The Exeter MBA

Our Exeter MBA students recently took part in a fantastic international elective at Audencia Business School in Nantes 🇫🇷✨

It was an unforgettable experience filled with cross-cultural learning, collaboration with Audencia MBA peers, and plenty of time to explore the charm and culture of this beautiful city. 🏙️🌿

To make the most of their time in France, the cohort also headed to Paris as a group. They took in the iconic sights and bonded as a team, allowing them to create lasting memories as they near the end of their MBA journey. 💫📸🗼

A huge thank you to the amazing Audencia Executive Education community for the warm welcome and for making this experience so special! 🌍💚

Some of our Exeter MBA students recently returned from an unforgettable Leadership Skills Expedition elective in the breath-taking Norwegian countryside 🌲⛰️.

This unique experience challenged them to explore their leadership identities through nature, teamwork, and deep personal reflection. 💭✨

Over the course of the trek, students engaged in peer coaching, mindful practice, and real-time team challenges while exploring the four pillars of leadership: task, relation, change and ethics. The natural setting provided the perfect backdrop to step away from the everyday and reflect on what it truly means to lead. 🌟💪

More than just a physical journey, it was a chance to listen with intention, navigate discomfort, and support one another through shared growth 💬🤝

We're proud of the resilience, openness, and insight our students brought to this experience, and we're excited to see how it shapes their leadership paths moving forward 🙌

Our 2025 elective in Behavioural Economics has now wrapped! 🎓💡

We explored why people don’t always act rationally—even with the right incentives. From impulsive choices to social influences, we unpacked how biases shape decisions in business, policy, and everyday life.

The goal of this elective is to help our students become better managers, decision-makers, or better at pursuing their life goals. Well done to all our participating students, who have learned more on how to drive better choices for business, health, and the planet! 🌍💸💚

Last week, our Exeter MBAs completed their final elective module — an inspiring exploration of Strategic Brand Management led by our Programme Director, Professor Donald Lancaster. 👨‍🏫💼

Over five insightful days, students honed the skills to build, position, and refresh brands, which are essential capabilities for any business aiming to thrive in today’s dynamic market. Students explored in depth around brand management practices, the brand at retail, brands in the digital world and brand strategy. 💡🤝

The week hosted a variety of guest speakers, ranging from insights surrounding sustainability, brand authenticity, brand assets and branding in the digital world. A huge thanks to Michael Beverland, Pierre McDonagh, Julie Atherton and Stephen Drummond for sharing your wisdom with our cohort. 🧠🎤

The elective closed out with an IKEA Brand Challenge with James Lancaster. Our Exeter MBA's took on the role of brand managers in this exciting simulation, where they were tasked in making real-time brand strategy decisions related to IKEA's “Complete Sleep” range. 💤

With this final elective now complete, we hope our MBAs will carry forward IKEA’s mission — “to create a better everyday life for the many people” — as they go on to lead 🌟, inspire 💬, and make meaningful impact in the world 🌍.