There was quite a buzz at last week’s MBA Consultancy Challenge run by Professor Des Doran, where our full-time and first year part-time MBA students tested their newly acquired learning and consultancy skills on real life projects.
Five Kent-based companies, Wika Instruments Ltd in Sevenoaks, Macknade in Faversham and Ashford, Holiday Extras in Hythe, Megger Ltd in Dover, and HatHats in Reculver, presented the students with challenges they were having in their businesses on the Monday in our purpose-built MBA Suite.
The students, working in small groups, then visited the companies, talked to the staff, did copious amounts of research into the companies, their marketplace and competitors, before coming up with tailored solutions to present to them on the Friday.
The specific challenges included changing the sales business model, developing a lean training tool, creating market segmentation personas, developing behavioural marketing strategies, using AI to improve the customer experience, developing a global standard, and scaling culture for expansion.
Like many of the company representatives supporting this initiative, Stefano Cuomo, CEO of Macknade was delighted with the results of the students work. He posted online that the insight from the team was ‘brilliant’ and that he would be incorporating some of the team’s proposal into the company’s future strategy, in particular the team’s ‘personas’ and LEAN approach, and inclusion of wellness material.
Of the experience, first year part-time student, John Benfield said: ‘Consultancy week was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the skills we have acquired through the MBA in a realistic and challenging environment.’
While for full-time student, Ghaith Al-Taie, the week-long consultancy module served as a highly informative and valuable educational experience that provided him (and others, no doubt) with an abundance of knowledge and perspectives in the field of consulting.
Fellow student, Derrick Asante was equally impressed, ‘I must confess the consultancy has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. I was totally blown away by the professionalism and creative flair from the fantastic presentations and insights. A wonderful initiative from Kent Business School.’
Caroline Shelly John agrees, saying ‘Despite the challenges for working in a technical space at Megger, every moment of the week was rewarding, and I loved every bit of it.’
The Consultancy Challenge is one of four MBA Challenges that make the MBA at Kent Business School so relevant in the current global world. It takes the learning to another level and allows the students to make even more important contacts for their future growth.
For more information on our MBA, why not attend an online MBA briefing. It’s a great way to find out what happens throughout the course and speak to current students about their experiences.