Building Businesses in Emerging Markets

Focused on helping companies establish a long-term presence in key emerging markets, this Harvard Business School (HBS) program examines how to execute a winning strategy, overcome operational challenges, and deliver value to diverse population segments. By leveraging the sizeable market at the base of the income pyramid, your company can maximize its return on investment.

What You Can Expect

Exploring the most effective ways to operate profitably in emerging markets, you will improve your ability to select appropriate venues for your company, develop market mechanisms where none exist, create demand for products and services, and maximize the role that emerging markets play in your firm's overall success.

Your Course of Study

Through the latest country analysis, the program illuminates the differences between established and emerging markets. You will focus on strategy formulation, effective execution, integrating social and economic goals, and the challenges presented by institutional voids and market failures.

Who Is Right for the Program

This program is intended for executives in regional or multinational companies that are doing business in emerging markets or that are planning to enter or expand into emerging markets. It also is appropriate for investors exploring emerging-market opportunities.

What You Can Expect

Enhancing your company's performance

With developed economies experiencing slow growth, companies in many industries—from automotive, telecom, and durable goods to microfinance, housing, and healthcare—are looking to tap the vast potential of emerging markets. But businesses entering or expanding their presence in developing countries cannot succeed by simply transplanting business models, products, and services developed for mature markets. Leveraging current research on the world's most important emerging markets, this HBS Executive Education program will enable you to optimize your organization's emerging market strategy and its execution in specific countries.

Providing relevant lessons in the classroom focused on facilitating your company's growth strategy, the program will help your company establish significant new sources of revenue—including the sizeable market at the base of the income pyramid—and maximize its return on investment in developing countries.

Taking your skills to the next level

Learning alongside an accomplished group of executives from around the world, you will discover how to develop strategies customized for emerging markets. With a deeper understanding of the factors that characterize business in these rapidly evolving economies, you will enhance your ability to:

Your Course of Study

World-renowned HBS faculty will lead you through a combination of classroom presentations, workshops, and case discussions that examine untapped opportunities in the world's emerging markets. With a focus on the key differences between mature and developing economies, the program offers versatile frameworks that help you plot the best routes to growth, explore opportunities presented by low-income markets, establish effective operations, and maintain a competitive market position. Curriculum topics include:

Analyzing and Developing Strategies for Emerging Markets

Exploring Opportunities at the Base of the Pyramid

Filling Institutional Voids

Driving Market Success

"Since I am responsible for developing a business in an emerging market, I was focused on improving my knowledge of how companies manage their businesses there. As a Brazilian, I also was curious to understand how participants and faculty compare Brazil with other emerging countries. If you want a better understanding of emerging markets, a highly interactive exchange with faculty and colleagues, and a taste of the famous HBS case method, this is the right program. Be prepared to study a lot, have dynamic discussions in your living group, and enjoy the experience."
Rodrigo Sarac Martineli [Market & Strategic Planning Manager], Hewlett-Packard, Brazil

Who Is Right for the Program

Building Businesses in Emerging Markets is designed for executives in multinational or regional companies that are doing business in emerging markets, planning to enter emerging markets for the first time, or looking to expand into new emerging markets. Titles may include, but are not limited to:

While the program focuses on the strategic challenges facing decision makers in product or service companies, it also is appropriate for partners at venture capital or private equity firms who wish to identify emerging market opportunities for their firms, clients, or portfolio companies.

Meet the Program Faculty

Like all Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, Building Businesses in Emerging Markets is developed and taught by a core faculty of HBS professors. Our faculty members are widely recognized as 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. For more detailed biographies, click on each faculty name.

Rawi Abdelal, Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration. Faculty associate of Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs; member of the Business, Government and the International Economy Unit; member of the executive committee of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies; and faculty cochair of the "Global Energy Seminar."

Michael Chu, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration. Member of the General Management Unit.

Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor. Member of the Strategy Unit; chair of HBS India activities; and faculty chair of "Building a Global Enterprise in India.”

Aldo Musacchio, Associate Professor of Business Administration and Marvin Bower Fellow. Member of the Business, Government and the International Economy Unit.

Krishna G. Palepu, Ross Graham Walker Professor of Business Administration. Senior Associate Dean for International Development; member of the Accounting and Management Unit and the General Management Unit; faculty chair of "Global CEO Program for China"; and faculty cochair of "Building Businesses in Emerging Markets."

V. Kasturi Rangan, Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing. Cochair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative; member of the Marketing Unit; faculty chair of "Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategies to Create Business and Social Value" and faculty cochair of "Building Businesses in Emerging Markets."

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.

Language Proficiency

We deliberately design our programs to encourage individual growth and to foster productive interaction among participants. For that reason, proficiency in written and spoken English is essential. If English is your second language, or if you have less than one year's experience working in an English-speaking environment, HBS requires a brief statement documenting proficiency in English-language skills, both conversational and written. This may include a list of the English-language certification programs that you have completed; the degrees you have earned at English-speaking colleges and universities; or the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam. The Admissions Committee also may request a telephone interview.

Application Process

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

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).