Business Magazine - December 2014

BLACK SCHOOL OF BUSINESSP E N N S T A T E B E H R E N D

MAGAZINE

VISION 2020• Thinking across boundaries• Learning by doing• Innovating through collaboration

Market research project immerses students in water park business

Making a SplashMaking a Splash

2 BLACK SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MAGAZINE behrend.psu.edu/businessDecember 2014

Message from the Black School

Themes Will Guide Vision for 2020

Dr. Balaji RajagopalanToudy Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Director, Black School of Business

To learn more about engaging with the Black School of Business, call 814-898-6107.

Samuel P. “Pat” Black

I am pleased to join Dr. Balaji Rajagopalan in welcoming our readers to the Vision 2020 issue of the Black School of Business magazine. With major forces such as demographics, globalization, technology, and sustainability shaping the future of business and society, it is a critical time for business schools to hone their vision for preparing leaders of tomorrow. The three themes that define the vision for the Black School of Business—thinking across boundaries, learning by doing, innovating through collaboration—provide a distinctive focus for the school and a strong foundation to prepare the next generation of business leaders.

In this issue, you will learn how the Black School is already delivering on these themes. You will read about how our students’ learning spans disciplinary boundaries and how their experiences extend beyond geographic and cultural boundaries. Two Black School programs—Interdisciplinary Business with Engineering Studies and Project and Supply Chain Management—are examples of how the school creates distinctive competencies of cross-disciplinary thinking valued by

business and industry. You will also learn about ways our students are engaging in experiential learning activities that extend beyond the walls of the classroom. The student project with

Splash Lagoon (page 8) exemplifies how an entire course is structured around intensive, active learning experiences. Finally, you’ll see how our students have opportunities to develop an entrepreneurial mindset by launching new ventures and helping existing businesses innovate.

Taken together, the outcomes of implementing these three themes will define Black School graduates as those who contribute profoundly, not just to the companies they

work for, but also to the communities in which they live.

While many of the long-standing activities in the Black School align with our guiding themes, we have just begun to earnestly execute the

vision. And our success in doing so will, to great extent, depend upon your engagement. Whether you are an alumnus or alumna, an employer, or a member of community, government, or organizational leadership, you can help by engaging with the Black School at this exciting time in history. Your involvement with us will transform lives.

Samuel P. Black Chair, Board of Advisors

Balaji Rajagopalan

Dr. Balaji Rajagopalan, left, and Pat Black

3behrend.psu.edu/business BLACK SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MAGAZINEDecember 2014

ON THE COVER

CONTACT

ABOUT

George Kilbert, center, a senior Marketing major, was one of a team of three Black School of Business students who completed a semester-long market research project for Splash Lagoon, an indoor water park and resort in Erie. Kilbert is f lanked by Nick Scott Jr. ’95 HR&IM, vice president and owner of Scott Enterprises, and Kelsey Fitch ‘06, senior marketing manager for Scott Enterprises, which owns Splash Lagoon. Read more on page 8.

The Black School of Business magazine is published and provided free to alumni and friends of Penn State Behrend by the Office of Marketing Communication. Director: William V. Gonda, [email protected], Editor / Writer: Heather Cass, [email protected], Associate Editor / Writer: Carrie Payne, [email protected]

Copyright © 2014 Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. This publication is available in alternative media upon request. Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to minorities, women, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and other protected groups. http://guru.psu.edu/policies/AD85.html U. Ed. EBO 15-160.

Contents

Intrieri Fund Provides Real-World Finance Experience for Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Peering Around Silos to Build a Better Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Where in the World Are They Now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Students Make a Splash with Market Research Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Thinking Like a Start-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Meet a Few Vision 2020 Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Black School of Business 281 Burke Center 5101 Jordan Road Erie, PA 16563 814-898-6107 behrend.psu.edu/business

The Black School of Business offers students a high-tech environment with unique opportunities, including ten bachelor’s degrees, three master’s degrees, and a range of minors and certificates. The Black School of Business is the only school in the region accredited by AACSB International, the premier accrediting agency for schools of business worldwide. The school is also listed in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Business Schools and the Princeton Review’s Best 296 Business Schools.

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Intrieri’s Faith, Fund Provide Real-World Finance Experience for Students

Inspiring the Next Generation of Business Leaders

Imagine a successful Wall Street businessman who is so confident in your professors’ ability to teach

you how to invest and manage a fund that he gives your school $100,000 to invest.

It’s no dream for students in the Black School of Business, thanks to alumnus Vincent Intrieri, senior managing director of Icahn Capital Management in New York City. Intrieri, who earned an Accounting

degree at Behrend in 1984, provided the seed money to launch the college’s first student-managed fund.

“When you’re working with a mock portfolio and you mess up, there’s no damage done,” said Intrieri. “But when it’s real money, with real consequences, you focus. You can’t explain it away, saying, ‘Oh, well. My model didn’t work so well.’”

In this real-life scenario, any profits earned by the student fund managers are reinvested in the fund. Money that is lost is gone forever.

It would seem Intrieri’s trust has been well placed. In the first year, the fund, which is managed by upper-level students enrolled in Portfolio Management and Analysis, posted a $27,000 profit, a better return than the S&P 500 earned over the same period. We asked Intrieri for his thoughts on the fund and the students’ performance.

Why did you decide to provide the seed money to start a student-managed fund?

I’m very appreciative of the education I received, and I wanted to give back to the community in which I was raised. At Behrend, I learned the meaning of hard work and how to think clearly and strategically. These are skills that have helped me throughout my career and contributed to my success, both personally and professionally.

Are you pleased with the impact your gift has had?

Dr. Balaji Rajagopalan (director of the Black School of Business) and I have discussed at length the profound impact this model of learning is having on students and Behrend’s ability to attract high-quality students to the Erie area, which is what I hoped would happen as the result of this gift.

To what do you attribute the students’ success in managing the fund in the first year?

The dedication and hard work the students put into managing the fund is a testament to not only the technology and tools that were put in place, but also the leadership of the faculty at Behrend. The school director and finance and accounting professors did an outstanding job of motivating the students to overachieve in their performance.

To enhance the student learning experience by contributing to the Intrieri Family Student Fund, call 814-898-6560.

“I don’t believe in do-overs. An individual is made up of all of his or her successes and failures. Successful people learn from both and apply what they’ve learned to achieve future success.”Vincent Intrieri, ’84 Senior managing director of Icahn Capital Management


Thinking Across Boundaries

Peering Around Silos to Build a Better Product

Few students embody the notion of thinking across boundaries more than Meera Patel ’14. She graduated from

the Black School of Business in May with a triple major in Project and Supply Chain Management (PSCM), Marketing, and International Business.

Patel, now a supply chain analyst at Apple in Cupertino, California, said she didn’t want to be limited to one discipline, which is why the conceptual and critical thinking skills developed through the PSCM major appealed to her.

“It really forces you to expand your scope of thinking. You have to think beyond sourcing and procuring,” she said. “You have to also manage the general timeline and make sure you support every part of the process.”

Supply chain professionals oversee the sequence of internal and external organizations involved in producing a product or service. Programs to train such professionals have grown as companies have “recognized the need for individuals who not only have operational management (internal) skills, but also the quantitative and behavioral skills needed to manage and coordinate the activities and resources with external organizations,” said Dr. Ray Venkataraman, professor of management and department chair of marketing and project and supply chain management.

“Because the essence of supply chain management is to take an integrated and holistic approach to managing a company’s activities and resources, PSCM students are forced to think beyond functional silos and organizational boundaries to make decisions that will drive the company to provide maximum value to the consumer in the marketplace,” Venkataraman said.

Patel says it is a skill she has put to good use.

“At Apple, nothing is black-and-white,” she said. “You must explore, struggle, and search for the best method to accomplish your goal. You must think across boundaries to look for answers outside of the normal scope.”

Developing solutions across boundaries has never been more important than in today’s business climate.

“The current global economy is built on a complex network of information, interaction and change,” Venkataraman said. “As businesses face the challenges of rapid technological innovation, globalization, and downsizing, the path to success depends upon the most fundamental aspect of business: relationships. By thinking across boundaries, both internal and external to their organizations, companies can build strategic alliances that will improve their performance or product.”

While it may seem simple, PSCM is anything but.

“Managing supply chains seems very easy, but there are many little things that go into making a chain efficient. It’s really quite challenging,” Patel said.

It’s a demanding career, but Patel, who completed her degree in all three disciplines in

just two years, is clearly well suited—and prepared—for the challenge.

“By thinking across boundaries, both internal and external to their organization, companies can build strategic alliances that will improve their performance or product.”

Dr. Ray Venkataraman, Professor of management and department chair of marketing and project and supply chain management

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“At Apple, you must think across boundaries to look for answers outside of the normal scope.”Meera Patel ’14 Supply chain analyst, Apple


Where (InAcross the country and around the world, Black School of Business graduates, students, and faculty

members are putting their experiences gained at Penn State Behrend to work, enjoying rewarding careers and purposeful lives.

Here are just a handful of the many students, alumni, and faculty members who are making their mark on the world: holding senior positions in global companies, studying abroad, doing international internships, and teaching in world-class universities.


Joseph Zimmer, ’04 , ’06 M.B.A. Vice president of respite service/regional director at 24Hr HomeCare in Los Angeles, California

Emily Knepp, dual-majoring in Marketing and International Business Studied abroad in Seville, Spain, through the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE)


Where (In


Ray Dudenhoeffer ’03Global and Asia-Pacific brand director of juice and dairy at Coca-Cola in Bangkok, Thailand

Lauren Elias , dual-majoring in Marketing and International BusinessStudied abroad at East China Normal University; Social media intern at The American After School Academy; Research intern, Charles MO & Company in Shanghai, China

Jason Kotzman ’11 Field technical advisor, The CMI Group in Liege, Belgium

Dr. Syed Saad Andaleeb, Distinguished professor of marketing (emeritus), Vice chancellor, BRAC University, Bangladesh

Madelynn Monte, majoring in Interdisciplinary Business with Engineering Studies Interned at Krones AG in Rosenheim, Germany

LaTisha Perry, dual-majoring in Marketing and International BusinessStudied in Florence, Italy

Kumudu Kaluarachchi, ’05, ’07 M.B.A. Sales and operations planning manager, John Keelis Holdings, PLC in Sri Lanka

Rebecca Goldsmith, Marketing major Studied abroad at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England

the World) Are They Now?


Students Make a Splash with Market Research Project

Nick Scott Jr. ’95 HR&IM, left, vice president and owner of Scott Enterprises, and student George Kilbert.

Learning by Doing

It’s not easy getting strangers in their bathing suits to feel comfortable enough to sit down and chat with you, but it was a task quickly mastered by four Black School of Business students enrolled in MGMT 432: Small Business Field Study who completed a semester-long market research project for Splash Lagoon, an indoor water park and resort in Erie.

“We wanted them to evaluate the overall customer experience at the park,” said Kelsey Fitch ’06, senior marketing manager for Scott Enterprises, which owns the resort.

The students on Team Splish Splash—George Kilbert, Amanda Neville, Brett Pais and Jennifer Schriefer— decided it would be best to engage customers in open-ended conversations.

“We knew that if we asked guests to rank things on a scale, the information we would get would be very limited,” said Kilbert, a senior Marketing major. “We wanted them to be able to talk about anything.”

And, talk they did, sharing with the students their thoughts and opinions on everything from the water temperature to food prices. Much to the delight of Splash Lagoon executives, the feedback was primarily positive, as was the company’s experience in working with students in the Black School.

“The team of students who worked on our project was impressive from the start,” Fitch said. “They conducted themselves in a professional manner, maintained


Learning by Doing

Briefly Noted

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dTeam Splish Splash wasn’t the only team from Dave Causgrove’s MGMT 432: Small Business Field Study course that made waves. Here is a second notable project from the class.

Student Experiences Prime Graduate for Success

J ust three months into her job at Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, Meilyng Gonzalez-Adams ’14 is part of a team charged with overhauling the

company’s custom-built reporting system. The Black School Accounting and International Business graduate says she’s not intimidated by the challenge. She credits her experience working with fellow students, faculty members, and others at Behrend on projects both in and out of the classroom.

“It gave me the ability and the confidence to think beyond my initial fields of study to solve problems,” she said, “and I learned that it’s OK not to know how to do something, to look for guidance, and to learn from mistakes made.”

Highly involved as a student at Behrend, Gonzalez-Adams says she hopes that she has inspired students the way others inspired her.

“I go home,” she said, “and people say, ‘You’re completely different from the person you were in high school,’ and I like hearing that. I like that the Black School of Business was able to help me with that.”

Come Into My Parlor

You might not expect to find business school students hanging out at a tattoo parlor,

but that’s where you could have found Black School of Business students Brittany Martinelli ’14, Alecia Bruno, and Tyler Winner spending a lot of time earlier this year. The trio conducted research and industry analysis for Steadfast Tattoo, an Erie-based small business looking to make a mark in a growing industry.

Martinelli, who graduated in May with degrees in Business Economics and Marketing and is now enrolled in the Black School MBA program, said her group was motivated by the fact that their work went beyond the classroom.

“Knowing a real business would be affected by our recommendations gave us all a sense of purpose and made the whole project more rewarding and worthwhile,” she said. “We really wanted to help the owners get closer to reaching their goals.”

Jess Scutella ’13, ’14 M.B.A., Steadfast Tattoo manager, said he was very pleased with the group’s ideas for service and merchandise, and he plans to implement many of its recommendations.

Jess Scutella, left, and Brittany Martinelli

Meilyng Gonzalez-Adams ’14

“I was impressed that they offered solutions to the challenges they exposed. They opened our eyes to the opportunities that exist to help improve our operation.”

Nick Scott Jr. ’95 HR&IM Vice president / owner of Scott Enterprises

communication with me throughout the project, and truly took the time to understand Splash Lagoon as if it was their job to understand customer satisfaction, not just complete a school project.”

That’s exactly what the course instructor, Dave Causgrove, lecturer in marketing, intended.

“MGMT 432 goes beyond classroom theory,” Causgrove said. “Students are doing real work for real companies with real issues that need real solutions. They take it very seriously.”

Team Splish Splash eagerly dove into the project, meeting regularly to discuss strategy, conduct interviews, record results, and analyze the information collected.

“Our team put much more into the project than we were required to because we wanted to learn as much as we could,” Kilbert said.

But just as important, the students’ work was beneficial for their client. Splash Lagoon has already made changes and improvements based on information Team Splish Splash collected.

“I was impressed that they offered solutions to the challenges they exposed. They opened

our eyes to the opportunities that exist to help improve our operation,” said Nick Scott Jr. ’95 HR&IM, vice president and owner of Scott Enterprises.

For Kilbert, the hands-on learning experience was exciting and fun.

“This was definitely the best project I’ve ever worked on,” he said. “I learned so much.”


Innovating Through Collaboration

No doubt you’re familiar with Google Glass. People have been talking

about the wearable technology for years, reviews have been written, testing has been done, and, yet, there is still no product available for the mass market. Odd?

Not in today’s world, where innovation starts with designing a product minimally and tossing it out into the market to see what customers have to say, then modifying and pivoting from the original idea until the product suits the customers’ needs.

“Google Glass is a great example of a customer development model,” said Dr. Pelin Bicen, assistant professor of marketing. “Different from a product development model, this model focuses not just on developing a product that a customer may want but also developing a market for it during the

development process.”

It’s a way of thinking that start-ups easily embrace and exploit.

“Companies that use this lean methodology, such as Evernote, Spotify, CoinBase, and Lyft, have had incredible

success with it,” Bicen said.

It pays to think like a start-up and it’s something that students in Bicen’s

MKTG 475: Innovation and New Product Development class were

able to put into practice. In the class, ten teams

of students were charged with

identifying a need, coming up with a product or service to fill that need, and testing their hypotheses on a new set of potential customers weekly.

It was sometimes a frustrating endeavor.

“It was a very labor-intensive project that required constant analysis and evaluation,” Bicen said. “Sometimes what the students thought would work did not work when they tested it with potential customers. Then, they would need to conduct intensive research to find out why it was rejected and what they could do to fix it.”

Students had to learn while doing, just like a lean start-up company would.

Bicen invited several hi-tech companies across the country to talk with her students via Skype and offer advice and insight into product

development and innovation. The guests emphasized the importance of collaboration in the development of new products and services.

“Innovation does not happen without collaboration,” she said. “You may have a great idea but in order to execute it, you need passionate people on your team, companies to work with you, and customers who want to see your product make it to the market.”

Advances in technology have reduced transaction costs, making sharing and creating through collaboration cheaper and easier than ever, Bicen said.

“This emerging model—innovating through collaboration—has potential to turn traditional business models upside down,” Bicen said.

Fortunately for Black School of Business students, they’ll have experience in the cutting-edge strategy when they enter the job market.

Thinking Like a Start-up

Dr. Pelin Bicen, assistant professor of marketing

BUILD

LEARN MEASURE

INNOVATINGTHROUGH

COLLABORATION

“This emerging model—innovating through collabora-tion—has immense potential to turn traditional business models upside down.”

Dr. Pelin Bicen, Assistant professor of marketing


Vis

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ntBlack School of Business Vision 2020 students have extensive academic project experience that reaches well beyond the walls of the classroom to the center of business and industry. They typically have had at least one internship, often two, possibly three. They have volunteer experience and perhaps have traveled or worked abroad. They learn by doing, by thinking across boundaries, and by innovating through collaboration.

Meet Rina Ricchiuti

Rina Ricchiuti is a senior majoring in Project and Supply Chain Management and minoring in Marketing. She knows that diversifying her skills

increases her marketability and learning by doing is the very best way to gain valuable experience. She’s currently in search of her third (yes, third) internship.

Her chosen fields of study combined with a great attitude have already enabled her to experience two

distinctly different internships — one as a human resources intern at Saint Vincent Hospital and one as a marketing intern at Knox, McLaughlin, Gornall & Sennett, an Erie law firm. Though vastly different, both positions required Ricchiuti to apply and strengthen her time management, event organization, communication, and general business skills.

Ricchiuti said she drew on lessons learned in the Black School of Business to perform tasks at her internships that included research, connecting with clients, using Excel to develop models, and even writing news articles. She said one of the most valuable skills she employed on the job stemmed from interactions with her professors—her willingness to ask questions. “I wasn’t afraid to ask questions, and I learned to listen intently to the suggestions,” she said. “By the end of both internships, I was able to show my supervisors how their suggestions and techniques they taught helped me to be more efficient in completing projects.”

Meet Isaiah Boswell

I saiah Boswell, a senior Marketing major, recently assisted with the Green2Go pilot program, helping to test student response to reusable takeout

containers at Penn State Behrend dining facilities. The program, led by a multi-faceted team of faculty members, staff, and students, is an effort to give students an eco-friendly alternative to traditional Styrofoam takeout containers. Students who choose the dishwasher- and microwave-safe Green2Go containers pay a small fee up

front but are issued a refund when they return the container.

Boswell became interested in the project while enrolled in a sustainability marketing course, taught by Dr. Phylis Mansfield, associate professor of marketing. The course examines sustainability in marketing strategy, including real-world applications, green solutions, and the use of marketing principles to solve social issues.

The Green2Go pilot project seemed to be tailor-made for Boswell, who has been working in the college’s Housing and Food Services department for two years, is pursuing certificates in Advertising and Public Relations, and has held leadership positions in a variety of campus programs.

The Inspiration for Student Success

One of the biggest motivators for Black School

of Business students is witnessing the success of its graduates—alumni like Sunny Webb ’03, whose career exemplifies innovation through tenacity and intellectual curiosity.

Webb, who received a degree in Management Information Systems from the Black School, could be described as a combination business executive and technology entrepreneur. She has served in multiple technical roles with Accenture, one of the world’s leading providers of digital, technology, operations, and strategy services. Based in Silicon Valley, she currently leads Accenture’s digital operations practice. She is also the founder of a social media strategy company and a material science technology incubator and is the author of multiple patents and publications.

“I’ve always been curiously drawn toward working on gigantic challenges,” Webb said. “I couldn’t ignore the confluence of opportunity in Silicon Valley: businesses capturing and transmitting tremendous amounts of data, using increasingly faster mobile processing power, and enthusiastically embracing women as leaders in technology.”

A Six Sigma Black Belt, certified Kauffman Foundation Tech Venture Fellow and 2014 president of Women in America Alumni, Webb also serves on the strategic management teams and advisory boards of a number of high-tech, emerging-tech, and entrepreneurial organizations.

The Vision 2020 Student

Sunny Webb ’03

Innovating Through Collaboration

Black School of Business281 Burke Center 5101 Jordan Road Erie, PA 16563-1400

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

P A I DErie, PA

Permit No. 282

When Justin Rheinhardt ’02, president of EMD Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based management consulting firm, was in need of interns, he knew just where to look—his alma mater.

However, with a distance of more than 350 miles between the company and the Black School, he saw that securing interns during the academic year could be a challenge as students often need to continue taking classes while working.

Rheinhardt received help bridging the distance from Dr. Balaji Rajagopalan, director of the Black School of Business. Together, they established a remote internship arrangement.

“As a consulting company, confidentiality and data security is a top priority for us,” Rheinhardt said. “Dr. Rajagopalan made the remote assignment a reality by providing a space where student interns have access to the latest and most secure technology.”

Currently, two Black School students and one recent graduate—Emily Knepp, Shawn Thompson, and Natasha Terensky ’14—work as interns for EMD Strategies from the J.G. Raimy Interactive Laboratory in the Burke Center on campus.

“It’s such a great opportunity because we can gain valuable experience working for a real Washington, D.C., business without relocating and missing a semester of classes,” Knepp said.

Recently, EMD’s partnership with the Black School expanded to include sponsoring a student-faculty member Innovating Through Collaboration (ITC) project led by Dr. Amit Deokar, assistant professor of management information systems. Through industry-sponsored projects, teams of students and faculty members perform research, generate solutions to identified challenges, and provide analyses and reports that benefit both students and sponsoring companies.

To learn more about becoming an industry sponsor for student-faculty research, contact Dr. Kathleen Noce at 814-898-6508 or [email protected].

EMD Strategies and the Black School partner to innovate

From left, Emily Knepp, Natasha Terensky ’14, and Shawn Thompson work remotely from the Burke Center for EMD Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based management consulting firm.

“IThe Black School’s programs produce well-prepared professionals who are a significant resource for the economic growth of northwestern Pennsylvania. I am very pleased to see Penn State Behrend leading in an innovative response to meeting the requirements of the 21st century.”Al Maxson, ’57 Black School of Business Board of Advisors

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Business Magazine - December 2014

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