Crafting a GO-Lab Project

We seek 10-12 organizational project hosts each to work with a GO-Lab team of 4-6 students. Faculty members will help prospective project hosts to think through project objectives and to refine project scope. Expect that the focus of each project will evolve from the initial stated problem or challenge to a more fundamental understanding and desired direction of change as students and mentors engage and leverage their objective perspectives, skill sets and tools.
 

 
 
Crafting a GO-Lab Project: Criteria for Success
  • An executive sponsor/project sponsor at each site involved in the project
  • A clear and concise project scope that has been socialized with all of the corporate leaders who may become involved in the project
  • Strategic importance: it is something that needs doing
  • 2 contexts - cross border data and people in (a minimum of) 2 location
  • Access to time and resources, data and people
  • Focused attention during the international Field Study travel period in
    March 
Crafting a GO-Lab Project: Questions for Scoping
  • Where could we launch the next product/ platform to best create and capture value?
  • How can our company become more global, when most of our employees are in the headquarters country but many of our customers are abroad?
  • Which functions should be taken up in which setting?
  • What mechanisms can we employ to improve learning across sites in order to leverage our presence, assets, and emerging opportunities?
  • How could we configure our global supply chain to better address unpredictable demand and/or supply shocks?
  • How can new products, processes, systems, or business models be developed with inputs from different entities in different countries?
  • How should we balance local independence and global standardization in specific business?
  • How can we improve the value of our growth by acquisition, typically focusing on the integration of a specific acquisition, ideally across different settings?

GO-Lab Project Timeline for Host Organizations

  • Fall

    Craft a draft project proposal with input from EMBA Faculty/Mentor.

     

  • Late October

    FINAL DEADLINE to submit a project proposal.

  • December

    Project Host Orientation Session, online.

     

  • December

    Match hosts & projects with GO-Lab team.

  • December

    Introductory call/meeting with host and team.

  • February

    Finalize project scope with GO-Lab team, meet virtually or in person.

     

  • February

    Pre-visit planning for FIELD STUDY.

     

  • One Week in March

    GO-Lab FIELD STUDY: EMBA team on site at host locations.

     

  • Early April

    Review Team findings & analysis for comments & feedback.

  • April

    Executive Presentations – deliverables due to Project Host.

     

  • May

    Global Labs Highlight event at MIT.

6 Stages of GO-Lab Projects

Over the four month project, EMBA students (along with a Faculty Mentor) work through six stages and iterate their understanding of the challenge and recommendations for change:

  • Map the firm’s global sales, production, and innovation footprint and its positioning in the relevant competitive landscapes
  • Identify bottlenecks, gaps, or opportunities, including background research on these issues from practice and academia
  • Observe in order to understand the issues to the fullest extent possible from multiple perspectives
  • Reframe the challenge and develop a vision/big concept to go forward
  • Develop specific tools, analytics to support and sharpen the general directions of change
  • Present a strategic perspective and a road map for action
GO-Lab Project Deliverables

The GO-Lab project concludes with the students delivering a set of recommendations and actionable proposals, often supported by a specific set of tools or “play books”, built from their data driven observations to offer a vision of the desired future state and of specific areas for improvement.