Business Consulting Project

BSAD 492
Closed
Maple League of Universities
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Mark MacIsaac
Assistant Professor
1
Timeline
  • November 5, 2020
    Experience start
  • December 12, 2020
    Phase 1: Preliminary Assessment and Research Plan
  • February 6, 2021
    Phase 2: Research and Analysis
  • February 27, 2021
    Phase 3: Strategic Direction
  • April 10, 2021
    Final Report and Presentation to Client
  • April 24, 2021
    Experience end
Experience
1/5 project matches
Dates set by experience
Preferred companies
Anywhere
Any
Any industries

Experience scope

Categories
Communications Market research Product or service launch Marketing strategy
Skills
competitive analysis business consulting strategic analysis research market research
Learner goals and capabilities

4th year student-consultants work with your organization to address an important strategic issue, opportunity or problem. Students meet (virtually) with the client company to gain an understanding of the organization and its external environment. Based on these meetings, the students present a written Client Proposal describing what they plan to do, why they plan to do it, when they will do it and what it will cost (out-of-pocket expenses). Client proposals will be presented in the autumn, and the work will be primarily undertaken in January-March 2021.

The benefits are twofold. Students learn by being exposed to a real business/organizational experience. Client organizations benefit by having access to in-depth, supervised consulting expertise. Feedback from past clients indicates that they most appreciate the in-depth analysis and objective assessment of their operations and the new insights and perspectives introduced by the students. It’s truly a win-win situation.

Learners

Learners
Undergraduate
Any level
25 learners
Project
100 hours per learner
Learners self-assign
Teams of 5
Expected outcomes and deliverables

While there is variation based on the project, final deliverables typically include:

  • A business-style report summarizing the assessment and presenting strategy and action recommendations backed up by specific research appendices with summaries of the purpose, the methodology, and the major findings of the research.
  • A presentation summarizing the research findings and arguing the value of the recommended strategy and action plans.

Previous project deliverable examples included:

  1. Brick and mortar retail marketplace: market research.
  2. Arts-based nonprofit: requirements analysis for dashboard reporting.
  3. Professional sports organization: market research.
Project timeline
  • November 5, 2020
    Experience start
  • December 12, 2020
    Phase 1: Preliminary Assessment and Research Plan
  • February 6, 2021
    Phase 2: Research and Analysis
  • February 27, 2021
    Phase 3: Strategic Direction
  • April 10, 2021
    Final Report and Presentation to Client
  • April 24, 2021
    Experience end

Project Examples

Requirements

Beginning in October 2020, a team of 4 to 5 students will spend 100 hours each (400-500 hours total) completing a comprehensive project for your company.

Based on their in-depth research and analysis, the student-consultants will identify future prospects for the organization and recommend specific strategic actions, including a detailed implementation plan and an outline of the financial implications.

Project scopes may include, but are not limited to:

  • Developing a business plan.
  • Market research.
  • Assessment of the feasibility of a proposed community-based endeavour
  • Completion of a strategic audit of an organization complete with broad-based recommendations for the future
  • Dashboard-style reporting.
  • Researching and identifying effective sales tools for your needs.
  • Developing a recruitment plan with competitive compensation packages.

Some projects may be strategic and comprehensive but essentially uni-functional, such as the creation of a complete marketing plan or a complete information systems plan. I discourage assignments in which the sole activity is a discrete marketing research project such as a survey. Most good projects contain multiple information sources and invite multiple data collection approaches. The student-consultants will work with you to determine the best direction to take the project.

Additional company criteria

Companies must answer the following questions to submit a match request to this experience:

Clients cover agreed upon out-of-pocket expenses incurred during the consulting project (such as photocopying, printing, telephone, travel etc.). These costs are typically very low.

Clients must make available all information needed to fulfill the consulting assignment. Student team members will sign a non-disclosure agreement where necessary.

Clients (and other key stakeholders) must commit to being available to work with the students at all stages of the study, including preliminary meetings, status reports, consultant queries, and the final presentation. It is important to the process that the consultants have regular access to a specific client representative who is closely connected to the project.