Strategy Consulting Project at Lappeenranta University of Technology
Course Syllabus, Spring 2011
- Overview
Consulting Project at LUT is focused on strategy consulting with a very hands-on approach to learning: students take the role of strategy consultants to solve a case organization’s concrete problem. The course and its ways of working are designed to help participants to explore strategic issues of selected companies/organizations from three perspectives: academic research and concepts (A), business practice (B), and consulting (C). Taking the role of strategy consultants participants are expected to develop value-generating ideas for their respective case organizations by exploiting knowledge accumulated during MITIM-program, especially during “The Power of Strategizing”-workshop.
Key is to recognize that project work and final report must “smell” business and strategy rather than e.g. technical engineering, law or operative tinkering. According to an action-learning principle the purpose is to draw on different backgrounds of the team members and to capitalize on all new knowledge created during the MITIM program.
- Expected Learning Results
Expected results of the course are threefold:
- to deepen participants’ knowledge and insights in strategy and business management
- to learn roles and working modes of strategy consultants
- to develop viable recommendations for strategic action for the case-organizations.
- Facilitators
Dr. Timo Santalainen, President, STRATNET (Geneva) and Adjunct Professor, Lappeenranta Technical University and Aalto University (Helsinki) is responsible for facilitating, sparring and coaching during three core workshops. For more, please see www.stratnet.org.
Dr. Liisa-Maija Sainio, Professor, LUT School of Business, is the academic coordinator of the course.
Santalainen and Sainio will both act as supervisors for the projects. More information on the roles of the supervisors will be provided in the beginning of the course.
The “The Power of Strategizing”-kick-off workshop for the course is scheduled on February 16 through 18, 2011. From that on teams are expected to work mainly in a self-mastery mode, but with guidance from both supervisors. Mid-term reports are presented in face-to-face tutoring session on 31st March, 2011. Final reports with recommendations are presented on 28th April, 2011 to the evaluation commission. Key learning points and take-offs are discussed also during this wrap-up session.
- Organization and Mode of Work
Strategy Consulting Teams of 3-5 members are formed based on students’ personal choices. The topics and the case organizations will be announced in the kick-off workshop in February. The supervisors will make final adjustments of team make-up (when needed). Teams are expected to collect data from their respective case organization, analyze key strategic issues, focus main development areas (performance or opportunity gap), collect ideas through benchmarking, and apply relevant conceptual frames of their choice while developing practical recommendations for strategic action.
The advisable length of final report is 10-15 pages plus appendices. During face-to-face tutoring session of midterm reports on March 31, 2011, each team will take a role of academics and business practitioners giving feedback to other projects. After completing their projects, each team will present their findings, ”selling” their recommendations to representatives of the case organization. Detailed instruction for the writing of the final report will be provided at the kick-off workshop.
- Schedule
February 7 , 2011 Prework: individual reflective paper deadline. For further instructions, please see point 8.
February 16-18, 2011 The Power of Strategizing: Thinking View on Strategy and Consulting
- key strategy concepts and views of thought
- strategizing tools
- roles, styles and practices of strategy consulting
- introduction of the case organizations
- forming strategy consulting teams
- crafting an agenda and schedule for work
February 18- March 22, 2011 Project Work: Phase I
- analyzing strategic situation
- specifying strategic challenges (the point)
- collecting data and supporting ideas
- contacting the client, possible interviews
- finding appropriate frames and strategy tools
- creative development of core ideas
- crafting an Interim Report (2-4 pages): key challenges, contextual frames, contents, and open issues of the project
March 31, 2011 Strategic Transformation and Renewal: Face-to-Face Tutoring Session
- ABC Exercises on key issues based on Interim Reports
- team meetings
- sparring with supervisors
- strategic transformation & execution
April 1-19, 2011 Project Work: Phase II
- finalizing contents of consulting report
- preparing concrete recommendations and ideas for execution
- preparing final presentations
April 20, 2011 Deadline of the Final Reports
April 28, 2011 Wrap-up: Making Things Happen
- presenting Final Reports to the evaluation commission
- interactive lecturettes, discussions and feedback
- lessons learned and value-adding take-away
- Grading
50 % of the final grade is based on the evaluation of the commission. The client organization’s feedback forms 30% of the final grade, and the remaining 20% is based on the supervisors’ evaluation of the final report. Grading details are presented in the beginning of the course.
- Course Material
Course-book is Timo Santalainen’s book Strategic Thinking, Talentum (2006). It acts as a handbook and is available in the library of LUT, or can be bought from the publisher.
Handout materials will be delivered upon request and need of participants.
- Prework
Based on their creative reading of chapters 1 through 4 of the course-book students are expected to write a reflective paper. Reflection is becoming a powerful tool in adult learning. Reflection makes our mind freewheel; it brings tacit knowledge, creativity and increased emotional energy for our use. We start to see things differently (even amidst a feeling of chaos, which may occasionally prevail in our minds), and thus achieve deeper insights on the topics covered.
By thinking through most inspiring or interesting ideas from chapters 1-4, each student is required to write a 2-3 page reflective paper on the lessons, insights or any other triggering ideas they learned or want to learn more of. There is no expected structure for the paper. The more creative and free-wheeling the approach is, the better. Reflection does not mean analytical evaluation or critical assessment of text. Rather, it should attract personal experiences and tacit knowledge to be bridged with most interesting picks from the text. At best, reflection releases the huge emotional power we all possess.
Being aware that knowledge grows as an exponential curve it is possible to categorize the reflections as follows:
- Cognitive skills, i.e. (“nice-to-know”)-facts, figures, and other analytical information. This is the most superficial level of learning.
- Advanced skills, i.e. ideas on how to implement analytical information.
- Conceptual understanding and trained intuition, i.e. seeing interconnections, building linkages to conceptual frames, and processing intuitive (tacit) knowledge. This means achieving deeper understanding by linking new frames or concepts to personal experiences and tacit knowledge.
- Self-motivated creativity, i.e. creating new ideas by exploiting all of the above and linking it to previous experiences.
Reflective papers should be turned in by Monday, February 7, 2011.
TJS/12.01.2011
