Saskatchewan Students to Sell Tortillas to Mexico

There's an old expression to describe an excellent sales person: "She could sell sand in the desert." In the case of two University of Regina students, they're going to try selling tortillas made from Saskatchewan roasted barley to Mexico.

Students Chelsea Stulberg and Mathew Zook drew that assignment, thanks to winning the latest Bridges to International Practice competition at the University of Regina's Paul J. Hill School of Business. Associate Professor of Marketing Sylvain Charlebois stages the competition as an advanced marketing class, with real companies and real products.

"I meet with the executives of a company that is interested in getting involved with us before the semester actually starts," said Charlebois. "We look at what projects they want us to get involved with, and we design a course in accordance with that mandate. Every semester is different. We've had projects with five different companies, and the focus has gone from communications to channels to branding and market segmentation."

The latest project idea came from CanMar Grain Products of Regina. They agreed to sponsor the winning students' trip in exchange for their market research.

"They are in Mexico with their roasted flax, and they wanted to develop that market for roasted barley," Charlebois stated.

The class takes up a semester, during which students, generally in teams, do research on the product they've been given, and develop marketing proposals which are then presented near the end of the semester.

"They all submit their written proposals, and those proposals are read by me and the executives of the company," said Charlebois. "Then, a few teams are short-listed. Those are invited to present their proposals to a jury of six members, comprised of two representatives from the company, one from Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership, and three professors from the faculty of business."

Once the winning proposal is chosen, the students must go to work in the international market chosen, aiming to create real results for the sponsoring company.

"The idea of this advanced class is that they can actually travel abroad and collect some primary data by interviewing people and meeting prospects and consumers in a foreign country," said Charlebois.

In the case of CanMar, the students are proposing to market tortillas made from roasted barley as a more nutritional, and perhaps less expensive, alternative to the traditional corn tortillas favoured by Mexican consumers. The project means that the students, along with a faculty advisor and an executive from CanMar, will travel to the United States and Mexico in February.

"They will be meeting with potential distributors for their product in the southern U.S. as a launching pad to get into Mexico," said Charlebois. "They will move into Mexico to see whether there are potential retailers to market roasted barley."

Previous winners of the competition have traveled to China, Australia and Ukraine, among other countries, working on marketing products including Saskatchewan canola and pigs. In one case, the company involved ended up selling about 1,000 pigs through a joint venture in China.

According to Charlebois, in addition to finding new markets for the companies, the students are creating opportunities for themselves.

"We've had about 14 students who have had offers from the companies that got involved with us, so it's a great opportunity to keep our students here."

Professor Charlebois is looking for Saskatchewan companies with an interest in placing their products in offshore markets through his class. The sponsorship involves the time of the company executives and the payment of the winning students' travel costs.

"To my knowledge, this is the only program in Canada that brings students into a competitive environment where they get to travel free of charge," he said. "It's an equal opportunity for all of our students."

For more information, contact:
Sylvain Charlebois, Associate Professor of Marketing
Paul J. Hill School of Business
University of Regina
Phone: (306) 337-2695
E-mail: sylvain.charlebois@uregina.ca