Summer Business Institute a growing success

SBI offers students a combination of class work, round-table discussions with area business professionals, and visits to companies in the region.

Robert Rollins (Management) shares a moment of humor with students in the final days of classes.

The international team enjoys a two-day trip to Paris before returning to London.

Students often work in groups to hammer out the details of their projects.

Biochemistry major Monica Benedikt ’11 understood more about the complexities of a human cell than she did about the bare bones of business. And that’s precisely why the pre-med student enrolled in the 2009 Summer Business Institute (SBI).

“I’ve spoken with a number of doctors,” says Benedikt, “They’ve told me that although medical school teaches you medicine, it doesn’t teach you about business—and there are a lot business skills required in running a practice.”

The six-week SBI program, presented by the Farmer School of Business, was designed for non-business majors like Benedikt who recognize the advantages of gaining a working knowledge of the business world. Now in its sixth year, SBI—which also provides a thematic sequence—draws students from nearly every division on campus. As the program continues to grow in scope and substance, enrollment has risen from 45 students in 2008 to 72 in this year’s session.

SBI director and professor of management, William (Rocky) Newman, shares what he believes are two vital benefits of the program.

“Whether your major is mass communications, pre-law, or music education, the reality is that you’ll eventually work for some kind of company or organization,” says Newman. “SBI gives you the background to hit the ground running, while enhancing the marketability of your degree.”

The final two weeks of the course include an international component for roughly half of the participants. Megan Gerhardt (Management) was one of two Farmer School faculty members who accompanied 38 SBI students to London—where they spent a day at dunnhumby’s UK branch.

“The students were responsible for developing a new product line,” explains Gerhardt, “They were asked to evaluate the organization's corporate culture, conduct an intensive SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), introduce their new product with attention to implementation challenges and timelines, and provide a strategic recommendation as to whether their product would be viable in the UK market.

“At the program’s conclusion, both the international and 'home' teams are able to contrast the differences between doing business in the states and in the UK,” continues Gerhardt. “They use those insights in their final SBI projects.”

“I was a little surprised that my favorite subject turned out to be supply chain management,” reports music education major Philip Jennings ’10. “I can’t walk into a store now without looking at the inventory and wondering how much it cost, who made it, who supplied it, and how they got it there. SBI has made me look at the world in a different way.”

Several SBI students stress the value of another component of the program.

“What we learned about personal finance is knowledge we can apply to our real lives,” relates mass communication major Betsy King ’10. “We’re going to use that information every day when we graduate.”

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