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Last semester, a graduate and undergraduate team of ������ý���� students learned that they were national finalists in the Small Business Institute Consulting Project of the Year competition. This past week at the annual conference held in Florida, the graduate team placed first for the second consecutive year while the undergraduate team finished third.

The competing MBA students were Briana Wallace '14, Sarah Ni, Jingru Wei '14 and Amber Kopp. Wallace and Wei graduated in May 2014 while Kopp and Ni will graduate in May 2015. The undergraduate team was comprised of Kelsey Armstrong, Megan Manata and Joanne Corniola, all of whom graduated in May 2014. The two teams produced reports as part of consulting classes taught by Dr. Ron Cook, the director of ������ý����’s Small Business Institute program.

This accomplishment speaks to the ongoing success that the College of Business Administration’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and Small Business Institute has had in preparing students for these events. Since 1998, with the support of the ������ý���� SBI’s corporate sponsor, Grand Bank in Hamilton, N.J., the SBI has garnered 26 top 10 or better national finishes in this competition, including national titles. 

“For us to be able to consistently have that kind of performance is just a testament to the quality of the ������ý���� students,” Cook said.

Finalists were chosen based on reports they created that were focused on a real world consulting project with a local business or organization. In this case, the client for the undergraduate report was Belmont Homes, a non-profit organization that provides emergency and transitional housing for families in need in Burlington County, the client for the graduate students was Matossian Eye Associates in Trenton. In preparing their reports, students were required to meet with the clients, understand their needs, create a consulting contract, conduct the analysis and prepare findings. The undergraduate students provided recommendations in public relations, brand management and donation outreach. The graduate students investigated a new venture concept to deliver OTC eye care products to patients directly from a kiosk system in the doctor’s office.

Manata, who worked with the undergraduate team for Belmont Homes, felt her team truly made a difference with its project. “It's really amazing to see the small business we worked with having implemented all of the research we have used,” she said.  “It gives me this great and deep sense of pride to know I made some sort of mark and difference in this business that helps people nobly find their way back to a normal life.”

The final competition was judged by a rigorous 100 point scale that examined several different aspects of the report: thoroughness and depth of analysis, value of the information to the client, logic of the analysis, clarity and justification for the recommendations, clear implementation of the procedures, effectiveness of the executive summary, professionalism of the writing, and overall conciseness and clarity of the final product.

Kopp, of the first-place graduate team, felt that the hands-on experience of Cook’s course and the competition will provide her with valuable experience in the working world.

“Although you are guided and mentored, the student for the most part is an independent contractor — they meet with the client, identify their needs, perform research and provide a report that outlines areas of concern and suggested solutions for the client,” she said. “It soon becomes apparent that the quality of your work is judged by professional standards rather than academic, so the student is both challenged and motivated to create a deliverable that reflects their absolute best efforts. By far, this is one of the most difficult classes I've ever taken, but it was also one of the most rewarding.”