UNC Kenan-Flagler Takes Learning out of the Classroom and into the Business World

Starting this month, UNC’s Kenan-Flagler MBA students will help solve real business problems for North Carolina companies. The School is launching the Leadership Practicum in cooperation with the North Carolina Department of Commerce (NCDOC). This project received partial support from the Golden LEAF Foundation and the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

One hundred students are participating in 12 consulting projects for businesses and economic development organizations across the state. The Golden LEAF Foundation is providing funding for projects identified by NCDOC as having strong potential to export goods or services but lacking a business strategy or marketing plan. All consulting projects are designed to help managers improve the performance and competitiveness of their organizations while providing valuable leadership experience to MBAs.

The N.C. businesses chosen for this year’s program include:

• Manufacturer of high-end sleep products
• High grade yarn manufacturer
• Shipping and export agency
• Component manufacturer for truck tires
• Floral and plant distributor
• Wireless mobile phone content provider specializing in college licensed material
• Niche pharmaceutical products company
• Pharmaceutical/bio-technology company that makes critical care products
• Nano-technology product development firm
• Company that makes embedded software for smart phones
• Retail grocery store
• Local housing and community development government agency

Each business worked with a student team and their faculty advisor during November and December to develop a customized project plan and to define clear goals for the consulting work. Students will execute the approved plans between January and April and will present results to their clients in late April and early May.

The senior management of the companies will work with the student teams to develop their strategies. The clients will provide feedback on the solutions the students developed, as well as how effectively the leaders performed. The NCDOC will work with the student teams to provide subject-matter expertise and to facilitate understanding of market opportunities in both domestic and international markets.

On average, the UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA students each bring five years of business experience, along with their MBA classroom education to their Practicum projects. UNC Kenan-Flagler professors, who can draw on their own significant business experience, will serve as faculty advisors: entrepreneurship professors Ron Williams, Jennifer Bremer and Dick Kouri; operations management professor Wendell Gilland; and strategy professor Edward Cornet, who is the practicum program director. Cornet was a partner in the management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

“By helping these companies improve their performance and competitiveness, UNC Kenan-Flagler is directly contributing to the continued health of North Carolina’s economy,” Cornet said. “At the same time, we will accelerate the development of MBA students’ leadership abilities by giving them opportunities to apply their skills outside the classroom to real business issues. By working directly with the top management of these organizations, the students gain deep insights into how business leaders address strategic business issues.”

The consulting projects earn students a total of three credit hours, and they will be graded on their efforts. The teams consist of a combination of first- and second-year students, with 12 second-year students serving as project leaders. All project leaders are trained for the specific task of leading their teams by taking four leadership and consulting classes with Cornet.

A pilot project with Beard Hardwoods conducted in spring 2005 demonstrated that a Leadership Practicum can be successful for both the company and for the student consultants.

"The project showed us that cooperation between the private sector, academia and state government can be a win-win-win," said Beard Hardwoods president John Beard. "We came away with a new market for our product. The students came away with knowledge of working on a 'real' consulting team. The NCDOC came away with a successful program in helping existing business."

The Leadership Practicum is part of the Kenan-Flagler Leadership Initiative. The Leadership Initiative is an integrated, experience-based program that assesses and develops MBAs' leadership skills. Students test their leadership skills by putting them into practice to solve real business problems and graduate with a track record of effective leadership.