A Comparative Analysis of Curriculum in International Marketing and Business Between Peruvian and Guatemalan University Students

Abstract

Business education is important for economic development. A skilled workforce allows for greater advancements in productivity, the creation of new business opportunities, increased employment, and enhances the quality of life of the citizenry. With the changing international business environment it is important for academics and practitioners alike to understand the methods, techniques, and activities being used to train future business leaders. This article investigates the context, content, and delivery of business education in Peru and Guatemala. It analyzes the business education structure and curriculum content of two universities that have successfully implemented comprehensive international business programs. Data for this article was collected in Peru and Guatemala and reflects the students' perspective on the international business curriculums of their respective programs of study.

Keywords:

• Peru
• Guatemala
• economic development
• business education
• international business curriculum
• economic and social benefits
• developing nation

Notes

1. Calculations were made using data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2010).

2. Calculations were made using data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2010).

3. Calculations were based on data from the ENCOVI 2006 survey. In Spanish ENCOVI is an acronym for Encuesta Nacional de Condiciones de Vida, or National Survey on the Conditions of Life in English. It is a national survey conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE, 2006), the National Institute of Statistics in English.

4. Classifications are according to the Human Development Report of 2009 (UN, 2009).

5. Comparisons are based on the simple averages calculated using 2008 World Bank (WB, 2010) data.

6. According to calculations based on World Economic Forum (WDI, 2010) data for the simple yearly averages in the 2000–2008 period for expenditure per student in percentage terms of GDP per capita.

7. The percentile score is obtained by taking the ratio of the country's rank on a particular item to the sample size, which was 133 in 2009, and subtracting this ratio from 1. The percentile ranking is, by this method, normalized over a range from 0 to .993. It readily informs one roughly where in the yearly sample a country scores on a given item, relative to other countries. A percentile score of .55 indicates that a country scored better than approximately 55% of the countries in the world sample of 133 nations on a given item, and worse than 45%, for example.

8. On the first pillar of competitiveness, Institutions, Guatemala scores in the 19th percentile compared to Peru's score in the 32nd percentile.