here.  Based on the hotel's touristy location, I expected to pay much more than 28 Reals (about $12.60) for a buffet-style lunch of salmon, casserole, fresh fruit, and a drink.

We also visited our first company, Rede Globo, which is the largest TV network in Latin America.  The HR presenter gave us an overview of the 12,000-employee-strong company, which has broadcasting rights to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics and has won multiple Emmy Awards with its programming.  In many ways, Globo seemed to be the Hollywood of Brazil.  After learning about the company a bit, our presenter took us to some of the sets within Globo's massive facility.

The group ready to start the tour
The group ready to start the tour

 

With all the colorful buildings, the first set resembled something out of a kid's fairy tale.

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In contrast, the second set resembled the Amazon.

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With all Globo's different TV shows and soap operas ("telenovelas"), the company dismantles  and rebuilds the majority of its sets every day.  The two that we saw were permanent sets, but the intensive building-and-rebuilding operations make Globo Brazil's largest consumer of wood, paint, and nails, much of which they recycle.

The first day set great expectations for the program and we can't wait to explore Rio and Buenos Aires more in the next couple weeks!

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View of Rio from the bus