Rutgers Business School MBA Student Team Consulting Program

Since 1971, hundreds of businesses, large and small, have discovered a unique, university-based resource that delivers professional and cost effective consulting services.

The MBA Interfunctional Team Consulting Program at Rutgers Business School – Newark and New Brunswick brings the knowledge and experience of seasoned MBA students to bear on a challenge or problem identified by a client company. Students get the opportunity to sharpen their problem-solving and team-building skills; the sponsoring company receives a detailed report full of insightful analysis and valuable recommendations. To date, Rutgers students have completed more than fifteen hundred projects for a wide range of clients including Fortune 50 companies, privately held firms, not-for-profits, state agencies, municipalities, and entrepreneurs.

Business organizations turn to the Rutgers Interfunctional Team Consulting Program because it delivers timely, cost-effective results and provides an independent assessment of their business or competitive environment. The moderate, fixed project fee is a fraction of what typical market-rate consultants charge for the same work.

As part of Rutgers University, student consultants have vast resources from which to draw. From the school's outstanding libraries and information systems to faculty and administrators, they can access a wealth of information and expertise as background for their projects.

And, as an added benefit, clients get a first-hand look at how highly motivated, potential employees work with their management teams. Many MBA candidates have been offered and have accepted full-time positions with client organizations. They bring with them a keen understanding of the company, its competitors and the marketplace. They also possess an insight into the company's operations and can become a value-added employee almost immediately.

Program website: http://business.rutgers.edu/default.aspx?id=86

I was an Adjunct Professor and Faculty Advisor in this program from 2001 to 2008 and supervised over 30 student teams. MBA Team Consulting Projects include:

   Cascade Medical Enterprises, LLC
   Liberty Optical
   Media Graphics
   Thinkfloors.com
   Quality Education of New Jersey
   Philips Lighting
   Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
   Globix
   Rutgers Business School
   Strategic Alliance
   Café Theatre
   Liberty Science Center
   Rock Bridge Global Advisors
   Envimetrics, Inc.
   Rutgers EcoComple
Rutgers FIRE (Food Innovation and Research Extension Center)*
   American Android
   American Banknote
   Horizon Health Care
   Rutgers Food Business Incubator Network
   Spiral Binding
RU TAP – PSE&G and NJIT
   Merck
   RJ Lee
   Remodel One
   Actors Fund
   Hudson County Community College
   Integrity House **
   Tea Bag Design
   Shadow Boxing Academy
   Rutgers Center for Philanthropic & Non-Profit Leadership

                                * Won RBS 2005 Award for MBA Consulting Excellence
                              ** Won RBS 2007 Award for MBA Consulting Excellence

I was the Faculty Advisor for this MBA Consulting Team.

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Food Innovation Center business incubator opens new facility with an assist from Rutgers Business School’s MBA Team Consulting Program

November 10, 2008

The Rutgers University Food Innovation Center business incubator cut the ribbon on a new, 23,000-square-foot food processing facility in Bridgeton, New Jersey, last month. The Food Innovation Center, which has been helping new and existing food-based businesses to become success stories since it opened seven years ago, is also a Rutgers Business School success story: it is among the many enterprises that have benefited from the business school’s MBA Team Consulting Program, a unique, university-based resource that provides clients with professional, fee-based consulting services delivered by a team of seasoned MBA students.

This collaboration is only one example of Rutgers Business School’s emphasis on providing students with real-world work experience that enables them to put business theory into practice; the school’s strong industry partnerships, which are central to the school’s student experience; and its “Business, Science, and Technology” focus on multidisciplinary business programs that help propel scientific endeavors and advancements. To date, Rutgers students have completed more than 1,500 projects for a wide range of clients including Fortune 50 companies, privately held firms, not-for-profits, state agencies, municipalities, and entrepreneurs.

During the business incubator’s infancy, the Food Innovation Center (FIC) engaged a team of MBA students from the program to conduct a national benchmarking study enabling the Center’s leadership to learn about best practices, explore programs and services to offer its clients, and gain insight into the ways in which the Food Innovation Center could ultimately become financially self-sustaining. The project, which earned the MBA team the school’s Dr. George S. Walters Award for Consulting Excellence in 2005, was so beneficial that the Food Innovation Center engaged the Team Consulting Program for a second project, and the FIC’s director, Lou Cooperhouse, is now one of the faculty advisors for the Team Consulting Program.

The MBA Team Consulting Program illustrates the kind of multidisciplinary learning that can only be found at Rutgers University. It is also an example of how Rutgers Business School maintains close ties to businesses to ensure cutting-edge programming that continuously remains industry-relevant while providing students with the advantage of innovative knowledge and experiences.

Said Food Innovation Center director Lou Cooperhouse, "The Team Consulting Program provided some excellent benchmarking information that enabled the Rutgers Food Innovation Center to better capitalize on our objectives and demonstrate best practices in business incubation within a very short period of time.” He continued, “In 2007, we were pleased that the FIC was internationally recognized for excellence, and chosen 'Incubator of the Year' in the services and manufacturing category by the National Business Incubation Association, which represents an estimated 7,000 business incubators worldwide.”

The new, state-of-the-art facility was inaugurated on October 17 during a ceremony over which Rutgers University President Richard McCormick presided. The unique business incubation and economic development accelerator program, which is part of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) at Rutgers, will assist farmers, startups, and established food companies with every aspect of the business process, from concept to commercialization.

According to Paul Belliveau, director of Rutgers Business School’s Team Consulting Program, the MBA Team Consulting Program at Rutgers Business School–Newark and New Brunswick is particularly proud of the role it played in the Food Innovation Center’s success and the Food Innovation Center was a project particularly well-suited to the Team Consulting program’s programmatic and educational goals. Explained Belliveau, “Our students were able to assist in establishing a business that assists other businesses in becoming successful.”