BUSMAN 750 : Consultancy Project in Strategic Management
Business and Economics
2025 Quarter One (1252) (30 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
This course aims to provide students with an opportunity to complete an applied research-informed consultancy project by demonstrating their understanding of major concepts, tools, and trends in the current strategic management theory and practice. They will be required to critically analyse a company's business environment and use a robust and defensible research methodology to offer viable solutions to its problem. In the process, they will be able to experience and gain insights into how real-world business problems are addressed by using the knowledge developed throughout their Master's programme. Students will deliver the findings of the consultancy project in the form of a written report and oral presentation to academic and professional audiences. Finally, students will develop professional skills relevant to the industry practice and experience engaging with the client company and its stakeholders.
Course Requirements
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 3: | Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 5: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 6: | Communication |
| Capability 7: | Collaboration |
| Capability 8: | Ethics and Professionalism |
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse a company's business environment by using relevant strategy models and frameworks. (Capability 3)
- Collaborate with peers to design a research-informed strategic management project that will provide analytical insights and innovative solutions to address growth and/or entrepreneurial challenges (Capability 5 and 7)
- Create and justify a well-integrated, cohesive and viable strategic plan while considering ethical and societal concerns. (Capability 8)
- Communicate findings and insights obtained from applied research using written and oral formats. (Capability 6.1 and 6.2)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Presentations | 15% | Group & Individual Coursework |
| Research Report | 30% | Individual Coursework |
| Report | 20% | Group Coursework |
| Reflections | 35% | Individual Coursework |
| 4 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||||||
| Presentations | ||||||||||
| Research Report | ||||||||||
| Report | ||||||||||
| Reflections | ||||||||||
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard 30-point course and therefore students are expected to spend 300 hours of learning during the course or an average of 30 hours per week.
For this course, you will have 3 hours of class time to help you prepare your consultancy report. The class time is used for supervision, company presentations, guest speakers, group work, discussions, student presentations, and other learning activities. The remaining hours will be spent on reading, thinking about the content, and working on assignments, presentations, reports and reflections.
During the term of 10 weeks, students will engage with a participating company to investigate about a business problem. They will collect data from multiple sources, analyse and evaluate the data, and propose viable strategic option(s). Students will be closely supervised by an academic supervisor with active inputs from an authorised company representative. The consultancy project will result in various outputs such as individual reports, presentations and group reports.
The consultancy project allows you to develop and apply your academic understanding and research skills within a real company setting. It will enable you to apply your analytical abilities to industry-based problems while gaining professional experience and management skills.
Delivery Mode
Campus Experience
Attendance is expected at scheduled activities during the week to complete the components of the course.
Attendance on campus is required for the group presentations.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.
Learning Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework, tests and examinations as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms. Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.
Class Representatives
Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Learning Continuity
In the event of an unexpected disruption we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the University Website for information about how to proceed.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.