One of the most important reasons for choosing Portsmouth Business School is our close involvement with both private and public sector organisations. On the MBA programme you will benefit from:

• Undertaking consultancy and business innovation projects with local/regional organisations
• Project work which can be applied to organisations internationally
• Evening "Hot Topic" seminars which will encourage you to exchange ideas and present you with opportunities to network with managers from outside the University and with MBA Alumni
• Talks by visiting speakers on topical themes and organisational visits (in Portsmouth and on the MBA European residential week)
• Applied coursework which will develop your effectiveness and your soft-skills by applying new concepts and theoretical knowledge to complex situations in real organisations.

As well as ensuring that the development of our MBA continues to meet the needs of employing organisations, these links also encourage direct collaboration on specific opportunities.

We also have strong ties with the Institute of Directors and the Chartered Management Institute which both award annual prizes to Portsmouth MBA graduates.

Example of guest lecture

Feel Good Drinks talk about their challenges

Feel Good Drinks (FGD) was set up in 2001 by three former senior employees of Coca-Cola. Tired of bureaucracy and regulation, they sensed that the market was ready for something fresh.

Managing Director David Wallwork came to the Business School to address the MBA group and share his experience of setting up a soft drinks company, he described how it has maintained solid growth in a highly competitive environment.

Andrew Lee MBA (Lecturer) was in the audience:

"To differentiate itself in the marketplace, Feel Good Drinks has a mission statement of putting a smile on people's faces. Their branding and marketing reinforce this message by sponsoring quirky, but high profile events, such as a competition where one prize is a weekend at a nudist resort.

"Aspects of the product itself, such the use of natural ingredients, the "enjoy by" date, the use of glass bottles to convey a premium brand, the Braille writing on the bottle, and Felix (the company logo) are all intended to differentiate their offering from that of their competitors and to provide the brand with a distinct identity.

"The presentation highlighted the trend towards letting expert partners concentrate on specific tasks - getting people with the appropriate competencies to do the things that you are not good at. For example, instead of the company owning a bottling plant, creating a distribution network or developing the flavour concentrates, strategic partners focus on these tasks, leaving FGD free to co-ordinate core strategic and financial activities such as forecasting, business expansion and sales.

"The rapid growth of the firm has resulted in changing business needs, with attendant implications for risk management. For example, reliance on one supplier or service means that FGD is dependent on its supply chain, requiring the business to consider contingency plans, diversify their operations and consider new product ranges.

"The increase in size also presents new management challenges and dilemmas, such as how to maintain the shared vision of a small company, and whether a formal organisational structure will need to be introduced - just the environment the founders left Coca-Cola to avoid.

"The main benefit of the talk was in seeing how theories encountered in the MBA course were applicable to real-world business start-up situations, giving a practical perspective on the material taught in class. The free drink samples helped too!"