The University of Virginia Darden School of Business Global MBA for Executives (GEMBA) today announced the beginning of the program's first residency in India.

Darden's GEMBA combines distance learning with on-the-ground teaching and training in five regions around the world - Brazil, China, India, the United States and Western Europe - to develop leaders who understand how the global economy and markets operate and who can meet the challenges of leading global organizations.

The two-week residency in India, led by Darden's top-ranked faculty from 8 to 22 December 2012, will take place in New Delhi and Chennai. The residency is designed to deepen participants' understanding of the Indian market and includes company visits, classroom sessions, and cultural visits to impart knowledge about the country's culture, norms and institutions.

"Participants will take core courses on strategy, decision analysis, marketing and operations. The central theme of the residency is to understand how to enter and succeed in a new market and how to innovate in global context," said Yiorgos Allayannis, associate dean for Darden's GEMBA. "The executives will learn more about what it takes to enter the Indian market and develop new businesses. They will gain insights into how to manage uncertainty and risk and build successful joint ventures."

Darden faculty members leading the residency include MasterCard Professor of Business Administration S. Venkataraman, Associate Professor Gal Raz, John Tyler Professor of Business Administration Sam Bodily, Senior Lecturer Marc Modica and GEMBA Assistant Dean Larry Mueller. The professors have developed new case studies about Indian companies for the residency. The new Darden Business Publishing cases include "Leonardo Olive Oil," which describes the challenges Darden alumnus VN Dalmia (MBA '84), chairman of Dalmia Continental, faced when attempting to expand the distribution network of the company, which produces and sells olive oil in a country whose people are only now learning the benefits of cooking with olive oil. The case examines the company's marketing and brand strategy.

The case "Picante: A Mexican Burrito Bar in India" chronicles the entrepreneurial journey of Darden graduates Akshay Mittal (MBA '11) and Gokul Chandrasekaran (MBA '10), who have launched a new restaurant chain, Picante, in India featuring quick service and fresh, healthy food with a Mexican theme. The case, which will be taught at the restaurant, discusses branding, suppliers, operations and the challenge of a startup in India.

Other case studies will incude "Jaikumar Textiles" on quantitative analysis and "Chandpur Enterprises Ltd.: Steel Division" on manufacturing. To complement the classroom work, participants will visit local companies and meet with Indian executives. To understand how services and products are delivered in the country, they will visit local retailers. A visit to Apollo Hospitals will provide insights into outsourcing medical services and telemedicine. Visits to a Renault parts factory in Chennai and Maruti Suzuki in Delhi will explore manufacturing. A discussion of Bollywood will provide insights into business strategy, and a visit to Genpact will share lessons on outsourcing. GEMBA participants will also visit the NGO Akshaya Patra, which feeds more than a million Indian children.

"Through GEMBA, we want executives trained at Darden to feel ready to operate in any part of the world," said Allayannis. "Over the next two weeks, they will gain insights into the fascinating country of India, with 1.24 billion people, and the business challenges the country faces."

About the Darden School of Business
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business is one of the world's leading business schools, offering MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs. The unique Darden experience combines the case study method, the highest-ranked faculty whose research advances global managerial practice and business education, and a tight-knit learning environment to develop principled and complete leaders who are ready to make an impact.