What do ImageWorks Display, NC Folk Festival, Spirit Horse Ranch, Towne Bank, Randolph Community College, and Volvo have in common? They all have a MBA 741 student consulting team who is advised by Steve Cramer, UNCG Business Librarian. In this “Capstone Consulting” course, the student teams work as consultants for local organizations, providing recommendations on how to solve a problem their client is facing. In the spring semester, the sixteen clients included local small companies (such as ImageWorks Display and Landmark Buildings), nonprofits (NC Folk Festival, A Simple Gesture, Spirit Horse Ranch), larger companies (Volvo, Garner Foods), a community college, and an entrepreneur. The university considers this class one of its major contributions to community engagement and local economic development.
Professor Michael Beitler asserts that Steve serves an essential role in the class, and features Steve in the promotional materials he uses to recruit clients: “As a business research consultant, Steve teaches Bryan School student teams how to leverage datasets and other professional-level business research tools [funded by the UNCG Libraries] to make better recommendations for their clients.” Steve does this work by leading workshops and discussions, providing consultations for each team, and helping evaluate the draft final presentations to the clients. He finds this work rewarding and also enjoys learning from the students each semester.
