MBA Students Provide Recommendations To Uber Based On Research In Mexico

In  March, 28 Georgetown McDonough MBA students traveled to Monterrey, Mexico, for their Global Business Experience (GBE). During the trip, students shared preliminary results from their consulting projects with executives from companies such as Uber, Cemex, and Femsa.

Amanda Lane (MBA’19) and Anuj Mahajan (MBA’19) were among a team of six students who consulted for global transportation technology firm Uber.

“Prior to our trip to Mexico, we spent months researching and analyzing data to come up with our recommendations for our client,” said Mahajan.

“We quickly realized that, although a neighbor to the United States, Mexico differs in communication style,” added Lane. “We have been trained to communicate formally with clients over email. However, on the first day, our point of contact gave us his cell phone number and asked us to connect via WhatsApp, which made interaction more efficient.”

Besides working with clients, students interacted with CEOs and visited several companies based in Mexico. Global Business Initiative Board member and President of Alfa Alvaro Fernandez facilitated the students’ visit to the plants of global auto parts manufacturer Nemak and steel manufacturer Ternium, as well as organized a panel of executives hosted by Universidad de Monterrey.

“Traveling to Mexico gave us a chance to get to know the concerns of Mexican drivers first-hand,” said Lane. “Also, we visited the ‘Green Light Hub’ where we interviewed customer service agents addressing these concerns. Meeting our clients face to face allowed us to build rapport and gather more information efficiently.”

Upon returning to Washington, D.C., students spent a few more weeks finalizing their consulting report with their in-country findings and client recommendations before delivering their final presentation to their clients remotely.

“The biggest highlight for our team was when our contact at Uber informed us, just a day prior to our final presentation, that they were rolling out some of the features we had recommended in our project,” said Mahajan.

In addition to Monterrey, this year GBE Full-time MBA students consulted for companies in Mumbai, Abu-Dhabi, Seoul, Berlin, Accra, and Shanghai.