On March 5, several industry experts will join to present a one-day intensive executive inter-cultural seminar on France and the U.S., entitled Bridging the Cultural Gap: The French and American Business Worlds. Sponsored by The French Institute of Michigan/Alliance Française and Wayne State University's World Bridge, the seminar will be held in the World Bridge global education complex at Wayne State University.

This seminar will provide insight into France and the French at a crucial time of reciprocal and extensive business involvement between Michigan and French companies. Factors affecting this bilateral business environment include the European Union, the expansion of NATO, introduction of the Euro, and the global economic slowdown. Understanding this environment is especially critical given the quaking of the world economy since 9/11. The seminar is designed to provide executives with critical cultural insights which will help them to compete in this environment.

The seminar will begin with an overview of France's historical development over more than 2 millennia, and culminating in dramatic and unprecedented changes in the twentieth century. Participants will learn how values have emerged from the past and become embedded in the national psyche, determining culture and unavoidably impacting the face of the shifting present and unknown future. It will be shown how thought, manners and mores permeate economics and business. Differences between France and the US will be identified and analyzed. Finally, practical suggestions will be developed and discussed in the closing session.

The seminar features leading experts including:

Gilles Asselin
President of SoCoCo
Co-author of Au Contraire! Figuring out the French. with Ruth Mastron, Intercultural Press, 2001

The Honorable Dominique Decherf
Consul General of France in Chicago

Guy R. Mermier, Ph.D.
Author of France: Past and Present, Peter Lang, 2000

Ludmila von Taube, Ph.D.
Founder and General President
French Institute of Michigan

Attila Yaprak, Ph.D.
Professor of Marketing and International Business, and Director, Center for International Business Studies (CIBS), Wayne State University

The World Bridge Global Education Complex is the largest center for distance learning for foreign languages, cultures and corporate training in Detroit. Opened in November 2000, the complex has 275 computers connected to one of the nation's most powerful broadband fiber networks. The World Bridge serves the southeastern Michigan corporate and academic community with training programs for U.S. companies with operations abroad and foreign companies with operations in Michigan.

Wayne State University is a premier institution offering more than 350 academic programs through 14 schools and colleges to more than 31,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.

Date:
March 5, 2002

Time:
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. (registration table opens at 8:30 a.m.)

Location:
World Bridge Global Education Complex -- Room 385, Manoogian Hall, Wayne State University. Manoogian Hall is on the northeast corner of the Lodge Freeway and Warren Avenue.

Cost:
$399.00 (discount available for registration by February 28 - please make checks payable to: "The French Institute of Michigan").

To Register:
Email your name, title, company/institution name, address, and phone number to: c.m.brender@wayne.edu
Contact World Bridge at (313) 577-3022.