Field seminars to BRIC nations with classmates and professors give first-hand exposure to trends, challenges and opportunities in these influential markets, and to the practical side of business engagement, while developing EMBA participants' global network of contacts.

New for the fall 2012 cohort... Introducing a third field seminar in the Middle East as part of the Executive MBA program curriculum.


Global Experiences

The Global Experience is designed to provide practial exposure within the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China), where participants conduct one-week field seminars. Participants visit either Russia or China in their first field seminar and then Brazil or India in the second. See below for a sample of companies visited from prior engagements.

Field seminars are shared with participants from Thunderbird’s US-based Executive MBA program, and both cohorts visit each other’s campus locations (in Switzerland and Arizona, respectively) for additional exposure and collaborative learning.

Thunderbird is proud to announce the expansion of the field seminar program. The program schedule for the cohort joining fall 2012 will include a third field seminar in the Middle East (with an option for a choice of either Middle East or Africa under consideration). Destination cities are to be determined by the professors leading the seminar. Thunderbird's pilot module in Abu Dhabi & Dubai (with cohort VII) included alumni networking engagements and speakers from organizations such as the Commerical Bank of Dubai & Masdar Capital (Masdar City, Abu Dhabi).

Field seminar schedules vary year to year, but typically include a mix of guest speakers, corporate site visits, cultural visits and events with local alumni. Oftentimes, the group visits two separate cities in each country. The following is just a sample of some prior companies where guest speakers (or site visits) were sourced or conducted: 

RUSSIA
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
TNK-BP JV
Chrysler Russia
Philipp Morris (plant tour)
UBS Russia
The Kremlin (Moscow) &
the Hermitage (St. Petersburg)

BRAZIL
Embraer (Sao Paulo)
JPMorgan
Vale (Rio de Janeiro)
Natura Brazil
Globo
Brazil Telecom
Unica Ethanol Sao Paulo
Thunderbird Brazil Alumni
Christ the Redeemer (Rio)
 CHINA
Lenovo
CNN Beijing
Shanghai World Expo 2010
Thunderbird Shanghai Alumni Association panel
Suzhou Enterprise Zone
Forbidden CIty (Beijing) and The Great Wall

INDIA
Tata Consulting
Infosys - Hyderabad
Indian School of Business
NASSCOM
InterGlobe (Indigo Air)
Apollo Healthcare
LG Electronics India
Bharat Biotech
Akshardham Temple
Taj Mahal (Agra) site visit		 SWITZERLAND
Infiniti (Nissan) Global Brand Innovation
Nestle Headquarters (Vevey)
Swiss Association of Foreign Banks
US MIssion to the United Nations
World Economic Forum
World Trade Organization
Thunderbird Geneva Alumni
SwissPost (Bern)
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria

Field seminars are guided by professors who have researched cultural variations and have lived and worked with them all over the world. Informed by classmates from other cultures, with a broad range of professional backgrounds, who openly share their experiences, you will expand your own world view. This often brings immediate benefits for the workplace, from working on cross-cultural virtual teams to leading global projects.