MBA students interview consumers in Seoul, Korea, to help inform the marketing strategies they developed for Orion Snack International. The project was the culmination of a required first-year course designed to develop students’ global and cultural intelligence.

MBA students interview consumers in Seoul, Korea, to help inform the marketing strategies they developed for Orion Snack International. The project was the culmination of a required first-year course designed to develop students’ global and cultural intelligence.

After a harrowing defection across the demilitarized zone, a North Korean soldier immediately asked for a Choco Pie, a beloved South Korean treat that is banned in the north. The soldier’s request is a dramatic example of the popularity of the round, chocolate-covered, marshmallow-filled cake. Building on this brand loyalty, the manufacturer, Orion Snack International, launched an upscale version of the cake and enlisted a team of first-year MBA students to help refine the product’s marketing strategy.

The six-person team was among a group of 180 students, led by two HBS faculty members, who worked in Seoul for eight days in May. The trip was the culmination of a required course designed to develop students’ global and cultural intelligence. In the course, students tackle a real product or service challenge for a partner organization and complete an immersion in their partner’s city. Seoul was among a roster of 16 cities that also included Bogota, Cape Town, and Helsinki.

Mike Lim (MBA 2020), one of the students on the Choco Pie team, says, “Our assignment was to determine how to target millennial women with the new product . . . driving sales at their specialty kiosks and shops.” The new cake, made with better ingredients and in more flavors, is more expensive—one cake sells for the same price as a package of 12 original cakes. The biggest challenge was how to differentiate the new version.

While interviewing consumers in Seoul about their snack preferences, the team gained insights into cultural norms. “The immersion was a wonderful lens through which . . . [to learn] about South Korea and its people,” says Nix Maasdorp (MBA 2020). “Our customer interviews enabled us to approach our objective from a much deeper and more thoughtful perspective.” The students also had to observe specific protocols when working with project partners. “I wouldn’t have the appreciation for the ways business is conducted in different contexts without having gone to South Korea,” explains Lim.

The team worked together to add value to Orion’s marketing strategy. Their recommendations ranged from offering tastings of the new cake to incorporating digital displays in shops to rebranding the product as “Choco House by Orion.”

“The first-year curriculum was extremely helpful in preparing us to think about the business scope and challenges that were presented and to come up with solutions to the problems we were asked to solve,” notes Lim. “It was an amazing experience that definitely made us grow together quickly and work effectively.”

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