The nature of business problem-solving projects

The objective of this handbook is to discuss the methodology of business-problem solving (BPS) projects, carried out by business students. Examples of such projects are:

1. – improving the delivery performance of the spare part inventory control of a capital goods company;

2. – developing a cost control system for a distribution centre of a postal service;

3. – improving the performance of a recently introduced e-procurement system for a small company;

4. – developing a decision support system for the allocation of resources to research and design projects for a small, high-tech company;

5. – developing a system for measuring the performance of a marketing and sales department;

6. – improving the effectiveness and efficiency of training courses for the human resources management department of a large company;

7. – developing a system for measuring the reliability of new software in a software development department;

8. – improving the quality control system of a production department by introducing statistical process control.

Business problem-solving projects are started to improve the performance of a business system, department or a company on one or more criteria. Ultimately it should impact the profit of a company (or a comparable overall performance indicator if it is a not-for-profit-organization), but usually the actual objectives of a BPS project are of a more operational nature, related to the effectiveness and/or efficiency of operational business processes. The approaches discussed in this handbook can generally also be used for business improvement projects of a more strategic nature, although we do not discuss the additional technical-economic, political and social complexities of such projects here.