Biz Consulting Centre For Downtown P.G. Not Likely

Saturday, April 22, 2006 04:00 AM

The results are in for the Downtown Prince George Business Association’s Survey.

The survey wanted to find out if there was enough support for the development of a Business Consulting Centre in the downtown. The Centre would be run by UNBC business students and would offer services such as market research, business plan feasibility studies, business analysis, operations management, accounting and finance and information technology.

Nearly 500 surveys were sent out throughout the community, but the return sample was too small to warrant taking the next step, which would involve preparing a business plan.

Ray Noonan, the UNBC MBA student who spearheaded the survey project for Downtown Prince George, has presented his findings to a UNBC panel which included the Dean of Business Studies. “The baton has been passed” says Noonan, who says taking the next step would depend on getting a much broader show of support.

Noonan says although the return on surveys was small (less than 10%) there was strong support for such a centre. “The results showed 80% were supportive of the idea, but I can’t be certain the results are such because only those who were interested in these kind of services responded.” He says that before any further steps could be taken, there would have to be a broader survey done “I think if we had a couple of hundred responses, we would have a much better picture of the potential demand.”

Noonan says he is willing to work on the project on a volunteer basis, but says the Business Consulting Centre won’t likely happen if there is no support from UNBC

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Posted on Saturday, April 22, 2006 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: owl on April 22 2006 5:08 PM

Let me see if I have this right. Some a group from UNBC is preparing a proposal for developing a business consulting centre which would provide business consulting, the very thing they are attempting to apply to their own needs. In doing so, they appear to have hit a roadblock and are ready to hand it over to someone else.

To me the obvious approach in the unique situation UNBC finds itself in is to put in place a small scale pilot project.

If the project provides the type of service and level of confidence needed by the clients, then word of the satisfactory results will spread by the best promotion possible - word of mouth. As users increase, addtional funds can be found, including the introduction of a fee for service.

If the service offered does not meet the expected needs of the clients, then UNBC will be able to, based on the monitoring process they put in place prior to starting the service, determine why it failed and either adjust the service accordingly or close it down.

What support is being requested of UNBC? Facilties? Equipment? Faculty consultation with students? Salaries?

There are a multitude of funding agencies who would be willing to grant some funds if there is a proper business plan. As indicated, the survey was a non-starter, not because of the results, but because the survey methodology appears to have been the wrong one used for the project.

Finally, many such attempts at providing services to clients are not supported by businesses because those in the same business will complain if business is lost due to unfair business practices by a subsidized operation.