The Georgetown School of Business is running a program designed to give its MBAs real experience 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 2011 at no cost. This is the second year the alumni club has been involved with this.
We believe 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. Here are the details:
7th Annual MBA Global Experience Shanghai: 2011
Professor Pietra Rivoli: (202) 687-3775 rivolip@georgetown.edu
Professor Elaine Romanelli: (202) 687-4188 romanele@georgetown.edu
The Georgetown University School of Business is committed to promoting learning and leadership in international business. 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 our MBA programs.
For this Experience, we seek consulting projects from companies or organizations that 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 the leadership of the sponsoring organization. Since 2003, we have served more than 70 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. There are no costs to the client companies. The timeline of the process is as follows:
- August-October, 2010: Clients and faculty leaders work together to define the project content and scope.
- November 2010-February 2011: Project teams are assigned; teams work on the projects in Washington DC under faculty supervision.
- Early March, 2011: Student teams meet with the client in or near Shanghai to present their work and conclusions.
Though possibilities are quite varied, projects should also be sufficiently contained in scope to permit substantive research and analysis over a four-month period, and they should also be amenable to a substantial amount of research being done from the US. We will attempt to assign projects so that teams have some Chinese language capability if necessary, but project communication, as well as the final report, will be in English.
While there are no financial costs, our clients do have 2 important responsibilities:
1.To assign a contact person with whom the students can consult occasionally about the project, either by telephone or e-mail.
2.To attend the final presentation and meet with the project team in Shanghai in early March.
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; 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.
Citigroup: Students analyzed successful methodologies for small scale agricultural lending.
Innosis (Taiwanese technology firm): Students evaluated best practices in industry-University partnerships in the technology industry, as well as pre-IPO financing opportunities.
Hottech Energy (Beijing energy service company): The team evaluated best practices in sales force management and combined service and equipment sales.
Shenyang CGC (Shenyang-based credit guarantee organization): Students compared and contrasted the credit guarantee practices in the US, Japan and Korea, and highlighted innovative practices in public/private partnerships.
References from these or other firms are available upon request. We look forward to working with you!