Teams of MBA students from Durham University visited Sri Lanka in 2012 and studied national parks and the role of elephants within them, tourism and eco-tourism, and textile manufacturing.

The team studying the manufacture of textiles write:

In March 2012, MBA students got involved in Project Sri Lanka as part of their International Enterprise Project. The focus was on Sri Lanka’s two biggest textile manufacturing companies, Brandix and MAS as well as on their customer Marks & Spencer. The research topics the group defined were as follows:

• How do Brandix and MAS ensure that their corporate values are represented in its supply chain (backward and forward-looking)?
• What are the future plans with regards to their environmental strategies and achieving further competitive advantage?
• As textile manufacturer, are these companies getting the right exposure for their CSR (i.e. corporate social responsibility) activities?
• What has been the impact of these companies on equality, community development, education, stakeholders and women’s empowerment in local communities?
• What are the implications of the sustainable business models on their competitive advantage, positioning and branding? Is this sufficient in the long-term to compete against China and other countries?

The project was mostly based in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo and required the students to travel to various offices and factories inside and outside of the city. A more detailed diary of what the group experienced out in Sri Lanka is available online at
http://www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/degrees/mba/ft/international-study-week-diaries/sri-lanka/.

However in summary, it is fair to say that the project established excellent connections with both M&S, MAS and Brandix as well as many other companies in Sri Lanka. It was found that the aforementioned companies have an enormous positive impact on females & local communities by providing food, education, transportation and health services for example. In both MAS & Brandix, CSR (or sustainability as they prefer to call it) acts as a differentiator and is at the very heart of their business models. Studying these business models, the underlying supply chains and in particular experiencing the island as well as its emerging, entrepreneurial flair has been a highly valuable personal and professional experience for students.