Students try to help Porter ?

[Kip Powick]

Imagine you're on the management team at Porter Airlines, the six-month-old commuter carrier running flights to Montreal and Ottawa from the Toronto City Centre Airport.

You've put together a presentation on Porter's financial prospects and marketing strategy for potential new private equity investors.

But first, you have to pitch the plan to your board of directors. The board will ask tough questions and tell you whether you have a good case for raising money.

What would you say?

This would be a challenging assignment for any executive. The airline industry is fraught with risk and many small carriers are no longer flying.

It was even more challenging for first-year MBA students, who had to pitch a real-world company to a board made up of real businesspeople.

"This was the most valuable project I have done thus far, bringing together everything I have learned in the first year about finance, strategy and marketing," says Paula Lucas, an MBA student at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

Denise Figueiredo, another MBA student, found the course more time-consuming than others but also rewarding: "I was able to tackle a real issue faced by a real company, using problem-solving skills and gathering unbiased feedback from professionals currently in the business world."

Rotman recruited about 150 people to sit on the boards, asking them to volunteer a dozen hours of their time.

Since I don't have an MBA – having opted for an MA in Philosophy – I was happy to participate as a board member.

And for me, the course had an unexpected benefit.

Last week, I had the chance to meet Robert Deluce, founder and chief executive of Porter Airlines. He spoke at a cocktail reception for Rotman students and board members and gave out five free flights on his airline.

Guess whose business card was drawn first? Lucky me. Now I'm looking forward to a return flight from Toronto to Halifax, when Porter starts flying there this summer.

So, let me tell you more about the course, the Integrative Thinking Practicum, which was mandatory for first-year MBA students. (Rotman used to offer a similar course, which students took in their second year, featuring an imaginary company.)

Each board had three people, skilled at screening out proposals that didn't deserve funding.

There were two Bay Street professionals on my board – Ruth Abbott from the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and Kyle McGregor from BMO Nesbitt Burns' institutional equity sales group.

We worked with five students, including Lucas and Figueiredo, to develop a new funding plan and strategy for Porter Airlines.

At a three-hour meeting earlier this month, the students delivered a 45-minute presentation on the airline's plans and defended it amid probing questions by the board.

They started by talking about the risks, saying the airline industry has been a losing proposition in the past.

Later, they adapted a well-known joke about farming: "How do you make a small fortune in the airline business? Start with a large one."

As board members, we were shaking our heads. Why take such a downbeat tone when you want investors to give you money?

The students talked about their plans to promote Porter's convenience, time savings and hassle-free service.

One suggestion – which Deluce said ranked high with other student teams – was to introduce a frequent-flyer program. Most airlines have one, but Porter hasn't gotten around to it.

However, our students tried interviewing business travellers in Toronto and found mixed views. Half said a customer loyalty program was very important in their choice of airline and half said it wasn't important.

So, how did they do? We gave the students an overall grade of A- (despite their negative language and their plans to advertise exclusively in the subways and not in traditional business media).

We thought they worked together well as a team and developed a strong business plan. While the pitch wasn't ready for prime time yet, it was almost there.

I applaud Rotman for giving the course and Deluce for offering his airline as a test case. Not only does he get free advice from future business leaders, but he also reaches a Bay Street audience keen to try out his new commuter flights.

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[Thebean]

Imagine you're on the management team at Porter Airlines, the six-month-old commuter carrier running flights to Montreal and Ottawa from the Toronto City Centre Airport.

You've put together a presentation on Porter's financial prospects and marketing strategy for potential new private equity investors.

But first, you have to pitch the plan to your board of directors. The board will ask tough questions and tell you whether you have a good case for raising money.

What would you say?

This would be a challenging assignment for any executive. The airline industry is fraught with risk and many small carriers are no longer flying.

It was even more challenging for first-year MBA students, who had to pitch a real-world company to a board made up of real businesspeople.

"This was the most valuable project I have done thus far, bringing together everything I have learned in the first year about finance, strategy and marketing," says Paula Lucas, an MBA student at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

Denise Figueiredo, another MBA student, found the course more time-consuming than others but also rewarding: "I was able to tackle a real issue faced by a real company, using problem-solving skills and gathering unbiased feedback from professionals currently in the business world."

Rotman recruited about 150 people to sit on the boards, asking them to volunteer a dozen hours of their time.

Since I don't have an MBA – having opted for an MA in Philosophy – I was happy to participate as a board member.

And for me, the course had an unexpected benefit.

Last week, I had the chance to meet Robert Deluce, founder and chief executive of Porter Airlines. He spoke at a cocktail reception for Rotman students and board members and gave out five free flights on his airline.

Guess whose business card was drawn first? Lucky me. Now I'm looking forward to a return flight from Toronto to Halifax, when Porter starts flying there this summer.

So, let me tell you more about the course, the Integrative Thinking Practicum, which was mandatory for first-year MBA students. (Rotman used to offer a similar course, which students took in their second year, featuring an imaginary company.)

Each board had three people, skilled at screening out proposals that didn't deserve funding.

There were two Bay Street professionals on my board – Ruth Abbott from the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and Kyle McGregor from BMO Nesbitt Burns' institutional equity sales group.

We worked with five students, including Lucas and Figueiredo, to develop a new funding plan and strategy for Porter Airlines.

At a three-hour meeting earlier this month, the students delivered a 45-minute presentation on the airline's plans and defended it amid probing questions by the board.

They started by talking about the risks, saying the airline industry has been a losing proposition in the past.

Later, they adapted a well-known joke about farming: "How do you make a small fortune in the airline business? Start with a large one."

As board members, we were shaking our heads. Why take such a downbeat tone when you want investors to give you money?

The students talked about their plans to promote Porter's convenience, time savings and hassle-free service.

One suggestion – which Deluce said ranked high with other student teams – was to introduce a frequent-flyer program. Most airlines have one, but Porter hasn't gotten around to it.

However, our students tried interviewing business travellers in Toronto and found mixed views. Half said a customer loyalty program was very important in their choice of airline and half said it wasn't important.

So, how did they do? We gave the students an overall grade of A- (despite their negative language and their plans to advertise exclusively in the subways and not in traditional business media).

We thought they worked together well as a team and developed a strong business plan. While the pitch wasn't ready for prime time yet, it was almost there.

I applaud Rotman for giving the course and Deluce for offering his airline as a test case. Not only does he get free advice from future business leaders, but he also reaches a Bay Street audience keen to try out his new commuter flights.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There wasn't an MBA in sight at WJA 12 years ago when WJA was pitching in the real world.

That didn't turn out so badly.

[Super 80]

I did something like that in university, except it was with FedEx.