Setting Strategy: MBA Students Offer Free Advice To Area Businesses
Award-winning Bo Lings Fine Chinese Cuisine, with about 150 employees at six area restaurants, has mastered the art of Chinese cooking.
But owners Richard and Theresa Ng have found that operating the business can sometimes present stressful challenges. Last year, for example, the Ngs faced an important decision: Was the time right to further expand their business?
They turned to an innovative strategic planning resource — and got advice, for free.
A group of five students in a University of Missouri-Kansas City capstone MBA course studied the situation and in December made a recommendation: No, not yet.
The students also presented the Ngs with a 30-page action plan proposing changes for the restaurants’ fundamental operations to foster future growth.
“Together, we spent 600-700 hours interviewing employees, studying training, communication and organizational structure and, then, looking at contemporary management thought,” said Pete Lucas, who received his MBA in December. “It would have cost thousands of dollars to hire the management consultants needed to do the work.”
He said the students found that employees were reporting to both Bo Lings’ managers and owners — and this was a confusing structure. Read on…
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