Agribusiness Seminar – A European Offering

Harvard Business School (HBS) is bringing its renowned Agribusiness Seminar to Europe, a critical agribusiness region. A more intimate version of the annual flagship session in Boston, this HBS Executive Education program is a unique forum for assessing emerging global trends and issues, identifying best management practices, and exploring promising new business strategies. You will gain fresh insights into the industry's future in a world where the demand for food, biofuels, and other agriculturally based products is rising dramatically.

What You Can Expect

Since its inaugural session in 1961, the premier Agribusiness Seminar has helped agribusiness executives set the right short-term path and long-range strategy for their organization. The London session combines a structured learning environment with the opportunity to share ideas with peers from around the globe, enhancing your leadership capabilities and effectiveness.

Your Course of Study

During this leadership development program, you will examine the critical factors that are changing the world of agribusiness. Stepping back from day-to-day responsibilities, you will acquire new frameworks and perspectives as you explore topics ranging from innovation to global competitive strategies to the impact of government policies.

Who Is Right for the Program

This world-renowned seminar is designed for senior executives who are thought leaders and key decision makers at large established organizations in the global food and agribusiness industry.

What You Can Expect

For more than 50 years, the renowned HBS Agribusiness Seminar has explored the business, economic, political, environmental, and societal issues that impact the agribusiness industry, providing executives with new knowledge and an essential full-chain, cross-industry, global perspective.

This forum brings together industry leaders and decision makers from every type of organization—including producers, manufacturers, marketers, retailers, policymakers, and service providers.

Like the annual Boston-based session of the Agribusiness Seminar, the 2013 London session offers the expertise of HBS faculty, illuminating case studies, a global participant base, and a lively exchange of ideas that will inspire and reenergize you. The smaller scale of this session, however, offers you a rare opportunity for in-depth networking with peers from a range of enterprises and with presenters who conduct groundbreaking research in their fields.

Improving Your Organization's Performance

Taking a forward-looking approach to agribusiness industry trends, this HBS Executive Education program will help your company make the right moves in a complex, volatile business environment. Providing relevant lessons in the classroom that yield a broad view of the global food and agribusiness system, the program will help your company to:

Taking Your Skills to the Next Level

World-renowned HBS faculty will lead you and an accomplished group of global peers in an exploration of the vital chain that brings food, feed, fiber, and fuel from the farm to the consumer. This program will help you to:

"The Agribusiness Seminar was motivational—two and a half days of pure strategic evaluation away from the daily whirlwind. It provided great exposure to strategic frameworks within the context of the agribusiness industry, as well as the opportunity to expand my professional network. In particular, I gained new insights from the discussions with guest speakers from specific companies."
Raj Vardhan [Sr. Vice President], Olam International Limited, China

Your Course of Study

Success in today's dynamic agribusiness landscape is driven by transformation. Companies that are able to overcome challenges by evolving their strategies, their market segments, or their supply chain will be best positioned to take advantage of new opportunities. No matter what sector of the industry you work in, the Agribusiness Seminar: A European Offering can help you lead the process of transformation and secure your company's future through a better understanding of today's leading issues as well as those that will shape the industry tomorrow.

Delivering new ideas and action steps, the 2013 seminar helps you prepare both immediate and long-term strategies against a backdrop of global market shifts, changing commodity prices, economic volatility, and governmental policy changes. Through a lively exchange of ideas that will inspire and reenergize you, the seminar explores new management approaches to game-changing industry trends and obstacles to growth. During the course of this four-day program, you will examine topics including:

Driving Business Growth in an Uncertain World

Enabling a New Level of Innovation

Meeting Consumer Demands

The 2013 seminar features a new set of agribusiness-specific cases in which faculty examine the industry's innovation leaders—companies that are introducing bold new business models, setting new benchmarks for success, and embracing new thinking about industry challenges. A partial listing of cases includes:

Who Is Right for the Program

The Agribusiness Seminar: A European Offering brings together senior industry executives who are thought leaders and key decision makers at large established organizations. Their diverse backgrounds and geographic bases enrich the learning process through the exchange of varied industry perspectives and experiences. The seminar attracts chairpersons, chief executive officers, executive directors, owners, and other leaders across a range of organizations, including:

Meet the Program Faculty

Like all Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, the Agribusiness Seminar: A European Offering is developed and taught by a core faculty of HBS professors. Our faculty members are widely recognized for being skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors.

Through publishing, consulting, and teaching, they leverage their business expertise and field-based research to create new knowledge and enduring concepts that shape the practice of management. The result is a teaching team that exposes participants to multiple perspectives, challenging their thinking and encouraging new practices that result in superior business leadership.

Core Faculty

José B. Alvarez, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration. Member of the Marketing Unit; and former President and Chief Executive Officer of Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover.

David E. Bell, George M. Moffett Professor of Agriculture and Business. Member of the Marketing Unit; and faculty chair of "Agribusiness Seminar" and "Agribusiness Seminar: A European Offering."

Forest L. Reinhardt, John D. Black Professor of Business Administration. Faculty chair of the European Research Initiative; member of the Business, Government and the International Economy Unit; and faculty cochair of the "Global Energy Seminar."

Mary L. Shelman, Director, Agribusiness Program. President of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) and former chairman of the board of RiceTec, Inc.

Admissions

Because a diverse participant mix is an important part of every HBS Executive Education program, we look for candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, countries, and backgrounds to enrich the learning experience.

Fees, Payments, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals.

No payment is necessary until you have been accepted into an HBS Executive Education program. After admission notification, we will send you an invoice via email; payment is due within 30 days of the invoice date. If admission is within 30 days prior to the start of the program, payment is due upon receipt of the invoice. Payment is required prior to the program start date. We accept payment by company check, bank wire transfer, or credit card (American Express, MasterCard, Visa). Details are included on the program invoice.

If you need to cancel or defer participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Due to program demand and the volume of preprogram preparation, cancellations or deferrals received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

Requirements

Although there are no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on professional achievement and organizational responsibility. We look for professionals who have demonstrated business talent and leadership potential.

HBS Executive Education programs enrich both participants and their sponsoring organizations, and require full commitment from each party. While participants devote time and intellect to the learning experience, sponsoring organizations agree to relieve individuals of their work responsibilities during the program.

We deliberately design our programs to encourage individual growth and to foster productive interaction among participants. For that reason, this program is taught in both English and Chinese with translation. Participants will preselect either Chinese or English for their classroom materials. When forming discussion groups, program administrators consider each executive's language capabilities to ensure optimal exchange of ideas within the group.

Application Process

Program participants must be sponsored by their current employer. The Admissions Committee must receive your application and all required documents in order to review the application.

To apply, you may use our online form or download an application. You also may request a brochure by mail.

If you submit your application online, we will promptly acknowledge receipt of your submission via email. In the unlikely event that an email acknowledgment is not received, please contact the Admissions Committee by email: exed_admissions@hbs.edu, phone: +1-617-495-6226, or fax: +1-617-496-1731.

If you choose to submit a printed application, be sure to type or print legibly and sign your application. Send the application to the address or fax number listed on the form. Mailed or faxed applications are processed and acknowledged promptly upon receipt via email.

Complete Your Application

Please answer all questions thoroughly—the Admissions Committee will only consider completed applications. After reviewing your application and making the necessary edits or corrections, print or copy the application for your records.

Meet the Deadlines

We request applications at least four weeks in advance of the program start date. Early application does not guarantee admission. Programs often fill to capacity, so early application is recommended.

Notification of Acceptance

We acknowledge receipt of all applications and maintain all application information in strict confidentiality.

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, the Admissions Committee selects a class that balances each participant's experience, the scope of his or her current responsibilities, and the type of organization.

The Admissions Committee begins reviewing applications four months before the start date, and qualified candidates are admitted on a rolling, space-available basis. Once the review process has begun, applicants are notified within three weeks via email regarding Admissions Committee decisions. If your application is received within three weeks of the program's start date, the Admissions Committee will notify you of their decision as soon as possible.

Need help?

For further assistance, contact our client service specialists at: 1-800-427-5577 (outside the U.S., dial +1-617-495-6555).