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  1. Home
  2. Programs
  3. Full-Time +Flex MBA
  4. Academics
  5. Global Experiences
  6. GLOBASE
  7. Vietnam
  • Majors & Minors
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  • Global Experiences
    • GLOBASE
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Take an in-depth look at an MBA consulting project in Vietnam

The assignment in GLOBASE Vietnam was to work Hamona, a coconut water company, on developing a plan for expansion.

In this seven-part video series, see what it’s like to participate in GLOBASE, a program that pairs Kelley MBA students with small companies and nonprofits in emerging economies around the world, giving them tools to tackle their unique business challenges.

Global Business & Social Entrepreneurship (Episode 1)

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Kelley, as a top business school, decided that

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they wanted to have a GLOBASE presence in Asia.

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In establishing a GLOBASE Vietnam program,

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Kelley’s reputation is at stake.

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You know, it was critical that Kelley succeed

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and build a really solid reputation for itself

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in Vietnam for future years.

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GLOBASE is a consulting practicum where five students

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are paired up with one second-year student leader

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and have resources that are a professor and a staff member,

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and they’re partnered with a local company.

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They work with that business to really try to identify

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and solve a specific business challenge.

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Being a GLOBASE leader is really one of the few

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opportunities that you have to really lead for real.

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My job as a leader was really focused on that, you know,

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we had to set the tone that these were sophisticated

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businesses that really demanded excellence,

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and that we ourselves demanded excellence from the

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teams and that this was more of a

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consulting engagement and less of just a trip.

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One of the biggest challenges was setting a vision

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for a country that many of us had never traveled to,

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we knew very little about.

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We’d never met the clients. We just had no idea how things

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were actually going to unfold.

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As a first-year, you’re really just focused on your client

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and that specific business need,

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whereas as a second-year leader you really have to

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set in place the tone and the expectation so that

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you’re able to move everybody towards

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a common objective and impact.

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Having that sort of influence or that authority,

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I think, is one of the biggest takeaways

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from a program like GLOBASE.

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I also felt like this would be a way for me

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to leave a legacy behind as well, especially since this

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was the very first time that we were traveling out to Vietnam,

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so I felt like this was a really special way for me

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to leave behind something.

Strategic Visioning (Episode 2)

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Launching into GLOBASE Vietnam, beginning of the fall,

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second year, was really overwhelming.

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There was a lot to do and a lot to figure out.

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We had a lot of great mentors that we could call upon.

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So Ray and Eric, the directors of the Leadership Academy:

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we worked with them through the strategic visioning process.

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And the idea is to help us go through an organic

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but yet very structured process, to get from a

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brainstorming session to a structured document

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that we can then share with the students and really use

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to help make critical decisions and

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shape the program moving forward.

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One of the burdens of leadership is actually to articulate

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a vision and then create a clear, compelling picture.

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So the challenge we have is, how do you get past the

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“it’s all in our heads and let’s jump to tactics?”

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Ray and Eric, they were really there to give us confidence

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in our vision and serve as sounding boards in terms of

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are we making the right types of decisions,

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are we focusing on the right objectives,

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have we identified goals that are realistic,

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really kind of helping us shape what a good vision looks like.

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Get detailed: that’s the number one thing I’m not seeing.

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At this point, any option was on the table,

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and I’d never really been in a situation like that,

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where it was up to us to come up with everything:

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what we’re going to be doing in-country,

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what are we looking for in terms of the businesses

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and how are they going to work best with our students.

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I like to have it all, and I think that this exercise

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really taught me that you just can’t,

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so towards the end of the strategic visioning course,

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you have to submit your vision, with your choices

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that you’ve made, and it was daunting.

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I remember sort of typing up our choices and

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typing up revisions and sort of hitting submit

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and knowing that that’s it—we’d made the decisions,

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and it was really up to us to just make it happen.

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There was no turning back and we were going to

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make it work no matter what happened.

Selling the Vision (Episode 3)

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GLOBASE is a consulting practicum where five students

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are paired up with one student leader

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and they’re partnered with a local company.

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They work with that business to really try to identify

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and solve a specific business challenge.

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The second-year leadership team is a group of about

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four to five second-year student leaders.

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You know, one of the very first deliverables we had

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was determining the student selection and which students

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we were going to be able to bring on to this program.

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We had a call-out meeting, and this was an opportunity

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for all of the GLOBASE programs to present.

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GLOBASE Vietnam was a brand new program,

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so this was really a pilot experience.

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We were worried that maybe the vision would

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just fall flat and it wouldn’t come to life.

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In the end, we received forty-eight applications,

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but we only had twenty-five spots.

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It was going to be very difficult for the student leadership teams

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to really be able to only select for the small number of spots.

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We really wanted to make sure that we were finding students

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who would appreciate the vision that we’d set forth

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and they would really be strong team members.

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I was really nervous though.

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I didn’t know how the teams would work out.

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I also was nervous about the course.

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We have seven weeks to prepare

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before we go in-country to Vietnam.

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We were really looking to make sure that we had

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a course that provided students with a very well-rounded

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approach to doing business in Vietnam.

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We also wanted students to have a really strong sense

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of Vietnamese political history, economics and culture,

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so Professor Hauskrecht lectured very early on,

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really kind of setting the tone for what is Vietnam today

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and how did it get there.

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I was a member of the advisor group of the Prime Minister of Vietnam.

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I tell you, people always say,

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“Vietnam, what is it: socialist? Is it communist? What is it?”

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We also really serve as a mentor

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and a resource for the student teams.

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They’re spending the time working with their clients.

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Hamona is a Vietnamese company that

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specializes in coconut water.

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The objective of the Kelley GLOBASE team

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working with Hamona was really to grow Hamona.

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Our goal was really to help them launch into the U.S.

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So during that time, it was really interesting to

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actually be participating in a GLOBASE program

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as a student leader, not as a participant,

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because while an integrated part of the team

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I had a different role. I wasn’t a participant.

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I wasn’t actually preparing the analysis or

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developing the questions for the calls.

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So you want to be able to show them, this is a Hamona coconut.

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This is how it is different from other coconuts

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that they may see on the shelves.

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And so my role was really more focused on

00:02:39.458 --> 00:02:42.719
figuring out how best to serve as a resource.

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It was really challenging trying to figure out

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how best I could support them.

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While I might have my own ideas,

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it’s really important for me to really help them

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get there and guide them through it

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as opposed to telling them what the answer is.

The Assignment (Episode 4)

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We have seven weeks to prepare

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before we go in-country to Vietnam.

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The purpose of the seven weeks is to help students

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be best prepared as possible so that when they

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get into country they can hit the ground running.

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Our assignment was to work with a coconut water

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company, and they were really looking at U.S. market

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expansion, looking at how to access hotels

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and other retailers, so we got to take a brand new

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product launch for a really cool—what we think is

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a both feasible and viable product—to the U.S.

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They’re learning as much as they can about the client

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and already starting to formulate

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what potential recommendations might be.

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Some of our challenges with communicating with our client—

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I remember our first call, you know, we sort of

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walked into it thinking we’ll just start to build the rapport.

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From class, we had learned that in Vietnam relationships

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are very important, but our client was just so excited

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he wanted to get right down to business.

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He was sort of like, “Why are you asking me

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all of these questions about my life

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over here in Vietnam? Let’s talk about coconuts.”

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“How much equity are you planning to give up?”

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“Um, ten percent.”

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“Are you one hundred percent owned right now?”

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“Yes.”

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“This is a big move.”

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So now we’ve spent seven weeks preparing the students.

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They’ve developed a project plan.

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They’ve developed an in-country plan,

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which really spells out what they’re going to be doing

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with their clients every single day. We’ve done all that we can.

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Now we’re heading in-country.

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There’s a lot of uncertainty. It’s exciting,

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but so many things can just go differently

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than what we were expecting.

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And we’re meeting the clients for the first time,

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which is really exciting, and hoping that

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everything that we’ve prepared for and everything we’re

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about to recommend is really going to

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be able to benefit the organization.

In Country Experience (Episode 5)

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The first part of the Vietnam in-country experience

00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:10.750
is a deep dive into a Vietnamese business.

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So the team had a number of preconceived ideas

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in terms of what the business looked like.

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But it wasn’t until we actually traveled to Vietnam

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that we could actually physically see the capacity, the setup,

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the organization and meet the key players of the company.

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We got to go out to a farm.

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We got to go to the processing plant.

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We went to all of the retailers.

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We had all of the touchpoints of the company

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that we were able to visit in the first week.

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And that was incredibly valuable.

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You go from theory to actually practicing

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what you’re talking about.

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One of my favorite memories was truly just

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sitting down at a table, interviewing a farmer.

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He really let us get to know him and his business.

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It really helped our project to be even more

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robust by really understanding what these farmers

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are dealing with, some of their challenges,

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and then how that affects Hamona, our client.

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And working with real companies that have a real product,

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they have strengths; they know their culture;

00:01:09.900 --> 00:01:11.990
they know the right trees; they know how to work

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with people and farmers; they have all of these

00:01:13.850 --> 00:01:15.100
core competencies.

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And what we have is knowledge how to access

00:01:17.731 --> 00:01:20.291
the U.S. market; knowledge how to be more efficient or

00:01:20.291 --> 00:01:22.141
optimize a process they’re already doing.

00:01:22.141 --> 00:01:24.591
And while we learn it in school, now we’re applying it.

00:01:24.591 --> 00:01:26.301
And so it’s a perfect marriage between,

00:01:26.301 --> 00:01:27.941
hey we know exactly what we’re doing here,

00:01:27.941 --> 00:01:29.601
but we need help to expand and grow,

00:01:29.601 --> 00:01:31.701
which is basically what I have to do as a manager

00:01:31.701 --> 00:01:33.311
leaving the Kelley program.

00:01:33.311 --> 00:01:36.421
So I get to try it in an inspiring setting before

00:01:36.421 --> 00:01:37.901
I take it off to my career.

00:01:37.901 --> 00:01:40.451
Working on a project that has real impact

00:01:40.451 --> 00:01:42.931
is the best part of the project.

00:01:42.931 --> 00:01:47.081
To really see our client down in the trenches

00:01:47.081 --> 00:01:49.631
trying to figure out some of these problems

00:01:49.631 --> 00:01:52.081
and to be there as a guide for him,

00:01:52.081 --> 00:01:55.331
he really looked to us as what would you guys do,

00:01:55.331 --> 00:01:56.941
how would you handle this?

00:01:56.941 --> 00:02:01.031
So being able to see that we’re positively influencing

00:02:01.031 --> 00:02:04.091
this person’s livelihood and their passion

00:02:04.091 --> 00:02:06.811
and their dream is pretty rewarding.

00:02:06.811 --> 00:02:09.501
You would look around and everybody was working.

00:02:09.501 --> 00:02:11.621
You stay up late. This isn’t a joyride.

00:02:11.621 --> 00:02:13.821
You know, you want to work hard for your client.

00:02:13.821 --> 00:02:16.221
You want to do the best that you can, so you spend a lot of

00:02:16.221 --> 00:02:18.581
long hours in-country that first week.

00:02:18.581 --> 00:02:21.341
The sense of ownership that they felt over Hamona

00:02:21.341 --> 00:02:25.191
and the Hamona coconut was really exciting and impressive.

00:02:26.771 --> 00:02:29.631
Watching the team and the strategy that they developed

00:02:29.631 --> 00:02:32.941
and the recommendations that they made was just a perfect fit.

00:02:32.941 --> 00:02:36.501
The client really felt like they had a roadmap for

00:02:36.501 --> 00:02:39.471
how they could actually reach the U.S. market

00:02:39.471 --> 00:02:40.751
and be successful.

00:02:40.751 --> 00:02:44.941
And Hamona wouldn’t have been able to reach their ultimate goal

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without the insights and the recommendations of the Kelley team.

Leading the Trip (Episode 6)

Description of the video:

WEBVTT

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:03.780 --> 00:00:07.780
So, as a leader, I had two stakeholders that I had to keep in mind.

00:00:07.780 --> 00:00:09.390
I wanted to make sure that the students had

00:00:09.390 --> 00:00:12.750
a fun, rewarding and enriching experience.

00:00:12.750 --> 00:00:14.590
And then I also wanted to make sure that the clients

00:00:14.590 --> 00:00:16.640
that we were working with felt like there was

00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:19.748
value to add in partnering with Kelley.

00:00:19.748 --> 00:00:22.568
There’s tree level, processing level and transport.

00:00:22.568 --> 00:00:25.248
My role in-country was really to make sure

00:00:25.248 --> 00:00:27.838
that I was setting up the team for success.

00:00:27.838 --> 00:00:29.598
The Leadership Academy teaches you

00:00:29.598 --> 00:00:31.918
four principles of effective coaching.

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It was very helpful to have a toolkit like that,

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because it ensured that the coaching that I provided

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was deliberate and really making sure that the experience

00:00:41.428 --> 00:00:45.258
was rewarding for them by asking difficult questions,

00:00:45.258 --> 00:00:49.258
or sharing a particular story or teaching them something new

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if I had taken a certain class they that maybe

00:00:51.638 --> 00:00:53.138
hadn’t been exposed to yet.

00:00:53.138 --> 00:00:57.068
Aurelie, our second-year leader, had gone on GLOBASE

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before and knew from her own experience what to expect.

00:01:02.128 --> 00:01:05.598
She could help us and say things like, “Last year,

00:01:05.598 --> 00:01:07.468
when I worked on my project with our client,

00:01:07.468 --> 00:01:10.388
it was really helpful if we just gave them a template

00:01:10.388 --> 00:01:13.048
and tools for them to use.” And those were things

00:01:13.048 --> 00:01:15.668
that we hadn’t considered yet for our own client.

00:01:15.668 --> 00:01:18.758
Watching her operate as we grew as a team,

00:01:18.758 --> 00:01:20.858
and seeing her struggle with the fact that she really wanted

00:01:20.858 --> 00:01:22.508
to get into this and be hands-on.

00:01:22.508 --> 00:01:23.828
It’s a cool product—she wanted to be in.

00:01:23.828 --> 00:01:26.838
But she had to find ways to encourage us,

00:01:26.838 --> 00:01:29.198
to keep us on task and keep us motivated.

00:01:29.198 --> 00:01:31.928
She really grew as a leader, I think, throughout the program.

00:01:31.928 --> 00:01:34.358
She was very respectful of our time.

00:01:34.358 --> 00:01:38.778
She was also very respectful of the stress levels we were facing,

00:01:38.778 --> 00:01:41.258
so she knew when to push and knew when to pull,

00:01:41.258 --> 00:01:42.758
and that was very helpful.

00:01:42.758 --> 00:01:45.428
This whole experience has helped me to really understand

00:01:45.428 --> 00:01:48.678
the importance of creating a vision, helping others around you

00:01:48.678 --> 00:01:50.998
understand where you want to go and really getting them

00:01:50.998 --> 00:01:54.388
on board with you. It’s also really helped me to understand

00:01:54.388 --> 00:01:58.388
how to work and influence a team, whether they be peers

00:01:58.388 --> 00:02:02.438
or subordinates, and get them on board not only in terms

00:02:02.438 --> 00:02:04.958
of this vision but also guiding them through

00:02:04.958 --> 00:02:07.658
a specific process to get there.

00:02:07.658 --> 00:02:12.168
I’m really proud of what we as a leadership team,

00:02:12.168 --> 00:02:13.668
have been able to accomplish.

00:02:13.668 --> 00:02:18.118
We’ve been able to give twenty-five new MBAs an opportunity

00:02:18.118 --> 00:02:23.088
to apply their fresh skills and grow a local

00:02:23.088 --> 00:02:25.458
Vietnamese business that really needed their help.

00:02:25.458 --> 00:02:28.318
They learned how to work together.

00:02:28.318 --> 00:02:32.868
They learned how to appreciate and understand a new culture.

00:02:32.868 --> 00:02:37.048
I think that providing them with those types

00:02:37.048 --> 00:02:41.818
of experiences only makes better business leaders.

Connecting Through Culture (Episode 7)

Description of the video:

WEBVTT

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:08.257 --> 00:00:10.737
The first part of the Vietnam in-country experience is really a

00:00:10.737 --> 00:00:13.947
deep dive dive into a Vietnamese business,

00:00:13.947 --> 00:00:16.957
really understanding the ins and outs of how they work,

00:00:16.957 --> 00:00:20.687
the context in which they work and the challenges that they have.

00:00:20.687 --> 00:00:24.207
The second week is really more about understanding Vietnam

00:00:24.207 --> 00:00:25.907
its entirety, everything from

00:00:25.907 --> 00:00:31.597
the food to the people, the language, the history.

00:00:31.597 --> 00:00:33.957
Not only does this have a direct tie with the businesses

00:00:33.957 --> 00:00:36.097
that they were supporting, because there’s an

00:00:36.097 --> 00:00:40.257
interdependence between the city life and the countryside,

00:00:40.257 --> 00:00:43.422
but also they could understand how their business decisions

00:00:43.422 --> 00:00:47.182
can have such a greater impact not only on the

00:00:47.182 --> 00:00:50.562
urban centers but also on these more rural areas.

00:00:53.912 --> 00:00:56.942
The second week was a blast. It was great to bond not only

00:00:56.942 --> 00:00:59.332
with my team but with all the other teams.

00:00:59.332 --> 00:01:03.012
We were thrown together in all these really neat situations

00:01:03.012 --> 00:01:06.452
and savoring everything that Vietnam had to offer

00:01:06.452 --> 00:01:09.392
and really absorbing everything with all of our senses.

00:01:09.392 --> 00:01:12.012
The most rewarding part of GLOBASE Vietnam,

00:01:12.012 --> 00:01:15.572
one is the opportunity to take a section of Kelley students

00:01:15.572 --> 00:01:17.802
that otherwise we would just have classes with

00:01:17.802 --> 00:01:19.752
and really get in a more intense environment,

00:01:19.752 --> 00:01:21.842
and those experiences you take forward and you say,

00:01:21.842 --> 00:01:24.342
“I’ll remember that. We’ll always have that together.”

00:01:24.342 --> 00:01:27.602
I think what I’ll cherish most about this trip was

00:01:27.602 --> 00:01:30.732
getting to know my classmates so well.

00:01:30.732 --> 00:01:33.632
They’re some of my closest friends now. And the professors—

00:01:33.632 --> 00:01:36.352
I mean, you’re traveling with these people for two weeks,

00:01:36.352 --> 00:01:39.342
so you definitely can’t help but get close to the people

00:01:39.342 --> 00:01:42.372
that you’re traveling with and get to know them well.

00:01:43.487 --> 00:01:47.487
The challenges that we encounter, the thrills that we enjoy

00:01:47.487 --> 00:01:52.137
together are things that we’ll never be able to recreate again.

00:01:52.137 --> 00:01:55.247
GLOBASE Vietnam was a pilot program. There was a lot at stake.

00:01:55.247 --> 00:01:58.077
It was such a success that we’re going to be continuing

00:01:58.077 --> 00:02:00.417
for the years to come. It’s an experience, it’s a program

00:02:00.417 --> 00:02:04.417
that I’ll always cherish and feel very proud of.

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