Panel Discussion Birchtree, Pfizer, Tommy Hilfiger and The Children's Place

Terrific program organized by Bucknell University on global business. All CEO’s on the panel agreed Bucknell students made the best interns and employees. Commentary included challenges in moving money back into the United States from overseas operations, thus structure of a new startup should be carefully thought through. It was mentioned that in the retail industry there is a trend towards sourcing products from online orders through local stores, the advantages included being able to keep product flowing from inventory, better connectivity with clients, faster deliveries in some cases. Global copyright violations were an issues for all firms particularly for Pfizer. All companies treated this issue as very important to the brand image and brand name. Birchtree, Pfizer, and Tommy Hilfiger pursued violations aggressively. Companies were expanding into operations in the Middle East, China, Panama, Germany, and Latin America.

Met a “soon to be famous” up and coming, fashion mogul, Johnny Picardo. who is working at Victor Alfaro designing exquisite action clothing. Exceptionally interesting person and loved the clothes, particularly the workout clothes.