Thursday 10 July 2014

Royal Holloway MBA - Capstone Consultancy Project


The Royal Holloway full time MBA students completed the final element of their taught programme at the end of June (as I write they are all working hard to deliver an individual dissertation on a management topic of their own choosing).  

Photos below show the MBA 2013/14 cohort delivering their management consultancy group reports in the School of Management and celebrating the successful completion of the formal programme at a sumptuous, off campus garden party.

Module leader Chris Howorth has teamed up with Peter Hay, chair of Norman Hay plc, and his leadership team over the past couple of years to offer challenging live consultancy projects that aim to provide a capstone experience that allows students to put into practise a wide range of knowledge and expertise that has been developed over the preceding 10 months.

Norman Hay plc is a highly successful medium sized engineering business that has particular specialisms in chemical coatings, running significant operations in the automotive, oil & gas and aeronautical industries across the world and boasts factories in Australia, USA, Germany and China.

To help students gain in depth understanding of the Norman Hay plc business, Chris Howorth arranged a factory visit enabling students, working in small groups, to tour the facilities and benefit from the chance to put their questions to a range of managers.  

Students were put under real pressure as their recommendations were presented in front of the entire board of Norman Hay plc.  A number of exciting ideas were put forward for intense scrutiny, and whilst the senior managers were complementary about the insights provided,  they also offered students a number of points of developmental feedback for their final written submissions.