Babson Consulting Alliance Program

BCAP Key Features at a Glance

• BCAP teams will work on a consulting project with an external client sponsor.
• Teams are comprised of 5-7 first-year MBA students.
• During the BCAP process, students will gain skills in critical thinking, consulting and project management, client relationships and effective communication.
• Each team will be assigned a Babson faculty member who will work with them throughout the project.

BCAP Program Structure

First-year MBA candidates are matched with alliance companies from industries in which they have expressed a career interest. Guided by an advisor, BCAP teams work directly with company representatives to complete a project.

The BCAP project is designed to address specific alliance company needs and will focus on solutions to real business problems. Past projects have focused on topics such as market segmentation, organizational design, performance measurement, activity analysis, and costing skills that are developed in the MBA curriculum. Typically the project concludes with a written report and a presentation with recommendations from the team to company executives.

Babson’s context of experiential learning involves a three part accountability structure: Peer group learning, an academic advisor and curriculum, and a client sponsor.

Peer Group Learning

The project team provides a peer-learning process focused on practices that transfer the activities of the classroom into the professional skills required in the workplace: listening and clarifying the need; task observation; sharing and analysis; developing engagement contracts that address goals, strategies, resources, assessment criteria, and how to communicate results.

Academic Advisers

Support of the curriculum and academic adviser is focused on helping the student and team understand the complexity of the project, the relationship to the corporate strategy, managing the details of project management and implementation, and communication issues including negotiation, reporting findings, and effective presentations. The advisor plays a key role not only by keeping the interest of the company in mind but also by recognizing the importance of the learning experience for the students.

Client Company Sponsors

Engagement with the client involves supervision that holds students accountable to the standards of the work-place.A project manager is responsible for day-to-day project requirements and a project supervisor who is an advocate for the project within the company. The focus of the client supervision assures that the work matches corporate needs and is performed in a professional and efficient manner.