This year, 8 Fudan IMBA students team up with 6 students from MIT Sloan School of Management to participate in the Fudan-MIT China Lab. Starting from January, they worked together for provide consulting services to three Chinese companies in industries of 3D printing, shared workspace and education. Recently, they have finished the Mid-term Evaluation.
Developing go-to-market strategy of PMP training for Changeway
Changeway is a company mainly providing Project Management Professional (PMP) training courses in China and now seeks to go into the US market. The students conducted a wide market research including competitors’ service and pricing, venue location and rent, as well as American students’ attitude towards offline training, branding and curriculum. At the Mid-term Evaluation, representatives from Changeway were satisfied with the students’ effort and helped clarify the focus areas as the project went on.
“A lot of knowledge we learned in class can be applied in this project, including marketing, statistics and strategy. The practical application of all the knowledge has been very helpful. I’ll be better prepared for my future career, ” said Ekaterina Ignateva, a Fudan IMBA student from Russia.
Addressing challenge of talent acquisition for INNOSPACE+
Positioning itself as a service platform for startups, INNOSPACE+ not only provides physical workspace and infrastructure for them, but also helps integrate resources of investors, mentors and consultants to supports the newly founded companies. It regularly hosted events in an effort to attract talent for startups, and this time, Fudan and MIT students are at their service to make these events more effective. The students sustained high performance through cohesion, collaboration and most importantly, effective communication with the host company. To the satisfactory of INNOSPACE+, the students had finished the majority of the task by the Mid-term Evaluation. The group of passionate minds aims for perfection. The team have decided to go the extra mile and expand their research to the US market in a hope to give a more comprehensive report.
“Our team members are from different countries and cultures, having different backgrounds personalities, and it is very interesting to learn to manage this diversity in a real working environment and drive the project at the same time,” said Nikita Bansal from MIT.
Innovating operating model for Raise 3D Technologies
Headquartered in Shanghai, Raise 3D Technologies is focusing on FDM 3D printing products and solutions. It is not the first time the company has participated in the Fudan-MIT China Lab program. Amazed by students’ performance last year, Raise3D once again partnered with Fudan and posed a new challenge. Based on current business, Raise3D hopes the participating students could help establish a training platform for customers. It is no easy job for the students as they have no previous experience in the industry and they have to start everything from scratch. They raised to the challenge through fast learning and continuous communication with Raise 3D and the Mid-term Evaluation further calibrated their goals for the project.
“It feels like we’re starting a new business. The biggest challenge is how to find where to start to tackle the problem in a short period of time, ” said Fudan IMBA student Liu Guoguo, “But that makes the process very interesting and fulfilling. The project not only put textbook knowledge into real practice, but also significantly enhances my capability in analyzing and solving problems.”
