Ateneans top X-Culture once again

Following the successful representation of Ateneo De Manila University in Poland last July 2023, LAS 144.70 students continue to shine globally in X-Culture. Last semester, Stephen Bradley Lao, Eleonor Mae Gilera, and Kimberly Acosta from the John Gokongwei School of Management enlisted in LAS 144.70, joining X-Culture as part of the subject curriculum. They were put into global teams and started their journey to becoming part of the top 9 out of a total of 6,400 students from over 140 universities across 70 countries in the six continents.

X-Culture is a professional association dedicated to developing and disseminating knowledge about international business. Students are able to learn through experiences with real-life problems of real businesses given to them as the company challenge. They work on this challenge as a GVT or a global virtual team. Each member comes from a different country to contribute to the internationality of the project. This is integrated into the curriculum of LAS 144.70 Cross Cultural Communication of Ms Mary Lou Cunanan.

The students and their teammates chose their respective companies to work on, Stephen and his team 704 chose My Better Batch, a proudly women-owned and USA-based small business that produces cookie mix boxes with the mission to to create a cookie with better than homemade taste in a fraction of the time.

Eleonor and her team 715 chose Mastermedia, the largest exporter of Polish foods and consistently works with the best suppliers to effectively increase sales in multiple foreign channels.

Finally, Kimberly and her team 741 chose Wheelstair, home to innovative solutions to accommodate all. Based in Poland, the company focuses on being a disability equipment supplier known to have the most advanced solution to the problem of wheelchairs and stairs.

The students and their teams created reports addressing the challenges of their chosen company and were evaluated by up to 7 experts along multiple dimensions, such as report creativity, clarity, the viability of the ideas, style, as well as evaluation of each report section. They were able to beat the odds out of 1,200 teams and the fierce competition of 31 nearly perfect reports to make it to the top 9. The students have been invited to join an in-person Global Business Symposium of X-Culture to be held in Chiang Rai, Thailand, this coming July, and have also been invited to the invitational-only X-Culture Coaching Program. These are opportunities only offered to the top percentile of X-Culture participants.

Ms Mary Lou Cunanan has once again shown her OBF spirit through her students. This is the second time her students have managed to top X-Culture and have garnered invitations to the Global Business Symposium and Coaching Program. Her course (LAS 144.70 Cross Cultural Communication) is open every semester to all students, including those from outside of JGSOM, who wish to learn about international business and cross cultural communication. Ateneo is the first and only university in the Philippines to offer the X-Culture Program in its curriculum, a testament to its world-class education. They have constantly produced globally competitive students through their dedication and commitment to innovative and excellent education.

On behalf of X-Culture, I hope to see Ateneans continue to show their excellence in X-Culture as the semester continues. For the mentioned Ateneas, I hope to see you in Thailand, this July. If you wish to read the reports of the students, feel free to visit the X-Culture website to access their reports.

• X-Culture Ateneo Overview
• Ateneo X-Culture Program Experience