Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development (FIELD), a curricular innovation announced by Harvard Business School in January 2011, is a required first-year course that spans a full academic year. The objective of the Global Immersion portion of the course is to increase students' global intelligence—an awareness of the variation in business processes and capabilities, customers, and the institutional environment across different markets. Students work with organizations and focus on a new product or service development project designed to help them study business opportunities primarily in emerging markets. 

January 2013 Global Immersion Locations

Africa

Accra, Ghana
Johannesburg,
South Africa

East Asia

Beijing, China
Chongqing, China
Qingdao, China
Shanghai, China
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Europe

Istanbul, Turkey

Latin America

Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Santiago, Chile

North America

Boston, United States

South Asia

Chennai, India
Mumbai, India

January 2012 Global Immersion Video

 

How does the Global Immersion work?

During the fall term, students will:

• Acquire a broad understanding of product development processes in the regular MBA curriculum and in FIELD exercises;
• Learn about the broad business environment of their immersion destination; and
• Work in teams of six to get to know their partner organization (Global Partner) and develop preliminary product or service ideas.
• During the January global immersion, students will:
• Travel to their immersion location;
• Work in their teams to complete the design of a new product or service for their Global Partner;
• Validate their proposal; and,
• Share the final proposal in a formal presentation.

Project Criteria

• The academic goals of the course require that the new product or service project involves interaction with existing or potential customers. Projects will be focused on accessible consumer groups in the local market.
• The target for the project must be a tangible product or service. Students should be able to make suggestions without extensive background training (such as medical or engineering knowledge) and do so within the time given for the course.
• Students will remain in the immersion location for the duration of the immersion, and may not travel to other locations during this time.
  

Project Examples from 2011-2012

• Consumer Products (Brazil): What new differentiated luxury cinema experiences can be developed that are also economically viable?
• Service (South Africa): What new consumer-based mobile application for banking can be developed that would enable clients to leverage mobile technology to extend one of their core business applications in South Africa?
• Consumer Products (Turkey): What design improvements can be made to "white goods" products in order to make these household appliances more accessible to disabled consumers?
• Service (Vietnam): Your partner organization seeks to create a product or service that encourages local residents in flood-prone areas to invest in preventative safety. In addition, the organization would like to create a product or service that encourages homeowners to build a savings account for these same potential disasters. What would encourage this savings?
  

How do organizations become involved?

Interested organizations located in one of the FIELD Immersion destinations will:

• Define a category of products or services or a customer segment that is suitable for a student-driven product development project;
• Designate one company representative as Project Sponsor to guide a student team throughout the academic exercise; and,
• Provide access to functional experts such as staff from marketing, production, finance, and other areas to liaise with students.

During the fall term (September-early December 2012), the Project Sponsor will provide information that allows students to learn about the Global Partner and its markets. The Sponsor should be available to respond to student questions, information requests and calls. Additionally, the functional experts from areas relevant to the project will liaise with students during this term.

How do organizations benefit?

The benefits and rewards you can expect from partnering with Harvard Business School include:

• Interaction with bright and motivated Harvard Business School students;
• A final presentation with ideas for new products or services;
• Recognition of your participation on the Harvard Business School website; and
• A complimentary one-year subscription to the acclaimed Harvard Business Review.
• Invitation to attend a celebratory event on the HBS campus, where you can engage with Harvard Business School faculty and students.

In addition, students on a team will enter into an agreement with Global Partners concerning confidentiality and the transfer of rights to their proposal to the Global Partner.

Additional Information

If you are interested in being considered for this exciting curricular innovation, please review this website and complete a project proposal. To complete the project proposal in our system you will create an account, enter your company and contact information, and submit your project idea. For questions, please contact the Global Experience Office (geo@hbs.edu).

Harvard Business School reserves the right to modify details of the Global Immersion program throughout the year.