While consulting currently lures Duke seniors with big salaries, about 80 students at the Fuqua School of Business are lending their consulting services for free to area businesses.
This marks the 18th year of the Small Business Consulting Program's operation, but it is the first year that participants will receive academic credit.
Fifteen local companies are involved in the program, though increased publicity and continued success drew 85 applicants this year. Groups of six students dedicate their time to helping one company in a variety of areas, such as marketing, strategic planning or information technology. Clients also receive access to Duke resources.
"[Paradigm Genetics is] growing so fast that any help they can get is appreciated. They may not necessarily have the personnel. It's a win-win situation for the clients and for us in terms of getting real world application. Also, we bring resources to them. We have faculty here, a library-resources they would have to pay for-a lot of things that they would benefit from," said Raphael Yook, team leader of the group working with Paradigm Genetics.
So far the teams have held preliminary meetings to get background information and begin determining where the company needs help. Most student teams meet with their clients a total of four to five times. The final product of their work is a formal written report and PowerPoint presentation.
Despite the fact that this may be many students' first try at consulting, the companies have been satisfied with the results. Program director William Sax, an executive-in-residence, said that about 70 percent of clients implement major changes after consultation.
"[I was] very pleased with them, with their knowledge, the questions they asked, their input and desire to know more," said Mike Sheckler, marketing manager of Bespak, of his preliminary meeting with the students.
Bespak, a drug delivery technologies company located in Apex, is participating in the consulting program for the first time to get advice on how to best use their website for e-commerce and e-business.
The consultants to Bespak returned last week from a meeting with corporate partners in the United Kingdom, and Sheckler expects them to issue a preliminary report soon.
The projects demand a great deal of hard work and hard thinking from the student consultants, with only minimal support from the companies.
"The company may try to guide teams toward problems, but we have to make sure we scope the project," Yook said. "We don't want to bite off too much."
"We're not going to lead them down a path," said Sheckler, Fuqua '92. "We only give them so much information, have them do some thinking. I know they're qualified to do that."
The companies were selected by Sax and his two teaching assistants.
Students were allowed to choose which companies they wanted to work with. "[The process] is much more efficient and motivating because [students] may want a specific experience, like in marketing," said Sax.
Sax, who has worked with the program for 13 years and over 200 companies, added that the program has increasingly received applications from high technology companies.
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