Darden’s Global Field Experiences (GFE) program offers second year students an innovative way to learn about solving real, pressing global business challenges. Student teams, with 2-4 members each, work on a project directly with an organization and produce deliverables designed to shed new light on the challenge and/or solve it. The students, supported by faculty advisers, consult remotely during most of the project, but also conduct onsite visits in order to further scope the challenge or to present their deliverables.
The following photographs and quotes offer a glimpse into the Fall 2014 GFE experiences from both the student and client perspective.
William Walton (MBA ’15) working in Venda, South Africa. William explained, “The project provided great experience managing across different cultural business norms and focusing to meet unique client needs. My trip to Venda to meet the clients was an amazing experience and allowed for important context for the project.” His client later shared that “the project, improving the webpage, will increase our visibility and accessibility by all our customers.”Will also had a chance to visit Kruger National Park during his GFE visit to Venda. He saw elephants, zebras, and giraffes!Four students worked on a GFE project that took them to China. The client stated that “the students helped identify important information regarding raw material sourcing and developed a procurement and transportation model around this information. The process was centered around solid interviews, research, and data so the recommendations from it are very practical. This work laid down a good foundation for our company to further refine its supply chain system and saved the company a lot of time and energy during its very busy start-up stage.”Joe Bright (MBA ’15) and Gen Izutsu (MBA ’15) on a field expedition as part of the GFE onsite visit in China. Joe said that the GFE “was a chance not only for Darden students to help a foreign company capitalize on a unique business opportunity, but also a chance for us to learn how business is conducted in another country.”A group of three Darden students traveled to Manila, Philippines to meet with their client, another higher education institution. They met with top administrators at the school to share their research and suggestions. One administrator commented, “The Darden team gave valuable inputs toward a better implementation of the project . . . they delivered more than what was expected.”During their onsite visit to Amsterdam, a GFE team had a chance to share their knowledge with a group of young entrepreneurs. This photo shows Rafael Barbosa (MBA ’15) and Vaibhav Laddha (MBA ’15) presenting. This GFE client shared that “We are now starting a pilot with the suggestions done by the [Darden] students to improve international recruitment.”
Inkeun Song (MBA ’15) takes in Amsterdam during his GFE onsite visit.Aleksandr Fomin (MBA ’15) hard at work with his client in Stockholm, Sweden. Aleks remarked about his experience “I saw the atmosphere of start-up culture in Sweden. I re-confirm for myself that this is the type of culture that I want to be in during my future career . . . start-up is something that I really enjoy.” Alek’s teammate, Amit Rozeman (MBA ’15) shared “We met with grad students who worked on a similar project for the company and it was really interesting to share insights with them.”Michael Filipowski (MBA ’15) and Ayodeji Aina (MBA ’15) conducted interviews in London for their GFE project.Additionally, Michal (MBA ’15) conducted research in South Africa for his GFE client. He also had a chance to visit the top of Table Mountain!Darden students take time to explore Kathmandu during their Global Field Experience onsite visit to Nepal.
