International Business Projects reinforce the CEMS partnership between universities and companies in jointly shaping international management education. The course is designed as a real-life learning experience for students. It provides students with a unique opportunity to gain insights into corporate practice. Teams of CEMS students solve a real-life business, strategy, or management challenge that the CEMS corporate partner (CP) is currently facing in the area of international business. Acting as management consultants and tutored by the CEMS corporate partner and university faculty, student teams will:

• perform a systematic investigation of the international business challenge,
• provide a structured in-depth analysis of the current state,
• design alternative evidence-based solutions to the challenge – these solutions should be feasible under the corporate partner’s organizational and financial constraints,
• define and communicate a suggested way forward based on the current state analysis, the available potential solutions, theoretical considerations, and the collected evidence.

Both the corporate partner and faculty coach support the students throughout the international business project. The course’s faculty coach is Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jan Hendrik Fisch.

We work together with two CEMS corporate or social partners, each has a specific business challenge:

• Simon Kucher: Consulting business model of the future
• ABB: Digital twin in production

Students will work in groups closely with the corporate partner on a specific international business challenge that the corporate partner is currently facing. Details on the challenge will be communicated at the outset of the course. Groups nominate a speaker to channel their communication with corporate partner and faculty coach beyond meetings.

Upon completion of the course, students:

• gained insights into corporate practices and understood the complexity of a corporate partner’s international business challenge from a holistic consulting perspective,
• designed a substantiated evidence-based solution to a complex practical business challenge and formulated feasible ideas based on appropriate theories, methods, and techniques commonly used in consulting and international business,
• developed their professional and social skills to collaborate effectively in diverse teams,
• demonstrated communication skills by presenting and defending their suggested solutions in front of an academic and corporate audience.

The course relies on personal interactions between students, corporate partner, and faculty coach. Therefore, presence in the course sessions is mandatory. As an exception, students may miss up to two sessions. However, students must be present in the kick-off session and in all sessions in which their group is supposed to present or a course assessment takes place. Please communicate your absence beforehand to your fellow group members, the corporate partner, and the faculty coaches.

This business project uses a combination of discussions, group coaching, status feedback sessions, presentations, and individual/group work outside the classroom. Groups of students will be formed in the kick-off session.

• WU kick-off: In this session with supervising faculty, the challenges and milestones of the real-life international strategy or management case are outlined. At the same time, students are familiarized with the guiding principles of project work, with the project plan and rules in handling supervising faculty/corporate partner interaction. Groups are formed who work with their respective corporate partners.
• CP kick-off: After familiarizing the students with the international strategy and/or management challenge, contact with the corporate partners is established. In separate sessions, corporate partners outline the business challenge from their perspective and provide useful input into the business, the market situation, and the specific challenge to be dealt with.
• WU coaching: Subsequently, groups work on their assigned real-life international strategy or management case the firm is currently facing. Groups collect relevant data through secondary and primary (qualitative or quantitative) research. Based on these analyses, recommendations for the specific international strategy or management challenges are prepared and substantiated through theory and market research results. The IIB coaching session will assist this process.
• CP coaching: Students have the opportunity to substantiate and evaluate the findings from the first project phase with their corporate partner. This deepens the students’ understanding for the corporate partner’s business and the related challenges. It will make sure that students are on the right track and get the input needed in each project phase.
• WU status presentation: Groups have provided each other with slides outlining the current status of their project and present these slides in the session (duration: 20 minutes approximately; slide submission: Canvas; deadline: two working days in advance; maximum file size: 4 MB). The other group and faculty will give feedback and recommendations for developing the approach before it is presented to the corporate partner.
• Tentative presentation: Students present a prototype of their proposal to the corporate partner and IIB faculty. They justify their methodology (which research design will be applied, sources used in secondary data analysis, etc.) and have the opportunity to discuss their research findings, the research process and open issues.
• CP coaching: Students explain and discuss the next steps they derived from the tentative presentation with the corporate partner coach. After that, they proceed with those steps until they have a presentable draft of their final presentation.
• WU status presentation: Groups have provided each other with slides outlining the final status of their project and present these slides in the session (duration: 20 minutes approximately; slide submission: Canvas; deadline: two working days in advance; maximum file size: 4 MB). The other group and faculty will give feedback and recommendations for refining the proposal before it is presented to the corporate partner.
• Final presentation: Results are presented to the corporate partner. The verbal and printed presentations will be assessed. Students will have to actively participate in class, hold group presentations and summarize their findings in a final report.

Assessment is based on the quality of tentative presentation and final presentation, the participation during the classes, group members’ peer rating, and the final report. The minimum score to pass the course is half of the highest score for each of these elements. Students will be assessed on their ability to

• understand and analyze international strategy and/or management challenges,
• use appropriate analytical techniques and deliver relevant market research information,
• present results in high quality.

This implies an ability to work in teams. Students failing to participate in their teams will lose the marks for that piece of work and thereby fail the entire course.

Group level (60%)

• Tentative presentation (20%)
  • Content: summarizes first findings concisely and to the point
  • Duration: 30 minutes
  • Slide (pptx) submission: corporate partner coach and upload on Canvas
  • Deadline: two working days in advance
  • Maximum file size: 4 MB (you may provide a larger file to the corporate partner)
• Final presentation (20%)
  • Content: summarizes findings and recommendations concisely and to the point
  • Duration: 45 minutes
  • Slide (pptx) submission: corporate partner coach and upload on Canvas
  • Deadline: two working days in advance
  • Maximum file size: 4 MB (you may provide a larger file to the corporate partner)
• Final report (20%)
  • Content: documents the final recommendations and the methodology applied (overview of data collection process, which primary and secondary data sources were used, etc.)
  • Volume: 20 pages max. plus references list, no appendix (you may provide additional material to the corporate partner)
  • Format: Harvard referencing style, 12 p Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing, 2.5 cm margins all around
  • Document (docx) submission: corporate partner coach and upload on Canvas
  • Deadline: 7 days after final presentation
  • Maximum file size: 2 MB (you may provide a larger file to the corporate partner)

Individual level (40%)

• Tentative peer review (10%)
  • Content: on an individual basis, group members evaluate the contribution of fellow group members to the work process throughout the project (in terms of contributing to the results but also to workflow issues)
  • Download questionnaire from Canvas
  • Submission: upload on Canvas
  • Deadline: 24 h after tentative presenation
• Final peer review (10%)
  • Content: on an individual basis, group members evaluate the contribution of fellow group members to the work process throughout the project (in terms of contributing to the results but also to workflow issues)
  • Download questionnaire from Canvas
  • Submission: upload on Canvas
  • Deadline: 24 h after submission of final report
• Class participation and comments on status presentations (20%)

Enrollment in the CEMS program

Course registration

Non-disclosure agreement: download from Canvas and bring printed and hand-signed to corporate partner kick-off meeting

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Basic knowledge of project management and consulting methods is a benefit.