Business Case Consulting Training (5 cr)

Objectives (course unit)

Completing this training module teaches students to apply theories from various business disciplines to real company problems. The students will be provided with a strong foundation of analytical tools and techniques, problem-solving methodologies and effective presentation and communication techniques. The students will then be able to apply and refine their use of these techniques through hands-on learning with several business cases.


After successful completion of the module, the students will be able to
- Develop and evaluate alternative feasible solutions for different international and national business cases
- Apply theories and analytical tools from different business disciplines to real-world situations
- Make clear and justifiable recommendations to real-life business problems
- Present decisions to public in a professional manner
- Demonstrate various leadership skills related to teamwork, innovation process management, work organization and methods, and initiative

Content (course unit)

How to identify relevant information for different business decisions?
What are the methods in solving business cases with a structured approach?
How to give clear, convincing and engaging business presentations?

Prerequisites (course unit)

Open to 2nd and 3rd year students of Business Administration (incl. Proacademy) and International Business. There will be selection of students to the study module if needed.

Location and time

09/2019-12/2019 TAMK Main Campus

Evaluation methods and criteria

Contact classes are mandatory and held once a week during periods 1 and 2. Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% of the total of the contact class sessions to be eligible for a final grade. Students are also required to attend own weekly group sessions on free-selected time.

Assessment scale

0-5

Teaching methods

Teaching methods focus strongly on practical, hand-on learning. This will be implemented by providing business cases that students solve by applying knowledge from various areas of study and effectively present the solutions. There will also be lectures focusing on specific areas that needs to be considered in analyzing and solving business cases.

Student workload

Classroom sessions:42 hours
Class preparation (case analyses): 68 hours
Other assignments: 25 hours

Practical training and working life cooperation

The study module will be implemented in cooperation with companies that provide real business cases for student teams to solve.

International connections

The best student team will have an opportunity to represent TAMK in an international case competition given that they are willing to spend time on additional case coaching if necessary.

Further information

Criteria for enrolling to the study module:
- 2nd or 3rd full-time student
- Studying Business Administration/International Business/Industrial Engineering/Management
Because of the nature of the study module, cancelling participation after the study module has started is not possible.
If selected to a team representing home institution in a business case competition, please notice that some competitions have a rule of an age limit.

Assessment criteria - fail (0) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Student has not participated to required amount of contact classes (80 %) and/or the contribution to team work has been minimal

Assessment criteria - satisfactory (1-2) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Student has been present required amount of contact classes (80 %) but the contribution to the different processes of team work and presenting case solutions has been not more than satisfactory level.

Assessment criteria - good (3-4) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

In solving the cases, student is able to participate in decision-making and gives an average input in the process of defining the problem(s), gathering and analyzing relevant information, and finally developing and evaluating alternative courses of action. Based on this analytical process student is able to participate in creating a recommendation on what s/he thinks is the best course of action as well as providing detailed implementation and risk mitigation plans. Presentation skills are average level in professionalism and assertiveness. The operation in a team is varying in perspectives of being responsible, considerate, motivated and task-oriented.

Assessment criteria - excellent (5) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

In solving the cases, student is able to act as a decision-maker and go through the stages of defining the problem(s), gathering and analyzing relevant information, and finally developing and evaluating alternative courses of action. Based on this analytical process student is able to create a recommendation on what s/he thinks is the best course of action as well as providing detailed implementation and risk mitigation plans. Presentation skills are convincing and professional. The operation in a team is responsible, considerate, motivated and task-oriented.