The End of the Beginning: CSI

By Gabriella de la Torre, MBA in Hospitality Management, Mexico & USA, 2012-2014 2nd Year

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” – Winston Churchill

Sitting in Professor Nicolas Graf’s Competitive Strategic Intelligence (CSI) class two weeks into the third and last trimester of the year, we are reminded of the beginning of our time at IMHI. For some of us this was two years ago, for others it was simply seven months ago, but we all recall the first class we had with Professor Graf during the program’s Introductory Session – Introduction to Strategy. This time around, things have changed. Not only are we more knowledgeable about the hospitality industry after our respective IMHI courses and work experience, but also the stakes are much higher.

As our capstone project, we have been asked to work as consultants for Steigenberger Hotels with the aim of creating either a branding or development strategy for the group. This project is to be completed in conjunction with another class, Strategic Management in Hospitality, over the course of the last two and half months of our IMHI experience. In the CSI course, the groups have been diligently working on the first assignment, which pushes us to open our mind beyond France and beyond the hospitality industry to gain an understanding of major trends and global forces that are likely to have an impact on the firm in question. Short deadlines, massive amounts of research and a requirement for succinct, precise and insightful deliverables make for a true challenge for each of the groups.

This final stretch of our IMHI journey is likely to be a test in many respects: testing our stamina, testing our limits and testing everything we have learned over the course of this academic experience. For many, this last trimester may seem like the beginning of the end of a unique chapter in our lives. Through this particular project, however, it becomes clear that this just the end of the beginning: the beginning of our deep exposure to the hospitality industry and the beginning of our new careers. This project is truly the culmination of our individual experiences and will provide us yet another opportunity to put what we’ve learned into practice in a real-life situation.

Steigenberger Consulting Project Kick-Off