Global Journey Blog vol.3 -Hiyori Miyagi-

Hello, this is Miyagi Hiyori!

As November begins, the first semester of my study abroad journey is already halfway done. It's hard to believe that it's been just two months since I arrived in Minnesota at the end of August. 

Each day has been so fulfilling, but with the recent start of course registration for the next semester, I'm also acutely aware of how quickly time is passing.

Around late October, we even had some days with snow, and my winter attire hadn't quite caught up with the sudden temperature change. However, thanks to the university providing knit hats, down jackets, and scarves, I've managed to cope with the cold. 

The university's perfect support for international students unaccustomed to the extreme winter, given their annual experience, is truly remarkable.

Now, after completing my fall break last month, the first semester of my study abroad is already halfway done. In this blog, I'd like to share what I've been learning daily in my major, Business.

One of my focuses within Business is Marketing, alongside Management and Accounting. I'd like to talk about Marketing and Management, which I find particularly interesting.

1. If I Were to Start a New Business

In my Management class, we were given an assignment to "Develop a new business idea of your own." While I hadn't been particularly interested in business before, I managed to come up with one idea.

It's a food delivery service called "QuickBites." Its unique selling point is speed and the other features are as follows:

• QuickBites is a new food delivery service that prides itself on speed.

• It can deliver orders from any restaurant within 30 minutes.

• The key to its speed is an AI-driven inventory management system and customer purchase predictions.

• The pricing is slightly higher than other services.

The reason I came up with this idea is that I had an experience just a few days before this assignment. 

I decided to order dinner with a friend using UberEats. We chose a taco place not too far from school, expecting the food to be delivered in about 30 minutes. However, even after the expected time had passed, our order hadn't been placed, and we ended up waiting for two hours, only for the order to be canceled without our consent.

This experience made me realize the necessity of a delivery service that ensures swift and reliable delivery for any order, leading to the creation of my new business idea.

This taught me that sometimes, small experiences like thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice if there was such a service/product?" can lead to new business ideas.

In my Management class, I enjoy tackling assignments that encourage individual creativity and imagination.

2. Making the Most of Acquired Knowledge

Moving on to my Marketing class, I'd like to share what we're currently working on.

In this class, we are not only learning the basics of Marketing but also collaborating with local nonprofit organizations to develop business strategies.

My group is partnering with an organization that rescues and finds foster homes for abandoned cats and dogs. We are working on increasing external investments and developing marketing strategies to find more foster parents.

For instance, this organization primarily relies on Facebook for advertising, so we suggested focusing on promotion through Instagram. But our role is not limited to just suggesting; we also need to use our knowledge of social media marketing to plan content and posting schedules for Instagram.

In addition, we're conducting research on past foster parents and analyzing other organizations with similar activities, all while dividing responsibilities within the group.

Although we face challenges in meetings with the organization's representatives and group communication, it's satisfying to apply what we've learned to real-world economic activities.

In Conclusion

In this blog, I introduced two of the courses I'm currently taking, but there are many more fascinating aspects and insights to share. I plan to regularly share my learning experiences in future blogs.

Thank you for always reading my blog! In the next one, I'll showcase my school life routine and introduce my favorite study spots and cafes.

Stay tuned!