Global – Page 11 – Global & Experiential Education

That’s A Wrap CAP Australia!

marielbaloJune 11, 2018March 4, 2020

Blog post written by Jessica Goodman

Final presentation day was a success! Our semester-long efforts culminated in a day when we visited each of our clients, presented our findings, and engaged in a discussion with them about our recommendations. It was such a rewarding experience to make an impact and deliver our product to a group of senior leaders in each of our clients’ organizations.

Photo by Sam Hoffman: CAP Australia enjoys a celebratory dinner after finishing our client presentations.

To get an idea of the level of experience in the room to hear our presentations throughout the day, check out this list of everyone’s titles: General Manager, Co-Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Finance Director, Director of People & Organization, Research & Development Director, Director of Marketing, and Director of E-Commerce.

My project team and another team got to share our deliverables with the General Manager and several other department heads. We received very positive feedback! At the end of both of our presentations, the General Manager told us, in front of his team, that he was committed to implementing some of our ideas. Our client even gave us a hug after our presentation!

Students from other teams shared some comments about the client feedback they received on their presentations:

“Our client’s founder liked how we articulated the strategic growth potential from our staffing recommendations.” – Ben Hannibal
“Our client appreciated us for our powerful presentation and told us that our financial model would be used to further build on our ideas. Our client was also impressed that so many questions came up from staff as a result of our presentation; they were hopeful it meant that they would get internal buy-in to fund future solar energy projects.” – Girish Balakrishnan

Getting positive feedback from our clients was certainly a highlight of our time in Australia. But what left the biggest impression on me was what each of us learned this semester. We all sat down with Dr. Messerli after our final presentations to debrief on our experiences in Australia. My classmates disclosed a range of discoveries – from the more serious insights, such as finding a new career path to explore or making a connection with a new mentor – to the less serious, such as learning the rules of Australian footie and the sleeping habits of a koala. I think it is fair to say that this was an experience that none of us will forget! Now, each of us are heading off to our internships and respective summer plans. And so, with that, I’ll say – that’s a wrap CAP Australia!

CAP Vietnam: Pho for Thought

marielbaloJune 11, 2018March 4, 2020

Blog post written by Jennifer Swartz

Packing. That seems to be all we are doing these days. I am currently packing up our room in Vietnam, and I cannot believe that we are leaving this beautiful country in just a few short hours. Moreover, I cannot believe that CAP is over. These past few months seemed to go by at a glacial pace, but the past couple of weeks in country flew by. So what now?

Well, in an attempt to keep CAP going as long as possible, I want to reflect on the trip and provide three key takeaways, or pho for thought, that future first years can hopefully benefit from.

First, it is essential to set up regular meetings with your client from the get-go. The format of these meetings can vary from Skype to phone calls to another form altogether. However, setting up regular meetings throughout the semester provides structure and deadlines for both parties, paving the way for everyone to be on the same page when it comes to overall expectations. Additionally, it allows you to better develop a meaningful relationship with your client. Because of the time and effort we exerted up front, we had a great working relationship with our client by the time we got to Vietnam. In fact, our client took every opportunity to express how much they appreciated our regular meetings and communications.

Secondly, make sure your repeatedly ask your client if there is anyone else at the company you should be talking to other than your point of contact throughout the semester. We asked a couple of times towards the beginning of our project, but then dropped the matter altogether. When we got to Vietnam, our point of contact changed, and the colleagues we were working with had a wealth of knowledge we would have benefited from much earlier on in the semester. In retrospect, we should have asked if there were any other contacts to connect with once our project was a bit further along, as that would have been the best time to touch base. But alas, hindsight is 20/20.

Lastly, carve out time to get to know your teammates. We started doing this back in January, scheduling out one team event a month in addition to our team meetings. Team events varied from happy hours at Circa to lunches at local Vietnamese restaurants. These team events enabled us to get to know each other on a more personal level and ultimately work better together throughout the semester. It even resulted in our amazing team of four seizing every chance to spend time together in Vietnam, whether it was hanging out in the pool, learning how to salsa (THANK YOU BORJA :) ), or exploring trendy speakeasys. Overall, these team events helped make us a true team. And my team – the Pho-tastic Pho-r as we jokingly called ourselves – they made my CAP experience one that I will treasure pho-ever.

CAP China 2018: Preparing for the Final Client Presentations

marielbaloJune 11, 2018March 4, 2020

Blog post written by Alyssa Passarelli

The three JD.com CAP teams checked in at company headquarters in Beijing just before initial in-person meetings with our points of contact. Here, students stand around the company’s mascot, “Joy.”
Image source: Bisman Preet Singh, GMBA Class of 2019

Before arriving in Beijing, the four CAP China teams researched industry best practices, brainstormed and whiteboarded ideas in Duquès Hall, and used feedback from client site visits to improve PowerPoints in the JW Marriott. These efforts all led up to the pinnacle of CAP: the final in-person presentation to our clients. Even for the three JD.com teams, each presentation required preparation that was as unique as their individual projects.

Cheng, Erez, Kapoor, and Shahi needed to conduct multiple on-site interviews with key stakeholders as well as observe the logistics and processes within the client’s warehouse to analyze aspects of the supply chain. They also had various translation

From left to right: Mark (JD Finance), Kathleen (GWSB), Flora and Boer (JD Finance) Professor Larry Yu, Mohnish, Kellen, and Alyssa (GWSB) after wrapping the final presentation at company headquarters.
Image source: Kathleen Harrington, GMBA Class of 2019

requests for their PowerPoint and final report that influenced how they managed their time and efforts for their final presentation.

In contrast, Baid, Curry, Harrington, and myself were only able to spend a single afternoon interviewing four employees of JD Finance (the startup arm of JD.com). The meeting was informal, taking place on couches at the end of one the hallways of company headquarters. This conversation afforded our team the opportunity to better understand the current priorities of the expansion of JD Finance’s work and confirm that our recommendations reflected what was most important for the client in both the present and longer term. Additionally, the abundant feedback that our team received the previous month from the external panel of judges helped us revamp our PowerPoint’s content and aesthetics.

Kalec, Khashogji, Preet, and Yuan went to great lengths (figuratively and literally) to deliver their final presentation, mainly because their points of contact were based in Shanghai. For our group’s weekend outing to this new city, none of us expected that we would spend what ended up being twelve hours in the airport before making our departure. Despite the travel

From left to right: Abdulmohsen, Katherine, and Di (GWSB), Tom (JD.com), Bisman and Professor Larry Yu (GWSB) in Shanghai delivering their final recommendations to their client in an engaging discussion over breakfast in Shanghai.
Image Source: Katherine Kalec, GMBA Class of 2019

challenges, this JD.com team made it to Shanghai to give their final presentation over a breakfast meeting with their points of contact, which was an ideal environment to engage with the client on their recommendations.

Dimes, Miller, Ou, and Russell worked with Shenzhen Energy, a client whose relationship-building style made for an intensive experience for the team in country to prepare for their final presentation. As Russell put it, “Our contract was quite guarded before our visit (so didn’t tell us much), but it seemed that he [their point of contact] really wanted to have a meal and rice wine with us to get to know us, and he was very generous after that (but it did mean we had to do plenty of work in China.)” Dimes shared that the team divided up ownership of additional research needed from the new information the client provided in country based on the project areas where each team member had built the most expertise. The final result was a presentation that more closely resembled an internal company discussion.

No two teams had the same experience preparing for these final moments of our CAP projects, but there is something important to learn from each one. What we all shared in this experience was gaining practical experience preparing for when working with your client does not go as planned, how to shift gears with composure, and above all, how to serve your clients.

Left to right: Mr. Yu (General Manager, Shenzhen Energy), Mia and Professor Larry Yu (GWSB), Ms. Lee (President, Shenzhen Energy), Natalia, Kris, and Patrick (GWSB) being hosted for lunch by the company’s leadership at a high-rise in Beijing.
Image source: Natalia Tabares Dimes, GMBA Class of 2019

Sweden: First impressions and business environment

marielbaloJune 6, 2018March 4, 2020

Blog Post written by Kevin Saladino

After finally making it in from Dublin, Ireland, the biggest shock was the change in weather and the lack of darkness in the region. During our time so far in Sweden, we have experienced 16-hour days with the sun shining far into the 10PM hour. This has necessitated the use of eye masks and some people, (myself included) are having problems getting our bodies to adjust to the new times. It is also unseasonably hot, with temperatures comparable to Florida, my home state.

Travel from the Arlanda airport to the hotel couldn’t be simpler and since I've used Metro in the DC area for 4 years, I am quite impressed with the transportation in Sweden. Though I've been to the country before, I can say that it takes no real skill or luck to make it to the Arlanda express high-speed train and then into Stockholm, where the hotel was about a 5-minute walk away from the station, again easy to find. After a welcome dinner (that included a meal of meatballs, pictured) we had some time to tour the “Old City” area. Before I move on from the food, I want to state that it is VERY good (though expensive) here. Speaking of, the exchange rate is good here for the moment with the USD trading for approximately 9 SEK. We had the opportunity to take some pictures as well as spend some time socializing as a group, getting to know one another on a personal level.

After this point, we made it back to the hotel, where it seems we never look up from our laptops - typing away hastily on our respective projects. Don’t get me wrong, there are times where we are allotted the opportunity to experience the area and the offerings, both culturally and culinary speaking; we have had great tour guides and have been to the Vasa museum, for example. However, the entire class is preoccupied with the project, and that focus requires long hours of practice as well as focus.

We are involved with a consulting project for Volvo, based out of Gothenburg. The pace is unrelenting and the hours are long, however our group is working hard to bring the best product to Volvo in hopes of furthering their initiative, Care by Volvo (CBV), especially since meeting the talented leadership in person. All in all, the class is under pressure, however we are making time to connect on both a professional and personal basis as well as (attempting) to remain healthy. My group, “DRG” and I have been working long days and mornings to make sure that we are both a fluid and a well-sounding team that presents a cogent case. 24 hours to go and we will make our cases to Volvo, as well as have the company declare a winner out of the three teams. More to come.