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The “New” Summer Business Program: Students become Consultants

This year, the  Summer Business Program has a new look!  Based on feedback from students and executives, we’ve decided to raise the stakes.  This summer, unlike programs in the past, our students are functioning as actual consulting teams.

Summer Business Program is a 4-week immersion into business practices.  The program consists of day-long workshops that fall under 4 modules: understanding business, business skills, leadership, and entrepreneurship. These workshops are taught by Holy Cross alumni who currently work in the business world and are teaching from real life experiences.

In addition to the workshops, SBP students are partaking in a competition.  In the past, 6 teams of 4 students were lead by an alum executive who provided them with a project.  This project was a hypothetical (but intensive) approach to creating a business plan or solving a particular business problem.

Due to the hardwork and success of the last few programs, we have had to devise a way to make the competition more challenging.  We gathered feedback from past executives and presenters and found a clear theme: the students are doing real world quality work.  So, we decided to give them a real world project.

Our office (the Ciocca Office of Entrepreneuiral Studies) presented an offer to the members of the Holy Cross Entrepreneurs Group in the Boston area: Give us a project and we’ll give you 6 competing consulting teams to provide a solution/service/plan – for free!

Needless to say, we had more than one interested company, but after serious deliberation, we have partnered with Mats, Inc. to help create a marketing plan and pitch for a new venture they are introducing.  In turn, Mats, Inc. will use the winning team’s plan to launch this project and our students will have gained real consulting experience.

The teams will still have an executive to act as mentor and advisor.  Also, a team from Mats, Inc will be holding status meetings to check on progress.  But, make no mistake, the students are running the show.  The teams are competing for a cash prize, bragging rights, and the chance to add successful marketing consultant to their resumes!

We hope this is the first of many real life ventures the Summer Business Program attempts.  Good luck to all and may the best team win!

As always, don’t forget to “Like” us on FACEBOOK and look for our WIB, SBP and ELW groups on LinkedIN!

Kaithlyn

Kaithlyn Kayer
Associate Director, Entrepreneurial Studies

David Chu
Director, Entrepreneurial Studies & Pre-business Advisor
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Women in Business 2011

On Saturday, October 22, we hosted the sixth annual Women in Business conference here on campus.  With over 150 alumnae and students in attendance, the conference was a huge hit!  The Prebusiness office wants to thank the student organizers  Juliana Biolsi ’12, Kristen Buonassisi ’12, Lauren McCarthy ’12, Christie Cannone ’14, Haley O’Brien ’13, Stephanie Pajak ’13, and Lauren Esposito ’14, for their hard-work and dedication to this event.

If you weren’t able to attend, Juliana and Kristen wrote a great recap for the Holy Cross website:

Women in Business Conference Continues to Inspire Students, Alumnae

Save the date for next year’s conference: October 20, 2012!

As always, don’t forget to “Like” us on FACEBOOK and look for our WIB, SBP and ELW groups on LinkedIN!

Kaithlyn

Kaithlyn Kayer
Associate Director, Entrepreneurial Studies

David Chu
Director, Entrepreneurial Studies & Pre-business Advisor
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Spring Break Plans? Why Not ELW?

Considering the unexpected and, in my opinion, unwelcome snow-storm over the weekend, it’s not entirely surprising that I’m thinking about Spring already.  While I can definitely see the appeal of heading to warmer climates, I urge you to consider sticking around campus and participating in the Executive Leadership Workshop.  This is our longest-running and most popular program.  It’s a one-week immersion into the world of business: how to start a business, creating a business plan, valuation, growing a business, international business, and more.  It’s a crazy week of non-stop, hands-on learning.

Oh, did I mention it’s a competition?  Teams of 5 will compete against each other, developing a business plan for a new product or business that they will present to a panel of  mock venture capitalists.  The winning team gets a cash prize and a year of bragging rights.

Applications are due Friday, November 11th – so get started ASAP!

ELW is totally FREE!  All meals are included! This is a competitive program, only 40 seats available.  Visit our webpage, stop by the Prebusiness office, or ask someone who has participated for more info.  It’s worth it.

You can always go to Costa Rica next year.

As always, don’t forget to “Like” us on FACEBOOK and look for our WIB, SBP and ELW groups on LinkedIN!

Kaithlyn

Kaithlyn Kayer
Associate Director, Entrepreneurial Studies

David Chu
Director, Entrepreneurial Studies & Pre-business Advisor
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Summer Business Program: Week 3

Quinn is back with another SBP post!

Quinn Korzeniecki is a senior English major with a Pre-Business concentration. She is editor-in-chief of The Advocate, a progressive online publication at Holy Cross, and works as an assistant in the Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs Office. As a participant in the Summer Business Program, she hopes to learn more about marketing and advertising aspects of business. Quinn aspires to enter into publishing either in the editorial, marketing, or advertising departments.

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Wow, how quickly time passes when you’re learning about the different aspects of business!

As I said at the end of my last post, on Wednesday we learned about what it means to work in the financial sect of the business world as a venture capitalist and how to choose the best way to fund a new business. We learned about Warren Buffett’s amazing work as one of the most successful venture capitalists in his company, Berkshire Hathaway. As a member of a venture firm, one must value companies based on their profitability, growth, and risk. I learned a term I never heard of before: EBITDA, which means “earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization.” Tom Flynn instructed us to throw that term into a financial interview to clinch the position. In the end of the session we were sent off into our groups and assigned the task of picking which company we would buy stock in, either Facebook or Google. Although I am obsessed with social networking, my group ultimately picked Google because a new social networking site will probably enter the spotlight within the next year or so and make Facebook obsolete.

Two former football playing Holy Cross alumni came in on Thursday to speak about marketing and sales. Peter George, the CEO of Fidelis Security Systems, spoke about the qualities of a successful salesperson. He filled us in on SPIN, or the science of selling, which is a four step way to assure that you are maximizing your potential as a salesperson. Since I am competitive, smart, hard-working, and a team player, I could definitely see myself going into this field of business! Terry Waters, the CEO of the Yankee Group, taught us about B2B (Business to Business) marketing, through which companies sell products and services to other businesses that in turn sell them to the consumer. The best marketing departments have board commitment, knowledge of the target market, and have a clear, quantified, focused, realistic, and resourced marketing plan. All companies want to have a combination of vision and ability to execute, and those that fall short either run out of money and need to ask for more debt or equity or fail. It’s survival of the fittest in America these days!

On Friday, Ian Dowe, another football alumnus came to Smith Labs 155 to speak with us about advertising. This workshop was completely different from the previous ones: we were asked to bring in magazines and links to advertisements on Youtube and used these ads to learn what runs through the minds of those working in an advertising firm when they are creating one of these promotions. After analyzing a nail polish ad in which a woman’s fingernails matched the eyes of a tiger and wore a large diamond ring, I realized that advertisements do indeed play into our wants and desires: we all want to be more desirable, and advertisers play into this to get you to buy their product. We broke into our groups with the task of advertising a product: my group created a new product, the “Shrup,” or shrinkable and portable cup. It was interesting to learn about the thought that goes into advertisements and it was even more beneficial to advertise for a product ourselves.

After a weekend of relaxation, shopping in Providence, and more relaxation, we got back to the grind. Monday morning we received a brief introduction to microeconomics with Professor Cahill. We learned about making decisions based on weighing opportunity costs. In our teams, we competed against each other making deals that served as examples of imperfect competition: a lot of friendships were broken by cheating team members, but they made amends in the next round when we made bids on bonds. Some ended up winning by a large margin to keep the peace (but I don’t think that’s how it would work in the real world). In the afternoon we learned about business organizations ranging from sole proprietorships to corporations. All in all, the past four days were a great success, and I look forward to learning how to use Microsoft Excel in the business world.

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Thanks, Quinn! If you have any questions about SBP, please email us at prebusiness@holycross.edu. Don’t forget to find us on facebook!

Kaithlyn

Kaithlyn Kayer
Associate Director, Entrepreneurial Studies

David Chu
Director, Entrepreneurial Studies & Pre-business Advisor
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Summer Business Program: Week 2 part 1

Our guest blogger, Quinn, is back with more from SBP.  I’ve asked her to share a brief bio this week as well.  ENJOY!

Quinn Korzeniecki is a senior English major with a Pre-Business concentration. She is editor-in-chief of The Advocate, a progressive online publication at Holy Cross, and works as an assistant in the Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs Office. As a participant in the Summer Business Program, she hopes to learn more about marketing and advertising aspects of business. Quinn aspires to enter into publishing either in the editorial, marketing, or advertising departments.

On Friday, we learned about something for which my dad would be very proud of me if I could only accomplish it: personal finance, investments, and mutual funds. Professor Anderton taught us all about the similarities and differences between stocks and bonds. He stressed the importance of setting up a financial plan to control spending after graduation. Also, we discussed how profitable long-term investments can be especially if we start at our young age. Because of this workshop, I plan on saving the first significant amount of spare cash that I earn, investing it in stocks, and praying that in 50 years it will amount to 5 million dollars like it did for Susan Smith in the example. Hey, a girl can dream.

Along the same lines of personal finance, Professor Chu lead Monday’s workshop on accounting. We learned more about the individual shareholder’s piece of profit from stocks in the company. In the afternoon we learned about the terminology needed to understand the business world in general: one of the most interesting things I learned was that companies are obliged to report risk factors to the Security Exchange Commission. Therefore, when we had to list the cons of investing in the insulin pump company Insulet we realized that a natural disaster like the tornadoes that recently tore through Massachusetts could demolish the company’s only storage warehouse. Yet, sometimes the future benefits outweigh the present risks, and my group ultimately decided that we would invest in Insulet.

Monday night we enjoyed a banquet-style dinner and discussion with Peter Mondani, VP of Human Resources for General Electric, who taught us about business models, personal branding, and careers. We learned that it is best to “influence without authority” by changing the opinions and viewpoints of others although you’re not in an authority position. Exude confidence but admit to making mistakes and learn from them. Also, apparently we women get red necks during interviews when we get nervous. I guess I’m “investing” in a scarf for my quickly approaching job interviews!

Tuesday afternoon focused on the job/internship search and networking. I found this particularly helpful since I’m entering my senior year and feel helpless in planning for the real world. I learned the best way to reach out to alumni and maintain informal and beneficial relationships. All in all, I’ve learned how to balance my personal finances, invest in stocks and bonds, and plan for attaining my first full-time job.

Wednesday we learn about what it means to work in finance: don’t let the English major fool you, I also enjoy math!

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Keep an eye out for Quinn’s posts throughout the month!

Kaithlyn

Kaithlyn Kayer
Associate Director, Entrepreneurial Studies

David Chu
Director, Entrepreneurial Studies & Pre-business Advisor
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Summer Business Program: Week 1

Quinn Korzeniecki ’12, is our SBP guest blogger.  She’ll be giving you an insider’s view of what SBP is all about!

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“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.”-Pope John XXIII

Hi, I’m Quinn Korzeniecki and I am a participant as well as a program assistant for the 2011 Summer Business Program. For the next four weeks, I will be blogging about the fun and interesting goings-on of the program that occur in workshops and among participants during free time.

I didn’t know what to expect upon arrival to Holy Cross, and was shocked to see that the campus was deserted (of course, this was the day after all the seniors graduated, packed, and moved out). I was nervous and excited for the program to start: what would I learn? could I build connections with the speakers? would anyone be able to help me down my career path? will I do well with the tasks assigned to me?

I was more than relieved when we kicked off the program Tuesday night with a brief overview of the next month by Professor Chu, followed by a delicious meal in Hogan. Here we had our first encounter with the two speakers for Wednesday’s kick-off workshop on leadership, Moira Garvey ’78 and Mary Ann Rettig-Zucchi ’76 of the Jupiter Consulting Group. We “broke the ice” by playing games of bingo and making conversation with the help of question cards.

On Wednesday, I learned more about myself and my leadership traits than I ever knew possible. Moira and Mary Ann defined the word leader and explained the best characteristics of a leader, then used our 5 Dynamics personality test to identify the leadership strengths in each of us: I learned that I am effortless in communicating and forming groups as well as executing and carrying out plans. They placed us in groups according to our strengths (I was with the communicating “Excite” group) and gave us a stack of index cards and paper clips, then introduced the competition to see which group could build the tallest free-standing structure. It was really helpful to learn about myself through my interaction with others since a leader must have a keen self-awareness as well as an ability to communicate ideas with other people. It also helped that my group tied with another and won Peanut M&M’s!

We jumped back into action early Thursday morning with a workshop on Faith, Values, and Ethics taught by William Messenger, Executive Editor of the Theology of Work Project, Inc.. Here we learned about our own personal values and how they fit in within the world of business. We acted out some scenarios in which people were trapped in moral dilemmas in the workplace and we brainstormed the best ways to avoid making unethical decisions simply to please others or keep your job (and most times being ethical leads to increases in trustworthiness).

Tomorrow is another day, and I’m looking forward to the next few weeks!

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Keep an eye out for Quinn’s posts throughout the month!

Kaithlyn

Kaithlyn Kayer
Associate Director, Entrepreneurial Studies

David Chu
Director, Entrepreneurial Studies & Pre-business Advisor