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Tag: Going abroad

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Blog written by Alyssa Passarelli

 

Throughout our Global MBA experience, congregating in Duquès 151 has generally meant hearing big news of some kind. It was where we first reported on day 1 of our MBA orientation. It is where we learned which classmates were in our academic learning teams. Keeping with tradition, it is also where we learned about which projects that we could participate in for our CAP experiences come Spring 2018.

Duquès 151 is where we GMBAs have often been provided key updates from faculty. Our CAP projects were no exception. Image source: Foursquare

Back in November 2017, Professor Yu took center stage at the front of the large lecture hall to highlight that those who would participate in CAP China would have the opportunity to work with one of two possible clients: JD.com, the second largest online retailer in China, or Shenzhen Energy, one of the main power generation companies in the region. Each of these clients offered exciting strategic work for the participating students. On country alone, I was curious about the opportunity to work in China having never traveled to Asia before, but the intrigue of the projects confirmed my interest.

 

Across four teams, there are sixteen of us participating in CAP China. Three of the teams are working with JD.com, and the fourth with Shenzhen Energy. It has been interesting for us to see how the scope of work for the projects have each changed to varying degrees from the time that Professor Yu first introduced the projects six months ago. However, it was an important lesson to learn for future consulting projects, as it reflects the evolving nature of client priorities. While each of the projects differ, they actually all share a central theme: benchmarking best practices to take their organizations’ missions into the future.

 

 

Here’s what we have been working on over the course of this semester, and what we will focus on with our clients when we arrive in country:

  1. Benchmarking best practices and operational expertise for energy companies in the United States and market analysis of favorability to enter the United States (Shenzhen Energy).
  2. Identifying industry best practices from retailers on how to prepare its workforce for the implementation of automated technologies, particularly for innovation that is occurring within the supply chain (JD.com).
  3. Creating a strategy to motivate converting consumers from cash and credit card purchasing to using a local, Thai-branded e-wallet while capturing market share (JD Finance - JD.com).
  4. Analyzing the model and practices of industry competitors’ development of private label products and brand to recommend a viable strategy for the Chinese market (JD.com).
CAP China 2018 participants suited up with Professor Yu and our panel of coaches (Warren Dewhurst of Dewhurst Group, Bonnie Pierce of ndp|analytics, and Chris Min of Under Armour) in front of Duquès Hall after finishing preliminary client presentations on April 26th.
Image source: GWSB Office of Global & Experiential Education

So close to departure, the sixteen of us are eager to arrive in Beijing. It is very exciting that we will be able to finally meet the client contacts with whom we have been WeChatting for the last several months. Stay tuned for updates once we are in country!

Published on
Blog written by Sean Soni

 

Here it is, CAP South Africa! 120 hours left before I board my plane for Cape Town – this is the point of no return.

 

Project Overview & A Snapshot of Our Last Five Months Before Cape Town

Over the past five months, me and my 17 talented fellow-MBA candidates have been sprinkled with the most exciting, jaw-dropping pieces of information regarding our assigned CAP Assignment – Cape Town, South Africa. It is now the time for all of our preparation, research and collaboration to play out. To say that we are ‘excited’ is an extreme understatement.

 

Upon learning about our placement into this beloved country, we learned that Cape Town was going through a water crisis and a contentious election of a new president. I could tirelessly discuss the Cape Town drought and Jacob Zuma’s exit in great detail, but the ultimate moral of the story was that our CAP class held it together and remained even more committed to our respective consulting projects on our path to Cape Town.

 

I would first like to mention that the process of CAP has been excellently designed by the GWSB and the Global & Experiential Education team to create 1) excitement, 2) deliver real-world consulting experience, and 3) offer unparalleled graduate-level work from industries for which GWSB students genuinely have a passion for. Ultimately, this allowed for the natural matriculation of students into groups which showcased their talents in the right industries. This was tied together by our knowledge guide and mentor, Professor Abdullah Akyuz.

 

At first, we had two main industries to choose from within our CAP South Africa Cohort, these industries were: The Commercial Cleaning Industry and The Energy Industry within South Africa. It’s probably worth mentioning that both of these industries are booming in South Africa and both have their own significant contributions to the recent economic growth of South Africa, so naturally it was a very tough choice and put many of my classmates between a rock and a hard place. Refrigeration and Residential-Solar Expansion were on the table, pertaining to the Energy Industry project. On the other hand, Geographic Expansion along with Service Offering Expansion were the hot topics for the Commercial Cleaning Industry Project within South Africa.

 

Within these two industries, four various projects would draw on the strengths of our group to expand, optimize, or diversify the offerings of two companies – Sweep South and Energy Partners.

 

For some of us, consulting was second nature and we had been given adequate training to handle the unexpected situations that could arise while engaging in Pro-gratis consulting with a client. Throughout the lifespan of our project work beginning in January, none of us would be able to anticipate some of the obstacles, successes, and experiences that we would face.

 

Stay tuned for my next post on May 25th which will discuss what is happening while abroad in South Africa.

 

Thanks for following along on our journey! ‘Til next time.

 

Below I’ve included the team photos of your very own, CAP South Africa Consulting Group. Please note that they are consultants, not models!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Written by Alena Malloy, Part-Time MBA class of 2019

 

I walked through the outdoor market, killing time before my bus arrived. There were the standard fruits and veggie booths, a handful of street musicians, and locals buying their groceries for the week. I noticed that there was one booth surrounded by people that had a variety of yellow ribbons, Catalonia flag with a star keychains, canvas bags, and a few t-shirts. Curious, I wandered over and asked, “Hola, comó está?”   (This is about the extent of my Spanish skills, by the way.)

The woman turned to me and rattled off in Spanish for about four minutes! I must have had a deer in the headlights look because she paused, mid-sentence (I think?) and asked in English, “Oh, you don’t speak Spanish?”.

Smiling, the woman explained in English that the booth was to raise funds for Catalonian independence. She went on to explain what it meant to be independent and how that would impact the community.

We didn’t speak for very long as there were other customers who were trying to show their support (I think?). But I realized how much passion was behind the campaign. Not just at a local farmer’s market but with Catalonian Independence flags flying across the city. Even at the government square, the Federal building had the Spanish Flag and the normal Catalonia state flag, while the State building across the plaza boldly raised the Independence flag.

This fervor wasn’t just limited to Independence. We met with several entrepreneurs throughout the week. Each one had the same level of passion for their business.

As an example, we met with Exceed which is a start-up app that partners with different bars/club venues in major cities to promote events. The 30 year old CEO explained his business model and discussed funding. He and his partners had been working on the business since early college. They sacrificed for the business, even eating ‘tuna cans’ dinners for years while they got it running. They entered multiple funding competitions, only to place 2nd in several. The CEO was even informed by the VC that they should have won but the VC just “couldn’t justify giving government money to a Clubbing app”.

But this didn’t derail him or his team.

And we heard similar stories from other entrepreneurs. The struggled, they sacrificed, but they were chasing a dream, creating a vision.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I took this class to help me decide how I should change my career. While it did not narrow down any specific paths, it reminded me that being passionate about your career is just as important as the job itself. It has been a long time since I felt enthusiasm about my advertising jobs, and I see the difference between work and what a career path should look like.

This trip created a new qualifier for whatever career choice I make: I need to be passionate about it.

We’ll see where I land! #careerlifegoals

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Written by Alena Malloy, Part-Time MBA class of 2019

 

This trip has been even better than I anticipated. I knew that I didn’t have much knowledge about the entrepreneurial sector and my assumptions about it were challenged in the very first meeting.

We started our day with a lecture at ESADE, a Spanish business school that has the main campus about an hour away from Barcelona. ESADE has beautiful, modern buildings set in the green foothills of a quiet suburb of the city. We were taken into a container like structure for our first lecture given by one of the business school professors, Javier Agular.

An energetic man, it was easy to see how he could be an entrepreneur. He explained a portion of his experience, which included several successful business and many failures and gave a lecture on key elements in developing a new business. Professor Agular also detailed his learnings from each, including the importance of a good team.

This struck a chord with me and also continued to be a theme throughout our meetings with other entrepreneurs and organizations. Each one emphasized the critical need for recruitment, having the right fit, the right team, and so forth. One CEO went as far as to say that you may not get funding for your project if you haven’t been friends with your partners for at least a year. And apparently, there have been significant struggles in this sector to find good talent in Barcelona. Each employee was getting several offers every single day, particularly programmers and developers. People are constantly in transition here.

Another piece that has struck me so far this week is how Barcelona itself feels like it is in a start-up phase of its own technological revolution. Each of these companies that we have spoken with have commented on how they are moving faster than the regulations are yet the City is providing grants to them to keep growing. They are creating open spaces, new offices and other investments to make the transition to the new era easier on the city. One CEO commented that they are not quite like Silicon Valley yet where start-ups are the norm, but they are working towards it.

That doesn’t mean that Barcelona is letting go of the past however. Just last night, I walked into a tea shop that looked fairly standard. It was a small storefront on the corner of a building. However, when you went to the bottom floor, you found yourself sitting under lighted archways; the original foundations of the building had been remodeled to fit the needs of this little start-up tea shop.

In many ways, I think that little tea shop is a depiction of what is happening all over this city. The Catalonians are moving towards the future, increasing opportunities and technology, lighting up the way. And yet, making sure they are preserving their heritage and their foundations.

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