Sprott students present a live business case on The Opinicon resort
Undergraduate business students in the Business Case Analysis and Presentation (BUSI 3800) course at the Sprott School of Business recently had the opportunity to address a live business challenge for a local resort, The Opinicon. It had come into new ownership and was in need of restoration and a strategic plan to ensure its sustainability. On November 17, the students presented their strategic analysis and recommendations to The Opinicon’s owner Fiona McKean and general manager Peter McFarland.
“The students were extremely excited and nervous to present such a timely and personal case,” says Linda Schweitzer, BUSI 3800 professor and Associate Dean of Research and External at the Sprott School. “For the whole class to be able to present to the stakeholder was a pretty big deal. Having the stakeholder in the room made the experience more real life for the students.”
Last December Fiona McKean and her husband Tobi Lütke became the owners of The Opinicon, a historic resort dating back to the 1800s that is located about 125 km southwest of Ottawa at the intersection of Indian Lake, Opinicon Lake and the Rideau Canal. Fiona had fond memories of time spent there in her youth and she and her husband owned a cottage close by. She hoped to restore and revitalize the resort, which hadn’t opened in two years and was in desperate need of repair. When she got the news they had the successful bid, Fiona was about to give birth to their third child and she worried whether she could balance raising three young children, her career and management of the resort.
They had the funds for the necessary repairs to open for the 2015 season. Any additional upgrades would need to be planned and budgeted for, so they hired a general manager to develop a three to five year strategic and implementation plan to break even in three years and also address the long-term profitability of The Opinicon.
Enter Merridee Bujaki, Sprott Associate Professor of Accounting and Director of Carleton’s Research and Education on Women and Work. Merridee had done extensive research into the history of Rideau Canal and reached out to Fiona to offer her congratulations on the purchase of The Opinicon. Their exchange continued and they discussed writing a business case for The Opinicon that could be used in Sprott’s Business Case Analysis course (BUSI 3800). The students’ proposals could generate ideas for Fiona and, in turn, the students would be nefit from working on a live case and receiving feedback directly from the stakeholder. Sprott PhD candidate Lucille Perreault worked with Merridee to write the business case for use in the course.
Four teams of students presented their recommendations to Fiona and Peter. Each presentation took into account Fiona’s goals, competitors and the existing property and facilities, which includes an 18-room hotel, 15 cottages, a general store and ice cream shop, docks, waterfront and marine gas pump.
Each student group analyzed the case and developed recommendations that would best position The Opinicon to achieve its goals. Their recommendations included a waterfront revitalization, introducing a family camp program, using the resort as a corporate retreat centre in the off season, and developing an app to keep prospective and current guests engaged with the resort throughout the year.
“The students had some really unique ideas that were well thought out,” says Linda. “They were extremely professional and took it up a notch that day. It was quite something to see.”
“Thank you so much for putting all your thoughts and efforts into this project. We really appreciate it,” Fiona told the students.
She noted that the students has really understood her vision. She and Peter had explored some of the ideas presented by the students and were able to give them great feedback to their recommendations. They also said they heard some ideas that they are going to explore further.