Center for Sustainable Business Practices Strategic Planning Projects

The Oregon MBA’s Center for Sustainable Business Practices requests proposals from companies to receive consulting services from our student Strategic Planning Project teams.

The Lundquist College of Business is University of Oregon’s business school. The Lundquist College was the first business school in the country to include industrial ecology in its curriculum and has been ranked the #1 Green MBA by The Princeton Review. The Lundquist College also houses the Center for Sustainable Business Practices, which supports students who specialize in business practices in support of the planet and its people, as well as profits.

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Windmills in a field

Strategic Planning Project Program

MBA student teams of 3-4 provide dedicated consulting services to companies in five-month engagements from January 7 to June 7, 2021, culminating in strategic recommendations and an implementation plan. Whether it’s providing specialized expertise or simply moving forward an important project you haven’t gotten to yet, we are focused on adding value to your activities.

The Strategic Planning Project also serves as the MBA candidate’s capstone course, giving students a chance to demonstrate and apply their business skills in a real-world context. The students draw both from their training as top-notch MBAs, as well as their specialized skills and knowledge in sustainable business practices.

The Projects

The program seeks projects that intentionally drive social or economic value creation in a business context. MBA consultants can support a variety of engagements and welcome proposals from any organization. Non-exclusive examples of deliverables include:

Internal communications plans
Feasibility study for renewable energy capital project
Higg 2.0 data analysis
Financial forecasting and ROI analysis
Internal reorganization plan
Life cycle assessment
Marketing analysis and positioning statements
Sustainability reports and responses
Sustainable Development Goals planning and reporting
Lean manufacturing analysis and recommendations
Greenhouse gas inventory and process recommendations
Plan to start sustainability department from scratch

Client Commitments

There is no fee for clients. The commitments we request are based on past experience and success factors:

Identify primary company contact for the duration of the project.
Provide timely company data sufficient to complete project (can be covered by NDA).
Facilitate interviews/contact with other company employees as necessary to complete project.
Weekly check-in meetings with student teams between January and May to ensure continued alignment and necessary pivots. (These can be foregone week to week upon mutual agreement with team once work has started.)
Cover direct project costs such as any relevant travel, communications, research, or extraordinary document production costs. (Such costs are rare.)
Provide evaluation and feedback on student performance to faculty advisor.

Request for Proposal Process

We select projects based on our ability to add value to your business by using skills gained in the program, as well as our students’ career goals. While we sometimes receive more proposals than we can accommodate, we are often able to find other resources at the school that can help.

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Phase 1: Client Solicitation and Selection

June-December

RFPs issued
Applications evaluated
Projects selected
Students matched to projects
Client/team introductions (December)

Phase 2: Research

10 weeks: January-March (roughly winter term)

Brief weekly check-in meetings throughout. Can be pared down once client relationship is established.

Finalize scope of work (1-3 weeks)
Data gathering from client
Data gathering from other sources
Research and iteration
Interim report (with tentative conclusions if applicable)
Clients evaluate team

Phase 3: Analysis and Recommendation

10 weeks: April-June (roughly spring term)

Brief weekly check-in meetings throughout. Can be pared down once client relationship is established.

Receive major client feedback (rescoping if necessary)
Begin analysis if not done already
Complete any supplemental research investigation
Finalize analysis and conclusions
Final report and presentation
Clients evaluate team