EDHEC Global MBA participants were recently treated to a course entitled Managing the Internationalization of the Firm, with Professor Louis Hbert, from HEC business school in Montreal. The course consisted of the why and how firms expand globally, sometimes haphazardly while an executive is on vacation, and sometimes after years of research and sound planning.

Professor Hébert is an energetic professor with a strong interactive teaching style that centers on case studies. Using discussion and even role play, he took the participants through how joint ventures and alliances can be a competitive advantage for firms on an international scale, and how to negotiate a partnership, and how to adapt products to local markets.

Gijs Anderson, a Dutch MBA participant with a background in business development, said that the course “provided me with a set of skills to assess new markets, evaluate potential partnerships and focus on the important matters when it comes to international business….the class is important because it provides students with key information on what is important when a firms wants to operate internationally.”

Professor Hébert emphasizes that, along with the program’s cultural diversity, what makes the EDHEC Global MBA exceptional is that the “intensive program forces students into a survival mode, and into cooperation with each other. Developing these skills corresponds well to the development of top managers.” He enjoys teaching this course because of what he calls the “huge learning potential in such an environment. We have to be careful; this experience is so valuable, that you never want to miss an opportunity.”