Master's of International Business 

Hult International Business School

Hult's one-year Master of International Business (MIB) program is designed to prepare students for success in a rapidly evolving global business landscape. This program offers a comprehensive international business education, equipping students with the skills that are in high demand by employers worldwide.

Through a hands-on approach to learning, students immerse themselves in the field of international business, becoming valuable assets to any organization. They acquire innovative business skills and enhance their abilities in communication and collaboration. Key skill development areas include business process analysis, international marketing, data visualization and storytelling, and financial literacy. The program incorporates real-world business challenges throughout the curriculum, allowing students to explore global product launches and devise winning market strategies for success.

Class 1 Welcome & Defining Design Thinking

Topics: 1. Course Objectives and Assessment, 2. Course Overview, and 3. Team and Individual Assessment.

This class will cover course orientation, objectives, and critical themes. We'll also touch on topics we'll delve deeper into as the course progresses. By the end of this session, you'll grasp problem-solving in the digital and eco-friendly business world. Activity: Define design thinking for innovation.

Essential Questions: 1. What is my commitment to this course? 2. What do I bring to the learning community? 3. How will I succeed while making the entire cohort shine? 4. What is expected of me to perform? 5. How can I effectively brainstorm, innovate, and develop new products to address client needs in a competitive and disrupted world?

Class 2 Understanding Customer Needs

Topics: 1. Understanding the Context, Identifying Problems and Needs, 2. Understanding Customers.

We'll begin by examining the local, regional, and global context and the relevant issues. We aim to build skills in understanding and framing problems and needs within their larger context. Activity: Design-Green Business Debate, followed by individual market research assignment preparation.

Essential Questions: 1. What are your personal and professional motivations? How do these tie to environmental and social challenges? 3. What kind of market needs exist or are about to emerge? 4. How can you thoroughly understand the context of PESTEL: Political, Economic, Societal, Technological, Environmental, and Legal aspects?

Class 3: Market Research

Topics: 1. Data-Driven Research, 2. Problem Scoping, 3. Business Design Process.

We will step into market research by learning fundamental techniques, studying examples of previous applications, and learning to apply these methodological approaches by narrowing down the problem area. Activity: Continued Market Research and Creative Innovation Challenge

Essential Questions: 1. What are the key methods and techniques for conducting data-driven research? 2. How do you effectively scope a problem within a business context? 3. What is the significance of the business design process in market research, and how does it contribute to problem-solving? 4. Can you provide examples of successful applications of market research techniques in real-world scenarios? 5. How can you apply the learned methodological approaches to narrow a specific problem area within a business context?

Class 4: Mapping the Customer Journey

Topics: 1. Customer Persona, 2. Emotional Customer Journey, 3. Applying insights.

We define customer personas and analyze associated stakeholders and their role in enabling or complicating the customer journey. We will focus on sketching customer and stakeholder journeys. We'll also focus on empathizing with customers to help them express their pain points and requirements more effectively. Activity: Rapid sketching of the customer persona and journey to shed further light on the problem scoping and process context.

Essential Questions: 1. Who are our personas, and what are their needs and pain points? 2. What are the customer journey's key touchpoints and emotional experiences? 3. What opportunities for improvement or innovation have been identified, and how can they inform the design process? 4. What are the next steps in the design thinking process, and how can we validate and refine our findings?

Class 5: Design Thinking Methodology

Topics: 1. Sharing Insights, 2. Reframing Problems, 3. Driving Solutions.

We'll build on current trends to address customer problems and journeys. We focus on human-centric innovation, using design thinking to reframe problems, ideate alternatives, and iterate toward improved solutions. We'll also examine findings from refined data collection and continue designing impactful services. Activity: Sketching and Paper Prototyping.

Essential Questions: 1. How can you best demonstrate your extensive research and creativity when designing solutions to a problem worth solving? 2. How can you best prototype a solution? 3. Does it require a digital user interface and a physical prototype?

Class 6: Ideation of a New Product

Topics: 1. Design and Business Thinking, Prototyping Solutions, Seeking Instant Feedback.

During this session, we will gather insights to date and continue refining solutions by applying a mix of design and business thinking. During class, we will prototype testable solutions. You will also receive prototype-specific feedback from potential users in a safe environment, which will help in identifying shortcomings. Activity: Bringing breakthrough ideas to life.

Essential Questions: What does it take to apply breakthrough thinking to ensure you bring forth elegant solutions? What can you learn from other innovators? How can you finalize your solution prototype and ensure you are ready to test it on the market?

Class 7: Testing New Products

Topics: 1. Collecting Insights, 2. Design-Refine, 3. Implement-Measure. Share insights into exploring and experimenting with building business solutions to problems worth solving. In this session, we will learn about value propositions as the critical promise of value to be delivered, communicated, and experienced. You will also receive feedback on your final presentation from peers. Activity: Solutions interviews and draft presentation.

Essential Questions: Have you done enough to research and verify findings, or do you still need to adjust your problem-solution mix to match reality? How have you applied constructive criticism to drive innovation and quality outcomes?

Class 8 – Product Positioning in the Market

We meet with external experts to demonstrate our drive to discover problems worth solving and generate elegant solutions with real-life customer needs front and center. Activity: Several rounds of executive-level presentations.  

Executive Experts will visit us to explore your cutting edge problem-solutions.