The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan today kicked off its annual Multidisciplinary Action Projects (MAP) program, which embeds teams of Full-Time MBA students into companies and organizations to develop solutions to their pressing business challenges.

Now in its 27th year, the Michigan Ross MAP program is one of the longest-standing and most intense and immersive action-based learning experiences in graduate business education. Through the program, students have the opportunity to enhance their leadership skills and gain experience working with real companies on a specific project for several weeks.

Nearly half of the 85 MAP projects lined up for this year are international, with MBA students traveling to 27 countries outside the U.S., spanning six continents. Across the globe, students will be working on projects with 73 diverse sponsoring organizations — from Fortune 500 companies to startups and international non-profits.

These projects span a range of industries and focus areas, many of which are popular post-Ross graduation fields, including technology, smart mobility, social impact, new energy, and entertainment. Of those areas, technology leads the way with 21 unique projects at companies such as Microsoft, Uber, Oracle, and Lima, Peru-based Tekton Labs, where students will design a new artificial intelligence product based on comprehensive user research and testing.

Other projects a part of the 2019 MAP program include:

• Faurecia: Students will develop a market entry strategy for Faurecia in MaaS (Mobility as a Service) in North America (San Francisco, California)
• United Nations Development Program Samoa Multi-Country Office: Students will identify social entrepreneurship and green job opportunities for unemployed youth in the villages of Samoa in fruit processing, waste management, and tourism (Upolu & Savai’i Islands, Samoa)
• Groundwork Center: Students will formulate a business plan for a project to drive solar installation in northwest Michigan while generating a revenue stream for non-profits working on local, equitable deep decarbonization initiatives (Traverse City, Michigan)
• RBW, Inc: Students will evaluate if there is a business opportunity to establish a "K-pop" academy for U.S. consumers and if so, develop a market entry strategy (Seoul, South Korea)

"We consider our Multidisciplinary Action Projects to be a flagship component of the Ross curriculum. The MAP program enables students to showcase what they’ve learned in the classroom by applying that knowledge to a hands-on experience tackling the greatest challenges facing companies and organizations today,” said Mike Barger, Executive Director of the Office of Strategy and Academic Innovation at Michigan Ross, which oversees the MAP program. "Not only does this give students a practical and immersive experiential learning opportunity, it also delivers tangible results to sponsoring companies.”

At the conclusion of MAP, student teams deliver analysis and thorough, data-driven recommendations to the sponsor and Michigan Ross faculty in a formal presentation and written report. This supports a mutually beneficial collaboration between students, faculty, and sponsor organizations as students have the opportunity to gain experience working on high-intensity projects, while sponsors get insightful business recommendations.

Student teams also will utilize social media to highlight aspects of their MAP experience. Follow the action and students' progress on Instagram, using the hashtag #ROSSMAP.