Projects form a vital part of the Cambridge learning experience, both team and individual projects. Our projects allow you to put your classroom learning to the test as you progress through the programme, to work with a wide range of peers, and gain valuable experience with clients from different sectors – some of which you may be considering for future career moves.
Cambridge Venture Project
The Cambridge Venture Project (CVP) in the first term allows you to test your learning via a market analysis for a Cambridge or wider-UK based client. The project runs alongside the Management Praxis core course, and is designed to develop your team skills in particular. You will be allocated to a diverse team and a project client, and work with a mentor to help you deliver a valuable project outcome for your client.
Working in teams of 4 to 5 you can expect to:
- investigate market opportunities for a new product, service or treatment
- evaluate consumer behaviour and competitive forces in relation to these, using qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques
- generate insights into potential strategies, opportunities for commercialisation and possible routes to market
Global Consulting Project
The Global Consulting Project (GCP) is a highlight of the Cambridge MBA for many, providing a valuable opportunity to apply learning, experience new sectors or roles, travel and to build networks with a view to post-MBA career goals.
During the GCP small teams of students consult with blue-chip multinational corporations or international organisations on a particular aspect of their business. Students are able to either pick their top 3 choices (which informs how teams are created and selected), or they can source their own project.
Recent GCP client companies
Actis, Aston Martin, BookingGo, BP, Carnegie Hall, Coffee Distributing Corp (CDC), Citi Bank, Cambridge University Press, Dev Equity, Faurecia, Google, Gympass, Hilding Anders AB, Hostmaker, Hotels.com, IBM, IKEA, Vorarlberger Illwerke AG, Kylin Prime, Lloyds, Lori, LSEx, Mayfair Capital, McLaren, Narai Group, Patagonia, Piper Heidsieck, PouchNation Easy Touch, Praekelt, Prime, Proparco, R3, SPARK, Sunew, The World Bank Group, Tonaton, Transformative, Trina Solar, Uber EMEA, UNDP, Waterbridge Ventures, WHO.
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Concentration Project
You will choose from one of these Concentrations to participate in during the Easter Term (term 3).
Concentrations cover the following areas:
- Culture, Arts and Media
- Digital Transformations
- Energy and Environment
- Entrepreneurship
- Health Strategies
- Finance
- Strategy
- Marketing
- Sustainable Business
At the end of each Concentration you will undertake a team project, in which you will present your findings in a simulated boardroom situation.
Summer Term activities
To allow you to tailor the MBA towards your own individual career objectives, we offer a choice in the final Summer Term.
Please note: the Cambridge MBA is a full-time 12-month MBA programme which runs from mid-September to mid-September. Students may work full-time in a work placement/internship for their summer option, but are not able to start in full-time permanent employment until mid-September, when the programme has finished.
The Individual Project (IP) gives students the opportunity to experience real work as a consultant on a business problem, anywhere in the world. Students can use this opportunity to gain valuable experience for their CV and as a first step into their new career. Students can expect to work full time for 6 to 8 weeks during July to September depending on the client’s requirements and their post-MBA plans. The IP may cover any aspect of management and may be located in any commercial, industrial, public sector or not-for-profit organisation, anywhere in the world. Recent projects have included product extension strategy for a financial services company, analysis of the US railway sector, branding strategy development for a national retailer and derivatives modelling.
Work placements give students the opportunity to gain additional knowledge and valuable experience for their CV within a sector or company of interest. They can also lead to offers of full-time employment. Students can expect to work full-time for 6 to 8 weeks during July to September. Previous employers offering internships include: the Financial Services Authority; Credit Suisse Private Banking; Google; Amazon; and Asian Development Bank. Students often self-source their own internships based on their particular interests.
Students undertaking a research paper can expect to be involved in independent, in depth research into an area of business management of personal interest for the summer term. The deliverable will be a 4,000 word paper written for a business audience similar to those appearing in publications such as Harvard Business Review or the Sloan Management Review.
This course is an opportunity for students to learn by doing. Students will individually choose an organisation to base their case study on. They will investigate through interviews and desk research a major business challenge that the organisation is facing. Based on their research, students will then write up a case study of the firm and the options it can employ to address the challenge it is facing. The case will be written as a pedagogical tool that can subsequently be used in the classroom for learning through role play and discussion.
Six Sigma is a powerful management tool that promotes process improvement, cost reduction and significant enhancement of bottom-line performance. Lean thinking focuses on the elimination of non-value adding work and reduction in waste to increase profitability. It is no surprise that Lean combined with Six Sigma is one of the largest business initiatives today.
The International Business Study Trip is a week-long visit to a global location carefully selected based on current economic trends around the world with all lectures for the course delivered during the trip. Course themes include:
- globalisation and international business
- formal institutions: varieties of capitalism
- varieties of innovation
- understanding cultural distance
- differences in economic and institutional development.
All participants on the IBST are expected to pay for travel and a portion of expenses. Following the one-week study trip, students are required to use the remainder of the Summer Term to write a research paper, drawing on a number of research materials, alongside the experience of the study trip itself.
Further requirements for this research paper are the same as the requirements for the Research Paper option, as above.
The individual project was an excellent conclusion to the Cambridge MBA as it gave me the opportunity to work as an intern at Google where I could broaden my experience and apply what I had learned throughout the year.
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FAQs
Our MBA is a general management programme. However, by tailoring the programme to your individual needs and employment aims through electives and projects, you can specialise in almost any area of management.
Our Projects Office identifies some project proposals for the class, but if you’re keen on a specific sector or company, you are very welcome to source your own Global Consulting Project. Talk to potential clients and expand your network in your chosen area of interest. Then, once you and your group have decided who you would like to work with, collaborate to develop a project brief.