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Small Business Management

BUSI660
Closed
University Canada West
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Bibigul Amirova
Assistant Professor
(1)
1
General
  • Post-graduate; 2nd year
  • 30 learners; teams of 7
  • 40 hours per learner
  • Dates set by experience
  • Educators assign learners to projects
Preferred companies
  • 1/1 project matches
  • Canada
  • Academic experience
  • Any company type
  • Any industries
Categories
Business strategy Market research Competitive analysis Customer segmentation Marketing strategy Marketing analytics
Project timeline
  • July 4, 2023
    Experience start
  • September 15, 2023
    Experience end
Overview
Details

Students will work with a small business (client) throughout the term (10-week term starting on July 4) and will do the following:

1. Organizational diagnosis

2. Project proposal

3. Revised proposal

4. Final project report and presentation

How companies will benefit:

This course (BUSI 660) is a capstone project/exit course for the UCW MBA students - meaning, the small business will get to work with the final term MBA students. Students already had diverse academic and professional experiences before joining the MBA program. Now, they are just one step (term) away from earning an MBA degree. It will be a great opportunity for the small business to work with the MBA students who will actively engage with and contribute to the small business from diagnosis of the problems/challenges to writing a proposal to executing a final project report and presentation. Similarly, students will also get valuable first-hand and real-world experiences by working with small businesses.

Deliverables

Students will collaborate with the small business throughout the Summer 2023 term (a 10-week long term starting on July 4) and will provide the following deliverables:

(1) Organizational diagnosis, (2) project proposal based on the diagnosis as well as the small business' needs, (3) revised proposal, and (4) final project report and presentation.

Instructions to the potential client (small business owner):

1. The business should be a legally registered and ongoing small business. A new business is fine.

2. The business should be based in Canada.

3. The business owner should be willing to work with the five student groups (around six or seven students per group) throughout the duration of the term. Communication could be done virtually.

4. The business owner should be willing to spend an hour per week speaking with students, responding to their queries, etc.

5. For the purpose of confidentiality and data privacy, it is expected that the business owner will provide a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) form that students and the business owner will sign.

6. If the business owner agrees to the points mentioned above, the business owner will have an initial virtual meeting through a video call with the course instructor. The course instructor will discuss the details of the course, expectations, etc., and will answer any questions or concerns of the business owner.


Project Examples

1. Organizational diagnosis (individual project): Students will learn about the small business and will do a situation analysis in which students will critically evaluate the internal and external conditions that affect an organization -- a process that is done prior to a new initiative.

2. Project proposal (group project): Students will be working in groups, and based on the organizational diagnosis above as well as the needs of the small business, will write a proposal for the business.

3. Revised proposal (group project): Students will finalize the proposal by incorporating feedback from the small business owner and the course instructor.

4. Final project report and presentation (group project): Students will submit their final written report and will present that to the client as well as to the instructor.