http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=275917
商務旅行 找外僑校友幫忙
2010/10/07
Expatriates, Making Travel Less Foreign
【By MICHAEL T. LUONGO／王麗娟譯】
Most travel Web sites offer enough information to leisure travelers to make their trip a good one. But business travelers often have different needs. So some are now tapping into alumni and expatriate associations to make personal connections based on shared language, culture and experiences.
多數旅遊網站均可提供休閒旅客充分資訊，讓他們有趟愉快的旅行。不過商務旅客的需求往往不同。因此，有些商務旅客正利用校友或是外僑的社團，透過共同的語言、文化與經驗建立人脈。
Amanda Vega, 35, who runs the social media and public relations firm Amanda Vega Consulting, said advice from expatriates helped her expand her “comfort zone” rather than “take the safe bet and stay at Four Seasons or a Ritz.”
35歲的亞曼達‧維嘉，是社交媒體與公關公司「亞曼達‧維嘉顧問」的經營者。她說，外僑提供的建議，幫她擴大了「舒適圈」，不必再「打安全牌，下榻四季飯店或是麗池」。
A member of the business group Entrepreneurs’ Organization, she asked for advice on Italy and Spain from overseas members on “hotels that are not touristy and will fulfill my needs.” The recommendations, she said, “led not only to something more affordable and gave me all the amenities I needed, but put me in the center of things, and I made new contacts.”
維嘉是商業團體「企業家組織」的成員，她向組織的外國會員尋求有關義大利與西班牙的建議，問「哪些飯店沒那麼多觀光客，又能滿足我的需求」。她說，他們的建議「不僅讓我找到便宜、滿足我所有舒適要求的飯店，一切以我為中心，而且我還找到新門路」。
Cathy Moore, 49, from Bloomington, Indiana, creates Webbased training programs for companies. She said she was “the kind of person who can work anywhere in the world,” provided she had a strong Internet link to speak with clients by Skype.
來自美國印第安納州布魯明頓，49歲的凱西‧摩爾，專替各公司設計網路上的訓練課程。她說，只要有強大的網路連結，讓她透過Skype與客戶談話，她「在世上任何地方都能工作」。
“I use expat sites to find out about Internet access, neighborhoods to stay in, visa requirements and expat social events,” she said. After chatting with members of Yolisto.com, a Web site for expatriates in Mexico, she chose Merida over Guadalajara as a base of operations in Latin America for late fall. She had ruled out Bolivia after chatting with an expatriate in Uruguay she met through the site Sociedad Southron.
她說：「我利用外僑網站了解當地上網是否方便，我所待地區的環境，簽證要求，以及外僑的社交活動。」和墨西哥外僑網站Yolisto.com的成員聊過後，她選擇美里達而非瓜達拉哈納市做為今年秋末拉丁美洲的營運基地。在和她在Sociedad Southron網站遇見的一名烏拉圭外僑聊過後，她排除了玻利維亞。
“Hotel reviews in TripAdvisor and similar tourism sites are only slightly helpful,” she said . “Expat sites tell me more.”
她說：「TripAdvisor或類似觀光網站的飯店評介幫助不大。外僑網站告訴我更多。」
Expatriate groups also work for travelers to the United States. Trevor Doerksen, 40, is the chief executive of MoboVivo, a company in Alberta that helps broadcasters put shows on multiple electronic platforms. Looking to expand into the United States, he contacted C100, a Canadian expatriate group in California’s Silicon Valley . He said the group’s mentor network linked “Canadians working in the valley who could help Canadian entrepreneurs who wanted to work in the valley and build strategic relationships.”
外僑團體對來美國的旅客也有用處。40歲的崔佛‧杜爾森是加拿大亞伯達省「莫伯維佛」公司的執行長，該公司主要協助廣電業者把節目放上多種電子平台。尋求向美國進軍之際，他與加州矽谷的加拿大外僑團體C100接觸。他說，該團體的「導師網絡」可連結「在矽谷工作的加國人，可為想至矽谷工作並建立策略關係的加國企業家提供協助」。
The group’s events allowed him to meet “Colombians, Germans, Iranians and Russians, gathered together to pitch to local investors.” He called his visits “an awesome success,” leading to the opening of a Silicon Valley office.
這個團體的活動讓他遇見了「哥倫比亞、德國、伊朗、俄羅斯人，聯手向當地投資者遊說」。他稱他的旅行「成功到不行」，最後還在矽谷設了辦公室。
Reuben Metcalfe, a 23-yearold New Zealander, started the company Free Procurement last year and was his country’s winner for the 2010 Global Young Entrepreneurs of the Year award. In January, he visited New York to receive the prize, and he says he thought, “How do I leverage this opportunity the absolute most?”
23歲的紐西蘭人魯本‧麥卡夫去年開創「免費採購」公司，且是「年度全球青年企業家獎」2010年紐西蘭的得獎人。1月他到紐約領獎，他說腦子浮現「如何讓這次機會發揮最大效益」的念頭。
He contacted the American Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand and his own country’s trade office. They put him in touch with Geoff Andrews, North America regional manager for Kea, a New Zealand expatriate alliance. Mr. Andrews, 65, who is based in New York, said New Zealand had a uniquely high expatriate population, with 750,000 citizens living abroad out of a population of over four million.
於是他開始連絡紐西蘭的美國商會以及紐西蘭的貿易局。他們協助他與紐西蘭外僑聯盟「基亞」的北美區經理吉歐夫‧安德魯斯取得連繫。65歲，住在紐約的安德魯斯說，紐西蘭旅外僑民特多，人口400餘萬，旅外僑民即有75萬。
Mr. Metcalfe said that Mr. Andrews “was really helpful.” He said that he met with New Zealanders working for major corporations in New York. “It’s helpful,” he said, “to speak with people who are from where you are from, and learn from their mistakes.”
麥卡夫說，安德魯斯「真的幫了大忙」。他說他和在紐約大公司任職的紐西蘭人會面。他說：「真的很有幫助。能和來自同一國家的人談話，從他們的錯誤中學習。」
Alumni networks can provide a similar introduction, but they seem underused . Margaret J. Young, 54, chief executive of the marketing firm Mill Square Group and a Harvard Business School alumnae, said her company is developing Web-based platforms for college groups to improve business networking, most of which she said was usually now “one on one and informal.”
校友網絡也可提供類似的引介，卻未被充分利用。54歲的瑪格麗特‧楊格是行銷公司「磨坊廣場集團」的執行長，也是哈佛商學院的女校友。她說她的公司正替大學團體開發網路平台，以改善商業聯絡網，她表示，現今的聯絡網通常是「一對一而且非正式」。
But there are exceptions. Roman S. Ponos, who received a master’s degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona, said he had relied on alumni advice in numerous cases. Mr. Ponos, 42, is a vice president of Carana, an economic development corporation.
但也有例外。在亞利桑納州格蘭岱爾的「雷鳥全球管理學院」取得碩士學位的羅曼‧波諾斯說，他常靠校友提供建議。42歲的波諾斯是經濟開發公司「卡拉納」的副總裁。
Based in Jerusalem, he has visited more than 20 countries on business . He said that when he traveled he looked at his school’s alumni Web site to “see who was born there or who has worked there, and due to the nature of the school, I always find someone.”
波諾斯住在耶路撒冷，已因公旅行廿餘國。他說每回都會去查學校的校友網站，「了解什麼人在那裡出生，或是在那裡工作，因為學校性質的關係，他總能找到這樣的人。」
Mr. Doerksen, the MoboVivo chief executive, said more people should consider reaching out to alumni and expatriate groups. “It is fantastic networking,” he said. “It costs you nothing.”
MoboVivo執行長杜爾森說，應該有更多人考慮和校友、外僑團體接觸才對。他說：「那是很棒的聯絡網。一毛錢也不用花。」
【2010-10-05/聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS】
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