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Experiential Learning Client Projects

Could your organization benefit from a detailed operations or marketing plan created by MBA students at Presidio Graduate School? If so, we would like to explore providing operations, strategy, marketing, or other support to your organization over a 17-week semester.

Since 2003, Presidio Graduate School has placed sustainability and social justice at the core of our curriculum. Our graduate students bring their clients best practices, objective analysis, and creative solutions for the triple-bottom-line: people, planet, profit.

Operations Project Information

The focus of the operations plan is to examine an appropriate operations function within your operations, identify and evaluate a number of more sustainable approaches to executing the function, recommend the best approach, and generate a plan for implementing it. Examples of past operations plan focuses include:

Adding sustainable production or distribution capacity to meet a perceived set of market demands.
Identifying a set of production processes or distribution channels that minimize a food production company’s carbon footprint relative to its current operating configuration.
Identifying one or more alternative ways of designing the packaging for a firm’s cleaning products so the packaging can be diverted from landfill at end of life and instead reused, remanufactured, or recycled.
Identifying an environmentally friendly waste water processing system to address the production growth plans of a draft beer production company.
Identifying a program of medical supply purchasing by a hospital that limits sources of supply to those whose products do not yield medical waste during use.

A variety of organizations have taken part in this opportunity including, but not limited to: HP, Flex (hi-tech), REI, ThermoFisher (medical equipment), Sambazon (healthy drinks), Tcho Chocolates, Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG), and a number of northern California wineries.

Marketing Project Information

During this marketing engagement, student-teams will conduct market research and competitor/environmental analysis to better understand your target audience, and apply leading business frameworks to develop a detailed marketing plan with relevant recommendations based on your business priorities.

A variety of organizations have taken part in this opportunity including, but not limited too: kW Engineering, StrideLabs, International Leadership Association, Miner Token.

Strategy Project Information

Our strategy team is prepared to support your organization whether you are starting a new venture, looking to expand to a new geography or a new market segment while staying true to your mission, creating a succession plan for the founders, changing your organization’s structure (e.g., transitioning from privately owned to employee-owned), looking for a specific strategy to meet your sustainability goals (e.g., reduced waste or energy usage), or are commercializing new sustainable technology and looking to establish a multisectoral partnership.

Partnership Type(Required)

Your project will fit in the OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT course if you can provide data on existing manufacturing, supply chain, distribution, or other processes that you want to improve for the benefit of profit, people, and planet.

Your project will fit in the MARKETING course if you'd like the student team to objectively characterize markets, understand customers' evolving needs, develop marketing strategies, and create detailed marketing plans.

Your project will fit in the STRATEGY course if you would like to work with students to perform a strategic analysis that addresses your specific strategic question, whether looking to expand, creating a succession plan, working to meet your sustainability goals, developing a new ESG strategy, or any other challenge or strategic goal.

Operations

Marketing

Strategy

Your role in a STRATEGY project.

Please select all the choices that you agree to:(Required)

Background info, Data, Financials, and Other Relevant Information based on the project scope - providing your graduate team with access to any previous strategy documents, budget and financial information, and other relevant documents that are essential to the team based on the scope of the projects.

Timely and consistent communication - consistent and timely access to you or other marketing people—it is recommended you can spend at least 1-2 hours/each week over the 17-week semester in communication with your team.

Project Focus

What is the focus of your organization’s operations with which you would like to have assistance by a Presidio student team?

Opportunities and/or challenges

What organizational opportunities and/or challenges do you want this project to address?

Project description

Please describe the project as you currently envision it.

Project title
Project objectives
Specific tasks that need to be undertaken
Specific tangible outcomes you would you expect it to deliver

Your role in the project?(Required)

To receive the most actionable results, clients should be accessible and able to provide their grad-student team with necessary data, give feedback on drafts, and attend the final class presentation (virtually or physically). Please check all of the boxes that you agree to:

Background info, Data, and Operations Analytics - providing your graduate team with access to detailed process diagrams and data on your organization’s operational data, e.g., lists of SKUs, bills of material, historical production or distribution schedules, and detailed costs of materials, labor, and transport. Given that the time horizon of an operations plan is typically near term, e.g., 12 to 36 months, the availability of the above data is critical to the successful generation of an impactful operations plan.

Timely and consistent communication - consistent and timely access to you or other operations people—it is recommended you are able to spend at least 1-2 hours/each week over the 17-week semester in communication with our team.

Background info, Data, and Operations Analytics

Timely and consistent communication

Additional information you would like to provide.

Current operations activities

What kind of operations activities is your organization currently doing?

What are current challenges/opportunities?

What’s working and not working (your biggest operational challenges/opportunities)?

Please describe the operations project?(Required)

How do you think this Presidio project could help your organization (What outcome from the project do you seek? Specifically, what do you want to receive that would most completely address your organization's need for the project?

Your role in a MARKETING project

To receive the most actionable results, clients should be accessible and able to provide their grad-student team with necessary data, give feedback on drafts, and attend the final class presentation (virtually or physically). Please select all of the choices that you agree to:

Market research - supporting your graduate team in potentially sending a survey they developed to your customers and/or enabling them to conduct short interviews with select customers.

Background info, Data, and Marketing Analytics - providing your graduate team with access to any previous marketing plans or strategy documents, branding guidelines, messaging documents, budget information, and marketing data and analytics

Timely and consistent communication - consistent and timely access to you or other marketing people—it is recommended you are able to spend at least 1-2 hours/each week over the 17-week semester in communication with your team.

Market research

Background info, Data, and Marketing Analytics

Timely and consistent communication

Additional info

Please let us know any additional information that you would like to provide? As well as, who in addition to yourself would be the team's liaison?

Organization name (the "Client")

Please provide a link to the website.

Your first and last name(Required)

Your email address(Required)

What is your role in the organization?(Required)

How are you connected to Presidio (if so)?

Preferred timing(Required)

Our graduate student projects run from August to December for the fall semester, and from January to May for the spring semester.

Donation to Presidio Graduate School

Presidio previously charged $5,000 (or $500 for non-profit organizations) for these engagements, but has now moved to a donation based model. We gladly accept donations and appreciate your support in making these project accessible for all organizations.

Next Steps

A faculty member interested in your project will reach out to you in the latter half of July (for the Fall semester) or December (for the Spring semester). We appreciate your patience and look forward to discussing this opportunity with you!

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