Whether it’s a start-up venture or new product launch, good economic times or bad, Oakland University's School of Business Administration and its students have a long history of helping organizations achieve their goals. Through partnerships, internships, sponsored projects and an array of other opportunities, the SBA supports business development while giving students valuable hands-on experience.
“Business schools’ goals always include educating students to better prepare them for the marketplace,” said Mohan Tanniru, dean of the SBA. “Today’s marketplace is pretty rough, so we make sure our students have the skills to succeed.”
Within the last year, a health care startup organization launched a partnership with the SBA’s Applied Technology in Business (ATiB) program. The initial collaboration involved helping OptimizeRx — an online marketing company that offers patients and physicians central access to a wide array of prescription savings information to manage rising medical costs — analyze market research to better understand consumer needs.
“It’s a great relationship,” said OptimizeRx CEO David Lester, adding that students from OU’s SBA and School of Engineering and Computer Science are instrumental in supporting new initiatives, such as SampleMD, a prescription-sample desktop application, as well as to increase e-traffic and learn how to build more communities to leverage effectively.
“The students help OptimizeRx better evaluate, analyze and position,” said Lester, who hopes to double OptimizeRx’s employee count by year end. “It’s valuable input for us.”
For Vince Asmar, a senior accounting major, monitoring and improving OptimizeRx’s traffic and offering suggestions for search engine optimizations is an incredible experience.
“I got exposure to a wide array of business aspects,” Asmar explained. “Getting the hands-on experience is definitely a great advantage.”
That’s an advantage Asmar will carry with him when he enters the job market.
“It’s a great two-way relationship,” said Lester, pointing out that a development-phase company is able to watch expenses, while “students get the practical experience to take everything they’ve learned and apply it to an actual work environment.”
For Troy-based Entertainment Publications, makers of the Entertainment Books, OU covers a market they’d like to tap: young adults.
“We are looking to bring a discount and promotion product into the university market,” says Erin Clark, senior product manager, Entertainment.
Entertainment went straight to the source, partnering with the SBA’s student chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) to study and pilot a college-based program. Getting OU students’ insight is invaluable, said Clark.
“We can dream all day about what college students are looking for, but unless you’re really talking and working with them, how do you know?” Clark asked.
“The project spans three semesters, and each semester the AMA is focusing on a different piece that will lead to a product launch,” said Steve St. Germain, senior marketing major and president of the SBA’s AMA chapter. “Last fall, we completed market research and wrote a marketing plan.”
An OU-focused discount and promotion product is slated to launch this fall. If successful, Entertainment hopes to take it to other universities, said St. Germain.
“Starting from the business plan and marketing plan and moving all the way through the whole sales cycle is a pretty big feat,” said Clark. “It’s a great resume builder, and it is more cost-effective for us. It’s also a great opportunity because we might be able to find great new salespeople or employees in the process.”
These projects provide companies with the support they need to develop new business approaches, launch new products or product lines, diversify their customer base, or do whatever it takes to survive — and even thrive — in a challenging economic landscape. That’s a win-win scenario for everyone involved.
“Students want to do this to help improve their own career opportunities, but also to help local companies,” Tanniru said. Accomplishing two goals with one effort is just good business.
For more information about OU's SBA programs, please
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