The Role of Consulting

The following post is courtesy of Laura Evans. Laura is another valuable graduate student working with me in the area of entrepreneurship. Laura writes:

Several business schools across the U.S. provide students with the opportunity to do consulting projects for small businesses. As mentioned in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, in the article Class Action by Shelly Banjo, many companies are turning towards these free or relatively inexpensive consultations during this economic downturn. These consulting programs provide students with a great deal of know-how but also provide companies valuable information and a new strategies. MBA students analyze where companies should expand their business to, provide hard numbers as back and/or the costs, create new marketing strategies, find was to be more efficient and much more. These opportunities provide companies with a fresh, younger perspective of the situation.
Students do not always have all the tools or experience that they may need to do these projects, yet they can bring a lot to the table at an inexpensive price. Many schools do not charge companies anything for these consulting projects but the most expensive consultation charge a school requires is $20,000. These consulting projects are often done by groups of students who will work on the project for about three to four months. Companies that are generally selected by the graduate schools are ones that have been open for at least three years and that are facing some sort of difficult situation.
I am currently an MBA student at Rollins College Graduate School of Business in Winter Park, Florida and have worked on two consulting projects. Both of which were international since I am from the Bahamas and have chosen my concentration as International Business. Of these two projects my team and I assisted a company facing a serious problem dealing with its changing environment in the Czech Republic. However, the other company my team and I consulted for decided to use the free consultation for large project that they simply did not have the know-how or time to complete.
For a student, these projects are a lot more interesting when there is a problem to solve. When there is a real problem, students will learn a great deal more through the experience with the real company, market, and product information, a long with the professor as a sounding board. Additionally, if the company decided to use the students strategy, they can see if it actually worked or what they should have done differently. This is not to say that companies are student guinea pigs because companies would not choose to implement graduate students ideas unless there were hard numbers to back up the findings.
Nevertheless, in times of economic downturn, this may be a great way for companies to alleviate some of its strain; while at the same time improving the educational experience of MBA students. It is important for schools to work with local businesses, as well as provide international consulting projects to their MBA students. Overall, I believe that this should be a requirement for all business school students since it is an essential experience.