The MBA Business Project
Brunel MBA students have the opportunity to undertake their Business Project in a real world context, often through a collaboration arranged by the School with multinational companies, SME or public sector institutions.
To complete your MBA, you will be required to undertake an in-depth study of a business or management issue of particular interest to you. It could be something that you have met in your career to date, a challenge that your organisation currently faces, or an exploration of a subject completely outside your own experience.
You will be expected to conduct extensive research, analyse your findings and reach your own conclusions. But before you embark on your project, we will give you comprehensive guidance and will coach you all the way through, from the first draft to your completed 12,000 word report.
Examples of MBA Business Projects include
- Reducing staffing costs: alternatives to mass redundancies
- Branding for not-for-profit organisations
- Collaborating intensity in the UK supermarket retails chain
- Knowledge management in the SME sector
- Choice of marketing strategy for Wal-Mart in India
- Combating digital piracy
- What patients want: the impact of 'Patient Choice' on the NHS supply chain
- Options for small businesses to exploit Web 2.0 technologies
A successful project is a great way to apply the knowledge you have gained in the programme, demonstrate your business acumen, and tailor your MBA to your own interests and needs, or to those of your current or future employers. Should you wish to study for a special award in Healthcare or Aviation Management, you will need to choose a sector specific topic for dissertation as well as two relevant electives.
To support you, there are 4 days of intensive workshops for students, relating to:
- Identifying critical business issues and challenges,
- Generating an applied business project idea,
- Forming an effective and focussed business project proposal,
- Research Methods and Ethics,
- Data collection and analysis techniques,
- Project presentation and structuring approaches (including examples where relevant)
MBA students receive extensive support in their Business Project from their assigned supervisors:
- Advice and guidance in choosing a topic and formulating a research question
- Guidance on the production of their Business Project proposal
- Guidance on planning their research
- Constructive advice on changes to refine the scope and direction of their research and on any contingencies that may arise
- Constructive criticism of work in progress, including draft chapters
- Meetings with the student for discussion at mutually convenient times
- Comment on their draft Business Project.
