Babson's international off-shore courses in Europe, Asia, and Latin America combine intensive classroom experience with corporate site visits and guest lectures to provide students with real-time learning in the global marketplace. These courses are team-taught by Babson and a host institution faculty, and feature lectures by CEOs and senior managers of major companies, including prominent Babson alumni. Conveniently scheduled during winter and spring breaks, and during the summer term, international offshore courses are open to all MBA students. Feedback from past participants in the program. The offshore electives planned for the 2007 - 2008 academic year include the following:
January 2008
Culture, Society and Entrepreneurship in Developing Economies
GHANA: Students selected to participate in Culture, Society and Entrepreneurship in Developing Economies will link academic course work with a two-week service learning immersion experience in the cities of Takoradi and Sekondi, Ghana. Academic preparation will begin in the Fall semester with three weekend (Friday night and Saturday; weekends of October 13, November 10, December 1) class meetings. These sessions will provide an overview of culture and society within Ghana and prepare students for the service activities to be performed. Students will be introduced to issues related to business development and entrepreneurship in Africa in general, and specifically in the emerging economy of Ghana. Teams of students and accompanying faculty will travel to Ghana during January and work with local business people on business planning and development and with local high school students to help develop their entrepreneurial skills. Students will also engage in planned cultural activities while in the country. Upon return, students will be required to complete an individual or group project related to their experience under the supervision of one of the course instructors. Additional class meetings may occur in the spring to enable reflection and discussion about the service learning experience. Upon completion of all course requirements, students will be awarded credits in the Spring semester.
Doing Business in Latin America
CHILE (Santiago & Vina Del Mar): This course breaks the mold of traditional off-shore electives at Babson. Rather than being a course for Babson students only, Doing Business in Latin America is being offered by our partner school in Chile, Universidad del Desarrollo, as an elective course for both their MBA students as well as those from Babson. All class sessions will be delivered in English by senior faculty as well as leaders from the business and government sectors.
The course will focus on opportunity assessment in the Latin American environment, and will deal with the unique opportunities and risks arising from current economic, political and cultural conditions, structural economic reforms, and new emerging markets. Opportunities will be analyzed on both a regional and country specific basis. Site visits and guest speakers will include Latin American businesses as well as U.S. and European-based multinational companies doing business in Latin America.
March 2008
Russia in Transition
RUSSIA (St. Petersburg): This course introduces students to the Russian business environment but goes beyond merely doing a business study of Russia or industries within that country. Students will learn about Russian history, its heritage, culture, what the people have endured under Communism, and the struggle to free themselves from their history. Upon return to the United States, students should have a far greater appreciation of Russia’s achievements, challenges and the obstacles they face as well as a sensitivity to articles and commentary about Russia. As a result of study in Russia, students return with a better understanding of the business, social, and economic environment that exists in the United States and other free and economically developed countries of the world.
Competitive Challenges of the New Europe
ITALY (Milan): This course will explore institutions and competitive challenges of the New Europe. This course builds on the core curriculum by examining competition and strategy at three levels of analysis: country, industry and firm. While this course has an analytical bent, it will focus on the discussion of day to day issues in the lives of Europeans as well as on operational and strategic issues of companies conducting business in Europe.
We will meet for two consecutive Fridays before our departure to study EU institutions and policy-making in the EU. Our sessions will focus on analysis of benefits of trade and consequences of EC and EMU for companies doing business in the EU. We will also meet upon our return back to the USA to debrief.
As part of our pre-work we will review major works of art positioned in the art history of Milan. While in Europe, students will continue to explore the EU under the guidance of professors at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Classes will consist of lecture and discussion, with significant student participation. Site visits will include Italian businesses as well as multinational companies doing business in Europe.
Doing Business in Brazil
BRAZIL (Sao Paulo & Rio): This course applies and expands on National Business Systems, Managing in the Global Economy, and MOB 8400 courses in the evening by examining competition and strategy at three levels of analysis: country, industry and firm. It also builds on Entrepreneurship courses in the mods or 8150 in the evening by investigating opportunity recognition and the potential for new venture creation. The context consists of a variety of institutions and firms in Brazil, focusing on the country’s main business center, São Paulo, where Brazil’s most important financial market and industrial concentration is located. We will also visit Rio de Janeiro. The course is organized around the following themes:
· The context for business in Brazil: overview of Brazilian society and politics in historical perspective, and the development of the Brazilian economy. Brazil has been a major exporter of commodities since it was first colonized by Portugal in the 16th century. We will examine how European colonization and the plantation system left a profound impact on Brazil’s economy, society, and institutions. We will review the efforts of Brazilian governments over more than fifty years to foster industrialization, and the current perspectives for business in the aftermath of major economic reforms during the 1980s and 1990s. We will also visit some of the major business-oriented institutions of contemporary Brazil, such as the São Paulo stock exchange, or the São Paulo federation of industry.
· Developing business issues in Brazil: we will take a look at successful Brazilian firms, from entrepreneurial start-ups, to large companies first set up by the public sector and privatized in recent years, to multinational corporations doing business in Brazil. We will learn about the specifics of undertaking different business activities in Brazil, from entrepreneurship to marketing and supply chain management.
· Economic transformation—from import substitution to regional integration: Over the last two decades, successive Brazilian governments have moved away from the import substitution model of industrialization to an open-economy and more “market friendly” model involving reduction of trade and investment barriers, fiscal and monetary discipline, deregulation, privatization, and regional integration via the Mercosul agreement with other Southern Cone countries. Economic reform and regional integration has brought both opportunities and challenges for Brazilian firms and for foreign multinationals operating in Brazil. How are firms dealing with this new, more open business environment? What are their strategies to capitalize on all the opportunities?
· The social dimension in Brazil: Brazil is one of the most unequal societies on Earth in terms of income distribution, access to education, and many other indicators. Enormous contrasts of wealth and poverty are pervasive in Brazil’s major cities, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. For businesses, this creates different challenges, from having to deal with extra security due to very high crime rates, to developing new business models to target the poorer segments of the population. We will have the opportunity to visit a favela or shantytown and learn about the living conditions and often dynamic social organization of these peri-urban settlements, which are common throughout the developing world.
May 2008
Competitive Advantages in the New Asia
Japan/Korea/Thailand (Seoul, Osaka, Bangkok): The Competitive Advantages in the New Asia program provides a two week hands-on experience for students interested in an in-depth look at key Asian management systems and concepts. Approximately twenty students will travel to Osaka, Japan; Seoul, Korea; and Bangkok, Thailand to benchmark the designs and operations of value delivery system in various industries including manufacturing and service. Participants will have the rare opportunity to meet Asian business and government leaders to develop a mutual understanding of the different business philosophies and practices of Asian and American managers.
IT Global Service Provider
INDIA (Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai): The purpose of this course is to introduce students to India, its culture and also its distinctive business environment. India is the world’s most populous democracy with 1.1 billion people. It is also one of the poorest. But, it has a very high level of entrepreneurial activity (second highest in the world according to Babson’s Global Entrepreneurship Monitor). India has recently been prominent in the news as a provider of outsourcing services and software. It is the fastest growing market for telecom equipment. It is a significant player in the global supply chains for pharmaceuticals, automobile parts, jewelry etc. Goldman, Sachs predicts that by 2020 India will have developed into one of the world’s largest economies. But, as these industries flourish a democratic government has to encourage enterprises that help the under-served members of the population. This makes for some unique challenges for the entrepreneur.
During this two week course, students will visit three of the most vibrant cities on the sub-continent and meet people from several active enterprises – manufacturing, service, non-governmental organizations and the government. They will also meet Babson alumni and interact with students at the Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore (ranked number one for management studies in India). They will also gain an appreciation for India’s long heritage of culture. By the end of the two weeks, students can expect to return to the US excited by the energy of India’s people as well as the range of opportunities available to students for providing value.
