The University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School announced 
today the successful completion of its inaugural global business consulting 
projects in India.

    MBA students from UNC Kenan-Flagler and 13 other MBA programs in the U.S., 
Brazil and China completed 12-week long projects last month provided by three 
U.S. multinational corporations and an Indian-based multinational as part of 
the Global Business Project (GBP) consulting program. GBP gives students the 
opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom to real business problems 
with real corporations. While the GBP program, created and led by UNC 
Kenan-Flagler, has focused on China and Brazil the past five years, this is the 
first time it has been applied in India.

    With the help of GBP Partner school, the Indian Institute of Management – 
Bangalore (IIMB), four MBA student teams provided recommendations for business 
challenges faced by GE Healthcare, Westinghouse Electric, PPG and Dorf Ketal.

-- GE Healthcare tasked the GBP team to help them improve after-sales 
   service related to medical equipment sales into rural India. 
-- Westinghouse Electric Company, a nuclear power plant design company, 
   asked the GBP team to explore strategic options for expansion in India. 
-- Asian PPG (APPG) is an Indian joint venture between PPG of the U.S. and 
   Asian Paints, India's largest paint manufacturer. The company tasked 
   the students to look at margin improvement opportunities. 
-- Dorf Ketal (India based specialty titanate and zirconate chemical producer)
   asked the GBP team provide recommendations to help reduce costs in their 
   current supply chain. 

    "GBP lends credence to the saying 'Practice makes perfect.' Students 
practice global consulting, in teams that work virtually over the Internet for 
ten weeks as well as face-to-face in the GBP country, for two weeks," noted 
Lynne Gerber, GBP director and director of action-based learning at UNC 
Kenan-Flagler. "They receive guidance from a faculty advisor as well as from a 
corporate mentor, who help each student learn what it takes to get it right 
this time, and in the future." 

    All four companies who engaged GBP teams said the teams met or exceeded 
their expectations across all four assessment dimensions including integration 
of language and culture into the solutions, quality of work, how actionable the 
recommendations are and overall value of the team's work to the client, Gerber 
added.

    About The University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School
    Consistently ranked one of the world's best business schools, UNC 
Kenan-Flagler is known for its extraordinary learning experiences and 
innovative research, and developing results-driven leaders who use business as 
an engine for global change. UNC Kenan-Flagler prepares people at every stage 
of their careers to manage successfully in the global business environment 
through its five MBA programs (full-time residential, Evening and Weekend MBA 
Programs for Executives, global OneMBA(R) and online MBA@UNC); Master of 
Accounting; undergraduate business; PhD; non-degree Executive Development; and 
the UNC Business Essentials certificate program. Its Frank Hawkins Kenan 
Institute of Private Enterprise helps business and government tackle problems 
with impact on society through its operations at UNC and in Bangkok.


     SOURCE: University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School


    CONTACT: Heather Harreld,
             +1-919-962-8951
             Heather_Harreld@unc.edu