MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership

Typical Business Trips

Occasionally, the learning environment moves beyond the MIT campus and into the villages and cities, commerce centers and boardrooms of the international marketplace.

In addition to trips to New York City and Silicon Valley, classes travel every year to a strategic global business region, such as Europe, Asia, or South America. Field trips provide an opportunity to build cross-cultural relationships and to experience the world marketplace in action. International business leaders share honest insights with the students — and MIT Sloan Fellows who are citizens of the host countries bring their own knowledgeable perspectives to the global experience.

Participants also have an unrivaled opportunity to work on global projects in connection with coursework or research. As part of Global E-Lab, for example, they might help a South American startup gain a foothold in foreign markets in the face of currency devaluation. In the Medical Innovations class, they might work with MIT Sloan management experts, MIT engineers, and researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital or other centers of medical research to develop a solution for a crucial world problem. The emphasis in all experiences is on building practical, enduring, real-world knowledge.

Scandinavia
In Finland, Norway, and Sweden, participants explored the intersection of mobility and Internet technology at the headquarters of Nokia and LM Ericsson. Trips to Egg Financial Services, OM Stockholm Stock Exchange, and MeritaNordbanken allowed students to investigate the impact of Internet technologies on the financial sector. During visits to petroleum giants BP Amoco and STATOIL, they also toured one of the world's largest offshore oil and gas platforms. Visiting Norway's first auto plant to observe the production of a state-of-the-art electric vehicle provided global insight into the impact of environmental issues on new product development.

Asia
Participants traveled to China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan to get an inside look at the powerful markets emerging in Asia. Top leaders from government and industry, including such organizations as Delta Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, Sony, Nippon Mitsubishi Oil, Bank of Tokyo, Chugai Pharmaceuticals, NEC, Quanta Computers, TSMC, Pacific Century Cyber Works, Qualcomm, Nokia, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, met with students and gave them a strategic perspective on an increasingly critical global force.

South America
During a trip to Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, participants explored alternative models for integration into regional and world markets, business-government relations, and liberalization/privatization policies in these emerging market economies. Participants studied new economic initiatives and the attendant risks and opportunities in each country, examining human rights, labor standards, and environmental issues. This trip also gave participants a first-hand look at the impact of globalization on domestic industries, examining the factors necessary for local companies to become global players and how multi-national corporations are succeeding or failing to penetrate these markets.