In The Shadows Of Duke & UNC

North Carolina State’s business school

B-SCHOOL WILL OPEN AN ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLINIC WITH THE COLLEGE OF DESIGN

But it is the startup and tech communities that drive Raleigh. Red Hat recently expanded its headquarters in downtown Raleigh, while Citrix and Altria have opened facilities there. “Many cities have accountants and lawyers,” says Weiss. “Our downtown looks more like a tech tub.”

And Jenkins is joining them, opening up an entrepreneurship clinic downtown in collaboration with the college of design later in 2014. Believing design thinking is key to product success, Weiss conceptualizes a walk-in clinic staffed by MBA and graduate design students. Here, prospective entrepreneurs would bring in ideas to MBA and design students and “work collaboratively with the individual to really build idea into a commercialized or licensed product.” In many courses, students are broken into teams of three or four classmates led by a company sponsor and faculty guide to handle real-world projects with outcomes and deliverables.

For example, an all-natural cosmetics company based in RTP recently approached Stacy Wood, a consumer behavior expert at Jenkins, to help identify the best new flavor (or scent) for a personal care product. To complete this project as part of the consumer innovation practicum, a team surveyed restaurant customers to find flavors considered bold and appealing. From there, the students met with farmers to determine the cost of producing and transporting the quantities in bulk. Once they narrowed down the flavors, the team held focus groups to cross-check feedback from restaurant customers. To finish, they presented their findings before the company’s executives. As a result, they had customer preferences, a full supply chain, and development costs in place so the sponsoring company could take their results to the next stage.

MBAS WORK WITH ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS

Many courses also cross disciplines. For example, in its Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization program, MBA candidates work with engineering and computer sciences students on intellectual property (IP) opportunities. During the first semester, the team whittles 50 or more IPs down to the five with the most commercialized value. In the second semester, student the team evaluates product pull versus technology push and creates venture-grade business plans around each of the finalists. According to Weiss, one of those plans, on average, becomes a company. A similar approach is used in the school’s Product Innovation Lab, where teams of business, engineering, and design students work with triangle companies to take an idea to a beta product.

To deliver these opportunities, Jenkins emphasizes outreach to businesses. Jenkins operates seven centers and initiatives that provide research and student talent to business partners. Along with CIMS, the centers include the Consumer Innovation Consortium (CIC), the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative, and the Entrepreneurship Cooperative; while the cause initiatives cover Biosciences Management, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), and Sustainability.

These centers and initiatives are each tied to a specific program and supply projects to students. They also maintain advisory boards or members that meet regularly to share curriculum advice and industry developments with faculty and student members. For example, the Bioservices Management Initiative includes 16 outside companies like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, while ERM boasts over 25 companies ranging from Deloitte & Touche LLC to Harley Davidson.