Business Case Studies Class Builds Tech-Pack Box
Alexandria Collins
One of Manchester’s Business Case Studies classes is using its students’ knowledge to produce a product to market and sell. This 2021 class decided to create a “tech pack” with various items for laptops, including camera covers, slime (for cleaning keyboards), cleaning solution (for screens), microfiber cloth and stickers.
Half the class is spent in the case method of teaching and learning, where student reads a case (a written description of what was going on in an organization at a point in time); then students determine what the problems are and how they would handle them, which is done in both writing and through in-class discussions.
Professor Tim Ogden’s role is simply to moderate the discussions.
The other half of the class is spent on the business project, which is entirely student run. It starts with Ogden selecting the president of the organization from the students’ nominees. “From that point forward,” Ogden added, “I serve solely as a resource and the leaders of the project use me as much or as little as they choose.”
The students’ jobs are to decide what product or service to sell, how to produce and market it, how to organize and manage themselves. “We chose our project by brainstorming ideas in class and created a survey of everyone’s ideas and then all voted,” said Brett Kron, senior. “It was a great way for everyone to be heard and bounce ideas off one another.”
Students sold the tech pack for $10 and donated the profit went to Daniel’s Place in North Manchester. Daniel’s Place is a respite-care facility that gives short temporary care to persons with disabilities at the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in North Manchester.
Although the Tech Pack was a remarkable success, Kron said that it is harder than it looks to create such a successful product. “The biggest challenge we faced this year was communication,” he said. “For starters, he was split into two separate groups and only meet as one whole group once a week. Adding to that, we had people who were strictly online because of the Coronavirus.
Kron continued: “It was hard to make sure everyone was on the same page and being online made that hard to ensure.”
Kenzie Rooks, also a senior, smiled as she talked about the success and hard work of the marketing team. “We really utilized social media to promote the project as well as posting flyers around campus to bring awareness to the project,” she said. “Our marketing team was in charge of these efforts and they did an amazing job!”
The flyers were placed around campus on walls, tables, bathrooms and many more. The team also had tables set in popular places around campus like the Union, Science Center and ACEN, which is where most sales took place.
Ogden said that the class is a great learning experience. “The students are applying what they have been studying for years to real business problems,” he said. “They have the opportunity to experience success and to make mistakes that they can learn from as they move into their jobs following graduation.”