USC Marshall School of Business

"Kraft Foods," Sam Alavi BS '06 says with a new hire's pride, "is the second largest food manufacturing company in the world."

That makes Alavi's entrance into Kraft's Irvine, Calif.-based management training program a fortuitous match. The Auckland, New Zealand, native, whose career interests lie in the consumer and packaged goods industry, will soon apprentice in supply chain management, marketing, and other departments. He'll see first-hand how a multinational enterprise operates, putting into practice everything he's learned as a Trojan. "[Kraft] is about to go really global," Alavi says. "It fits into the whole theme of Marshall."

Alavi praises the global strategy course he took with professor Carl Voigt as one highlight of his Marshall studies. He also cites the high number of fellow international students at the school and in his program; and he salutes the networking alumni groups such as those in the Pacific Rim.

"I look forward to being able to apply the skills I picked up in Marshall in the global context, and be able to travel and apply it to the business world," he says. "I will be looking forward to meeting some of the alums that have been in my place and now are in South Korea, Tokyo, China and Hong Kong."