Questrom Takes on France, Morocco, and Singapore: Global Immersion Trip 2025

Every spring, a handful of Questrom graduate classes take a week-long Global Immersion trip—from places like Mexico to Milan—to gain exposure to various markets, industries, business practices, and cultures. In no way is this just a spring break trip. It’s an action-packed study abroad experience filled with company visits, meetings with leaders at top international firms, and, ultimately, the culmination of a semester-long hands-on client project.

During the week of March 9th, 2025, Professor Lisa Rohrer led her IM843 class, Leading Global Teams, to Singapore; Professor Patricia Hambrick led her IM851 class, The Management of Luxury Business, to France; and Professor Richard Stuebi led his IM858 class, Pursuing Sustainability in Developing Economies, to Morocco.

The focus of Professor Patricia Hambrick’s course is on the sales, distribution, branding, product, and manufacturing aspects of the luxury business. There are few better cities to learn about the luxury industry than Paris, France. The class began a four-week client project with French clothing company Louise Misha, an accessible luxury brand with about 10 M € in sales and an audience in 35 countries. Through geographical and international consumer trend analysis, students presented actionable recommendations to Louise Misha at the end of their trip.

Students applied insights gained from several company visits to their final presentation. The class toured the International Chamber of Commerce to learn about the French, Parisian, and broader European economy, and the luxury segments within. Another stop included a meeting with a luxury hospitality expert, who shared his career trajectory—rising through international palaces—and what differentiates a 5-star hotel.

They visited Châteauform’, the largest castle renovation organization in Europe; Ferrandi Cooking School; Roland Garros, home of the French Open; and Maison Francis Kurkdjian, the hottest new fragrance on the worldwide market and a subsidiary of LVMH. They also heard from Alain Ducasse, the most 5-starred chef in the world. If that’s not cool enough, the class also visited Boucheron, an internationally beloved jewelry brand, to learn about their clienteling strategy, and heard from Stanislas de Quercize, a true “gem” in the luxury industry.

Sara Davis, Part-Time MBA ’25 and Assistant Director of Undergraduate Career Advising at BU Questrom, traveled to Singapore with her Global Immersion class led by Professor Lisa Rohrer and coordinated by Chelsea Houlihan, Monica Parker-James, and Martha Day Sanford. The classes heard from leaders at globally recognized companies like Meta, Google, the American Chamber of Commerce Singapore (AmCham), Moving Bits, and SecondMuse. 

Sara says, “Every leader had a key lesson to share about managing teams in time zones all over the world. From my perspective, global leadership is driven by three elements: leading with empathy, educating yourself as the leader on what works best for your global team is a continuous process, and diversity in thought, culture, background, skillset, and experience is invaluable to the future success of a team.”

Pictures are courtesy of Aliyah Phipps, Avni Singhal, Sara Davis, and Victoria Lai.