U of M School of Business Class Projects for High-Tech Marketing. Is your company a candidate?

It’s hard to believe that our semester will be starting in just about 2
weeks! So, it’s that time again when I am looking for companies who
would like a student group to work with them during the fall semester
for their high-tech marketing needs.

The class I teach is Marketing of High-Technology Products and
Innovations. Students in my class are required to work with a firm to
assist them with their marketing needs. The two quotes below from
students indicate that their semester project with a high-tech firm is
an important part of their learning process.

"The project is an incredibly good way to join the technical and
marketing aspects of the class. The projects fits well into the
experiential-based learning objective of the school."

"This is a very worthwhile course and contributed to a sense of being
connected to the business world."

If you would like your company to be considered by the students for this
work, please send me an email by Friday August 27 with a brief (2-3
sentence) description of your company/product, and a brief (2-3
sentence) description of the nature of the marketing problem you would
like the have the students address.

More information: The specific course requirements for the students are
as follows.

"Working with a high-tech firm, identify an important, meaningful,
specific marketing problem, and bring your knowledge from the course to
bear on the problem.

You must:

* conduct a thorough situation analysis for the firm in question,

* analyze the value chain; external environment; competition;
positioning;

* address customer behavior issues (segmentation, buying criteria,
etc.).

* provide a critique of the firm’s marketing strategy in terms of
product, price, promotion, distribution, and relationships,

* assess the firm’s strengths and weaknesses.

Only after this thorough assessment can you meaningfully diagnose and
offer solutions for the company’s problem at hand."

I typically have more companies than I do students, so if your project
is not used this semester, there would be another opportunity for next
semester. Please feel free to pass this email along to others who might
be interested.

Be aware of the fact that there will be a trade-off between breadth and
depth of the work the students can do. For example, if you would like
the students to write a marketing plan for you, it will–by
necessity–be more broad-stroke in nature with less supporting detail in
each area. On the other hand, if you would like a competitive analysis,
a marketing communications plan, a distribution channel analysis, or a
segmentation/target market analysis, you can expect proportionately more
detail for such a focused request.

Disclaimer: You should also be aware that this is a student-driven
project; while I advise the students and work closely with them, the
quality can be highly variable. In the past, company responses have
ranged from those who said the students did not provide them with any
new information to companies who have actually used the student’s work
as the basis of their marketing plan.

Your obligations: The companies who seem to get the most benefit from
this project are those who are willing to provide the students with some
time/information at the outset of the project regarding the company, the
industry, and the specific marketing needs/problem of the company.
Therefore, please think carefully before submitting your company for
this program. Companies will need to plan on reading the students’
reports on Monday, December 13, and getting their evaluation forms back
to me by Wednesday, December 15th at noon in order for me to submit
grades on time. You may also choose to attend your student groups’ oral
industry presentation. If you will not be able to spend some time with
the students, helping to tailor their focus and providing some
guidance/feedback, or if you are early in the marketplace and not yet
focused on marketing concerns, you might consider participating during
another semester.

Finally, if you have concerns about confidentiality, you may request
that I and the students sign a nondisclosure agreement.

Thank you in advance for your willingness to help the students with a
vital part of their learning process: bridging the gap between the
classroom and the ‘real world.’ (Please pass this email on to any you
would think are appropriate.)

–Jakki

Jakki J. Mohr, Ph.D.

Ron and Judy Paige Faculty Fellow

Professor of Marketing

School of Business Administration

University of Montana

Missoula, MT 59812

(406) 243-2920

(406) 243-2086 (fax)

[email protected]

http://www.business.umt.edu/faculty/mohr

http://www.markethightech.net