March 14, 2006
A comprehensive module in international business is the centerpiece of an ambitious new MBA curriculum, the first major revision to the program in eight years and the first step in Dean Angelo DeNisi’s strategy to turn established Freeman strengths into legitimate competitive advantages.
“When we talk about what we’re good at—what differentiates us—clearly a big part of that is our ties all around the world,” DeNisi says. “How could we not feature this as part of our MBA program?”
Finalized in the wake of Katrina and introduced to first-year MBAs in January, the new curriculum features three main components: a required module in global leadership, a required module in applied management, and greater integration of core courses.
The global leadership module comprises four courses, one per semester, over the two years of the program, including an introduction to the global business environment, international management, global strategy and cases in international business. With the exception of the initial course, each will focus on a different part of the world, each will feature collaborative projects with international partners and each will include a class excursion to that part of the world. International business management, for example, will focus on Latin America. The course will be taught by a faculty member from ITESM in Monterrey, Mexico, and students will work on projects with Mexican teammates. The strategy course will focus on Europe. It will be taught by a faculty member from HEC in Paris and students will work on consulting projects for European firms. Cases in international business will focus on Asia and students will take part in an international case competition.
According to DeNisi, the global leadership module is designed to leverage the Freeman School’s longstanding network of international partners. While the trips were optional this year, the international class excursions will become an integrated part of the program in 2007.
“For years schools have talked about being an international program by teaching a foreign language,” says Bill Sandefer, director of admissions. “We have the ability to send all of our students as a class to Latin America, Europe or Asia, with all the advantages that confers. If you look at someplace like Wharton, they can’t do that with 1,600 students. This gives us the ability to be a small school and do huge things. That’s a unique proposition.”
The applied management module also comprises four courses, one per semester, over two years, with each course featuring a significant practical component. The first course, Rebuilding New Orleans, focused on issues involved in the city’s recovery following Hurricane Katrina. Students were required to work on consulting projects with local businesses or organizations in need of assistance. The module also includes a choice of Burkenroad Reports or a marketing practicum and courses in enterprise valuation and entrepreneurship.
“Many of our MBAs come in with experience, but if you’re learning something and at the same time applying that knowledge to a real-world situation, it’s much more valuable,” says John Trapani, senior associate dean. “We think this experiential component will enhance our competitive advantage and make students look more attractive to employers.”
Greater integration of core courses simply means having faculty members communicate with each other to make their course content as seamless as possible. Integration is a standard goal of MBA programs, Trapani says, but it’s difficult to achieve because it requires significant time and effort on the part of faculty members to coordinate their courses. “It requires more work, but we’ve structured the curriculum so that faculty have the time for the integration,” Trapani says. “That’s the key to it.”
According to Will McCaa (MBA ’06), who sat on the Graduate Curriculum Committee, the new curriculum incorporates virtually every one of the recommendations submitted by students. “One of the things we talked about is that the spirit of being a class was lost from first year to second year,” McCaa says. “We wanted something that brought the whole class back together, a capstone project that people would get together on. The international and experiential modules are not the same thing at all, but they accomplish the same goal in that you stay together as a class for two years.”
The new curriculum also includes a required ethics course, another GCC recommendation. “In the wake of all the different scandals that had come out, being able to show on your transcript that you had taken an ethics course is more important than just having ethics folded into your regular course work,” McCaa says.
While some first-year MBAs were initially skeptical of the change, DeNisi says most now recognize it as a substantial improvement over the old curriculum and the faculty are supportive as well. “This is the direction we’re moving,” DeNisi says. “We need to be able to make statements like ‘an MBA from Tulane University will equip you do to the following’ and there’s got to be something we can say. With this new MBA program, every student, just by the nature of the program, will have studied on three continents and they will have worked with local enterprises on real business plans. I don’t know a whole lot of MBA programs that can say that.”
