Georgetown School of Business: MBAs Seeking China Consulting Projects (no cost!)

Dear Georgetown alumni and friends of alumni,PICT0095_f
The Georgetown School of Business is running a program designed to give its MBAs real experience for consulting in China. They are looking for companies and organizations in China to give them consulting projects, which they will work on from October to March 2010. They will do this for free.

This is a tremendous opportunity, and we strongly encourage all alumni and friends of alumni to contact the faculty leaders: Professor Pietra Rivoli and Elaine Romanelli.

The details are below.

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MBA Global Experience 2010

Georgetown University McDonough School of Business
Shanghai, PRC

Faculty Leaders:

  • Professor Pietra Rivoli (202) 687-3775 rivolip@georgetown.edu
  • Professor Elaine Romanelli (202) 687-4188 romanele@georgetown.edu
  • Program Assistants:

  • Lindsey Waldrop lw97@georgetown.edu
  • Anika DeVolder amd72@georgetown.edu
  • – – – – – – – –
    The Georgetown University School of Business is committed to promoting learning and leadership in international business. We believe that such education cannot be done from afar; students must experience first-hand the challenges of doing business both across national borders and within other countries. Georgetown’s International Residencies provide such experiences for students in all of our MBA programs.

    For this Experience, we seek consulting projects from either small or large companies or organizations, located in the US or anywhere else in the world, which have interests in China. Projects can focus on market and industry analysis, financial valuation, production and operations, social issues, or any specific functional or management issue that confronts management of the sponsoring organization. Since 2003, we have served more than 50 client companies and organizations with interests in China.

    We offer to sponsoring organizations teams of 5-6 second year MBA students who are closely supervised by full-time Georgetown faculty. Projects will be assigned to students in October 2009. The teams will work from Washington DC between October and February, and projects will be completed on location in Shanghai in early March 2010. Typically, the teams will provide a presentation and final report to their clients in or near Shanghai or Washington in early March 2010, though other arrangements are possible. There are no costs to the client companies.

    Although the restrictions on types of appropriate projects are few, experience has taught us that three characteristics generate greatest success and value both for our sponsoring organizations and for the project teams:

    1. Projects should be amenable to a substantial amount of research being done from the US. This includes internet access to libraries and databases around the world, as well as contacts that the students and faculty may have with industry analysts and experts in the U.S.
    2. Projects should be sufficiently contained in scope to permit substantive research and analysis over a four-month period.
    3. Sponsoring companies should provide a contact person who will consult with students, on an occasional basis, about the progress of the work.

    In practice, these restrictions are not onerous. Faculty leaders will work with interested companies to identify projects with the highest value added for the organization. We will attempt to assign projects so that teams have some Chinese language capability if this is necessary, but project communication, as well as the final report, will be in English.
    Some examples of recent clients, as well as brief project descriptions, are provided below:

  • Acer (Multinational PC vendor): The team provided a best-practices analysis and prepared illustrative case studies for managing multiple brands and for transitioning national and subsidiary brands into a global brand.
  • Beijing Duoou (Eco-friendly paper producer): The team examined market opportunities in the US and Europe for Duoou’s paper products, which are “tree-free” and manufactured with a process that is virtually non-polluting.
  • Beijing Organic Farm (Organic agriculture company): The team provided advice regarding the most effective supply chain and logistical in the organic food industry, and analyzed alternative models for branding and for cooperation among producers.
  • Calvert Group (US mutual fund company, multiple projects): Students analyzed and updated the firm’s China policy, which guides investment decisions regarding Chinese companies by assessing firms’ social and environmental performance. A second project assessed best practices by the pharma industry in combating HIV/AIDS.
  • Federal Express (multiple projects): One team analyzed the market opportunities for express delivery services in the intra-China market in preparation for liberalization of this industry post-WTO, and a second team analyzed the market implications of CEPA.
  • Nanjing Ruikang: (Chinese food producer) Students developed a US market entry strategy for a Chinese producer of organic honey and royal jelly.
  • Principle Capital Limited (Chinese venture capital firm, multiple projects): One team analyzed the economic fundamentals of the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) market in the US to assess the potential attractiveness of this industry for the Chinese market; another team analyzed the potential for international strategic alliances for a Chinese food additive producer. A third project examined industry trends in social networking.
  • EducAsian: (US study abroad provider for China): Students evaluated growth opportunities outside the traditional undergraduate student language study market.
  • LiNing (Chinese sportswear firm) Students evaluated marketing strategies for branded sports apparel, with particular attention to the value of sponsorship of well-known athletes.
  • Bertelsmann (German multinational) Students analyzed market opportunities in the media industry in China.
  • Innosis: (Taiwanese technology firm) Students evaluated best practices in industry-University partnerships in the technology industry, as well as pre-IPO financing opportunities.
  • References from these or other firms are available upon request. We look forward to working with you!