A. General

The Management Research Report (MRR) is a major, original work by AIM MBA candidates. Through the MRR you are expected to apply your knowledge and skills to actual managerial problems, by.

The MRR process comprises two subjects: a second trimester, 2-unit part I, and a third trimester, 4-unit part II. You are graded on quality of your written work, your oral defenses, and your ongoing give-and-take conversations with your faculty mentors.

The final deliverable is a thesis-like document. This document must be accepted as a final hurdle in the MBA. You may pass all other MBA subjects and requirements, but without an acceptable MRR, you cannot graduate.

B. Acceptable MRRs

You may choose one of four MRR types:

1. A corporate or business strategy of an existing firm or organization
2. A feasibility or entry study
3. A business venture or
4. A case series, comprising an industry note, four cases, and four teaching notes.

C. General Criteria of Acceptable MRRs

MRRs must meet four criteria:

1. MRRs must be managerial.

Write the MRR from a manager's perspective: basically, define and solve problems that confront the manager. You must set specific measures of success for these problems, then develop plans and allocate resources to attain these measures. Moreover, describe these plans as a system that others can use to continue to monitor performance and sustain the business.

2. MRRs must be real and practical.

You must address real needs and propose practical action; purely theoretical MRRS are unacceptable. For feasibility studies, you must present evidence to show practicality. You must do field and not just library-based research. Finally, you should include proponent and faculty mentor inputs to ensure that the MRR is grounded in reality.

3. MRRs must be integrative and challenging.

You must study at least the main functions of business management: operations, marketing, finance, and human resources; strategies for one narrow functional area are not allowed. (You may not propose a functional strategy    e.g., "A Marketing Strategy for XYZ Company") You must integrate functions into a well-defined action program.

4. MRRs must be original and the students' own work.

MRRs must be your own substantial work. You can get some help in data gathering or paper editing, but having someone else write your MRR is dysfunctional. You must also acknowledge other people's quotes, insights, findings, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations. Failure to cite is plagiarism, and is dysfunctional.

While most MRRs will be company-sponsored, beware to not merely parrot the ideas of the company's management. Nor should you parrot management guru frameworks because they are convenient. Originality means you should exhibit independent thinking on the issues and your final recommendations.

D. MRR Process

The MRR process has five steps:

D.1 Topic selection, approval, and choice of mentors
D.2 MRR proposal preparation and approval
D.3 Part I writing and defense
D.4 Part II writing and defense
D.5 Final MRR submission and acceptance

We cannot emphasize enough the value of frequent consultation with mentors and proponents. Frequent consultations assure that proponents give you company access and that faculty mentors get insight into your thinking, level of effort, and learning progress.

Do not rely on AIM to remind you of deadlines. Apart from the actual research and writing you are responsible for:

- Selecting MRR topics
- Initiating contact with mentors and proponents
- Setting the scope of the MRR in the proposal stage
- Briefing third panelists of their role
- Coordinating panelists and scheduling oral defense times
- Ensuring proper editing for drafts
- Submitting drafts before deadlines
- Getting panelists to sign milestone documents

Please see all milestones in Annex A. See also the MRR Process Flowchart for deadlines.

D.1 Topic Selection, Approval and Choice of Mentors

Selection

In general, do not repeat an MRR topic of another AIM degree student within the past five years, unless you can prove that your study will add value to previous ones.

Seek organizations to be the subject of your MRR. From these organizations you should ideally find proponents who can sponsor your MRR and can give you access to people and information. Proponents are required for all MRRs, except for venture MRRs.

Approval

In your topic advice, write a review of all relevant MRRs in the last five years to show how your topic is salient. Summarize their key conclusions, and indicate what ideas you will add and how your study will be different. Submit your topic advice to the MRR Coordinator before August 31, 2007.

Mentors

After topic approval, choose your faculty mentor teams from the GSB list. Get your faculty panel to accept you as their student, and give the MRR Coordinator a copy of the written acceptance.

The two-mentor system ensures that if one is unavailable, you can consult with the other. Two professors evaluate your MRR, to ensure against bias.

D.2 MRR Proposal Preparation and Approval

Preparation

Preparation is critical: a well-thought-out proposal makes subsequent MRR steps easier.

MRR proposal-TORs (Annex A) cover scope, content, and timeframes. More than scope, they set the right expectations for students, proponents, and mentors: what work will you do? What type of information and people access do you want from proponents? What time and advice can mentors give to you? Further, by consulting diligently with proponents and mentors, your topic will evolve naturally, allow for redirection, and serve as a solid foundation for all remaining MRR steps.

Your proposal establishes confidentiality, and alerts stakeholders to possible conflict of interest. Any such problems, if resolved at this stage, allow a smooth MRR process. See sections G and H for details.

Approval

Have your mentors and proponents read and sign the MRR proposals. Submit the complete MRR proposal to your MRR coordinators before October 01, 2007.

D.3 Part I Writing And Defense

Writing

In Part I, help illuminate the "logic" of the industry to readers. Industry studies must comprise:

- A thorough study of the context of the MRR. Describe the political, economic, social, technological (PEST) and competitive forces, as well as opportunities and threats (OT) that are relevant industry-wide.
- Marketing majors must conduct a field market research effort in part I. Market research is also recommended for other MRR types, but will depend on faculty panel requirements.

Warning: a recent MRR studied the feasibility of an investment cum insurance product; the student thus had to analyze both the insurance and banking industries for part I. Though he eventually succeeded, he did double work, and the MRR was at risk to not finish. To avoid this risk, we urge you to limit the product or service space.

Write an industry study that can help any current player or potential entrant see common problems and opportunities. At this point, you should not even mention strengths and weaknesses (SW) because they apply to specific players i.e. your MRR company. You should therefore not even mention your company in part I.

For a case series MRR, the industry study is akin to an "industry note." See various AIM and HBS cases for samples.

Oral Defense

Oral defenses measure your mastery of the industry and consistency of findings.

You must defend part I in a mini-oral before at least one faculty panelist by December 21, 2007. Mini-orals do not require third panelists, and can be informal presentations. At the mini-oral you may be asked to revise your study, which you must submit before January 14, 2008. A no-defend by December 21 or a no-submit by January 14 gets at most an LP+ for MRR part I.

The industry study can have up to 40 pages of text and embedded exhibits (tables and charts) and 10 pages of appendices. You must adequately explain all exhibits within the report text.

You cannot proceed to part II unless the mentors clear part I.

D.4 Part II Writing And Defense

Writing

The thrust of part II depends on the MRR type:

- For corporate strategies, MRRs should contain internal company assessment, strategy formulation, and implementation sections.
- For feasibility or entry studies, MRRs should assess the market, technical, organizational, social, and financial feasibilities of the chosen   project.
- For venture studies, see section I for a complete description. Venture MRRs require students to operate actual ventures, or do a feasibility study cum venture capital funding presentation.
- For case series MRRs, students must develop four classroom-ready cases: i.) general management/strategy, ii.) operations, iii.) marketing, and iv.) finance. Each case must have a teaching note. (AIM may opt to purchase from the student and copyright the series for classroom use.)

All MRRs must contain action plans for marketing, finance, operations, and HR. Financial statements, in particular, are mandatory. You must show pro forma balance sheets, P&L statements, and cash flows, even under strict confidentiality. You must also do sensitivity analysis showing worst and best case financial scenarios.

Before the defense you must submit two complete drafts for the panel to the MRR or venture coordinator, and another copy to the third panelist. Note that "draft" does not mean "work in progress." Drafts are as complete as you can make them. They are "drafts" until you submit them for final acceptance. Allow panelists at least one week to read your drafts before your defense.

The MRR draft must now contain part I, industry study, and part II, the corporate strategy or feasibility or venture portions, or in the case of the case series, the industry note and the four-case and teaching note collection.

You must edit your drafts for proper style and grammar. For MBA 2008, the deadline for the complete MRR draft for defense is March 3, 2008. A no-submit by March 3 gets at most an LP+ for MRR part II.

The complete MRR-parts I and II combined-can have up to 100 pages of main body text and exhibits, and 20 pages of appendices. You must explain all exhibits within the report text. (Selected students can present their MRRs as interactive public internet websites, in lieu of traditional paper. We will give guidelines for this medium later.)

Select third panelist and set dates

Recommend an oral defense third panelist to the faculty mentors for approval (see Third Panelist's Information Sheet), discussed in section F. Be sure to tell the third panelists about their role in the defense, and arrange for them to come to the oral presentation. You are also responsible for coordinating the defense schedules of all panelists.

Set the time and date of your presentation with the GSB office; we will arrange the room and AV equipment to be available at your given time slot.

Oral defense

Like part I, the part II oral defense measures your mastery of analysis and consistency of recommendations. The actual oral defense may last from 30 to 90 minutes. Keep your actual presentation short and allow for Q&A; assume the panel will read your report before you defend.

You cannot defend if your panel feels your MRR is poorly written, disorganized, or incomplete. Such MRRs get at most an LP+. Avoid these situations through frequent mentor consultation.

Right after defense the mentors will fill in the MRR oral defense evaluation sheet (Annex A) and may i.) pass you cleanly, without revisions, ii.) specify revisions iii.) indicate possible or definite re-orals (re-defend), or iv.) recommend a change of topic.

You must defend or re-defend your MRRs between February 1 and March 21, 2008. A no-defend by March 21, 2008 gets at most an LP+ for MRR II.

D.5 Final MRR Submission and Acceptance

Submission

You have up to April 4, 2008 to submit all revisions to make your MRRs finally acceptable. Submits beyond April 4 get at most an LP+ for MRR part II. Mentors will also give their final grades to the MRR coordinators on April 4. Beyond April 4 professors can no longer modify your grades, regardless of final acceptability.

You must submit a binding-ready copy with appropriate cover sheets to your MRR coordinator. Submit also a digital (soft) copy of the same MRR in a CD-ROM.

Acceptance

Acceptance is independent from grading. Acceptance indicates that MRRs are good enough to be placed in the AIM library. MRRs with grades of LP+ or worse, if reworked properly, may still be acceptable. The faculty and third panelists must sign the MRR to attest acceptance.

If you want to participate in the May 2008 commencement, your MRR must be accepted before April 18, 2007.

If your MRR is accepted between April 18 and May 31, 2008, you can graduate with the MBA 2008 class.

Beyond May 31 you have up to three years, or May 31, 2011, to submit acceptable MRRs to get your AIM MBA diplomas.

E. Grading for the MRR

Faculty panelists grade your MRRs with the following weights:

1) Quality of consultation with faculty mentors, and overall management of the process (30%);
2) Pre-defense draft (Part I or combined Part I-II) (30%);
3) Oral defense (30%);
4) Post-defense final document (Part I or combined Part I-II) (10%)

Each component above is judged with the following quality criteria:

1) Accomplishment of research objectives
2) Degree of challenge of the study
3) Quality and use of data and information
4) Level of analysis, and recommendations
5) Creativity and innovation on analysis and recommendations
6) Overall effort and performance

No-submits by January 14 (part I), March 3 (part II), and April 4 (final part II), and no-defends by December 21 (part I) and March 21 (part II) get at most an LP+. No-submits by the end of the academic year get a U, unacceptable, and the student cannot graduate.

F. Role of the Third Panelist

Third panelists are usually the proponents themselves. The panel may allow AIM faculty or independent experts to be third panelists, but in all cases there should be no conflict of interest. See section H.

Third panelists validate the practicality of the MRR during part II defenses. The third panelists must thus show specific industry and company knowledge when you recommend them to mentors for approval (Third Panelist's Information Sheet in Annex A). Your mentors may turn down your request if they deem the panelist's knowledge insufficient.

Except for traditional venture MRRs, third panelists are mandatory for defenses. If no third panelist is present at the defense, the panel may downgrade the MRR.

Third panelists do not grade MRRs. Subsequent revisions need not go back to the third panelist, unless required by mentors. The third panelist's signature on the Certificate of Approval merely attests that he or she was present at the defense.

G. Confidentiality

Most MRRs at AIM are available for public view. We recommend that you use this fact as a base to negotiate with proponents to keep your MRRs public, for simplicity and ease.

Some proponents may ask their MRRs to be confidential. You must specify these requirements in the MRR Proposal. If your panel refuses to grant confidentiality because the conditions are too unreasonable, you may have to change the company altogether.

The industry portion of the MRR, since they should apply to any industry player or potential entrant, may not be confidential. The strategy or company-specific portion will be held confidential up to a maximum of three years.

Even if your panel okays confidentiality, your task is still complex. You must share actual confidential information with mentors and do financial projections, especially during part II. Without these, the faculty panel cannot grade your MRR. Ask your proponents early for permission to show such information. If they say no, you may again have to change your MRR company.

The faculty panel must agree to be discreet about the MRR, until the MRRs become public. Students must notify mentors of such requirements at early stages, as well as assure proponents of the panel's discretion.

H. Conflict of Interest

To assure unbiased MRR assessment and to protect parties from possible legal problems, we will follow strict conflict of interest rules:

- No faculty panelist can be the proponent of the MRR.
- No faculty panelist may be related to the proponent, either by association or by blood, up to the fourth degree.
- No third panelist may be related to the student by association or by blood, up to the fourth degree. (Association includes subordinates or   co-workers within family-owned corporations where the student's family may have significant interest.)
- No faculty or third panelist may serve as director, consultant, or adviser to firms that compete with the MRR company.

For example, you may choose your own family company for your MRR. Your mentors should have little business affiliation with your company. The third panelist may not be related by blood to you, e.g. your father or uncle, or by association, your father's co-worker or subordinate.

I. Venture MRRs

Except for the rules below, ventures follow all the deadlines and other MRR requirements:

- The venture MRR coordinator approves venture MRR topics in D.1.
- We recommend that venture MRR students use their summer action consultancy (AC) projects as a starter study for their MRRs.
- Faculty panels for venture MRRs typically come from the ACE faculty of AIM.
- Venture MRR students may choose one of two MRR types:

J. ISEP Outbound Students

To go on international exchanges (ISEP), you must accelerate all deadlines to get acceptance of part II before exchange begins. That is, you must complete steps D.1 to D.5-approve topics, approve proposals, write and defend part I, write and defend part II, and submit revisions-before AIM can release you to your exchange. Consult your ISEP schools for exact schedules.

Most exchanges begin January 2008. The IIMs begin in December, and some European schools begin in February.

Annex A:

A. Topic Advice
B. MRR Proposal / Terms of Reference
C. Third Panelist's Information Sheet
D. Part 1: MRR Industry Defense Evaluation Sheet
E. Part 2: MRR Defense Evaluation Sheet
F. MRR Grading Sheet
G. MBA 2007 MRR Process Flowchart

MRR TOPIC ADVICE

Tentative Title / Topic

Main Product(s) and/or Service(s) Offered

A.  The following studies have been done on the same industry and/or type of firms (within the last 5 years):

B.  Major conclusions of past studies relevant to present MRR topic.

C.  I certify that my proposed MRR will be:

• a new study   
  
• will complement existing study 
  
• will update existing study

Total assets                                       __________________
Gross sales                                       __________________
No. of employees                              __________________
Name of Proponent / Company      __________________________________________________

 Submitted by: ____________________________________________________   Date _______________

Approved by:                Prof. Richard Cruz                         Date: ______________
                                          MRR Coordinator

MRR PROPOSAL-TOR

Explain why the MRR is necessary and is of interest to you.  Highlight the prevailing conditions, emergent issues, and impetus for the MRR.  Describe the MRR proponent and the importance of the MRR to the proponent.

State the MRR’s objectives.  Highlight what concerns and issues the MRR would like to study.

Define what is (and is not) included in the MRR.  Specify the depth of coverage for each area of study (e.g. market, operations, etc.).  Define what you could reasonably expect to accomplish during the MRR process.  The more precise you are on the limits, the better.

You might follow the AC TOR format in this section:

Articulate a set of central hypotheses for the MRR. 

In a feasibility, the hypotheses set can state how “A market of X size for a certain product can be tapped, requiring some production capacity of Y volume; using certain technologies; and that adequate financial and human resources can be mobilized to implement; and that the project can yield Z ROI.”  This hypothesis set can be elaborated on by specifying strategies for each major functional component of the project. 

For a corporate strategy, the hypotheses set comprises the recommended strategies.  In this case, the hypotheses should define the desired performance outcomes, and the major corresponding deployment of resources.>

Proposed Outline and Methodology on How to Develop the MRR 

Hypotheses, assumptions, sources of data

Describe how you intend to support your hypotheses.  What are the necessary conditions, the critical assumptions, the sub-hypothesis, and data (as well as sources of data)—on the different functional areas of marketing, operations, finance, and human resources—that support the hypothesis? Think how each chapter that will contribute support to your hypothesis.

Outline

Write a detailed outline of each chapter.  State the objective of the chapter, the content (scope and coverage) and the possible findings (or proving of sub-hypothesis).

TOR for research methods

Recall that the AC TOR contained the following items for research; do the same for the MRR:

C.1 ANALYSIS
C.2 DATA GATHERING
C.3 SURVEY
C.4 STUDY
C.5 INTERVIEW
C.6 RESEARCH
C.7 OTHERS

Describe how you intend to secure information for the study.  Will you use a survey? What type of a survey? What are the objectives of the survey? Who will be surveyed? What is your sample size?

If secondary data is needed, what type of data? From where will data be sourced?

Explore other methods such as focus group discussions (FGDs) or key informant interviewing.  Specify what methods you will use for each major area of research.

Ideally, set down in the TOR what information you want from the proponent—private archives, financial statements, etc.  You might ask permission and letters of introduction to interview key executives and suppliers; time to tour and inspect plants and distribution channels; etc.

A Proposed Time Frame and Work Schedule

Do a GANTT chart indicating tasks and milestones, with an estimate of resources required.  Work out a proposed schedule of activities, and deadlines for the submission and review of intermediate outputs and milestones.

[OPTIONAL CONFIDENTIALITY: INCLUDE ONLY IF REQUESTED; OTHERWISE, OMIT]

 
The proponent of this MRR study requests confidentiality in the following areas:
          Strategy portion only (including executive summary).
          Strategy portion and appendices only (including executive summary).
          Complete MRR confidentiality.

Confidentiality lasts for three years, after which the MRR becomes publicly available without disguise. 

The faculty panel agrees to the confidentiality terms above and assures complete discretion on \ information shared during the MRR process.

The MRR proponent agrees to share confidential information with the student and faculty panelists during the part I and part II writing, consultation, defense, and revision phases.  Such shared information will be held in complete discretion upon revision and submission of the final MRR document.

The student, faculty panelists, and proponents agree to all conditions below:

I have read this MRR proposal.  I agree on the rationale, objectives, scope and limitations, central hypothesis, proposed methods, and schedules.  [I agree also to the terms of confidentiality OPTIONAL – REMOVE IF MRR IS PUBLIC]  Finally, I attest that I have no conflicts of interest in the preparation and assessment of this MRR. 

Student’s Pledge

On my honor, I pledge that the writing done for this MRR will be substantively my own work.  I also pledge that I have duly acknowledged to others all insights, ideas, and sayings that are not my own.