Capstone Step One: Identifying the Deliverable

After our group had our meeting with Joel, I emailed the Director of the MBA Program about where we felt we were at with the proposed capstone project.  She suggested we meet briefly after class to talk details.  So last night, as students filtered out of the classroom we shared about the lunch meeting with Joel, and how we'd love to begin to formalize a plan for him.  We shared how we saw some opportunities, different paths this new project could take, but in order for it really to get off the ground, we need a plan.

I can't remember specifically what I shared about last semester, but one of the deliverables of the economics, marketing and competitive strategy class was to assemble a strategic plan for a start up or business who didn't have a plan.  As it turned out 2 of the 4 groups did established companies, one a newly founded company one of the group members was behind, and then we did the project for a friend of mine who was retiring from Children At Heart Ministries and was transitioning to a career in international exporting.  I can't speak for the breadth of the project for the other groups, but our group had several hurdles to climb.

1. Identifying a product- They wanted to export, but didn't know what specifically
2. Surveying the market- So we looked at the country of Morocco, and what were their needs in order to make some recommendations based on trends we could see from our research
3. Financials- what financials?  The company was so new, we were trying to determine operational costs for the newly founded company.  Without a product, this was a bridge that was a little hard to cross...  We knew who the key players were, so could estimate some of the operational end, but had to base our financials off of what the country's industry averages were in our product of recommendation, and then based off of a 1% market share, what a potential income stream could look like.  I wouldn't base a company off of what we had come up with, but it was a starting place.
4. Getting the product to market- The company had done some research and had a couple of options for a distribution chain.  They did have someone on the ground in Morocco, and the country's trade agreements made for a good international office.  We made recommendations for their ground person, and determined a process for going to market, but again this was off our product recommendation, and not necessarily for their actual product.  So we tried to keep it at a high level that would be easily replicable for their choice of product.
5. Growth and Opportunity- It was hard to determine a starting place, so it was even more difficult to know what this would morph into in the next 3-5 years.  From our research, there was alot of opportunity as the country establishes and grows in their infrastructure.  We provided a current and future organizational chart, but again, everything remained at a high and flexible level to allow for shifts in development.

After our first capstone meeting,  I'm seeing many similarities to what we did for the Global Trading Compnay.  And this seems like an excellent opportunity to refine our skills in building a business plan and a strategic plan.  We too can help in honing in on the product and what it exactly is.  Also, we need to do some research, and ensure we aren't duplicating a service.  We ned to determine if this is a program that can be operated through a nationally recognized nonprofit, or if it needs the independence of it's own designation, in which then to launch it could sign an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with a National Nonprofit.  After this semester in Complex Decision Making I have a greater understanding of sustainability, so we need to make sure, whether this is a program or its own business entity, that it's a sustainable model and has the financials to back it.  Once these critical issues are determined, then we can really determine market scope and how to emerge in that market.  Which this brings us to - what is our sustainable growth pattern?  Is this something that we grow local and eventually has the opportunity to grow to the national level?

Needless to say over 12-15 weeks this will be a great, encompassing project.  If we also see the need for this to be a nonprofit or LLC (or future L3C) then perhaps we can help walk through that process, which would be a great experience to know how to do, before we actually launch anything ourselves as students.  IUt also has the potential for future growth, and perhaps another MBA Capstone group will come along behind us, and take it to the next level.

When I think about the outcomes or my expectations of my MBA when I started this whole thing, I think one thing I really wanted was the ability to build a business plan.  I wanted to have the experience of how to bring a company into existence.  With this deliverable of a business plan, and potential establishment of an organization, it will be the cherry on my ice cream.  A marvelous bookend to mark the completion of my MBA experience.

Stay tuned!