BUSI4W060: Strategic Consulting Project (FT)

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• To contribute to the overall aims of the programme by providing students with the opportunity to conduct an in-depth investigation at an advanced level of an issue or a business challenge which is applicable to an industrial, commercial, public sector or charitable organisation. The positioning at the end of the programme is intended to promote integration of material covered in the core and elective phases.
• To provide a consulting report based on specific research question(s) relevant to the investigated strategic issue, problem of challenge.
• To analyse the strategic problem, issue, or challenge, using appropriate structure, research methodology, tools, and techniques to be included in the strategic consulting report.
• To equip students with the appropriate quantitative and qualitative research methods knowledge and skills to enable them to undertake a research project at Masters level, as the strategic consulting project should normally involve undertaking empirical research.
• In case you are an Entrepreneurship specialised student or interested in setting your own business, the strategic consulting project can be utilised to create your own new venture and develop your new business plans and ideas.
• Students can choose to do an internship with a host organisation and to develop their project around an approved scope, similar to the business school and the self-sourced projects.

• The nature of the Strategic Consulting Project.
• Defining the key issue and scoping.
• Formulating relevant research question(s).
• Introduction to research methods in the management context.
• Types of research.
• Collecting and synchronising relevant structured and unstructured data for the consulting project from multiple sources (primary and secondary; qualitative and quantitative).
• Analysing economic, industry and institutional context.
• Ethical issues in business and management analysis.
• Selecting and using appropriate analytical tools.
• Results analysis and discuss your results.
• Manage a consulting project.
• Writing up your work; what makes a good strategic consulting project.
• Students can choose to pursue a Strategic Consulting Project in two ways, either by working with a host organisation, or, for entrepreneurship specialised students or students interested in setting their own business, by creating their own new venture and developing their new business plans and ideas.
• The topic (which is formally approved by the Module Leader on behalf of the Chair of the Board of Examiners) should be one that is suitable for in-depth investigation.
• Consulting projects of this nature have typically been based in a wide variety of organisations, including profit-seeking companies in both manufacturing and the service sector; nationalised industries; public agencies and local authorities; non-profit seeking organisations; multinationals and companies seeking to internationalise; and owner-managed small firms.
• Consulting projects can be self-sourced by students, using their own network, to build on their experience in certain areas of expertise or to develop their understanding of certain sectors they are interested in exploring for future career opportunities.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• By the end of the module students should:
• have a critical appreciation of how consulting project is conducted in a business and management context. have a critical ability of developing their knowledge of research methodologies
• have a critical appreciation of ethical issues in business and management research.
• be able to critically analyse a specific issue or area of business or management in depth and to explore its significance in practice.

Subject-specific Skills:

• By the end of the module students should:
• Able to identify important research questions in business and management.
• Able to use relevant inter-disciplinary knowledge and experience to develop a situational description and analysis of a real-world business problem, challenge or opportunity
• Able to conduct a Masters-level consulting project from beginning to end. This involves the following: identifying an interesting and practical research question at an appropriate advanced level; choosing a method for answering the question; conducting the research, including managing all aspects of the research project; interpreting the results; being able to identify and manage any ethical issues that might arise.
• Able to identify questions appropriate for a complex business situation
• Able to critically apply knowledge and different forms of reasoning to form a discriminating analysis of issues currently being experienced in specific organisational and business contexts.
• Able to produce a substantial piece of written work demonstrating critical analysis of a specific issue.

Key Skills:

• Written communication
• Planning, organising and time management
• Problem solving and analysis
• Understanding ambiguous and indeterminate contexts
• Sourcing appropriate data and evidence
• Reflecting and synthesising from experience
• Analysing data using appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods
• Developing critical thinking
• Using initiative
• Computer literacy
• Presenting effectively using written and technological media
• Skills of self-organisation and motivation in managing time and activities in working to a deadline

• Learning outcomes will be met in part through workshops comprising a mix of lectures, groupwork, case studies and discussion, supported by guided reading.
• Additionally, students have individual meetings with their appointed supervisor, normally 5-6. These meetings enable the supervisor to monitor the student progress towards the achievement of the learning outcomes.
• The summative assessment is a 12,000-word document that tests students acquisition of relevant subject-specific knowledge and skills and their ability to apply these, and appropriate key skills, in the context of a Masters-level research project.

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