The capstone project team presented their findings and recommendations to the executive management team of the company. The management team listened intently as the capstone team walked through their analyses and outlined the key issues they identified during their research and assessment of the company’s operations.
Some of the major recommendations from the capstone project included expanding into new international markets, strategically acquiring a smaller competitor to gain market share, investing in new technologies like machine learning and automation to increase efficiencies, reorganizing the sales and marketing departments to focus on higher margin customer segments, and developing a stronger employee training and development program to boost employee retention and engagement.
These recommendations aimed to drive top-line revenue growth, cost reductions, new product and service innovations, and improve the overall company culture and talent management approach. The management team knew fully implementing all of these changes would require significant investments of both time and capital during a period of economic uncertainty.
As the capstone team finished their presentation, the CEO thanked them for their thorough work and perspectives. He said it was clear they dove deep into really understanding the business holistically. He acknowledged change can be difficult and they would need to carefully evaluate each recommendation against their strategic plan and financial realities.
The CFO chimed in that acquiring another company, investing in new technologies, and expanding internationally as suggested could cost tens or even hundreds of millions based on initial estimates. Those kinds of investments would require board approval and due diligence on financial viability and execution risks. The management team wanted to fully understand return on investments and timeline for generating returns before committing to such large strategic moves.
Some of the other vice presidents also raised questions about specifics of the recommendations. The VP of Operations questioned how realistic the projected productivity gains from new automation technologies were based on her experience. The VP of Sales wanted to understand more about customer segmentation analysis and whether the targeted high-margin segments were actually scalable parts of the market.
The CHRO noted investing in the employee development programs suggested could improve culture but may also increase costs at a time when costs were a key focus. More pilots or pilots of specific elements may be warranted before a full revamp of training was undertaken. The CMO felt the marketing reorganization idea had promise but required fleshing out an implementation plan with targets and milestones to actually gain management support.
While not rejecting any recommendations outright, it was clear the management team had reservations about the scope, costs, and risks of fully executing the capstone advice as presented. They asked the capstone team to take the feedback, do additional analysis requested, and come back with a phased, prioritized implementation plan focusing first on the highest ROI recommendations that could be tested on a smaller scale initially to de-risk the changes.
The management thanked the capstone team for their contributions already but wanted to see a more developed business case with clear metrics for success before committing substantial resources. They appreciated the fresh look at opportunities but running a business also required fiscal prudence given economic uncertainty remained. It was a thoughtful discussion that showed both sides wanted the best path forward for long-term sustainable growth.
In follow up meetings, the capstone team dove back into refining their recommendations based on management’s ask. They segmented the options into phases, identified pilot programs, added financial modeling and key performance indicators to proposed changes, and developed multi-year roadmaps.
With this additional work, management felt more comfortable with an initial trial of the marketing reorganization, a smaller technology pilot, and launching employee development workshops on a limited basis first to test outcomes. If successful, later phases could expand on those initiatives over the next 3-5 years. This collaborative process showed how capstone recommendations, with rigorous follow up, could align vision and realities to drive positive impact for all involved.