A hallmark of the Vanderbilt Executive MBA program is the Business Strategy course and group project, completed in a year-long strategy sequence throughout the second year of study.
Executive MBA courses typically emphasize learning by instruction (lecture, reading and case analysis). The Strategy Project is defined as learning by construction—a total immersion experience in which you integrate all of the tools and concepts from prior courses to build a strategic plan for a real client company chosen by the Study Group. Each class session involves interactive discussion with teams presenting components of their overall strategic analysis for their client company.
Students begin exploring possible strategy project clients in the summer between their first and second year of study and submit their selections by the end of August. Clients of any size or type may be selected (product, service, for-profit or nonprofit), with three major criteria considered:
• Access—Will the client make available to you the quality and type of information and support that you need?
• Strategic Challenge—What is the nature of the issue(s) the client faces? Do you have the expertise on your team to help
them?
• Personal Fit—Is this an industry/market space that interests you?
By the conclusion of the course in the spring of your second year, Study Groups will have developed a comprehensive strategic analysis of their client company utilizing tools from all of the courses they have taken. Project deliverables include: a corporate valuation analysis, a detailed written report featuring a situation analysis, critical issues assessment, recommendations and anticipated results and a presentation to the client’s management team.
Participating companies take a very serious approach to this project, with most implementing components of the group recommendations. This consulting project—complimentary but comparable to a quartermillion to half-million dollar client value—also follows a strict confidentiality process, with proprietary information protected by a written agreement.
Strategy Project clients in 2008 include such diverse organizations as the Nashville Sounds Baseball Club (AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers) and Royal Cup, a family-owned, national coffee company. Some recent companies represented in the Business Strategy Project:
• Adventure Science Center
• Airbus North America
• Baja Blue
• Beacon Technologies
• CAO Cigars
• Goodwill Industries of Tennessee
• Gordian Health Solutions
• Magazines.com
• Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority
• MyEmma.com
• Smith Travel Research
