Global Cohort — Localize ESCA's Flagship Across Three Markets

A four-round, advanced executive-education simulation set inside ESCA Executive Learning, a French grande-école exec-ed unit (EUR 9.6M revenue, 22% contribution-margin target). Novalté Group, ESCA's second-largest client, has signed a EUR 1.4M flat-fee contract to deliver the acclaimed flagship 'Leading Across Borders' to 90 high-potential managers — but as one global cohort split simultaneously across three very different markets: 30 in France, 30 in Germany, 30 in the UAE (Dubai). The program earned its reputation delivered identically in France; it has never run in three national markets at once. As Program Director you must hold a hard 22% contribution-margin floor (EUR 308K) against a fixed fee while clearing a contractual module-1 satisfaction bar of >=4.2/5.0 in EVERY market — miss it in any one and ESCA forfeits 10% of the fee (EUR 140K) and the renewal. You play four rounds: (1) diagnose each market, separating the durable core (objectives, frameworks — standardize) from the culture-bound surface (cases, role-plays, feedback norms, language, pacing — localize), and flag the highest cross-cultural risk per market; (2) set delivery mode (in-person / virtual / blended) and cultural-adaptation level (light / moderate / deep) per market, each carrying a margin cost and a fit consequence, keeping margin >=22%; (3) build the faculty mix under genuine scarcity — only two French-capable core faculty, one German affiliate, zero UAE bench — choosing fly-in (EUR 4,800/trip, capacity drain), recruit-a-local-adjunct (cheap, quality risk against the 4.2 bar), or co-teach (best fit, highest cost), while preserving brand consistency via certification and shared materials and never over-committing the two core faculty across three simultaneous markets; (4) pitch the design and survive the live pilot result (France 4.5, Germany 4.3, UAE 3.9 — below the bar), diagnosing the UAE miss against the Round 1 risk flags and choosing a costed remediation without breaking the margin or the 1 August lock. The math rewards disciplined, selective, market-by-market glocalization and punishes the five classic errors — standardizing everything and forfeiting the fee, gold-plating localization until margin collapses, over-committing the core faculty, hiring unvetted adjuncts on price alone, and designing one undifferentiated 'international' version. Final KPIs track Cross-Cultural Fit, Satisfaction Outlook, Contribution Margin %, projected enrolment (75 vs 90 seats), and core-faculty capacity used.