The Capstone of the Bryan MBA Experience
Creating and Sustaining a Competitive Advantage (MBA 629B)
In your final semester of the program, you will enroll in Creating and Sustaining a Competitive Advantage. This course will be the culmination of your Bryan MBA experience. In this course, you and your classmates will be organized into consulting teams and assigned to local organizations where you will develop strategic solutions to the selected challenges of your assigned organization. At the completion of the course, you and your team will formally present your research findings and recommendations.
Bryan MBAs teamed up with the major bedding manufacturer to tackle an unprecedented decline in mattress sales brought on by the current recession and housing market collapse. The team’s recommendations helped the mattress producer reduce operational costs by reorganizing the structure of its plant network and improving the management of its supply chain.
Zimmerman Vineyards
This was the third time in two years that Bryan MBAs contributed their business skills to North Carolina’s burgeoning wine industry. Zimmerman Vineyards is located on a 102-acre family farm in Trinity, North Carolina and has a current product portfolio of five high quality wines. Students on this team conducted a comprehensive analysis of the Vineyard’s operations, finances, and marketing to develop a twelve year plan to expand the Vineyard’s winemaking facilities and capacities.
Kayser-Roth
For this project Bryan MBA students advised this producer of legwear and intimate apparel on entering the Chinese market. The team researched the opportunities and risks associated with the legwear industry and market in China and developed a strategic marketing plan for successfully introducing products in China. This international team of students was not only able to provide valuable information on current trends and issues such as taxation, market segments, counterfeiting and government regulations, but also insightful advice on the nuances of doing business in China.
Red Hat
For a fourth consecutive year Bryan MBA students has partnered with Red Hat, Inc., the Raleigh-based provider of global open source software solutions. For this year’s consulting project, the team's project scope was to evaluate and determine an optimal capital structure which would position the growing company to remain financially flexibility, maintain access to capital markets and maximize returns to shareholders. The comprehensive research included a financial analysis of Red Hat, its international subsidiaries and the tax systems of their host countries, supplemented by a peer group analysis."
Surry Community College
Bryan MBAs worked with one of the only academic institutions in the Southeast that offers a program in viticulture and enology. The College is breaking ground on The North Carolina Center for Viticulture and Enology, which will be one of only two on the East Coast, and the team was asked to review current operations and produce revenue forecasts as well as to identify opportunities to ensure the Center’s financial sustainability and to expand the Center’s role as a resource to the surrounding Yadkin Valley where over a third of the state’s wineries and vineyards are located.
Piedmont Folk Legacies
Following a previous team of Bryan MBA students that developed a business plan for the establishment of a National Banjo Museum in Eden, North Carolina, this year’s consulting team developed a comprehensive marketing plan for the Charlie Poole Music Festival in collaboration with another Bryan team of MSITM students who redesigned the web site for the annual traditional music festival.
If your organization is interested in arranging a consulting project, contact Dr. Sheldon Balbirer at shelly@uncg.edu.
Home Evening
MBA
