The year-long immersive experience is designed with small teams as the principal participants. The immersive onsite experience reflects in the title of the experiential learning program - Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development (FIELD).
In this analysis of Harvard MBA FIELD Courses, we cover:
• History of Harvard MBA - FIELD
• HBS MBA FIELD Foundation
• HBS MBA FIELD 1 (First Year - Fall)
• HBS MBA FIELD Global Immersion (Year 1 - Spring)
• HBS MBA FIELD Global Immersion (FGI) Locations 2023
History of Harvard MBA - FIELD
In 2011, Dean Nitin Nohria, in consultation with the HBS faculty, announced the team-based experiential learning course - FIELD. The required nature of the experiential learning program allowed the faculty to redesign the second year into four half-terms – offering students even more flexibility in choosing their niches.
Harvard’s FIELD courses have adopted a more globally inclusive focus for students to navigate diverse cultures and business contexts through experiential learning. The class of 2022 had a slightly different curriculum with FIELD experiences in the first and second years of the MBA program. The class of 2023 has field courses within the existing subject areas of Technology, Operations, and Management (TOM), Marketing, General Management, and Finance, with the most field courses offered in Entrepreneurial Management.
HBS MBA FIELD Foundation
One criticism that Harvard Business School faced was the overreliance on the case study method that is often curated and organized in such a way that the complexity is simplified or all the data are available in a clear, structured format. With customer interaction days and workshops honing interpersonal skills, students face the uncertainty of market dynamics, changing client requirements, and the complexity of decoding customer and stakeholder motivations.
HBS MBA FIELD 1 (Field Course in First Year - Fall)
FIELD 1 allows first-year students to improve their consulting skills for local businesses before assisting international organizations. The program in two months offers the framework to comprehend the varied perspectives of small and medium-sized businesses. Students need to approach the challenges using creative thinking, storytelling, contextual intelligence, emotional intelligence, negotiating, leadership, and adaptability.
Students frequently cite the self-awareness exercises as the most illuminating since they allow them to compare their perceptions of themselves to the perceptions of their section mates. Students use their first impression perspective to tailor their communication style for customer contact and recruitment. An in-depth study of one's leadership styles is essential for the 8-day immersion program in 10-15 cities.
FIELD Courses at Harvard include:
• Business of the Arts
• Entrepreneurship through Acquisition
• Field X
• Field Y: Projects in Business Management
• Go to Market Sales Playbook Field Study
• Investing for Impact
• Scaling Minority Businesses
• Startup Operations
• Venture Capital Journey
• Private Equity Projects and Ecosystems
• Projects in Investing
• Value Creation in Small and Medium Enterprises
• Innovating in Health Care
• Transforming Health Care Delivery
HBS MBA FIELD 2 - Global Immersion (Year 1 Spring)
Students rank 13-14 Global Immersion locations throughout the autumn semester, with the criterion that the locations be relevant for their post-MBA career and not be a place where they have worked extensively or grown up.
Team of Six
An algorithm assigns teams of six depending on location preference and diversity. Once the site and clients have been assigned, students engage in ideation, intensive interviews, and prototyping, as well as receiving input from advisers and client representatives to fine-tune their solutions. The project concludes in an eight-day immersion experience during which they visit the customer in person, fine-tune their proposal, and finally deliver the solution to the worldwide partner. Students receive an in-depth grasp of emerging market cultures and how to manage market unpredictability while developing a clear strategy to combat all outcomes.
Immersion Field Courses for the 2023 session include:
• Italy; Capitalism - Past, Present, and Future
• India; Development While Decarbonizing: India’s Path to Net Zero
• Israel; Startups and Venture Capital
• London; Entrepreneurship in the UK and Europe
• Silicon Valley; Decoding "Growth" in Silicon Valley
• Ghana; Doing Business Across Africa
• Japan; Rising Sun Ventures: Exploring Entrepreneurship in Japan (also listed under Strategy)
• Denmark and Netherlands; Decarbonization and Sustainable Production
HBS FIELD Global immersion Locations 2023
Over 1,000 students from the Class of 2024 went to respective FGI locations on weekends to work with project partners. A cohort of up to 72 students was directed by a faculty member, accompanied by two HBS staff members serving as program managers at each of the 15 locations given below:
• Santiago, Chile
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Sau Paulo, Brazil
• Nairobi, Kenya
• Kigali, Rwanda
• Accra, Ghana
• Casablanca, Morocco
• Athens, Greece
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Helsinki, Finland
• New Delhi, India
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Seoul, South Korea
• Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
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