Thunderbird students, professors and staff take a business field trip to Kutna Hora silver mine in the Czech Republic.

Learning the Czech Weltanschauung

“It is possible to experience a week or two abroad at almost any good MBA school,” says Casey Miller ’06, a participant in the Prague trimester experience, held Jan. 30-April 21. “But the fact that Thunderbird offers a whole trimester in a foreign country with the same education curriculum taught at its home campus in Glendale, Ariz., is unique.”

The inaugural program, which replaced previous shorter-term study options in Archamps*, France, is part of a partnership with the Czech Management Center (CMC) Graduate School of Business in Prague, with whom Thunderbird has an ongoing relationship.

The three-month experience included the full battery of second-trimester classes taught at Thunderbird’s main campus, including the regional business environment of Europe, global marketing management, accounting, financial management, economics and other global business courses.

“We are excited to be able to offer our students hands-on experience in the ‘New Europe’ as part of their Thunderbird program,” says Kay Keck, vice president for Thunderbird’s full-time MBA program. “This part of Europe is changing quickly and is really where the action is.”

Daniel Heid ’07 says the experience opened his eyes about the influence of the European Union on businesses and the decisions they must make. “It was also a good lesson in currencies and exchange rates,” he says of the skill that he and his wife used daily while living abroad. Their five-year-old son also picked up more than a dozen Czech words during social interactions with local families and their children.

“You are in a foreign country living, studying and experiencing something completely different from what you may be used to,” adds Miller of the trimester experience. “Instead of sitting in your campus dorm on the weekends thinking about the things that you learned in class that week, you could be on a visit to the Czech National Bank seeing how international economics really works, or seeing operations management in action at a major Czech Brewery.”

Cold winter temperatures in the Czech Republic did not deter sun-starved Thunderbird students from outdoor activities.

Students visited various multinational and local companies, including a bank, a theme park, a glass factory and Phillip Morris in Kutna Hora. Through a speaker series, participants also had the opportunity to interact with local business owners – many of them graduates of Thunderbird’s Prague-based EMBA program.

Petr Sýkora ’05, a Czech entrepreneur who, at age 18, started a Prague-based corporate office supply business, was one such graduate and speaker. “In 13 years, he and his partner have built the company from an initial investment of $400, two backpacks and a borrowed car into an extremely profitable business serving markets throughout the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Lithuania,” says student Mark Boydell ’07, indicating that Sýkora’s presentation addressed everything from bootstrap financing and differentiation strategy to human resources issues and new market entry.

Geo McNab ’07 says the perspective of the Prague learning experience was invaluable. “I got an inside look at the nearly complete transition being made from the ‘planned economy’ to a capitalist democracy,” he says. McNab, along with classmates, also took opportunities to visit historic cultural destinations in the area. Heid adds that his family traveled to Austria, Germany, Spain, France and England while living abroad, taking full advantage of the global opportunity.

“Perhaps the most poignant moment for me was the day we left,” says Lauranne Buchanan, global business professor and program academic director. “The outpouring of affection from the CMC staff was genuinely heartfelt. It made me realize how unique T-bird students are regarding their curiosity about other people and cultures and their willingness to connect. Our group had become friends, not just guests, of the CMC.”

A Prague module is currently underway during the summer trimester, and the full trimester experience will again be offered to students enrolled in the full-time MBA program in spring 2007.

For those wishing to participate in a flexible Executive MBA curriculum, Prague’s Czech Management Center is also home to another degree program. Thunderbird’s EMBA – Central and Eastern Europe is targeted toward senior-level executives and high-potential professionals whose careers currently, or in the future, are focused on working in Europe. Students meet for 10, six- to 10-day modules in Prague, Geneva, Moscow and Arizona, over a period of 16 months, and complement their classroom time with some web-based content.

Thunderbird students pose at the 3rd annual MBA ball, a traditional winter activity in Prague.

“We’re delighted to have a truly global EMBA program that includes executives from 12 different countries,” says academic director Graeme Rankine. “The partnership program with the Czech Management Center provides unique opportunities for executives in Central and Eastern Europe to develop global business capabilities in a cross-culturally diverse community, while continuing full-time employment.”

*Offerings in Archamps, France, formerly home to the Thunderbird Europe campus, are no longer available.

Learn more about Thunderbird’s Prague-based EMBA program and the CMC:
> EMBA- Central & Eastern Europe
>The Czech Management Center Graduate School of Business