International Business Plan

The International Business Plan prepares students to confront real world business challenges, emphasizing effective communication, presentation skills, teamwork, and problem-solving orientation.

MBA students work together on an International Business Plan project for Driscoll's Berries.

International Business Plan Partners

While many smaller firms also contract the program for help from an IBP team, some of the more well-known clients include:

  • AT&T
  • Cisco Systems
  • Clorox
  • CTB/McGraw Hill
  • Dana Corporation
  • Driscoll’s Berries
  • Gallo Wines
  • Harris Corporation
  • JD Powers
  • Lexmark
  • Nokia
  • Oracle
  • Seagate Technologies
  • Select Sector SPDR
  • Sun Microsystems

Program Overview

The Fisher International MBA program partners with dynamic, innovative companies to expand student experience in real world, multicultural business environments through the International Business Plan.  Multinational student consulting teams identify and evaluate international business opportunities and recommend solutions for client firms. The International Business Plan program is one of the principle reasons the Fisher International MBA Program has been ranked as a Top 15 Graduate Program for Entrepreneurship by Entrepreneur Magazine and Princeton Review for over 4 years out of 700 schools worldwide.

With guidance from experienced faculty advisors and representatives of the sponsoring company, students identify resources and opportunities, integrate their understanding of business principles, and confront a variety of practical problems. The business plan includes components such as:

  • international market evaluation
  • foreign market entry strategy and implementation
  • value chain management analysis
  • investment analysis
  • globalization and localization strategies
  • product modification

By the end of the semester, the student consulting teams produce a detailed written business plan and multimedia presentation. The final oral presentation to the sponsoring company management and program faculty synthesizes the results of teamwork, communication and innovative thinking.

Important Dates

April 2: Contracts due

May 11, 12 - 2 pm: Project kick-off

May 21 - August 24: Project planning

August 17 (tentative): Presentation to faculty

Register

To register for the International Business Plan course, you will need to submit both the Student Information Form and Student Participation Agreement by the April 2 deadline.