Are you experiencing challenges or seeing opportunities for your organization in relation to business development and growth, strategy, marketing, operations, or so? Graduate-level students at University Canada West (UCW) are here to help, who are in the final year of their MBA, and oftentimes bring along extensive industry experience as well. Over the course of the term, students will work with you to conduct organizational diagnosis to identify challenges and opportunities facing your organization, prepare a project proposal that addresses your objectives and needs, and give insights and recommendations as informed by thorough analysis for your organization. The deliverables typically include presentations (e.g., for proposal, progress update, and final) and a professional write-up.

We are looking to collaborate with businesses that meet the following criteria:

1. The business should be a legally registered and ongoing small business. A new start-up or business is welcome.

2. The business should be based in Canada (P.S. For UCW is based in Vancouver, BC, business with operation and/or customer/supplier connections in Vancouver or BC could be additionally benefited).

3. The business owner should be willing to work with up to 4-6 student groups (around 3-5 students per group) throughout the duration of the term. Communication would mostly be conducted on Riipen.

4. The business owner should be willing to spend approximately an hour per week (on average) speaking with students, responding to their queries, etc.

5. For the purpose of confidentiality and data privacy, it is expected that the business owner will provide a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) form that students and the business owner will sign.

6. If the business owner agrees to the points mentioned above, the business owner will have an initial virtual meeting through a video call with the course instructor. The course instructor will discuss the details of the course, expectations, etc., and will answer any questions or concerns of the business owner.

1. Organizational diagnosis (by each student individually): Students will learn about your organization and do a situation analysis so as to critically examine the internal and external environments that are favorable and unfavorable to the growth and development of your organization. Whereby, problems and opportunities facing your organization would be identified, along with the root causes, that call for initiatives or interventions to improve.

2. Project proposal (group project): Students will be working in teams, and write a proposal for your organization based on their insights of the organizational diagnosis as well as your inputs, e.g., in terms of the needs for growth and development of your organization.

3. Revised proposal (group project): Students will finalize the proposal by incorporating feedback from you the client (and your organization) and the course instructor.

4. Presentation and project report (group project): Students will present project updates and outcomes to you, and submit a final written report.