Welcome to the real world-Local firms gladly accept advice from Gonzaga University students

Gonzaga University instructor Ron Bertolucci has no trouble finding students for his class.

He has a small problem finding good companies that can help those students sharpen their business skills.

Tom Sowa
The Spokesman-Review Staff writer

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In Montana you can contact Maureen Fleming at the U of M Center for Work-Based Learning at 243-2815. All Internships through this program are paid positions. http://www.umt.edu/coop_intern/wbl/

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His spring semester course, Business Consulting, starts next week. It puts advanced business students and MBA candidates to work on real business problems with area companies.

So far, Bertolucci has three businesses looking for help this coming term. He’d like to have three times that number.

Bertolucci, a vice president for Washington Trust Bank, has taught the course for three years. Although he never fails to line up companies, he’d prefer a steady waiting list.

"I’d really like to have businesses calling up and saying, `We have this need, can you help us out?"’

It costs a business nothing for the help.

On the other hand, the students who come up with the best advice earn a little spending cash. Washington Trust provides stipends of $250 for students who do the best work, said Bertolucci. Members of the second-best team earn $150 each; third-place team members get $75 each.

Area companies who’ve participated in the program in the past include Luigi’s Restaurant, Maplewood Software, Spokandy and Wallflowers Design. The projects have ranged from customer surveys and price analyses to Web page design and even a redesign of Luigi’s dinner menu.

Bertolucci tries to find companies that have been in business at least three years.

"Any shorter than that and they’re all over the place. They’re not quite sure what they want," he said.

GU also operates the Hogan Entrepreneurial Program, which is focused more on helping teach undergraduates how to start a business. Eastern Washington University has offered a similar upper-level course in its curriculum for years.

Bertolucci’s course — started about 10 years ago by GU professor David Elloy — is for senior business majors and MBA students.

In spring 2001, GU MBA student Mary Nellenbach signed up for the class and is glad she did. She got a chance to help sharpen the marketing plans for a local company.

"It was a great opportunity for me to apply what we were learning in the business program," said Nellenbach, 29.

She landed a job as a loan officer at Washington Trust after graduation in December 2001.

Bertolucci divides the class into teams of two to four students. He matches them according to background and skills. Each team also works with another faculty adviser to assist with the project. In some cases those advisers come from GU’s faculty. In other cases, Bertolucci finds accountants, attorneys or others in the Spokane business community.

To complete the course, the student teams produce a thorough company profile and a summary of the proposed solution.

In Nellenbach’s case, she and her team partner were asked to help Moon Prints, a Spokane producer of custom photo frames, improve sales.

Nellenbach’s team researched Moon Prints and learned its primary retail sales came through a distribution deal with Fred Meyer.

"We suggested the owners delve further into that relationship" by developing sales deals with the Kroger Co., the parent of Fred Meyer and operator of numerous other retail stores nationwide.

Since finishing the course Nellenbach hasn’t gone back to see whether Moon Prints followed her advice.

She did come away smiling, though, as she and her partner each won the top cash prize for producing the best project.

She used the money, she said, to buy a business suit for her first interviews. "That’s my practical nature," she added.

For further information on the program, Bertolucci asks business owners to call him at 353-3837.

•Business writer Tom Sowa can be reached at (509) 459-5492 or at [email protected]