DunnHumby gives SBI an International Connection

The Farmer School's Summer Business Institute (SBI) has a successful record of introducing non-business majors to the basics and interrelated nature of business functions. The most exciting aspect of the six-week program, however, is the concluding activity, in which the students apply what they've learned to a real-life assignment.

This summer, the 34 SBI participants completed that assignment on parallel tracks: a team of 14 worked in London, and the others worked on the Miami campus. In each case, the common denominator was face-to-face interaction with DunnHumby, a multinational market research firm jointly based in Cincinnati and London. Leveraging DunnHumby's experience with companies like Kroger and Tesco (UK), the SBI participants designed a hypothetical new personal care paper product for Kimberly Clark to introduce through supermarkets in the U.S. and the U.K.

"DunnHumby, which is a U.K.-based firm with an office in Cincinnati, came to campus and taught our students about data mining, and explained how to use data to guide product design," said SBI director Dr. William (Rocky) Newman.

This is the first year that the SBI has offered an international component, and the feedback has been extremely positive, Newman said. "Many university graduates will follow careers that require them to work in a global setting. We want to provide opportunities for these non-business majors to see how their interests and skills fit within a business organization, but even further, to learn to function confidently in a business organization that operates beyond the United States."

Throughout the six-week SBI program, instruction is intensive, with plenty of small group work under the guidance of faculty members. Students also meet with industry professionals, and visit three very different companies in the Cincinnati area to see how the business concepts they've learned are put into practice. This summer the group traveled to the Toyota plant in Georgetown, Ky; to Jungle Jim's international market operation in Fairfield; and to fast-growing Total Quality Logistics in Milford.

"Each of these companies employs a very diverse workforce with employees who come from many academic backgrounds," Newman explained. "These field trips help SBI participants see the opportunities available to them."

Hosting the group at Total Quality Logistics was Aris Yowell, a Summer Business Institute alumna who was recruited by the company following her graduation from Miami.

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