Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit mastered the art of the business meeting in order to attract East Asian businesses to Southeast Ohio.
After her eight-day excursion to Japan, Benoit strengthened relationships with Japanese businesses as a way to convince them to develop locations in Southeast Ohio.
“The primary purpose of meeting with businesses was to introduce them to Southeast Ohio … and to the research assets that we have with the university,” she said.
Benoit discussed the assets of Ohio University and its midwestern location, such as the quality of life, international population and institutional research.
Joe Shields, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate College, accompanied Benoit and provided information on the research that would most interest the corporations they visited, such as OU’s shale research.
When Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) employees visited Athens recently, they most appreciated the pace of the town compared to Tokyo, Benoit said.
“People who came to visit from Japan had a very positive visit here and encouraged us to talk with businesses here,” she said.
To build these connections, Benoit worked with Chris Thompson, director of linguistics, who served as a translator and showed her the proper ways to conduct a business meeting in Japan.
The trip cost $3,733 each for Benoit, Thompson and Shields, which included round-trip airfare, rail passes and hotel costs.
Benoit said polite businesspeople should begin by correctly handing over their business card, observing the other person’s business card carefully, and ending the meeting after the tea is finished.
“We were very careful to try to follow the rules,” she said.
Benoit has visited Japan once before as a part of OU’s network with Japan. OU began relations with Chubu University in 1973 to facilitate student and faculty exchange.
“It’s been critical for students at Ohio University to be able to study Japanese language, culture and history, and it’s been equally important for Japanese students to study English and experience American life,” said Ann Fidler, chief of staff to the provost and chief financial officer.
Through this relationship, Chubu gifted OU cherry blossom trees at the 175th and bicentennial anniversaries.
Chubu has taken on similar attributes of OU, such as the cupola light structures and a room in the library featuring books printed by Ohio University Press.
OU is already planning a trip back to Japan in the fall in order to speak with Japanese businesses again and contribute to the tsunami relief effort in Iwate.
“It’s one of our oldest partnerships with an international university, and it’s important to both institutions,” Fidler said.
dk123111@ohiou.edu
