The document summarizes the author's internship experience working with the Chamber of Commerce of Pau-Bearn (CCI) in France. The internship provided valuable hands-on experience in international business and marketing. As part of a social media project, the author led a team to update the city's online presence and conduct surveys to understand how to better promote Pau's sectors like aeronautics and food production to tourists and investors. The internship helped the author gain insight into working with international businesses and marketing a city, and provided useful experience and connections to further her career goals in international economics.

1. Rapport de Stage
Written by Keisha Green
I. Introduction
When planning my semester in France I was excited to discover that my study
abroad provider, USAC, would have an internship application available for exchange
students seeking employment experience for their major. I recognized the great
opportunity an internship could offer, but I did not truly comprehend how much
knowledge and experience I would gain in international business until I began
working with the Chambre de commerce.
Because I have a passion for international business, I was eager to begin my
internship with the CCI so that I could learn how business was conducted in the EU.
My overall goal is to continue a life in France and obtain my doctorates degree in
economics, so that I may become a professor later on in my career. To me,
economics is not just numbers and money, but also a representation of societies and
the people in them. Understanding economics allows me to feel that I understand
my world a little better, and I hope to take may knowledge to share it with others in
the future.
Business in the EU course and CCI
Although I gained a lot of my hands on experience by working at the Chambre of
commerce, my comprehension on international business was acquired mainly
through the business in the EU elective, provided by USAC. There I learned how the
business systems of the EU function and what companies must do in order to have
themselves established in its system. The two complemented my experience very
well by teaching me how to help other businesses, and how those actions affect the
world as a whole.
II. The Chambre de Commerce in the EU
The Chambre de commerce is a great service that provides information for those
wanting to know more about commercialism in the region. They have a broad list of
duties including developing marketing strategies, establishing new businesses
within its network, and staying connected with commercial laws.
The goal of the Chambre de commerce is to further develop commercialism in their
region, hence their efforts to make the city as attractive as a possible. This, in turn,
fuels the economic exchange and betters the economy as a whole.
III. Marketing work at CCI Pau-Bearn
Since every region is different, each one has a variety of things to offer to the
market. It’s important for a chamber of commerce to know their specialties so that
they can advertise those assets to the public. For example, the main sectors in the
Pau-Bearn’s region are:
 Aeronautics

2.  Equine Sector
 Chemistry-Renewable Energies
 Geosciences and Petroleum engineering
 Food production
 ITC with high bandwidth connection (related to e-business)
The department I worked with focused on marketing these assets to tourists,
exchange students, and future investors.
Towards the beginning of my semester, my Business in the EU professor sent out an
email for exchange students interested in providing the CCI their perspective on Pau
through a tourist’s point of view. While other internships entail work such as getting
coffee for their bosses or filing paperwork, my internship allowed me to help create
new ideas for the marketing sector with the other directors and colleagues. This
helped me to develop a sense of what it’s like to work with international businesses
and to understand the energy and pace of working in the EU.
A. Social Media Project
The Social Media project was an assignment, I led, to further develop the social
media channels for the city of Pau. It was an idea to modernize advertising methods
by choosing more utilized channels and by creating tools to help those who are
interested in coming to the region.
During the late 19th and early 20th century, Pau did well to accommodate many of its
wealthy visitors with newly constructed buildings, cultural events, and luxury

3. activities. After the decline in tourism, Pau switched to the aviation industry, but
since then has not been able to bring in as many tourists as they once had.
Once the CCI agreed with my proposal I worked with other students from America,
France and India to gather content and information which could be used on the new
official website, InvestinPauPyrenees.com. The main focus was to update the
existing official media pages and make the city seem more alluring to people outside
of Pau.
B. Surveys
In order to launch the website and application, for the social media project, it was
important to conduct some research for understanding how people see Pau from the
internet point of view. Was it easy to find information on Pau? What channels
needed more working on?
With the help of my colleagues Alexa Vita and Ganesh Upda, we were able to
complete and analyze 75 surveys. We then presented the data to the Chambre de
commerce and discussed how we could adapt Pau’s marketing strategies.
C. Tourism analysis
Before presentation of the data analysis my professor had a colleague and I attend a
conference that focused on current tourism strategy development. The conference
explained that the main problem with cities, struggling with tourism, was that they
ceased to develop their tourism sector along with their town development.
After my colleague and I discussed the results of the surveys, we then presented our
information to CCI and
Huge, a marketing
company assigned to
show CCI how, what
and when content
should be posted for
Pau’s social media
pages.
Although this can be a
time-consuming act
it’d be wise for Pau to
keep investing time on
its social media. Not
only is it a cheap and
efficient way to reach
the people, it is also a
method that it is up to date with the current generation. Of course it’s important to
have traditional resources such as newspaper ads and brochures, but the
development of channels were the main things lacking to many of Pau’s main

4. resources. They had sites with plenty of information, but they were too unknown to
the public.
D. Videos
Towards the end of my project, I was able to spend some time out of the office to
create videos that will be posted on the new official website. This part of the project
was very fun in regards to getting to know the people of Pau. Because it is such a
small town, people were very open and willing to share information about the
specialties and share their culture with others. It also gave me an opportunity to
learn about how to market a town through a video media and helped me build
connections with the local media technicians.
IV. The Experience
Working with the Chambre
de commerce has given me a
great experience and has
helped me develop my
French business competency.
I am grateful for being able to
develop my French abroad
and the networks I’ve gained
with the employees at the
Chambre de commerce. It
pleases me to know more
about how business is
conducted in France,
specifically in the Southwest region. I would like to take the knowledge I’ve gained
from my experience to help other companies around the world, who are looking for
places to implant their businesses in France. This would also help France fight
against the high unemployment rate and help re-fuel its economy.
If I had more time committed to being in Pau, I would have liked to have launched
another survey more refined and specific towards our research. But hopefully other
students, who need job experience, will continue the work I’ve done here and I’m
fortunate for what I was able to achieve.