How Tuck MBA Students Learn Business Around the World

“Relative to our peers, it is the deep focus on intercultural learning that sets Tuck’s global requirement apart,” says Lisa Miller, executive director of the Bakala TuckGO program, which encompasses a portfolio of GIX courses as well as Term Exchange. “No other MBA program does intercultural learning like we do.”

In Singapore, students in the GIX course “Getting Under the Skin of the ‘Land of And,’” spent eight full days visiting firms and meeting with senior leaders across government agencies, multinational companies, and home-grown startups. The immersive experience helped them better understand the policies and tradeoffs that have built a nation consistently ranked among the safest, most efficient, and best educated in the world.

“A short-term experience like this could easily be reduced to something artificial and heavily curated; what you might describe as business tourism,” says Clinical Professor Scott Anthony D’96, who led the Singapore GIX. “That’s not what GIX is about. We’re getting a level deeper than you might otherwise go so that you can really understand the fabric of a place and test your assumptions along the way.”

---

Singapore GIX

Viewed from a Western lens, Singapore exists as something of a paradox. Within a hyper-capitalistic economy, the largest supermarket and insurance provider are run by the National Trade Unions Congress, which represents the labor union. The country’s social harmony and multicultural identity is shaped in part by a housing system that prescribes strict racial quotas. And Singapore’s labor market—recognized for producing top-notch tech and entrepreneurial talent—is fueled by an educational system that steers students toward specialized academic or vocational paths from an early age.

The opportunity to learn what is behind these seeming contradictions is what drew Sam Brigham T’26 to the Singapore GIX. He cites a visit they took to the state-owned media conglomerate Mediacorp as one example, among many, that challenged his preconceptions.

“Visiting [Mediacorp] and learning about how that business operates—it obviously cuts against the idea of freedom of the press in the U.S.,” says Brigham. “Confronting those differences offers a chance to listen and seek to understand rather than minimize other perspectives or pretend they don’t exist.” 

As a course requirement, Singapore GIX participants completed a daily journal exercise which entailed posting a photo and short reflection about something they encountered each day. Madelyn Flores T’26 recalled sharing an image that uniquely captured the transparency, social order, and communal living they encountered in Singapore.

“Several days we went to hawkers, which were these open-air buildings with communal tables that sold affordable specialty foods,” says Flores. “Everywhere, you would see a napkin, a water bottle, or even someone’s wallet on a table to reserve a space while they walked away to get food. It speaks to the level of security and social trust people feel.”

Like Brigham, Flores says the GIX experience challenged her thinking and gave her space to reflect on the different ways people navigate life, work, government, and the social contract embedded in how a given society functions.  

“I wrote Professor Anthony an email after the course and said, ‘This was a life-changing experience,’” says Flores. “‘I can’t articulate exactly how yet, but I’ll keep you posted.’”

---

Argentina GIX

Argentina sits at a key inflection point in its history as a nation that has long struggled to live up to its economic potential.

“In 1910, if you were sitting on the docks in Italy wishing to emigrate to the New World, choosing between boats going to Buenos Aires or New York would have been difficult,” says Dartmouth Professor of Economics Doug Irwin, who led the Argentina GIX this past fall. “Wages were comparable and land in both countries was abundant, but we know now that lifetime income and quality of life would likely be much higher if they chose New York.”

Students who joined Irwin on the Argentina GIX sought lessons from the past century of the country’s history—plagued by military dictatorship, hyperinflation, and numerous debt defaults—to better understand a slew of present-day reforms put forth by the libertarian, populist regime of President Javier Milei.

It is too early to know how the reform agenda will play out, but Arianna Ramirez Brown T’26 was inspired by the way Argentinian business leaders, including several Tuck alumni, have learned to successfully operate in this environment of prolonged uncertainty.

“Whether by pivoting or thinking creatively about how to manage external challenges, there were many examples that demonstrate profound resilience,” she says. “Experience has shown that businesses can’t wait for government or economic policy to change. They need to be able to adapt and move quickly.”

Aron Cowen-Luehrmann T’26 says witnessing the daily impact of macroeconomic forces up close is an experience that is impossible to replicate.

“It’s something you can’t fully appreciate being in a classroom and reading a business case about inflation and how it affects suppliers,” he says. “Being there makes it visceral and changes your appreciation for the real challenges people face.”

Read on to learn more about the 2025–2026 TuckGO experiences through reflections shared by first- and second-year Tuck MBA students.

---

Sustainable Agriculture in France and Private Equity in Australia

By Gracie Ghartey-Tagoe T’26 and Mike Ford T’26
On the 2025 Australia GIX, led by Professor Gordon Phillips, students met with venture capitalists and private equity funds to learn what makes Australia a great place to build an Asia-orientated company or fund. Read More

---

From Policy to Power Plants: Experiencing Costa Rica’s Clean Energy Ecosystem

By Carlos Solano T’26
On the 2025 Revers Center for Energy, Sustainability and Innovation trek, Tuck students explored how Costa Rica has built one of the world’s most renewable energy systems. Read More

---

Exploring Global Perspectives: A Tuck Student’s Term in Australia

By Ramirra Marshall T’26
During the Tuck MBA program, each student must take at least one Bakala TuckGO course in a country that is new to them—through a Global Insight Expedition or Term Exchange. Ramirra Marshall T’26 opted to do both. Read More