MBA 571 R1; April 2024

Presentation and Paper assignment

As discussed in class, the major assignment is MBA 571 is a project paper that you will write, and
a preliminary presentation on that project. This document will provide you with some help to
get started. Additional information is discussed in class sessions.

PART I: PLEASE DO RESEARCH

“Search” and “Research” are not the same. Please do research on this assignment. When you
type search terms into a Google search bar – that’s not research. Even if you find interesting
things to read based on someone else’s research, you still did not do research. For this project,
you will do plenty of search, but I also expect you to do research. Research might require many
hours of time spent observing operations and talking to humans about their business. For most
topics, my recommendation is that you should plan on at least 50 hours of direct observations
and conversations. Take notes. Ultimately, I am interested in what I can learn from the
research that you do. I want your research to add to my own understanding.

Please do not use the terms “primary research” and “secondary research” in my course.
Adjectives can be harmful, as observed by both Voltaire – “The adjective is the enemy of the
noun”, and Mark Twain – “When you catch an adjective, kill it.” In my view, the adjective
“secondary” placed in front of the word “research” is simply a way to pretend that I am doing
research when actually I am only reading other people’s research. Research is research, and we
don’t need the word “primary” as an adjective to qualify it. Reading other people’s research,
whatever you would like to call it, is not research. In MBA 571, I am asking you do research. I
am fully aware that my vocabulary on this topic is different from the vocabulary in standard use
across the globe in academia. Deal with it. Outside of MBA 571, you are free to choose your
own vocabulary. Within MBA 571, please use the word “research” as I use it here.

Will you do “search” for your papers in MBA 571? Yes, lots of it. You should search out and find
everything you possibly can that will usefully increase your understanding of your topic. If you
need help finding good material to read so that you understand more about the topic you
choose, please do not hesitate to ask me.

The “ideal” response would be a piece of work worthy of being published as an HBR reading or
HBS case study. Not that I actually think you have time to produce such a product between now
and the due date – just think of it as the highest possible goal.
PART II: THE PAPER, THE PRESENTATION, AND THE CRITQUES:

FORMAT FOR THE MAJOR PROJECT PAPER:

Your response for the major project might vary in form. Most students will likely choose to
create a Word or PDF document and write a full-length report. There is no minimum
requirement on the length of such a report – but you should feel like you have covered the
topic. You might also choose to send me other types of response materials, if useful. All
responses must include at least a single-page executive summary and a detailed list of
references. The executive summary should be a complete report all on one page. The
references can be in any style, but they should include all your sources, including details on
personal interviews, if any. Your work should indicate a depth and breadth of research in the
topic. Many of the options below could be satisfied by “telling a story” – but the story should be
augmented by your personal insight and analysis, which in turn should be augmented by the
material I deliver in class, and your scholarly reading regarding general theory and the
experiences of other firms.

Please never double-space anything you send to me. Do not double-space the title page.
Nothing. I will be reading your papers on my computer screen. Please do not fill up my
computer screen with white space.

THE PRESENTATION, AND THE CRITIQUES: Please make a 10-minute presentation to describe
your project plan. Send me an email to choose the date and time you would like to present,
among the dates April 6, April 12, and April 29. In addition, please listen to a few of your
classmates’ presentations and write critiques for two of them. In your critiques, write nothing
positive. Do a little bit of research for your critiques as well, and describe to me a better project
plan than the one you heard proposed. I am not interested in critiques of presentation style.
Critique the project plan that was presented, not the style of the presentation. Your references
for your critiques are important, and always provide details on personal interviews and
observations that you conducted, including for the critiques.

When preparing your presentation, please ensure that you stay within the topic of our course
MBA 571. In the past I have noticed many students drift toward a strategic analysis of the firm
to be studied. That can be interesting, and is no doubt important for larger study, but come
back to the day-to-day operations. If you find yourself tempted to put a SWOT analysis into
your presentation, stop yourself right there. Don’t. I don’t want it, I don’t need it, and that’s
when you can be sure you are getting too far away from MBA 571 in your topic.
PART III: TOPIC SELECTION
Here are four ideas for your paper and presentation. I encourage you to pick other topics as
well. These are just ideas to get you started. You are not required to choose from this list.

Suggestion #1. Innovation. Describe how innovation is sponsored, or could be sponsored, in a

firm of your choosing. (“Innovation”, nor merely “process improvement”). You should read
Clayton Christensen as a key part of your preparation.

Suggestion #2. Project Management – Describe an actual project, using one of these three
categories. Choose the category that is most appropriate for the project you are discussing.
Describe in detail how an actual project was conducted, or how the plan for a future product is
being created. Discuss the importance of the quality vs budget vs timeline tradeoffs. For this
project, when problems occur, will quality, budget, or timeline be the most important? Your
response should include Gantt charts and/or Critical Path diagrams, along with associated
calculations. Were expectations clearly documented? Can you discuss any points in the project
where errors were (or were not) captured which did (or did not) save the firm from future
costs? What lessons have been learned? Some ideas for possible projects you could review:
a) Planning an important event. (A project for which the timeline is the most important.)
b) Development and installation of a new software for your company. (A project for which
the quality should be the most important.)
c) Development of a new product. (A product for which long-term cost is probably the
most important.) If your project choice is a new product development, then I encourage
you to read The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries.

Suggestion #3. Lean improvements

Create an action plan for Lean in an organization you choose. Either pick an existing process
that could be “leaned”, or describe how a new process could be created using Lean principles.
Your response should show that you understand the measures typically used in Lean, and the
usual steps involved in applying Lean principles. You can use Lean in a service organization. It
does not have to be manufacturing. If you choose this option, I strongly encourage you to also
learn the “7 Wastes” and read carefully the Toyota Case Study, so that you understand more
about Lean.

Please remember: I do not care if you use the word “Lean” in this description. The word “Lean”
was pushed forward by James Womack, author of The Machine that Changed the World. It is
the most commonly used word to describe the Toyota Production System. People who practice
these methods might call them instead: “Kaizen”, “JIT”, or “Toyota Production System”.

Suggestion #4. Prevention Costs. The ideas of Crosby and also Shingo help us understand how
increasing our quality can decrease our costs. Please do a little bit of reading to understand
the ideas of these two famous authors. You might need to read their books – Quality is Free,
and Zero Quality Control. Create an action plan for an organization you choose. Describe how
a specific problem could be permanently solved, and quality improved. Your response will be
best if you are able to use some of the quality tools we discussed in class. In my experience, the
tools used for quality analysis are best learned by actually using them, and therefore you might
need to do build some practice using quality tools into your research plan, to understand some
of these tools.