One of the projects undertaken for International Cricket Council (ICC) by MBA students was analyzing the growth and future of Twenty20 cricket.
Each year, small teams of MBA students complete a challenging eight week long project within a sponsoring organisation to address specific issues or business opportunities identified by the company. The projects are located in a broad range of sectors and the nature of the briefs is equally diverse. This year projects ranged from developing a business plan for a multi-country expansion for an organisation that has developed unique landmines detection technology using rats; to exploring the importance of 'supply chain visibility' to retailers as supply chains become more consumer demand driven.
"The Strategic Consulting Project represents the culmination of the MBA programme, presenting students with the opportunity to put into practice all they have learnt over the year at Oxford," said Professor Colin Mayer, Dean of Saïd Business School.
Here is a look at some of the key projects undertaken by Said MBA students:
International Cricket Council
The primary objective of the ICC project was to deliver an informed perspective on how best to manage the growth of Twenty20 cricket. The team comprising Karandeep Vohra, Sunil Goyal, Melvin Dsouza, Vaibhav Doshi researched three key areas; economic evaluation, corporate governance and market strategy, to provide ICC management with a blueprint for strategic product development of Twenty20 cricket and a deeper understanding of the potential impact of Twenty20 cricket on the global portfolio of cricket events.
Doug Waller, Business Development Manager at the ICC said: 'Engaging the MBA students from Saïd Business School to deliver this project has aided ICC management to crystallize its thinking around key issues arising from the rapid ascendancy of Twenty20 cricket. It is clear that cricket as a sport and business is undergoing transformational change and if ICC is to successfully lead this change it requires the kind of intelligent and independent analysis offered by the team from Oxford.'
Corporate Express Australia
'Project Oxford' was undertaken by Oliver Staple, Gareth Turner, Keith Davies, Erin Ericson to evaluate a fast/slow distribution network initiative involving the delivery of consumer goods for Corporate Express within Australia. The team performed detailed research and analysis to assess qualitative and quantitative costs and benefits involved in undertaking this initiative.
MBA Erin Ericson said of the experience: 'The SCP was an extremely valuable learning experience. It reinforced the material taught in class and brought relevance to many of the concepts learned. Using these theories in a real world scenario crystallized them and provided a deeper understanding. The knowledge gained during the programme gave us critical insight to solve the complex problem we faced.'
'The Project report delivered commercial business benefits that exceeded my expectations,' said Garry Chalmers, Chief Logistics Officer at Corporate Express Australia. 'The quality of the work and the commitment of the students during the project was outstanding. The Executive Board of our Company has fully endorsed the recommendations of the report and commissioned an implementation pilot.'
Cisco
An MBA team undertaking their project at Cisco have already seen the results of their work published. Prashanth Angani, Taegyue Kim, Utkarsh Guleri and Yukihiro Misawa examined the quality of broadband connections experienced by consumers in 42 countries to highlight each nation's current ability to benefit from next-generation web applications and services. The study also found significant correlation between a nation's broadband quality and its advancement as a knowledge economy, meaning policy makers may need to consider how to create an environment to improve key broadband performance parameters in the future.
'The SCP team has given us a fresh insight into what users around the world are really experiencing and whether they can look forward to enjoying new applications, said Fernando Gil de Bernabé, managing director at Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group. 'It was a great benefit for Cisco to have four bright and enthusiastic students working on a real problem that gave demonstrable results in a timely manner.'
APOPO
Lindsay Miller, Alyson Goodner, Mitsuhiro Saito and Christie George worked with a Tanzania-based social enterprise called APOPO. APOPO has developed a unique detection technology for humanitarian issues in Africa. The company trains sniffer rats to save human lives primarily through landmine detection and more recently through the detection of tuberculosis. The team worked on business planning and the evaluation of new commercial applications for its unique proposition, the scope of work including market research, feasibility analysis, business model design and financial projections.
'They were just an excellent team, well balanced competencies, and highly productive,' said Bart Weetjens, Founder and Director of APOPO. 'Their deliverables are extremely useful in the transition process APOPO is currently in. An A* for all 4 team members!'
