AIESEC Business Case Challenge

Pre-work Research Assignment

Innovators

What’s in this Document?

Introduction & Objectives

Pre-work Assignment

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IntroductionLadies and Gentlemen,

We are John McGarr and David Brown from Fresh Squeezed Ideas, a market research based strategy company. Our job is to help companies solve their most pressing strategy, marketing, and innovation challenges by helping them develop a deeper understanding of their stakeholders.

We are very excited to be invited to help out with your business case challenge. Our job will be to provide you with a couple of simple tools and directions that you will use to develop your own solutions for these “clients”.

Your representatives from AIESEC have done a great job of lining you up with 4 cool sponsors to serve as the basis of this challenge. From here on in, consider them your clients.

To get you started, there are two assignments that you’ll need to work on. Please read the pages that follow closely.

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The ObjectiveOn May 9th, you and your team will be tasked with developing a new solution for your client. Like all organizations trying to stay relevant, they need to explore new ways to stay connected to people in your generation – The Millennial Generation.

Equipped with the knowledge and insight from your pre-work assignments, and based on the briefing that your client gives you, you and your team will generate a new solution. This could be a new product or service, a new marketing or communication campaign, or an innovative new way to do business.

You’ll be competing against other teams also vying for the client’s business, so it will be important that you and your team work well together and put together a strong presentation in the time you’ll have available. You won’t have much time, so your pre-work is vital!

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Pre-work Research AssignmentThere are two parts of the pre-work research assignment, which

you will need to build better solutions for your client..

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Learn what you can about your client’s business, the products and services it delivers to the market, and the conditions of

the industry it is in.

Speak directly with other Millennials. Find out what

matters most to them, what their needs are, and what obstacles they face in life in the context of

your client’s business.

Part 1:Industry Research

Part 2: Stakeholder Research

Part 1: Industry Research

The first thing you need to do is to find out everything you can about your client and their business. The more you know about what they do, the better you will be at helping them identify new value. Here’s how to go about it:

o Search their website. Explore their history, their policies, best practices. Where in the world do they have business interest?

o Download their investors or stakeholder reports. You don’t have to be an accountant, but it’s good to get a high level read on the numbers. Is it a $50 million or $50 billion company? Is it a publicly traded company or a non-profit organization?

o Finally, do some general web searching. What are other people saying about your client? What kind of social media presence do they have?

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Part 2: Stakeholder Research

This part is a bit more tricky – equal parts art and science. The idea is that you find at least 2 friends who are Millennials (people between 18 and 30 years old). Ask them if they would mind sitting down with you for about a half an hour research interview.

During this discussion, you want to learn as much as you can about them, what they think of your client’s industry, and their point of view on your client’s company/organization (if they have one).

We call this qualitative market research. Unlike quantitative research, which involves surveys and large sample sizes, qualitative research really focuses more on human dialogue and stories.

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Part 2: Stakeholder Research

• These questions are just guides. You’ll have to find your own questions to ask.

• General open-ended questions are better than specific closed ended.

• Defer judgment. There are no right or wrong answers, and if they feel you are judging them, they might not be as open with their real opinions.

• Keep it casual and let the discussion unfold naturally. They should do most of the talking. Ask follow up questions, like “what about that is important?” and “tell me more”.

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• What do you know about laptop computers?

• What experiences have you had buying and using laptop computers?

• Tell me about a time that you had a really good experience buying a computer? What about a bad story?

• If a friend were to ask you for advice about buying a computer, what would you say?

• What are some computer companies that you are familiar with? What do you know about them? Are there some that you prefer over others?

On the left, we’ve offered the kinds of questions that you could use. As an example, we’ve used computer shopping. So, you’ll have to adapt these for your client. On the right, are some guidelines that

you can keep in mind as you moderate your interview.

Sample Discussion Questions Tricks of the Trade

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Pre-work Assignment

Take Notes – Capture the key findings and insights from both of your industry research. Bring your notes on May 9th.

Keep an Open Mind – Start forming opinions, but remember that you will need to work with your team to develop a solution together.

The more you put into this, the more you’ll get out. Your client will be able impressed by the depth of insight you bring.

Hopefully, you’ll enjoy your research experience and we’re looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

See you all on May 9th!

Research is changing.

Liberty Village, Toronto(416) 235-0909

info@freshsqueezedideas.comwww.freshsqueezedideas.com