Grey Oaks Business Plan Bridges Community and Classroom
After
six years of diligent research and academic revisions, Hodges University’s
Johnson School of Business published “A Case Study of the Grey Oaks Community
and Club: Creation of a High-Performance Culture Through the Innovative Use of
a Data-Driven Business Plan” in the International Journal of Hospitality &
Tourism Administration.
Written
by Dana Dickason (Fulker), a Hodges alumna; Dr. Aysegul Timur, dean of the Johnson School of
Business; Dr. Katherine Dew, professor of business
administration at Hodges; and Jim Butler, general manager at Grey Oaks, the
case study analyzes the strategic business plan created by the Grey Oaks
management team, which enabled Grey Oaks to thrive during the economic downturn
of 2008.
“It’s
all about creating learning communities and showing relevancy to the community
and the world,” said Timur. “Hodges is so integrated into the community, and as
professors, we want to reflect what is happening in our community into the classroom.”
Many
golf communities suffered a tremendous loss as a result of the 2008 economic
crisis; however, Grey
Oaks,
a premier country club and residential community in Naples, Fla., implemented a
strategic plan in anticipation of the downturn. “We were able to make financial
and staff decisions from a planning standpoint and not a reactionary
standpoint,” said Butler. “We thankfully had no significant debt, and we
continued to provide quality goods and services, which our residents valued,
and it resulted in us not having to reduce joining fees or prices,” he added.
Dickason,
who was a business major at Hodges and student of Timur at the time, was
approached by Timur to work on the Grey Oaks case as a “directed study” in her
senior year. “I was running a property management company at the time, and to
be able to work on this case study really opened my eyes to different
management and leadership techniques, which helped me in my own business,” said
Dickason.
Dew,
who has won several awards, as well as written and reviewed various case
studies throughout her career, along with Timur and Butler, aided Dickason in
her research, organization and writing of the case study, saying, “Dana was a
diligent, organized, poised and bright student. She was fearless in getting the
information she needed and was able to really think through things when
researching.”
The
faculty at Hodges University
express a genuine interest in providing opportunities for students to
collaborate with faculty on projects such as case studies. “Students who
participate in these case studies become more mature and capable of pulling
ambiguous pieces of information together in order to create an outcome,” said
Dew. Timur went on to add, “Students are able to build networks and learn
real-world practices. Additionally, they get to have their work published,
which provides great opportunity when added to their resume.”
As
a result of her work on the case study, Dickason experienced immediate results
at her workplace, saying, “I received promotions and raises, instituted changes
that helped to make my employees more engaged and was able to write our
company’s mission statement, which is read at the beginning of every meeting.”
“We
would like to thank Mr. Butler for his involvement and guidance, Mr. Jan
Kantor, owner of Success Systems who provided consulting services to the Grey
Oaks development, for encouraging and supporting this case, as well as Judy and
Katie Sproul, developers of Grey Oaks, for approving the study,” said Timur.
Read
the published case study in its entirety.