The MBA International Week took place from 24 to 30 October when 40 MBA students from 3 MBA classes travelled to Boston, USA.

The week started with a visit to the Harvard Campus and then visited MBTA which is responsible for public transport in Massachusetts. Other visits were made to Lionbridge, a translation and localisation solutions company with operations in 26 countries and to Clean Harbors which provides environmental, energy and industrial services.

The students had a lecture on Adaptive Leadership delivered by Dr Hugh O’Doherty, faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School.

A visit to Ocean Spray included a talk on the company’s product innovation strategy and marketing, followed by a tour of their cranberry processing facilities, then on to Arnold World Wide which is one of the biggest brand management and advertising agencies in North America. Its clients include Volvo, McDonalds, Reeves and Ocean Spray. The President of the Boston operation, Ms. Pam Hamill, gave a presentation on their campaigns and how they manage brands for companies.

In the afternoon the group visited the Cavan Group which is owned by a DCU Graduate, John Martin. This company deals with Data Management and IT Infrastructure. John presented on his company and the projects it is involved in and also spoke of the challenges companies are dealing with in the current economic environment.

On the last day of the visit, the executive MBA students joined the Northeastern University EMBA students for a joint lecture on international business delivered by Prof. Harry Lane and a guest lecture on ethics and governance delivered by Mike Brodsky from Deloitte. The Local Government MBA students visited City Hall and had a presentation on the” Innovation District”, a new project that is being led by the Mayor. To finish, the MBA students joined the DCU Alumni in Boston for cocktails at the Husky Club in Northeastern. This was enjoyable and the MBA students and alumni made many new connections.