University of Pittsburgh

Experience-Based Learning

Project Course: NOVA Chemicals

NOVA Chemicals, developer and manufacturer of plastics and chemicals, was interested in identifying opportunities to update its strategy and electronic business (e-business) offerings. Bill Gaughan, the leader of e-business and decisions for NOVA Chemicals, sought the assistance of Katz MBA students in researching and analyzing current trends, best practices, challenges, and opportunities for electronic business in the chemical industry.

Katz MBA students Sheryl Weber, NOVA project leader; Ashwini Suresh; Vivamy Shah; Will Hung; and Mario Plaza Ponte benchmarked against competitors similar to NOVA in size, markets, and product mix to provide NOVA with an updated snapshot of the current state of e-business in the commodity and specialty chemicals and polymers industry. Students gave particular attention to trends and opportunities that would result in process improvements, cost reductions, and increases in market share and return on investment.

 “We were able to deliver an end product that will allow NOVA to evaluate and determine if implementation would reduce costs and increase revenue in certain areas of the business,” Weber said. “We also provided information that can be used to determine future strategy in the industry. This information was delivered much more quickly, with less interruption, and for less cost than if NOVA had hired a consulting company.”

Katz Professor of Information Systems Dennis Galletta served as the team’s faculty advisor. He explained that the NOVA project was very useful in both expected and unexpected ways.

“By design Project Courses present an opportunity for students and faculty members to do a ‘reality check’ to see if scholarly principles and frameworks make sense in practice, what we playfully refer to as the real world in the classroom, Galletta commented. “With this particular project, it was interesting to see, in a detailed way, how the chemical industry has adopted electronic commerce ideas and the extent to which local firms have put these ideas into practice.”

For Galletta, another useful and perhaps unexpected result of the NOVA project was to witness how the relative strengths of the team members complimented one another: some were excellent researchers, others were masterful at organizing, and still others were great presenters. “It revealed to me the value of having a team do a complex job,” said Galletta.

The takeaways for students are numerous. According to Weber, “The NOVA project gave me the opportunity to exercise my skills as a project manager and enhanced my skills in motivating teammates to deliver timely, professionally-formatted information. I learned valuable industry knowledge that can be applied to future professional endeavors. The project required me to interact with various levels of management and taught me how to communicate and deliver information to staff as well as executives. I am confident that my business writing and presentation skills are improved as a result of the NOVA project and that I am equipped to effectively manage deadlines.

If your organization is interested in sponsoring a Project Course, contact Katz Lecturer Bud Smith (412-648-1547; budsmith@katz.pitt.edu).