International Business Agility Labs

Develop your business resilience and gain hands-on case experience working with students around the world.

Through these labs, students will gain multiple global perspectives in a fast-paced, intensive, and hands-on competition while working on a real global business issue.

The IB Agility Labs are short-term virtual case challenges that allow undergraduate students to learn from global business leaders, collaborate with international peers, and focus on business resilience. Students will benefit from exposure to an international company, work on teams with business students around the world, and gain hands-on case experience to build their resumes and CVs. These labs are offered at no cost to students.

You can learn more about the IB Agility Labs and read about previous labs at go.umd.edu/IBAgilityLabs. 

IB Agility Lab: FinTech in Singapore
October 14- 29, 2021

October 14 Receive case and begin working on mixed multinational teams
October 21 Orientation and cultural activity
October 22 Economic overview and company presentation 
October 25 First round of competition: submit a video recording of presentation
October 27 Final teams are announced
October 29 Final team presentations

IB Agility Lab: Sustainability in Iceland
November 4-19, 2021

November 4 Receive case and begin working on mixed multinational teams
November 11 Orientation and cultural activity
November 12 Economic overview and company presentation 
November 15 First round of competition: submit a video recording of presentation
November 17 Final teams are announced
November 19 Final team presentations

Each IB Agility Lab will feature:

• Live case from a non-U.S. company
• Students placed on mixed multinational teams
• Introduction to doing business in the country of focus
• Virtual cultural activity and student mixer
• Asynchronous and synchronous sessions

Eligibility

The IB Agility Labs are open to all second-year sophomore to senior undergraduate business majors and minors.

About the Case

The live case for each lab will be from a company based outside of the U.S. and will focus on one of the following cross-functional themes: fintech, sustainability, e-commerce, and innovation. Students will hear directly from business leaders about the business problem before presenting their analysis and recommendations to the company and panel of judges.

The Format

Each IB Agility Lab will be completely virtual and will include synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Round one of the competition will be a recorded presentation submission and round two of the competition (final round) will be live. The exact timing of each lab will be announced closer to the start date and will vary based on the time zones of the company and the participants. All students will be expected to adapt to working across time zones, as this is the reality of doing business across borders. A sample schedule is included below.

Week 1

• Receive case and begin working on mixed multinational teams

Week 2

• Continue working on case
• Attend LIVE virtual orientation and cultural activity
• Attend LIVE virtual economic overview and company/case presentation

Week 3

• First round of competition: submit a video recording of presentation
• Final teams are announced
• Attend LIVE final team presentations
• Receive participation certificate

All sessions will be recorded should students have a scheduling conflict due to classes or other priorities.

Information for International Partners

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is proud to partner with esteemed business schools around the world. If you are from a Global Business School Network (GBSN) member school or a Maryland Smith international exchange partner and would like more information about the International Business Agility Labs please email Greg Rafal, assistant director of CGB, at grafal@umd.edu.

Please see below news stories about the previous IB Agility Labs.

• Read about the Marketing Lab focused on Portugal
• Read about the Accounting Lab focused on Singapore
• Read about the Analytics and Information Systems Lab focused on India
• Read about the Finance Lab focused on Israel
• Read about the Entrepreneurship Lab focused on Germany
• Read about the Supply Chain Management Lab focused on Brazil

Nominate Students

Please nominate 10-12 students from your university by completing the nomination form below by Thursday, September 16, 2021. The form will ask you to upload an excel file with the following information for each nominated student. 

• First name of student
• Surname of student
• Student email (we will use this email to communicate directly with the student)
• Major at home university
• Current year of university study

Given the overwhelming response from interested partners, nominations will be accepted on a rolling basis. For that reason we ask that you submit nominations as soon as you are able and no later than the nomination deadline. In the spirit of collaboration during these uncertain times, we are pleased to offer this program to our valued partners at no cost.

Questions?

If you have any questions please contact Greg Rafal, assistant director, CGB at GRafal@umd.edu or email smithglobal@umd.edu.

This event is sponsored in part by CIBE, a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education.