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While assisting their Australian clients ahead of the introduction of the , organisers say the Mexico program has exposed students to a process of experiential and integrated learning, so called 鈥榤essy鈥� or ill-defined problems and an opportunity to deepen partnerships with external stakeholders.听

Mexico is the second largest and most interconnected economy on the continent and government reforms have opened up new opportunities for Australian business.听

鈥淢exico's network of free trade agreements is a strategic gateway to the Americas,鈥� said Mexico鈥檚 Trade Commissioner to Australia, Esau Garza. 鈥淣ow that both Australia and Mexico have signed TPP-11,鈥痶hese trade and investment links will only strengthen.鈥澨�

鈥淭he projects with the University of Sydney are a great way to raise the awareness among Australian companies and identify real business opportunities鈥痜or the participating companies and students,鈥� Mr Garza said.

Before going to Mexico, students formed small consulting teams, each of which was allocated to a local company interested in learning more about business opportunities in the country. 鈥淭his allowed the students, who are studying for a Master of International Business, to put all their acquired knowledge into practice,鈥澨齭aid unit lecturer Dr听.

鈥淚n Mexico, the students worked on their projects and engaging with industry bodies, suppliers, customers and consultants. They were required to analyse possible markets for their Australian clients, establish cross-cultural relationships, develop strategic options and design international business operations.鈥澨�

The program was strongly supported by Australia鈥檚 trade promotion organisation, Austrade, and its Mexican counterpart,听ProMexico.听

"Austrade Mexico supported the program as it demonstrated how international trade can contribute to Australia鈥檚 economic prosperity in a very real and practical way," said Australian Trade Commissioner to Mexico and Central America, Dr听Nicholas Baker, who is based in Mexico City.

"Sydney students got to see and experience firsthand how their market research and insights can help Australian businesses develop international markets and promote their products and capabilities. The group also learned that not all markets are the right fit."

One of the participating companies, Tractile, worked with a team of students to investigate manufacturing opportunities in Mexico for its unique solar-roofing system.听

"The feasibility study gave us excellent insights into investing in Mexico, the partnerships and pitfalls 鈥� Tractile will certainly follow up with the contacts made to explore setting up a manufacturing facility," said company director听Bertio听Terpstra.听
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"I was very impressed with the number of senior people the team met and the detailed information extracted," Mr Terpstra said. "The preparation by the University of Sydney for this case study was efficient and there was little effort required by us. The turnaround was听fast听and the results are very useful."

The students rapidly came to understand that their studies needed to be "translated" into the real world, said Dr听Mees-Buss. 鈥淭he problems they were presented with were not so clean-cut as most of the case studies in their textbooks and they had to figure out which tools to pull out of their analytical toolbox in order to tackle the problems," she said.

Austrade鈥檚 Dr听Nic听Baker said: "The program was both practical and educational and the graduates involved are the international business development managers of the future."