The Global Business module is structured to prepare the participants minds for the greater future challenge of conducting businesses in emerging markets, something which has been at the core of most business decisions in today's global business world. The ideal class size of the Theseus-EDHEC MBA makes this sort of business trip possible and can thus provide its participants with a first hand experience of managing businesses in a large consumer economy like India and Morocco (the destination of the first Global Business trip in December)

The India trip involved visits to top multi-national corporations like Tata Consulting Services (a Member of the Tata group India), Alcatel Lucent, LG electronics and Hero Honda Corporation and these visits also provided an opportunity for the participants to experience how successful Mergers and Acquisitions are managed in practical terms by companies such as Alcatel-Lucent and Hero Honda in a developing economy like India.   

The week started with a formal presentation about the Indian Politcial and economic background by Mr Sunil Lal, a former military officer currently involved in consulting activities for the Indian governmental agencies. His presentation focused on the Politics and historical development of India as a state during pre-colonisation, during colonisation by Britain and in the post colonial era. He talked a great deal about the relatively conservative culture of the Indian people with its over 1 billion population which drives most of the political and economic activities and business practices in India today. He further discussed the economy of India and the current boom in the services sector particularly in the Information and Technology sector of the economy which has become the fastest growing sector of its kind in the world.

The participants also met representatives of the Human Resources department and the Marketing Department of L.G. Electronics whose presentation gave an insight into the recruitment and HRmanagement policies of LG Electronics in India. This was followed by a presentation by the Marketing Manager of LG Electronics on the Market position of LG in the Consumer product industry in India. He also explained the different marketing policies and strategies adopted by the company to achieve the number one position in the consumer electronics division of the Indian Industry within a period of 10 years even though they were the last of the big competitors to enter the Indian market.

The busy agenda also included a trip to one of the Regional Indian Chamber of Commerce covering the Punjab Hyderabad and Dehli region and here the group met the Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce MR Krishna Kalra who explained how the Chamber of Commerce helps entrepreneurs in setting up business in the region under their administration.

The Trip to Tata Consulting Company (TCS) one the biggest consulting companies in the world with over 110,000 employees worldwide shed light onto the success of the Tata group which recently acquired the Jaguar and Land Rover automobile brands from Ford Motors in a deal that has sparked a lot of frenzy in the Indian business environment. There was a presentation from the Head of Consulting Services at TCS Mr G Ashok who provided insight into the operations of TCS on a global scale and how the company is positioned to promote international consulting in the consulting services industry. He also spoke at length about business process outsourcing and information technology management which is the core activities of TCS these generated questions about the future of business process outsourcing and how it will affect companies on a global scale.

The final day was spent at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and at the Hero Honda Factory in New Delhi. The presentation from the Dean of the IIFT, Mr K. T. Chacko gave an understanding of the operations of the school and its efforts to maintain its position as a leading private institution in India. It also helped the participants understand how the success of the Indian economy has helped in achieving greater focus for the educational sector in India. The visit to the Hero Honda factory gave the group insight into the high performance standards of the factory compared to others around the world.  The students learned how high performance has helped the factory achieve an enviable record of the fastest producer of motor bikes in the world at a speed of 18sec per bike. They also revealed the secret of their success in the joint venture with Honda of Japan which has helped the company the company to produce over 20 million bikes over the last few years.

Of course, with every trip to India comes a visit to the incredible, 400 year old Taj Mahal in Agra. This monument tremains the experience of a lifetime for any visitor and added a final touch of magic to the MBA Global Business trip.

The dense knowledge-based business module in Morocco last December included similar style visits to different companies and presentations from top executives of different industries in the private sector of the Moroccan economy. This trip covered areas such as business Leadership and Management styles, historical review of the nation and economic and political development of an emerging market on the African continent and complemented the second trip to India which covered how business managers can penetrate an emerging market of 1 billion potential consumers and served at providing concrete examples of cases studied during term-time course work.

Ayesha Crossman Brochard, a Theseus-EDHEC MBA participant from Jamaica speaks about her experience during the trip "What impacted me the most about the trip to India for the business setting was the high level of general optimism of the different speakers about the possible future of India as an economic heavy weight among the developed world.  The speed of development in terms of businesses and real estate constructions was also very commendable, however, the obvious class differences in the society evident by the level of poverty of much of the population and the environmental and social issues for the global community such as the persistent pollution and underdevelopment of the country needs to be addressed. The trip has changed my outlook on the world, in terms of re evaluating our consumer-focused society."