The three stakeholders in the Strategy Field Study are the student teams, the faculty advisory panel, and participating client sites. Each have a unique involvement in the process.

Our Students
Enthusiasm, intelligence, energy and maturity. These are the qualities our students bring to each. The median age of our students in this project is 28 for full-times and 31 for part-times. A significant portion of our students are studying part-time while working full-time, in many cases in management positions. Three quarters of all the students have several years of full-time work experience. With this maturity and background, they bring their own managerial and professional experience to the task.

Students form themselves into teams of seven to eight. Diversity of skills and academic background is considered, as groups are put together, to ensure that each team offers a balance of expertise.

Faculty Involvement
Each student group works under the guidance of a team of three faculty members who meet with them regularly and evaluate the final project. One faculty member, the faculty chair, is an instructor in strategic management; the other advisors bring expertise from other disciplines within the Faculty.

Participating Companies & Organizations
Participating organizations can be for private and public companies, not-for-profit organizations, or public sector organizations.

Business that fit well into the Strategy Field Study program include:

• independent companies with one or several businesses;
• a subsidiary or division of a larger organization, even if it is foreign owned, provided that key strategic and investment decisions are made locally and students can study the relationships and interdependencies with the parent corporation;
• organizations that operate more than one business, or compete in several different markets, that can be studies on a "portfolio mix" basis; and
• public and private companies.

Entrepreneurial firms are suitable sites for our students specializing in that field. Even small companies with fewer than 50 employees work well if there is strategic complexity resulting from rapid changes of growth, and if there is adequate company history and industry information.

Not-for-profit organizations in the arts and social services and public sector organizations suit our students focusing on these areas.

Repeat studies are common, although an interval of five years is required.

Recent Strategy Study Participants

• Abbott Laboratories
• Alcan Canada
• Bank of Montreal
• Canadian Tire Corp
• Chapters Inc.
• Dundee Realty Corporation
• Dupont Canada Inc.
• IBM Canada, Toronto Lab
• Magna
• Shoppers Drug Mart
• Sleeman's Brewery
• Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
• TVOntario
• Toronto Blue Jays