Nineteen full-time MBA students completed a nine-week course focused on the development of market expansion plans for four Swedish companies operating within the clean-tech industry. The companies, Heliospectra, Secoil, Vida International, and Zpecta, are looking to enter the U.S. market.
In order to deepen their international business experience, all Global MBA candidates at The George Washington University School of Business in Washington, D.C., are required to participate in an international residency project. Each project, which combines class work with hands-on learning, brings together a diverse group of students. The students must apply their skills and experience to assist international organizations with their market entry or expansion into the United States.
Through collaboration with the Swedish-American Chambers of Commerce (SACC), Mälardalens Handelskammare, and Business Region Gothenburg, four clean-tech companies in Sweden were selected as consulting projects for the School of Business course “Clean Technology and Marketing Strategy: The Swedish Experience.” The firms—Heliospetra, Secoil, Vida International and Zpecta—all boast cutting-edge Clean-Tech solutions in their specific industry.
The consulting course on CleanTech in Sweden was developed and taught by Anna Helm, Assistant Professor of International Business at The George Washington University. It marked the second round of Clean-Tech consultancy projects in Sweden led by Dr. Helm. “As a native Swede, it’s an amazing experience to share with my students at GW the ‘green’ side of the country. They are always surprised at how ingrained sustainable behaviors are in everyday life, both in private and corporate settings,” says Dr. Helm.
The Swedish project was one of six international programs offered to students enrolled in the full-time Global MBA program in 2011. The other projects unfolded in Brazil, Ghana, Serbia, Turkey and Vietnam. Student teams were engaged in consulting projects with firms overseas, focusing on different industries. “Many multinational enterprises fail in international markets because they underestimate the capabilities, creativity, and knowledge of local firms. In our international residency program, our students develop close relationships with local firms, learning how these firms innovate and how they perceive and interact with the global competitive landscape. This arms them with knowledge that is valued by many employers. In the Sweden residency, students also were given the opportunity to work with start-up companies and were able to learn first hand about the challenges faced by internationalizing new ventures. We benefit from the wealth of contacts and depth of local cultural understanding of our faculty like Anna Helm in these courses. Our faculty infuse their passion and expertise into these courses. The close interaction students experience with the faculty in this program makes it a very special and memorable experience for students,” says Liesl Riddle, Associate Dean for MBA Programs at the George Washington University.
My company and project involved bio-diesel infrastructure products and the related market entry into the U.S.,” says Andrew Seal, one of the business students working on Team Secoil. “We were able to learn first-hand about the challenges and benefits of collaboration with our energy-industry partners overseas.”
GW student Nina Lahijanian describes her experience in Sweden as eye-opening. “While in Sweden I observed that there is, irrelevant of company size or industry, a consistent theme of collaboration. It is because of this collaborative nature that forward-looking projects like Hammarby Sjöstad are possible in Sweden.”
The Global MBA students working as consultants for Swedish clean-tech companies were enrolled in a seven-week course. Their work began on the university’s Washington, D.C., campus, where they undertook intensive research and began initial, long-distance contact with their clients. During their two weeks in Sweden, the students put their theoretical knowledge into practice. They collaborated in intensive meetings, mostly with their client company CEOs. Each project culminated with student presentations detailing market opportunities in the United States and strategies for meeting company goals related to expansion.
“The model of working in a setting with faculty guidance through a consulting project enables students to transfer theory into practice in a seamless manner, says Dr. Helm, “and it also empowers students to feel ownership of their struggles and successes. This is particularly true when students have the opportunity to work with small companies just on the verge of international expansion, as was the case in the Sweden Residency. My students interacted directly with the CEOs and Marketing Directors of these companies. ”
“The IRP was among the top five reasons that triggered my decision to join the GW MBA program. After having realized the impact we created on our client, I would definitely rank it the first,” says Mustafa Onerci of Team Heliospectra.
“After working so hard with our clients remotely from the United States, it was exciting when we arrived in Sweden and finally got to meet them face-to-face,” says Matt Williams, a member of the team working for Secoil. “Our client was very helpful and accommodating during the entire process, which made the project much more rewarding and enjoyable.”
Students were intrigued by energy generation and management in Sweden. “The highlight for me was visiting a waste-management facility and biogas refinery. This particular region of Sweden had a recycling rate close to 100 percent. Food waste was the feedstock for the refinery. The scale was such that the biogas end product powered some 500 buses in central Sweden and Stockholm,” says John Dillman, Team Heliospectra. “Everybody we encountered—from our clients to our hosts at company visits—was enthusiastic about sharing their experiences in energy, answering our questions, and educating us about the unique Swedish approach for making business and sustainability work together.”
The two-week trip to Sweden in the middle of May incorporated visits to both domestic and multinational companies, including Skanska and Volvo and regional energy companies Mälarenergi and Göteborg Energi. But it wasn’t all business. They students also did cultural and historical sightseeing in Stockholm, Västerås, and Gothenburg. The first week started off with a Stockholm tour based on the locations in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. The trip concluded on May 19 with a dinner aboard the 18th century ship Götheborg.
The students not only were guests at the U.S. Embassy but they also visited the Swedish Parliament where Staffan Anger, the hosting member of Parliament, spent several hours with them. The students remarked on how generous host companies and organizations were with their time and information. The students also made an extraordinary visit to the Viking Village at Frösåker brygga, a trip that was organized by the City of Västerås exclusively for the GW students.
The consultancies and the trip to Sweden ended on May 19 in Gothenburg when student unveiled their recommendations to the clients. All company representatives were on hand for the professional and well-researched presentations. “The day of final presentations was not a day of panic or anxiety – as they usually are when one is to present in front of their peers, professors and strangers. It was a day of pride: we had been working on our recommendations for about three months and we were proud to present findings that would actually affect the future of these great companies,” says Team Zpecta’s Nina Lahijanian.
“Our strategy, defined a year ago, changed with the results of GWU’s project. In a company as new as Zpecta, there are not adequate resources to prepare for a well-researched foray into a tough market like that of the U.S. But GWU gave us that opportunity. The students’ competence and commitment was impressive. We are deeply grateful for the help we received, and we are keen to continue to keep in touch with GWU and its students,” says Tommy Schavon, Founder and CEO of Zpecta.
“The research that the students performed showed that the company could rethink its plans and choose another potential location for the market entry,” says Marina Gireva, Export Manager at Vida International.
“The benefits of completing an international consulting practicum are twofold: learning to manage a long-distance relationship with a client and gaining experience in adapting and adjusting to the various cultural, environmental, economic, and legal differences in the international marketplace,” says Matthew DeBold, Team Vida International.
2011 was the second year SACC-USA and George Washington University partnered up for the Global MBA course focusing on Sweden and Swedish clean-tech companies market entrance in the U.S. Click here to read about some of the 2010 years’ companies that took part in the projects; ClimateWell, I-Tech, and Taurus Energy
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