From January 19 to 23, 2015, 2015 Fudan MBA iLab programs were launched successfully. A total of more than 20 iLab programs will be carried out this year, including five Fudan-Tekes iLab programs, five Fudan-MIT China Lab programs, one Australia-China Lab program and nine domestic iLab programs. Students visited cooperative enterprises, and carried out in-depth discussion on the objectives, scope and contents of iLab programs and the requirements of cooperative enterprises.
Fudan MBA iLab (business consulting laboratory) is the first domestic program platform to advocate studying management in practices, fully linking the academic resources of the School of Management, Fudan University, MBA students and business circles, aiming to foster “young elites and future leaders” in the field of Chinese management practice. Recently, 2015 Fudan MBA iLab programs were launched successively. Cooperation will be carried out with the University of Queensland, Australia for the first time to provide objective and professional consulting plans for Australian enterprises in the Chinese market.
Fudan MBA iLab, classified into global business consulting laboratories and domestic ones, establishes consulting teams formed by three to five Fudan MBA students each. Under the guidance of the School’s teachers, they formulate customized consulting reports with strategic significance that can be realized in the future for enterprises through six months of material gathering, statistical analysis, sample research and other work under the precondition of meeting enterprises’ needs.
Since the launch of the global business consulting practice program with the Wharton School in 2005, Fudan MBA iLab has been carried out for ten years, not only providing professional consulting or research work for enterprise development (with respect to internationalization strategy, market expansion, capital operation, enterprises’ organizational structures, etc.), but also blazing a practical path of “study for the purpose of application and application for study” for students.
The iLab program to be carried out in cooperation with the University of Queensland, Australia this time will consist of five Fudan MBA students and five MBA students of the University of Queensland; meanwhile, Fudan MBA will not only add these global programs but also add two domestic programs specially targeting students’ needs this year. “We find that students pay much attention to emerging industries, the finance industry, the fast moving consumer goods industry, etc. and aspire to plunge into the above industries. Therefore, we have finally provided students with new opportunities to cooperate with yhd.com and Haitong UniTrust through screening and negotiation with enterprises this year. The former pioneered the e-business model of online supermarkets, and the latter is an international financial leasing enterprise.”
Among this year’s numerous programs, there are nine domestic programs. Apart from cooperation with well-known domestic enterprises, two programs were established by students independently. One program launched by student Huan SHU was established by her independently to promote health tea brands, aiming to serve young people. This is also the first program to combine entrepreneurship with iLab among the programs established by students independently in the past and is very promising.
To turn consulting teams into real external think tanks for enterprises, help enterprises analyze actual problems and provide solutions and thoughts, Fudan MBA equips each consulting team with relevant supervisors. Because iLab is a required course for all international MBA students carrying two credits, the iLab is also a course for teachers and requires strict curriculum management. In the course of carrying out programs, the School will also provide six serial lectures for students to supplement students’ systematic knowledge about consulting and project management and improve students’ skills in management, consulting, data mining, analysis, etc. “In addition, we require enterprises to provide one supervisor for each consulting team, which refers to the concept of ‘two supervisors’. The School’s supervisor tracks the whole course, while the enterprise supervisor meets with the members of the team he is responsible for biweekly to introduce the enterprise’s culture, put forward the problems that the enterprise needs to solve and at the same time give feedbacks on and carry out evaluation of the team’s progress.”
In fact, by 2014, Fudan MBA iLab had carried out cooperation with more than 80 domestic and foreign enterprises in various industries and fields successfully and completed 150 iLab programs. More than 80% of the enterprises cooperated with Fudan MBA for two years or longer and spoke highly of this program.
Those who are in charge of the enterprises having carried out cooperation all say that the thinking models and research modes different from traditional stereotypes used by students in studying enterprises’ problems and formulating solutions are quite praiseworthy and can be drawn upon. Many enterprises even offered jobs to members of the consulting teams after the programs ended. “Actually, this is also a channel provided by Fudan MBA iLab for enterprises and students to learn about each other over the years. Students can learn about enterprises’ cultures through continuous interaction and communication with enterprises, and on the other hand, enterprises can also fully evaluate students’ comprehensive quality through students’ performance in iLab programs and look for suitable talents. This is a ‘job fair’ for two-way selection clearer, more effective and more direct than campus recruitment.”
