International Management Course (IMC) has participated in the “Global Business Project (GBP)” since 2008. GBP is a joint extra-curricular course offered by the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) in which about 30 business schools in US have joined.
It is a consulting project course, where the MBA teams (5-7 students/team) are offered real business issues by client companies. Teams work virtually for seven weeks, gathering information/data, clarifying problems and investing in possible solutions. Then for two weeks on site, they conduct field surveys and present their findings/proposals to the clients.
IMC has participated in the GBP from its start in 2008. IMC students team up with MBAs in US and address issues of Japanese companies/organizations. So far, four diversified companies in Japan have sponsored the GBP, and students investigated problems and offered proposals to solve issues of each company. We received high evaluations from participating companies which noted “we got valuable knowledge we cannot gain from the Japanese mind-set” and “we learned new ways of thinking from MBAs with different cultures”.
GBP has also received a favorable reception from IMC students who can take the international standard MBA course with MBA students of US leading business schools, while experiencing hands-on consultation practice. In addition, it is a valuable learning opportunity for students to demonstrate coordination ability and leadership as intermediaries between overseas students and Japanese companies.
GBP has been certified as a formal credit by IMC since 2009.
| Year | Company | Theme |
| 2008 | SAP Japan | Building Mid-term Management Strategies in Western Japan |
| 2008 | Yoida Local Shopping Street in Toyooka, Hyogo | Building Strategies for Revitalization of Order-made Bag Manufacturers |
| 2009 | Kobe Institute of Urban Research | Developing the Financial Business Model to Conserve Historic Architectures in Kobe |
| 2009 | Gogyofuku | Building Brand Strategies for a Gourmet Food Manufacturer in Kobe |
Under the “TEAM GOGYOFUKU”, students deepened exchanges with employees not only in the business, but also in cultural and life scenes.
Kick-off Meetings in USA: Teams met in Washington DC with MBA students, faculty advisors, language mentors, primary company representatives and country leaders, staying there 3 days and 2 nights. After the plenary meeting and various training, teams separately developed their own projectwork for their client companies.