Meet our Term Two Lecturers: Daniel Hellyer

Daniel Hellyer

I would like to introduce our Term Two accounting lecturer, Daniel Heller, an NZ chartered accountant and Associate Director at Deloitte Private. Daniel brings a wealth of practical experience into the classroom with twelve years accounting and business experience, most of this time working in the “Big 4” accounting firms.

Daniel is a senior team member at Deloitte, with a large base of clients. He offers advice on a broad range of accounting issues, such as traditional accounting and taxation, governance, succession planning, business planning and forecasting, buying and selling markets, Government tenders and RFP’s (in both wider health sector and technology), business and company valuations, mergers, acquisitions, litigation, and general business advice.

Daniel is heavily involved in the business development at Deloitte, and chairs a business development staff group charged with generating new ideas for our current clients, plus giving the company opportunities to talk to potential clients. He has been involved with the local branch committee of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants, and currently mentors two provisional members of the institute who are working through their practical experience and examined aspects of becoming Chartered Accountants.

Daniel is married with two boys (5 & 3 yrs) who keep mom and dad very busy; he enjoys Rippa Rugby in the winter, swimming, camping and racing mountain bikes (both cross country and enduro/downhill). In Daniel's own words: "I try and train five – six times per week either on the bike or on foot and when I get spare hour or so you'll find me heading up and down Signal Hill (highest in the area), feeling way too old on the way up, and way too young on the way down."

Thank you Daniel, for your contributions to our Otago MBA programme, 

both as a student mentor and lecturer.

Candidate Info: using the MBA to your advantage

One of the tricks to receiving the best education in any programme (at any level) is to make the system work for you, such as asking a lot of questions; get to know the lecturers (and staff), so they may share inside info or create opportunities, and so forth. Our programme caters to this kind of informal interaction. One option that our students leverage is using our international exchange and capstone consulting project to create career opportunities in another part of the world. I'll offer three current examples.

• We have a student (no names) who came to us (in NZ) from Europe, did his international exchange at Duke University in the States and found a client for his capstone 540 project in California, through our network. His project focuses on evaluating the market for investment products and designing a hedging strategy in India. How's that for geographic diversity.

• A second student has a background in performance sports and applied for an international exchange in the U.S., where his "dream" employers are located. While he's in the States on a student visa, he will connect with one or more of these companies for his 540 project.

• I third student has expressed an interest in pursuing his career in London and will apply for an international exchange and hopefully attend Aston University in Birmingham. Again, we will make a connection with a potential 540 client while in England on a student visa.

Note: Students are permitted to negotiate compensation for his / her project with the client, but this does require the student to procure a work visa.

Note: Two of our students recently returned from an international exchange at Duke and reported...Duke and London Business School students were envious of our 540 project: not even an option at other schools.

Congratulations James!

James Nation

We have our first Otago MBA graduate of 2014!  As a little background, James is a former Olympian in NZ hockey and wanted to pursue a career in performance sports. He identified a client with a specialization in sports (software) technologies. His client had previously enjoyed a leadership position in this industry but had recently experienced growing competition. Rivals were catching up. James was charged with analysing the competitive landscape and identifying both strengths and weaknesses in his client's current product offerings (as well as opportunities). He was also asked to evaluate the professionalism of the company's management systems (and separability of the company from the owner) as part of formulating an exit strategy: an essential component of any entrepreneurial venture. James needed to interact with the scholarly entrepreneurship literature to identify "best practices" for a maturing venture.  James' project supervisor best describes the quality of his work:

"James has done an excellent job of this project for [his client].  The task was rather difficult given the two very distinct parts of the business that required separate analyses with respect to the market / competitors and an internal analysis of the professionalism of the company's management systems. James did a great job of splitting these parts more distinctly than staff / management were able to do, so this project is beneficial for the company.

James did a significant number of in-depth interviews with a range of internal and external experts, as well as analysed and presented their views well in his report.  From this, he was able to formulate a way forward for the company that meets the objectives of the owner who may want to exit the business in around five years.

The fact that James has been employed by the company attests to the excellent job he did in this project and from a supervisor's perspective, James was a good student.  We met weekly throughout the project, he took my feedback very well, and maintained the progress schedule we had compiled early in the project.  I cannot fault his management of the project in any way."

Congratulations James!

This project and James' management of the work involved constitutes a model for how

our BUSI 540 projects are intended to work.

Audacious Business Startup Contest

 Audacious Startup Contest launches on 20 March at 6 p.m. in the Hunter Centre. 

 Everyone in the University of Otago and Polytechnic—regardless of major or level of education—is encouraged to enter a business idea in the first round of Audacious. If you don't have an idea but want to be part of Audacious, workshops will focus on venture teams and help students get into a team where they (you) can apply their skills and knowledge. Business mentors will help coach student teams

and everyone gets to go on to the second round.  

Join the fun!  Take advantage of the learning / educational experience!

The 540 Professional Consulting Engagement: Melissa Barry

The Product-Market Fit

Melissa Barry is another outstanding student from our MBA 37 class, a talented and accomplished

individual who has earned the respect and admiration of our entire Otago MBA family.

Melissa came into our Otago MBA with a PhD in neuroscience and little experience in business: she learned quickly and won our David S Wright Memorial Prize for the highest level of academic improvement in the 2013 class.  Now, she has selected a global high-tech 540 client, an industry-leading company well-aligned with her background in medial sciences, as well as her career ambition of working in a business strategy / market analysis position for a technology systems company. 

Melissa's background in science has placed her in an advantageous position to perform well in her 540 consulting engagement: she possesses refined conceptual reasoning and writing abilities.  Melissa submitted an acceptable project proposal in the first draft (an uncommon accomplishment) and her project included complexities which deserve discussion here.

As Melissa quickly identified, this project is a product-market analysis (the two central concepts of her project), with both the product and market requiring precise definitions based on her data analyses.  The complexities arise owing to the nature of the company and market. For instance, the product deals with the cutting edge of science and science ultimately wins. So, the needs and desires of customers may not fully matter, if science says that the future of the market (and product) requires her client to move in a particular direction: i.e, remaining on the cutting edge of knowledge. 

The client's strategy will also influence the direction they go with this product.  Melissa's client is positioned as the top-of-the-line, technological leader in the industry and will need to offer the best product available regardless of whether it fits all customers.  The company's commitment to customer service may play an important role in bridging the gap between "what the client's product can do" and what less intellectually advanced customers are prepared to do. Other customers may not be able to financially keep up and thereby not constitute a viable market for Melissa's client. 

This last issue raises questions about what a market rollout of the product should look like. While, an initial definition of the intended geographic market may emphasize size and profitability, Melissa will need to assess whether all markets are equal.  Some geographic markets may be easier to penetrate than others based on factors that make them more receptive, progressive or influential in driving future sales. 

This point raises questions pertaining to Melissa's methods and particularly the data used in her analyses: she may not be able to rely solely on data from the within the client's organization (i.e., data that capture the current situation).  If the project involves forecasting trends, then Melissa will need to gather interview data from industry experts (or thought leaders) concerning projected trends in the client's science technology, as well as the attractiveness of target markets.

I would like to emphasize that Melissa Barry is off to a fantastic start with her 540 Professional Consulting Engagement. Her experience in our programme (repositioning her career) and her 540 project (well aligned with her career interests) may represent the ideal model we aspire to deliver to our students. My comments here are simply intended to provoke all of our students' thinking about the kinds of complex business problems we routinely address in the 540 experience.

Cheers,

David

The 540 Professional Consulting Engagement: Update 22/01 & Questions

It is my intention to offer periodic updates on our students' 540 projects, so everyone feels motivated to continue to make progress.  Nevertheless, I cannot help but start with a "feel good" item.

Praise for Silvia Scherer: comments from Tim Loftus

"One of the great benefits of participating in the Otago MBA was the exceptional people in the program. I had the great pleasure of working with Silvia in my syndicate and developing a meaningful lifelong friendship in the process. Silvia's leadership skill and emotional intelligence were incredible assets to our group work and to the overall atmosphere in our classroom. Silvia's extensive international experiences and unique perspective on management added a necessary dimension to the educational experience at Otago.

I am thankful for having had the opportunity to work with a professional like Silvia and I am honoured to call her a dear friend.  Silvia is a wonderful person and her friendship was a highlight of my MBA."

Status report:

James Nation has an approved project proposal, as well as a supervisor (Jodyanne Kirkwood - entrepreneurship), Confidentiality Agreement (CA) and Human Ethics Application.

Ryf Quail submitted an excellent first draft of his proposal and will easily receive approval with minor revisions.  Ryf will be working with Richard Higham.

Melissa Barry has identified a terrific client, well aligned with her career ambitions, and has an exceptionally well-written proposal, including a professional Gantt chart for managing her work.

Mal Sirisekara will be working with one of the top consulting houses in Auckland on a corporate strategy project involving the assessment and valuation of takeover targets.  He is writing his proposal.

Jarrod Kreft has locked in a high profile, multinational sports apparel and accessories client and is drafting his proposal.  We have identified an ideal supervisor for Jarrod's project.

Questions:

Mal asked the question:  What is the procedure in finalizing the supervisor? Does the MBA contact them or are we supposed to talk to them? 

It is the Academic Leader's (my) responsibility, in conjunction with our MBA team and project panel, to select an appropriate supervisor for each project.  We're in a position to evaluate the needs of all students and determine best fit with the available resources (faculty) in the Otago School of Business.  Our selection of the faculty supervisor will depend on the project scope, relevant business discipline and methods/analyses.  You should not approach faculty without coordinating with me.

Melissa Barry asked:  Does the Human Ethics Application need to be sent in with the proposal?

No.  Melissa, a PhD in Neuroscience, is all over the Human Ethics Application owing to her background in medicine.  Most of our projects will require a Human Ethics Application because we encourage you to use multiple forms of data: hard and soft.  For instance, whenever possible you should interview industry experts to validate your work and expand your professional network.  

The University requires us to devote honest effort to this process, but the innocuous nature of our projects means that we get a rubber stamp approval.  The real benefit to our students is in structuring a credible research instrument (survey or interview schedule), so you get the data you need for your analyses.

Cheers,

David 

Deadline Approaching

Deadline

Have you ever considered the question, "What are the worst decisions I make in life?"

Well, here are three. 

Top on my list are decisions made by default: the decision to do nothing is a choice and we make this choice day after day through life.  In fact, the decision to do nothing (and allow opportunities to pass us by) may too often define our course through life.

The second worst decisions may be to commit in part, but not fully, to a course of action.  Doesn't the old adage hold: if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well?  Think about almost any major decision you make in life (e.g., getting in shape, starting a business, getting married or pursuing your career) and consider, when does a halfhearted commitment to a course of action make sense?

The third worst decisions are those based on fear.  I may be mistaken in characterizing fear-based decisions as third worst because (it would seem) fear explains why we fail to choose (default choices) or refuse to fully commit to a course of action.  It's too scary.  You will regret these decisions most in life: "I didn't have the courage to try."

We are rapidly approaching a deadline for international students to join our Otago MBA

programme.  Only ten weeks remain before the start of our 2014 Phase One

courses in April.  You must act soon to complete our application process

and acquire a NZ visa in time for orientation.

This may be the most heartfelt advice I've offered on the blog.  If want to apply but haven't, get it done. If you've committed to our part-time (3 to 5 year) programme, consider the benefits of attending full-time and completing your coursework in 9 months.   I'll make this promise, once you are in our programme, we will devote every effort possible to make your Otago MBA education successful and one of the most enriching experiences of your life.

Apply now!

David

The 540 Professional Consulting Engagement: the Proposal

To current and future students:  A common scenario plays out in the 540 experience.  Our student meets with the client and is bombarded with overwhelming immediate, context-specific information, enough to make his or her head spin. It is the student's job to bring this information back and allow us to help structure a suitable project. We abstract away from the immediate and irrelevant data to ask, “What kind of problem is this?” We separate the noise (e.g., opinion and situational details) from a credible understanding of the problem and solutions.

Then, our students (you) work with the Academic Leader to structure a two-page formal project proposal consistent with our standard template, available from me.  The proposal constitutes an informal contract between you and the Otago MBA concerning the 540 requirements for graduation: this is an internal document only and not for circulation to the client.

The proposal also represents a very important working document intended to remove the grey and confusing mess of a complex business situation and add clarity. The proposal should provide sufficient structure to allow you to work efficiently in collecting data and completing your analyses. We do not want you to grope your way through the project.

Your proposal will contain the following: information about you, client profile, current challenge, your project (description, purpose, objectives, scope of work, and methods), schedule of deliverables, start and finish dates, as well as contact information for your client.

• Client profile: Offer a short (two or three sentence) profile of the client, emphasizing information required to understand the challenge this company or non-profit agency faces: create a context. 

• Current challenge: Briefly describe the complex business problem, a challenge, this company faces (e.g., increased competition, lagging performance or untapped market – the reason for your project.

• Academic frame: Capture the challenge in an appropriate business frame (e.g., marketing, finance, economics, operations, strategy, sustainability or international business) that informs your methods and analyses (e.g., right data, collection methods and data analyse). 

• Any 540 project focuses on business concepts. Some concepts delimit the project scope (this product or those competitors), while other concepts are defined by your analyses. You need to clearly identify the concepts of focus for your analyses.

• Project description: You next describe the project scope, purpose and objectives for your analyses.

• Define the project scope based on concepts: limited to this market (countries), performance (financial), operations (supply chain) or other concepts / delimiters that enable you to focus your work.  The purpose defines the intended benefit to your client and objectives describe the specific questions addressed.

• Methods: Every project requires the student to collect and analyse data. You should include hard data whenever possible and may conduct content analyses (i.e., of annual reports), a survey (i.e., questionnaire data) or interviews with key constituents or industry experts.

• Clearly describe (1) the data; (2) how you will collect data; (3) specific research tool – an interview instrument; (4) sources of data; and (5) how you will analyse the data.

At this point, you should have a well-honed grasp of the work required to complete your 540 project with minimal wasted effort.  Please ask if you have any questions.  

Future students: Few opportunities exist in your professional career to perform on a big stage,

with the spotlight on you and the backing of professionals who will help you look good.

This is your chance to advance your career or make a transition to a new career.

Express your interest now.

David

See also: Conceptual Reasoning and Mentored Consulting Engagement.

The 540 Professional Consulting Engagement: Confidentiality

Confidentiality

To our future students: I'll offer assistance to individual students (by name) and we will discuss projects at a conceptual level.  We cannot, however, include client / company names or sensitive details pertaining to any of the projects, for the following reasons.

Our 540 consulting engagements frequently focus on highly confidential, business critical challenges and require our students to gain access to proprietary information.  In these situations, the client may request a Confidentiality Agreement (CA) be signed by all parties with access to the data or information.  Our office uses a standard CA for the majority of our clients: a copy of this form can be obtained by our students from the Academic Leader (me).  

With this CA in place, we are obligated to protect the client's interests, including securely holding the final 540 project report for up to five years, with no or limited access.

To our current students: 

We will discuss expectations for performance, our processes, the proposal, report structure and the nature of your work at a conceptual level.  Here's an example.  James is working with a high-tech client who has enjoyed a technological advantage, but competitors are beginning to catch up.  His project can be framed as an analysis of strategy and structure.  Strategy in this case is defined as the company's position in the technology landscape (among competitors), with the relevant target markets defining the scope of analyses. Structure is defined as the development of the company's professional administrative structures / processes, since the founder may want to explore exit strategies in the next five years.

James, feel free to share details or ask questions through comments to this post.  I'll proof any comments prior to approval, so we don't share too much.

David

Back to Work: the 540 professional consulting engagement

Queenstown - Lake Wakatipu

The holiday's over and it's time to get back to work.  You may have surmised from previous posts that our 2013 Phase One coursework has ended and our MBA 37 students are either completing Phase Two electives through an Int'l exchange (e.g., at Duke and UNC) or starting their 540 consulting engagement. Most students will enhance their marketability with both an Int'l exchange and project, but they have some flexibility about the timing of these endeavors.

It is my intention to allow future students to "peek inside the Otago MBA," so we (our students and I) plan to open up our discussion of current projects to you. You can listen in and direct questions to me. This format for discussion has two benefits for us: 1) I do not need to repeat explanations N times; and 2) our students can learn from each other. Students face the challenge of completing the 540 project away from Dunedin and separate from their MBA support network: something we can address here.  For you, our future students, this is what you need to know up front:

Preparation for the BUSI 540 project begins the moment the student walks through our front door.  The Otago MBA programme is designed as an integrated educational experience from orientation to 540 business project, with core courses introducing students to relevant academic disciplines, business analyses and quantitative methods; and professional development activities affording opportunities to clarify career ambitions, hone professional skills and build a network. 

The formal project process begins with a conversation between you and the Academic Leader (me) about your career ambitions: “What do you want to do with your career?” and “Where do you want to go?” 

We then work with you to identify a suitable client and project aligned with your career interests and with an appropriate intellectual challenge.

It is your responsibility to find a sponsor (your contact) in a corporate or nonprofit client (oftentimes with our assistance), gain an understanding of the client’s operation, and map a well-defined challenge this organization faces.

Please be aware, the client does not define the project. Clients are oftentimes confused (why they need our help), define the project in terms of a solution, and lack the ability to capture the work in an appropriate academic frame.

You will need to think through the challenge (i.e., a complex business problem), ask a lot of questions and push back on your client to steer the project in an appropriate direction. We (our MBA team and professional educators) assist in this process.

Most of our MBA 37 students have identified a client and are currently drafting a proposal for their project.  You should now have a suitable frame for grasping the conversations that will occur under a common title: The 540 Professional Consulting Engagement. 

 Cheers,

David

Our Mentored, Professional Consulting Engagement: Scary?

The Catlins, an excellent place to explore south of Dunedin.

One of the great things about NZ is the ease of access. With a population of just 4.4 million people, our Otago MBA team has access to many of the most senior business executives and government officials in the country. For instance, Lauren Rosborough, Senior Economic Adviser at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, will meet with our 2014, MBA 38 students.  Try arranging that in the U.S.

Our BUSI 540 Consulting Project

Back to business, this post explains how our BUSI 540 consulting project works; why it isn't as scary as you may believe; and why this experience is better than placement. 

Okay, stretch your right hand out flat in front of you, at eye level: that's your client.  This client may be Z Energy, Downer, or ANZ Bank, some of the largest corporations in NZ; an adventure/sports related business Mons Royale, Icebreaker, Kathmandu, Siliconcoach or Real Journeys; an NGO like the Cancer Society of NZ or Mines Advisory Group; or a company located in another part of the world: BBC or Otto Group.  All of these companies have been past clients and we endeavor to place you on a stage with a high-profile client, with the chance to gain entry into the right industry, company and/or professional network.

Now, extend your left hand out flat in front of you, about 15 cm (6 in) lower than your right hand: that's you.  A level playing field does not exist between you and your client.  The client can make your head spin with the amount of immediate, context-specific information available. This can feel scary. Even so, clients are often confused, the reason why they need our help.

It's your job to bring the available information back and allow us to help you structure a credible BUSI 540 consulting engagement.  We (you & our team) abstract away from immediate data and irrelevant noise to say: "It's this kind of problem, requiring this kind of solution."  We frame the project within the relevant business discipline (e.g., marketing, finance, economics or sustainability) and design analyses that lead to substantive conclusions and recommendations.  Stated simply: we level the playing field and place you in a position to interact with the client as an equal, with an independent voice and something valuable to say.  

The BUSI 540 professional consulting engagement isn't so scary, 

with us in your back pocket.   

How is this better than placement?  Placement is passive, with you a less-than-active collaborator in managing your own career.  We don't leave you on the sidelines.  We offer you a platform (the 540) to demonstrate your worth to potential employers and earn a position.  Some students secure a position immediately; others parlay the experience to gain entry in the right industry; and still others leverage new contacts to secure a position.  You decide: would you rather be in a position to drive your own career or remain dependent on someone from placement for your career?

I am personally responsible for mentoring students through our BUSI 540, so I

invite you to apply and look forward to working with you.

David

See also: Conceptual Thinking; Placement? You're kidding, right?; and Past Projects

Why does the Otago MBA remain a boutique programme?

Sidewalk Cafe on the Octagon in August (like February in the northern
hemisphere) with high temperatures consistently exceeding 10c/50f

We frequently receive two questions from MBA student candidates: (1) why is the Otago MBA programme relatively small; and (2) why isn't our programme ranked in the "Top 100" in the world?  The simple answer is, "by choice."  

I have explained the value we deliver to our students (defined as attention to the individual and whole person, with an emphasis on his or her thinking abilities and character) and our selection of high-quality student candidates (less than one in ten is accepted). Here's an important insight into strategy design: all of the elements of any enterprise's business model must fit together to deliver best value to its customers. You cannot produce a Ferrari on an assembly line and can't sell gourmet cuisine in a fast food business model.

We choose to remain a boutique programme (N = 30 to 40 full and part-time students) and fly beneath the radar of ranking organizations (Financial Times and Economist) to deliver best value to our students. Now consider, the top one-hundred MBA programmes in the world possess the resources and talents to deliver high value to their students: you still need to define this "value" for yourself. Perhaps one percent of MBA candidates attend these schools. The other 99 percent of MBA candidates face the choice of attending a "me too" programme that (less effectively) mimics the strategies of Top 100 schools or look for something different.

What will happen to these "me too" programmes?

The Otago MBA management team made the decision long ago to design a fully-integrated programme to deliver value at the individual level and not compete head-to-head with large scale "name" programmes. We continue to articulate our business model and refine its implementation year by year to create an integrated experience aimed at developing the individual into a career-ready business professional.

We choose to operate as a boutique programme and we're the right choice for MBA

 candidates who want to differentiate themselves from the masses.

If you're concerned about getting lost in the crowds,

I welcome you to apply now.

David