Partner with Kelley MBAs to solve a pressing business problem for your organization

The students are able to work on a variety of complex projects including those related to:

AUGUST–SEPTEMBER: Potential partnerships are explored with “connector” organizations, such as chambers of commerce. These organizations can help connect our leadership team with clients that meet the criteria described below. Interested organizations should review the information, resources, and links provided within this packet. Potential partners should discuss the commitment with their organization/tribe (e.g. can you commit to be available, responsive and supportive to a student team from September through April.

SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER: Connector organization collaborates with the GLOBASE Leadership Team to identify and finalize proposals for projects to be completed by student teams during January-April. All clients must be geographically clustered since we will be travelling together as a group and teams must be able to access their client’s facilities from the hotel. Also note that the final number of projects to be completed depends on how many students are recruited in October for the GLOBASE course—we expect to be able to work with about four client businesses or non-profits.

MID-DECEMBER: Final client and project selections are agreed upon.  

JANUARY-MARCH: GLOBASE coursework officially begins! Students will work for seven weeks in Bloomington, Indiana, to conduct research. During that time, student teams will collaborate with their respective clients on a weekly basis via email/Skype/telephone to refine the project scope, begin project planning and conduct initial research/preparation.

EARLY MARCH (approximate): Students travel to the client location to conduct field research (site visits, meetings, interviews, etc.) and will work intensely with their clients over a period five days. Each student team will present their initial recommendations on their respective project to the clients on the final day of the five-day visit. Please note: clients are responsible for helping the student team identify and set up meetings/site visits during their travel week to the organization.

No, there is no monetary fee for connector organizations or clients. We do, however, request that all partners provide consistent communication (as outlined below) and any relevant information necessary for our students to provide effective recommendations for the consulting projects.

Above all else, GLOBASE student participants possess an authentic interest in your culture, the capacity to provide tangible impact, and the ability to demonstrate cultural sensitivity. GLOBASE appeals to students interested in learning about the diverse cultures around the globe.

Additionally, all of our MBA students have already completed an undergraduate degree and five years of work experience (on average) before coming to the Kelley School of Business. Participation in any GLOBASE program is highly coveted and the student selection process is competitive.

During the first seven weeks of our spring semester, students attend weekly GLOBASE course lectures to learn about your history as well as the history of our partner organization, its structure, mission, community partnerships and culture. In addition to these lectures, students work in teams throughout the week on their respective consulting projects in preparation for visiting the clients in March.

We are currently looking for a “connector” organization that can help connect our leadership team with local business and nonprofit clients. An ideal “connector” organization would have the following characteristics:

• Commitment to GLOBASE: Partners must commit to being available, responsive, and supportive before, during and after the trip. We are looking to partner with an organization that has a desire to build a lasting relationship, ideally extending beyond one year, with the GLOBASE program. A person MUST be assigned to be the key point of contact. This contact should be excited about working with students, have the knowledge to guide the student team and be accessible to communicate when the students are in Bloomington, Indiana (i.e., via email, Skype, etc.).

• Potential Project Opportunities: In collaboration with the GLOBASE Leadership Team, connector organizations will facilitate a selection process by which the clients and associated projects can be identified. Projects should:
  (1) possess strategic importance;
  (2) be appropriate for MBA students;
  (3) be focused on problems that students can address during the seven- to nine-week course; and
  (4) have clear scope/objectives.
  
  More detailed criteria for clients and projects will be provided. 

“Connector” organizations should be prepared for the following: 

• 10+ hours total (during September-December) to scope projects with GLOBASE Leadership Team and facilitate an application and selection process for clients and projects.
• 1-2 hours per week (during January–February) communicating with the GLOBASE Leadership Team and/or project teams to ensure work is moving forward appropriately. Possibly someone from the organization would address the classroom virtually via Skype.
• 2 hours total (during March site visit) to meet the team. Possibly more time depending on whether partner is interested in participating in other events and activities.

Clients should be prepared for the following: 

• 3-5 hours total (during November-December) to scope projects with GLOBASE Leadership Team. 
• 4-8 hours per week (during January–February) communicating with project team. This typically includes:

• 20-30 hours (during the excursion in March). These hours will occur over a Monday-Friday time period during the excursion, with exact dates to be determined. Activities vary depending on the nature of the project, but often include:

Please contact Jez McMillen, Associate Director of Global Programs, at jezmcmil@iu.edu. 

GLOBASE projects vary since they are tailored to the client and his/her business needs. With that in mind, following are several GLOBASE projects from 2016: 

GLOBASE Guatemala—Tertulianos Restaurante and Museo

This project was prompted by the client’s desire to reduce costs. The team’s recommendation was to achieve this through better inventory management for the food supplies, with an eye toward reducing both purchase costs and spoilage. To that end, the team delivered a spreadsheet tool for inventory management and a user manual for the tool. The inventory management tool provides visibility into inventory levels which will allow the client to identify patterns with respect to ingredient demands and vendor costs. The client expects that such awareness will reduce costs through less spoilage and better negotiation with vendors. In addition, during the in-country week, the team was asked to provide marketing recommendations. The team designed a customer survey and recommended website changes.

GLOBASE Guatemala–Centro Educativo ASA

This private school provides a practical curriculum grounded in Guatemalan culture but open to the world, emphasizing English education. The school plans to add two more floors to its building and double the size of its faculty in the next three years. This growth will make it challenging for the school to maintain its teaching standards and culture. The team’s task was to design a system for mentoring and evaluating teachers, while helping the school maintain its culture and standards as the school grows. The team’s final recommendation was a three-pronged approach: “Evaluate – Mentor – Incentivize.” For the evaluation piece, the team adapted existing rubrics for teaching evaluations. They implemented an electronic system for conducting evaluations and tracking them over time. For the mentoring piece, the team recommended an organizational approach whereby administrators will train experienced faculty, who will then mentor new hires. For the incentive piece, the team recommended guidelines for awarding non-monetary incentives (e.g., teacher of the month). In addition, the team recommended a series of monetary incentives (e.g., end-of -year bonuses) that may be adopted in the long-run. The biggest impact of the project is likely to come from the electronic evaluation system coupled by the mentoring initiative. This system was vetted by experienced teachers, and it was very well received by the school’s principal, Claudia Murrales, who spearheaded the project. We expect that the project will bring a certain discipline to the way the school sets the expectations for its teachers and tracks their progress. Therefore, it should go a long way toward communicating the values of the school to the new hires.

GLOBASE Botswana—Rocklane Lodge

Rocklane Lodge is a small 14-room hotel and convention center. They primarily wanted a market sizing project to evaluate/justify a major expansion loan which would increase the number of rooms to approximately 45. Upon review the team identified several other issues that needed to be dealt with prior to an expansion. These could be broken into three categories: Operations (Human resource management, employee handbook and training, motivational tactics), Record Keeping (Excel booking tracking, software booking system, employee training), and Marketing (Individual accommodations, business event plan, web presence). The student team provided Rocklane Lodge with the following deliverables, corresponding to the three categories above:

1. Operations: Created an employee handbook that included service standards, job descriptions, assurance of learning template, review procedures and rubric (for quality control), and customer feedback template.
2. Record Keeping:  Created a booking template in Excel to track accommodations, events, and catering. Created a “missed opportunities tracker” with an instruction manual and instructions for updating software technology.
3. Marketing: Developed strategy for a print campaign, online campaign, SMS campaign and agency list.

Overall, the team was able to help the owner understand that improvements needed to be made to the current operation before any marketing or expansion plans would work. In addition, the tracking tools will provide the data necessary to manage their workforce and acquire financing for future expansion.

GLOBASE Botswana—TOM

TOM (PTY) LTD has operated as a highly recognized milling corporation for over 20 years and has weathered many market fluctuations. Over the last seven years, TOM has experienced numerous changes affecting business profitability including the 2008 recession, enhancing production to semi-automation, establishment of new competitors, and several staff changes at management levels. This has created a vicious cycle where declining customer orders reduced profitability and limited working capital, further reducing TOM’s ability to meet customer demand. TOM’s priority is to build customer relationships and proactively grow the number of orders. The student team provided TOM with the following deliverables, broken down by category:

1. Operations: Developed a plan to increase production capacity, reduce processing time and cut waste.
2. Finances: Identified breakeven and operation profitability. Created a cash prioritization plan that pays off creditors and builds working capital. Identified weaknesses and suggested solutions to improve oversight. Created a forecasting tool in Excel and plan for training employees on existing accounting software to improve cash flow.
3. End Consumer Marketing: Provided recommendations to maintain and grow brand awareness.
4. Sales Management: Established a consistent prioritization and sales plan for account management. Trained salesperson. Established organizational structure to improve oversight. Provided customer visit checklist and sales process flow charts.  (Forms: Customer profile, checklist, order checklist, weekly order and sales reporting template)
5. Sales Terms: Established plan to professionalize sales terms, contracts, communication, delivery, pricing, and planning. Established an internal process to manage orders and prioritize customers.

GLOBASE India–Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development (CORD), Women’s Farmer Groups

CORD is a non-governmental organization (NGO) located in northern India, whose mission is “to facilitate integrated and sustainable development in rural India through self-empowerment processes.” CORD’s signature programs are in the areas of health care, women’s self-help groups (including microfinance groups), education, support for farmers, and support for entrepreneurs. Two GLOBASE student teams worked with woman farmer’s groups. One team looked at ways in which these groups could become economically self-sustainable. The team proposed different ledger mechanisms so that production and costs can be better monitored at different levels, such as individual farmer, woman farmer group, and sales collective. The second team developed institutional mechanisms to support the woman farmers groups (WFGs). They created an organizational chart, a formal description of roles in the WFGs and a set of traceable measures that will allow the WFGs to evaluate their performance over time.