Global and Entrepreneurial Perspectives for Enhancing Retailing Education: Development of a Hybrid Graduate Course Focused on U.S. and Indian Small Businesses

Abstract

This paper provides an approach, based on global and entrepreneurial perspectives, to enhance retailing education. The approach was operationalized through a hybrid graduate course, co-taught by U.S. and Indian faculty members, which focused on engaging Bloom’s higher order cognitive skills in learning about the operation of small retail businesses in U.S. and Indian cultural contexts. The course included interactive learning modules, learning activities, and a student service-learning project. The project required the application of module content in the development of business enhancement plans for small retail businesses and in assessing the plan’s applicability to small businesses in an Indian context.