IBD Objectives
The participants of a typical Haas course
include MBA students and the instructor. In the IBD program,
however, a third group plays a very significant
role - the client companies. Through close collaboration between clients and students, and with oversight from the executive director, IBD offers experiential learning in a global context.
Student Objectives
The objectives for the students involved in IBD are varied
but generally include: obtaining a rewarding educational
experience, exposure to a new country and culture, and an
opportunity to work on an interesting, relevant, real life
project with the potential to contribute towards a significant
result.
Client Objectives
Clients generally participate for one of two reasons (or
both). The most important objective is to obtain assistance,
from a competent source, in solving a problem that confronts
them. In addition, they may be interested in recruiting
from amongst the Haas student body and see participation
as a means of evaluating potential candidates.
Objectives Can Conflict
Experience indicates that these two sets of objectives can
conflict. For example, a client may need assistance on a
project in Japan. The team assigned to such a project would
obviously require Japanese language ability to perform effectively.
Yet, a speaker of Japanese may already have experience in
Japan and be desirous of an experience in some other part
of the world, for example Africa or Latin America. Likewise,
a Spanish speaker may wish to work on a project in Asia,
or someone with a finance background may wish to try their
hand at marketing.
The Client Comes First
In assigning teams to clients, student preferences for location,
function, type of industry, etc., will be honored as much
as possible. However, in order to provide the highest quality
team possible to each and every client, compromises must
be made. Thus, students generally cannot expect to get their
first preference in all categories. Although it might be a familiar country,
industry or function, other aspects will be entirely new.
