The Copenhagen Full-time MBA

Integrated Strategy Project

At the end of your MBA year, you will get a chance to put your newly acquired skills to the test by working closely with a local company on a strategic business challenge.

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Click to read about this student's experience of "the crown jewel of the programme", the Integrated Strategy Project.

"What I've learned so far" - read about this student's Integrated Strategy Project experience on the MBA blog.

Apply your new skills to real life

The Integrated Strategy Project (ISP) is one of the most important features of the Copenhagen MBA that engages you as an MBA candidate in a four-month journey in which you will collaborate with enterprises to tackle issues related to diverse real-world challenges. This is the highlight of the MBA in which all the knowledge gained will be put in practice. Under the guidance of our internationally recognised faculty and company executives, the ISP poses a unique opportunity to bring value to both MBA candidates and partner companies.

The ISP is structured in a five-phase approach to guarantee optimal outcome for both the project groups and partner companies.

Phase 1: Initial Analysis (May)

Phase 2: Industry Analysis - key factors for competitive success (June)

Phase 3: Company Analysis - company competitive position and alternatives (July)

Phase 4: Issue Identification and Analysis (August)

Phase 5: Recommendations and Implementation with final report (September)

Choose your ISP approach

As an MBA candidate you can choose between 2 different approaches for the ISP: an individual internship or teamwork.

Teamwork:

You are part of a team consisting of up to 4 of your MBA classmates
You will conduct a strategy project for an international company based in Denmark/the Øresund region
Your team will be supported by faculty and experienced executives during the entire project which will test your ability to utilise relevant theories, models, and methods
You will identify a strategic problem in an organisation, extract the relevant data, analyse, and structure the problem, and then present the solution in a brief and precise manner to the company you work with
You will submit a 60-page final report together with your team and perform an individual oral exam at the end of the ISP and the MBA year

Internship:

You can base your ISP on an internship sourced by you and approved by the MBA administration
The internship will revolve around a strategic research question and will be performed individually
You will have academic supervisors from the CBS faculty and a contact person in the company of your choice to formulate the initial problem statement as well as continuously develop concrete recommendations for the company
You will submit a 30-page final report and perform an oral exam at the end of the ISP and the MBA year – both individually
This option is especially valuable for MBA candidates who have a certain industry or company for their post-MBA career path in mind
Especially our Alumni are a great source and starting point to network for (potential) ISP internships

Past ISP projects

More than 800 strategy projects have been completed over the years and CBS has positive working relationships with many companies in the region. Examples of issues to be analysed are strategy for entry into a new market, evaluation of a business unit R&D portfolio, product market strategy for a business unit, new approaches to supplier relationships, identification of business unit competitive positioning, and identification of acquisition targets. Examples of previous strategy projects have included:

A country-specific market entry strategy for a product developed by a pharmaceutical company.
A viability analysis and execution plan for consolidating global R&D centres into the headquarters.
A product launch by a national agricultural supplier within an underdeveloped beverage category in Denmark.