They have paid the VEDP a fee for your services. Thus, you should look upon this class as a service to the business community, not as a course in the traditional sense. The firms are seriously interested in your recommendations. The focus of the course is to develop customized solutions for the participating firms so as to enable them to meet the challenges of international markets successfully.
Students work in teams to develop IMPs for the participating firms.
An IMP developed by TIPP students under my guidance in Spring 1998, won the Virginia Governor s Award for export planning in Spring 1999. The exercise can be a lot of fun. There are no lectures, mid-term, or final examinations.