Local employees travel internationally for work

Work travel accounted for 19% of global travel and tourism expenditure in 2022, down only 1% from 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statista. As the world has opened back up for travel post-pandemic, the advantages of traveling for work are many: Meeting in-person helps to build stronger relationships, strengthen communication and deepen understanding across cultures within a company. And the insight gained can be brought back and applied to the day-to-day operations of the company.

Here, three local employees discuss what they’ve learned from traveling abroad on work trips and how it’s helped them in their jobs back home: BioKyowa quality manager Kitrina Prino shares about her travels to Japan, Procter & Gamble Family Care Cape Girardeau integrated work systems director Arnold Brewer shares about his travels to France, and Cap America senior vice president of overseas operations Sarah Page shares about her travels to Bangladesh, China and Vietnam.

Kitrina Prino and her colleague from BioKyowa explore sites in Japan while on a work trip. This was the first time Prino traveled abroad.

Kitrina Prino

BioKyowa Quality Manager

Japan

Kitrina Prino, quality manager at BioKyowa in Cape Girardeau, traveled abroad for the first time in July 2023, to go to Tokyo for a week-long qualitative department meeting with BioKyowa’s parent company KHB, which is headquartered in Japan. As a company that makes amino acids, the BioKyowa plant in Cape Girardeau is the company’s only manufacturing site in the United States; at the meeting, representatives from the organization’s other sister plants in Thailand, China and Japan were also present.

In addition to being her first time abroad, this trip also marked Prino’s first time flying in an airplane — a flight that was a little longer than 13 hours; before this trip, she says she had rarely left Missouri.

Kitrina Prino from BioKyowa goes out to dinner with colleagues in Tokyo, Japan. (Submitted by Kitrina Prink)

“I have never really branched out much. I’m very humbled here in Missouri — I like being here; I was very scared to go to Tokyo,” Prino said. “But I definitely encourage everyone to take those jumps and go explore. Go see new places. I would do it a hundred times again.”

While there, Prino says she discovered many workers in Japan have a hard work ethic; she says they shut the lights off in the office building at 8 p.m. each night, so employees have to go home. In addition, she learned about communicating effectively: Patience and understanding are two virtues she’s applied to her work since being in Japan.

“I talk very fast with a very Southern accent — they don’t understand half of what I’m saying, but they were so patient with me, trying to convey what I needed and … what they needed,” Prino said. “That is definitely something that I took away, was how to better communicate, how to be more patient and understanding of the differences in cultures.”

Prino traveled with one of her coworkers who is originally from Japan; in addition to working, they also got to explore the culture while there. Prino’s favorite part was visiting shrines and temples: At one, they got to see a traditional Japanese wedding occurring, which Prino says she learned is rare; she says she felt “humbled” by being there to witness it.

The cleanliness of the city of 13.96 million people struck Prino; there are no public garbage cans or trash anywhere, she says. Her coworker told her it is because the people who live in the city use reusable cutlery, plates and cups, rather than to-go items like in America. Prino says there is also an absence of siren sounds. The food, too, is different: Prino says it is all very fresh, and portion sizes are much smaller — a “large” drink at Starbucks is like a “small” in America.

Prino says traveling for work is beneficial because it allows employees to better understand how the work they do fits with the work others are doing within the company’s different locations.

“[Travel] allows others to see we’re all on a different path, but we all have different motivations, and seeing those other cultures, their experiences, what they are working towards, definitely helps to open our eyes up to the bigger picture,” Prino said.

A view of Amiens, France, is photographed by Arnold Brewer who recently traveled there to visit their P&G plant. (Submittted by Arnold Brewer)

Arnold Brewer

Procter & Gamble Family Care Cape Girardeau Intergrated Work Systems Director

France

As the family care Cape Girardeau integrated work systems director at Procter & Gamble, Arnold Brewer is responsible for maintaining various work systems used to eliminate losses within the organization.

To see how other Procter & Gamble sites across the world are doing this, he recently traveled with four colleagues to Amiens, France, and Blois, France, to see the ways plants there are implementing “world-class” practices, which is part of the company’s mission.

While there, Brewer and his colleagues benchmarked the differences between what the French sites do differently from the Cape Girardeau site and how they can apply what works well for the French sites in Cape. Brewer said he realized how discipline seems to be “ingrained” in French culture.

As Family Care Cape Girardeau Integrated Work Systems director, Arnold Brewer visits P&G plants around the world to observe "world-class" practices.

“Within P&G, it doesn’t matter if you’re in the U.S. or if you’re outside of the U.S., we utilize the same systems and have a very similar approach,” Brewer said. “The thing that we noticed more than anything else was just the discipline that they had [in France] whenever it came to those various systems. … That rigor that they had in those systems was just a whole other level.”

In France, Brewer looked at each site’s Compelling Business Needs (CBN) to see what drives the employees to achieve world-class results. He found the Blois site had a unique, strong statement that tied to elements that are a part of the city, such as including an image of the Jacques-Gabriel Bridge the city is known for with the goals and mission statement for the site. This helped create a culture of local pride for employees, which translated to their work.

Arnold Brewer poses with associates at the P&G plant in France. There are P&G plants in Amiens, France, and Blois, France.

From this idea, Brewer revised Cape Girardeau’s CBN to include more elements from the Southeast Missouri region. He rolled out the new CBN at the site’s recent engagement event, at which Procter & Gamble employees discuss their goals for the year and serve the local community. This year, approximately 300 employees worked at 28 service projects throughout the area over two days.

Brewer has also visited the P&G site in Canada on business travel, as well. He said travel can help people understand the similarities between cultures and workplaces.

“Whenever it comes to the folks in the U.S. or the people in France, you could see that there’s so many similarities there, and it’s just always about understanding the people and what are the things that drive them to want to achieve greatness?” Brewer said. “You just have to understand that as a leader.”

Sarah Page

Cap America senior vice president of overseas operations

Bangladesh, China and Vietnam

Sarah Page, Cap America senior vice president of overseas operations, loves travel: She studied abroad in Great Britain while in college and has continued traveling while working at Cap America in Fredericktown, Missouri.

One to two times each year, Page takes two-week trips to develop and maintain relationships with Cap America’s overseas partners in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh. She also travels abroad to find other factories to work with and has been to Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, Nicaragua and Mexico for this endeavor.

Page says although communicating by utilizing technology works well, it is important to physically be in the facilities with their partners face-to-face, as well as to eat together and get to know their partners.

While in-country, Page and her team of colleagues tour the factories to check for compliance, meet new team members and see new machinery the factory is implementing. She also meets with executives at the factories to discuss topics such as tariffs, pricing, production time, new decorating techniques and new fabrics being utilized in markets outside of the U.S.

Page says people in China, Bangladesh and Vietnam are a dedicated workforce, which is proven by the fact that the area she travels to is the leading manufacturing region in the world.

“At the end of the day, we all work to make money. And that is a … commonality between all of our cultures. And we can partner with these people,” Page said. “They want the quality, they want the workmanship, they want to do as much as they can for productivity, and … in turn, we’re wanting to sell as much as we can.”

Outside of work while in China, Page has visited the Great Wall of China, the Beijing Olympic Village and the Tsingtao Brewery Museum in Qingdao, China. One of her favorite countries she’s traveled to is Bangladesh; she says she enjoyed visiting temples and gaining a better understanding of Buddhist culture there.

Page says it’s interesting to understand how different parts of the world affect each other. From their profits, Cap America makes contributions to the local schools in Fredericktown and Marquand, Missouri, where many of their approximately 400 employees’ children attend school. They also are active in the Salvation Army and Camp Hope, a military veterans organization in Farmington, Missouri.

“By utilizing these overseas connections, it does help us to then take what we’re able to accomplish and put that out into our communities,” Page said. “Cap America is a big part of Madison County, and it’s because we’re able to do this type of business that we’ve been able to help those in our own communities … those overseas partners are in essence helping the residents of Madison County. It’s a mutual connection. It’s very cool.”

Page says traveling for work has helped her to be more organized, which she says is a necessity when doing her work on an iPad, laptop or phone during long days traveling from country to country. She says traveling helps people become more well-rounded.

“Travel is something that in order to really, truly understand the way the world works, you have to do it,” Page said.

Governor, lt. governor promote Missouri on international trade missions

With more than 700 international companies in Missouri, according to “Welcome to the Middle of America: U.S. Midwest offers affordable labor, low taxes and friendly faces” from Investment Monitor, Gov. Mike Parson and Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe work to strengthen relationships with business leaders who already have a presence in Missouri and to encourage business leaders whose corporations are not currently located in Missouri to help them consider investing in the state through international trade missions.

The goal of trade missions, according to Parson’s office, is to “build relationships with key international figures to promote Missouri’s strong capacity for trade.”

In November 2023, Kehoe traveled to Germany for a trade mission, where he met with executives from Boeing, Merck and BASF, as well as Lufthansa Airlines, to discuss expanding the number of flights between Germany and Missouri, according to the story “Kehoe Represents Missouri in His First-Ever Trade Mission Overseas” from Missourinet.

Parson traveled on a trade mission to Japan in October 2023. His visit marked the first time in 20 years a Missouri governor has visited Japan on a trade mission, according to the story “I-70 improvement project part of Parson’s business talks in Japan” from Fox 2 Now.

The story stated Missouri’s largest trading partners are Canada, Mexico, China, Japan and Belgium; in 2022, Missouri exported $455 million in goods to Japan, including processed foods, chemicals and electronic products. While in Japan, Parson met with Hitachi, Kawasaki, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nidec, Panasonic, Toyoda Gosei (TG Missouri), and ZEN-NOH.

“Missouri has historic ties to Japan, and we look forward to strengthening this vital international relationship through our Trade Mission,” Parson said in a news release. “Leading Japanese companies are already operating in our state, contributing to our economic growth and creating jobs for Missourians. We are excited to promote Missouri as a prime business location and to encourage continued investment and mutual success.”

In March 2023, Parson traveled to Sweden and Germany on a trade mission. In 2022, Missouri exported $29 million of goods to Sweden, including electrical equipment and fabricated metal products, and $680 million of goods to Germany, including chemicals and pharmaceutical products. While in Sweden, Parson met with executives from DeLeval, a global leader in milking equipment for dairy farms, which has a presence in Missouri, in addition to participating in a multi-sector and ag-tech roundtable. In Germany, he met with executives from Merck KGaA, Heraeus and Lufthansa Airlines.

Parson embarked on his first trade mission in 2019 to France, Germany and Switzerland; later that year, he also went on a trade mission to Australia. In March 2022, he traveled to the United Kingdom and Ireland for a trade mission, followed by a trade mission to Israel, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Greece in November 2022.

Trade missions are funded by the Hawthorn Foundation, which is funded by businesses across Missouri. For more information, visit hawthornfoundation.org.

No upcoming trade missions are currently announced.