Anatomy of a Plus Project

Over the first three years of Plus, the McCombs School’s professional development program, McCombs MBAs have performed mini-consulting projects for dozens of companies and organizations. The projects are an integral component of Plus and can be a boon to the school’s corporate partners. Here’s a typical one from fall 2004.

Client: Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Project: The rise of Web sites where customers can book hotels based solely on price has presented a new challenge for the hotel industry. This fall, Starwood Hotels & Resorts enlisted six McCombs MBAs to tackle two questions: Should Starwood brand its name to compete with larger hotel companies? How might the company increase customer retention?

Team: Tim Knowling (Captain), Christy Kulka, Larry Manning, Lisa McQueen, David Prubert and Dan Schaeffer.

Time frame: Since the Plus Program runs for just two weeks, the team had only a short time to become experts on Starwood, identify the issues and create a strategic plan.

Hypothesis: The team decided that Starwood, which owns several chains, including Sheraton and the W hotels, could improve awareness about Starwood through their preferred guest program.

Method: Divide and conquer. Each team member researched rival benefit programs. Several visited Austin hotels to assess the competition, and others met with faculty experts.

Proposal: The team traveled to New York to present their recommendations and an implementation plan to top Starwood execs. The recommendations have to be kept confidential, but team members can confirm that the executives responded warmly: “After we presented, they said they had more projects we could work on,” said team member Lisa McQueen.

Peek Inside: Lamont Greene, Director of Luxury Marketing for Starwood and MBA ’96, set the team up with a behind-the-scenes tour of the St. Regis Hotel at the Essex House, overlooking Central Park.

Payoff: According to Schaeffer, the best part of the project was “seeing the alumni network in action at such an early stage in the MBA program.” And, said Knowling, “We introduced a new company to McCombs. Maybe they’ll look at recruiting at UT now.”

Have a project idea? Contact Saleem Assaf, the Plus Program's director, at saleem.assaf@mccombs.utexas.edu or by phone at 512.232.3780.