About the author


  • Name: Emily Commer
    Occupation: Researching Environmentally Sustainable Business Systems for a Fulbright Grant to Germany
    Education: University of Cooperative Education in Mosbach, Germany; California State University (CSU) in San Marcos, California
    Major: Global Business Management Degrees in Germany and U.S.
    Language: German
    Study Abroad: CSU Study Abroad Program in Germany
    Awards: Benjamin Gilman Scholarship from the Institute
    for International Education; Dr. Bronner Scholarship for Global Understanding
  • This bio was accurate at the time this article was printed.

Marketing Porsche, Germany

By Emily Commer
This article was printed in Abroad View fall 2004

One of the most difficult aspects of interning in a foreign country is finding the internship. I participated in a yearlong study abroad program in Germany through the California State University system. The program required that I write a thesis based on work experience in a foreign country. I began applying in November for internships starting the following May. It is well advised to start as early as possible. In Germany, and throughout most of Europe, the standard resume or CV looks very different from what Americans are used to. One of the biggest differences is that you are required to submit your picture along with your resume. Although this would be considered discriminatory in the U.S., I was happy to comply and found that it was worthwhile to pay a little extra for a nice photo. I was also informed that my CV should include information about my family, my marital status and when and where I was born.

Once I had put my resume together, in both German and English, I had a German colleague look it over. I applied to a number of large international companies as well as some smaller firms. After months of rejection letters, I began to get discouraged. I found out that internships are often given to relatives of employees, making it very hard for someone with no connections. I began sending emails to family friends, asking if anyone had colleagues working in Germany. I was able to get the name of a manager who worked for a subsidiary of Porsche AG at its research and development headquarters in Stuttgart. He was happy to personally deliver my resume to the appropriate person, and I was called to interview for a marketing internship.

The interview was conducted with the marketing director and human resources manager. It was done completely in German, which made me feel more uneasy than usual. Luckily, I had practiced interviewing with German colleagues in order to prepare my answers in German and familiarize myself with the style of German interviews. I was asked a few questions that I wasn’t prepared for, as they related to my nationality. At the time, the war in Iraq had just begun and there was a lot of anti-American sentiment in Europe. I was asked how my nationality might hurt or help the firm and how I would deal with any anti-American sentiment in the workplace.

A week later I was surprised and excited that Porsche AG offered me the position and sent a contract and all the necessary paperwork. I had already obtained a student visa to study abroad, and I simply went to the local city hall and asked that it be extended until the end of my internship period on the basis that the internship was in
relation to my studies.

On my first day at Porsche AG, I was shown around the office, introduced to co-workers, and told what my 6-month project would entail. I sat down with my manager and the human resources manager once again to discuss both short-term and long-term goals. I was to update the company’s communication guidelines for the Porsche Engineering Group. As a subsidiary of Porsche AG, the communication guidelines needed to match the guidelines of the parent firm. I, therefore, had to familiarize myself with the design guidelines of the Porsche AG, from auto show displays to Porsche dealership designs to PowerPoint presentations. My daily tasks would consist of studying the guidelines, creating PowerPoint presentations in both English and German, contacting the U.S. subsidiaries to inform them of marketing design changes, updating Porsche Engineering Guidelines in collaboration with the firm’s advertising agency and translating marketing documents.

After about a month, I finally started feeling comfortable in the workplace. The first fewweeks had been draining, as I was bombarded with new German words, different dialects, unfamiliar last names that were both hard to remember and pronounce and workplace etiquette. Every morning it was customary to shake hands with everyone in the office and say “guten morgen.” After getting used to all this and feeling more comfortable with my language ability, I was able to blend a little better. I still encountered daily obstacles due to my limited language skills and, thus, put an extra half-hour a day into learning German automotive and business terms. When all the colleagues in my office simultaneously went on vacation, I was forced to field phone calls for a week. It was treacherous, and mistakes were surely made, but overall I learned a lot from the difficult situations.

After three months of working on the design guidelines and creating presentations, my boss approached me with a proposal. I was about to begin writing my thesis, and my boss suggested that I consider a marketing analysis of how the U.S. subsidiaries of Porsche Engineering differ from the German parent company. In order to accurately analyze the situation, my boss proposed that I travel to the U.S. and visit the subsidiaries located in Troy, MI and Huntington Beach, CA. I was already surprised at the level of responsibility thus far afforded to me as an intern and even more surprised that I was being sent on a business trip. It is important to know that I was the only American working in the Porsche Engineering headquarters in Germany. Therefore, I was well qualified to observe the U.S. subsidiaries without making the American workers feel like they were being “watched” by the Germans. Since my only experience with Porsche had been in Germany, I was also qualified to analyze the marketing initiatives in the U.S. and make sure they were up to par with the design guidelines created in Germany.

After three weeks visiting the U.S. subsidiaries, I began to write my follow-up reports and thesis. Before the internship was over I would present copies of the thesis to the CEOs of each of the American subsidiaries as well as the board of directors in Germany. I would also present the information through PowerPoint to the management and staff of Porsche Engineering. I fielded questions from colleagues and gave recommendations that were implemented within the subsidiaries.

After so much responsibility and engaging work, I knew it would be difficult to return to school for my final semester. How would a class on the new global marketplace compare to working in a dynamic international business environment with international colleagues? AV