{"id":1565,"date":"2012-08-03T17:59:10","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T21:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/study-abroad\/?p=1565"},"modified":"2024-01-29T12:10:54","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T17:10:54","slug":"visiting-a-fortune-200-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/visiting-a-fortune-200-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting a Fortune 200 Company by Tait Sorenson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Tech Data<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Friday, we visited the Fortune 200 company, Tech Data. Tech Data is a wholesale distributor of technology products and enjoyed over $24 billion in net sales for 2011.\u00a0 Coincidentally, Tech Data is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida.\u00a0 At the Tech Data facility in San Jose, Costa Rica, we learned about the Costa Rican culture and more do\u2019s\u00a0 and do not\u2019s, as well as, some interesting managerial concepts from our presenter Greg, the General Manager of this operations center.<\/p>\n<p>Costa Rica\u2019s culture offers many unique aspects that make it a breathtaking country to visit and carry out business with.\u00a0 Greg provided a variety of fast facts of the culture.\u00a0 For instance, due to the population explosion over the recent few decades, residents cannot drive their car for one day a week, which helps reduce congestion and pollution.\u00a0 Secondly, Costa Rica has a high regard for the right of employees as it is illegal to fire employees who begin to date each other (it is all about the love).\u00a0 In addition, a person who is from the USA should not refer to oneself as American because if they are America then who is a person from Peru, Belize, or Canada.\u00a0 It is wise for a person from the USA to refer to themselves as a \u201cGringo\/Gringa.\u201d One last do not, is to do not bring calla lilies to a meeting or a greeting as they represent funerals.\u00a0 In Costa Rican culture, there are many, many more do\u2019s and do not\u2019s.\u00a0 All of these are equally important to a person who is not aware and help oneself become more respectful and respected, which is everything in the international business environment.<\/p>\n<p>Greg also shared some of his managerial philosophies that he has put in place to help motivate his team.\u00a0 The first concept is actually the borrowed catch-phrase from Lou Holtz, former Norte Dame football coach, \u201dPlay like a champion today.\u201d This is a sign that Notre Dame football players were to touch before taking the field. Lou Holtz used this sign as a reminder that every player (or TechData employee) is where they are because someone supported each individual to allow them to become the person they are now and has the responsibility to give every ounce of effort and \u201cplay like a champion.\u201d Greg has placed this same sign up next to the time-clock, which helps every employee work with determination, focus, and effort.\u00a0 As we toured the facility, we got the goose bumps as we observed all the employees walking by, touching the sign.\u00a0 Another amazing philosophy was Greg\u2019s idea of 212 degrees.\u00a0 He explained that the difference of one degree or one percentage of effort can be the difference of success and failure.\u00a0 In more depth, water does not boil at 211 degrees, it boils at 212.\u00a0 At 212 degrees, water turns into steam, and it is steam that powered trains as countries, like the USA, entered the industrial age and became a world economic power. These two concepts can move mountains and helps companies like Tech Data continue to grow on a global stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tech Data On Friday, we visited the Fortune 200 company, Tech Data. Tech Data is a wholesale distributor of technology products and enjoyed over $24 billion in net sales for 2011.\u00a0 Coincidentally, Tech Data is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida.\u00a0 At the Tech Data facility in San Jose, Costa Rica, we learned about the Costa Rican &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/visiting-a-fortune-200-company\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Visiting a Fortune 200 Company by Tait Sorenson<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,7],"tags":[23],"coauthors":[685],"class_list":["post-1565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-costa-rica-business","category-study-abroad","tag-costa-rica-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Visiting a Fortune 200 Company by Tait Sorenson - Center for International Programs<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/visiting-a-fortune-200-company\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Visiting a Fortune 200 Company by Tait Sorenson - Center for International Programs\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tech Data On Friday, we visited the Fortune 200 company, Tech Data. 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