From College Classroom to Community Business Adventure?

Southcoast, MA - My 8 A.M. Business to Business Marketing students are developing the last phase of their semester-long project. The project has challenged them to research, analyze and study the feasibility of a Pike Place Market concept for the Southcoast area. Pike Place Market has been a Seattle mainstay for over one hundred years. Yet, it is not unique to the northwest. Cleveland has a marketplace that is even older and there are many others across the nation.

Why did I challenge and charge them with a project of this type? Well, to me, it was a perfect case study for teaching (B2B) business-to-business marketing since it contained nearly every aspect of the subject they needed to know. The other reason is that I try to bring as much hands-on, real-world experience into the classroom for them as I can. The course is learner-centric, which means they get involved in what the need to learn instead of waiting for the instructor to present them with a rigid agenda, or gauntlet, that they have to successfully get through.

How’d it go so far? Well, it’s an 8 o’clock Monday, Wednesday and Friday spring semester class populated mostly by seniors, which means that they’re already chomping at the end of their four-year rope. It’s challenging for me. Even the best students and those whom I’ve had in several other classes and am very familiar with aren’t working at peak performance. Other instructors have told me that they too have been as challenged by an 8 A.M. class schedule. So with all this in mind, it’s actually going pretty good. Yes, I can say it’s like pushing string, corralling cats and teaching cardboard cutouts but I think they’ll end up surprising me, as much as, they’ll end up being proud of their accomplishments.

These students are also discovering the grim realities of timeframes, group dynamics and the concept of knowing that the more they learn; the more they need to learn. They were divided into seven teams. Each team focused on one specific aspect of the marketing mix including Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical Proof. Oh yeah, working in groups can be as much fun as – insert your most horrible thought here – but, with a few exceptions, they’ve mostly all pulled together. They’ve also made their initial and progressive presentations (there are six scheduled before the final) to industry experts and members of the community. One of the most valuable lessons they’ve learned so far is to respect and not disappoint your audience, which they did and know how much work will be required to repair their credibility.

Currently, they are in the process of coalescing as a single super group comprised of one representative from each of the original marketing mix specialty groups formed earlier in the semester. The super group will be managing the final phase of the presentation, which includes social media components such as Facebook in order to attract attention to the project and get live feedback from interested parties. Using these methods is very current and offers them the experience of determining how to attract as many Likes and Friends as they can to stimulate the possible continuance of the concept. It’s as close to real-world as I can deliver. I’m writing this post because I want them to get them as wide an audience and as big a forum as possible. They’ve worked hard. They’ve thought it out and they’ve created something that’s a lot more than putting all of the farmer’s markets in the area under one roof. Yes, it is a huge risk from both them and I but they realize that this “test” it more than getting a good grade - much, much, more.

What they have managed to accomplish so far, is create a display window opportunity for the City of New Bedford with a tried and true marketplace concept proposal that offers a variety of options to small and mediums sized businesses to sell their goods either on a seasonal basis or year-round. For end consumers, everything offered will be as fresh as it can be off the farm and fishing boat. The market will represent locally produced products of all kinds, entertainment and a showcase of the myriad of local cultures that surround us. It can be, as they’ve discovered, a city within a city that will attract the locals and visitors alike; those on food stamps, as well as, those who can freely indulge themselves. Every detail has been reviewed from climate control and traffic flow to vehicular and pedestrian accessibility. They’ve looked parking challenges, considering their neighbors and surrounding community. Now they are exploring how to most effectively promote this enterprise as their feasibility studies have indicated.

Hopefully, with your input and feedback, these intelligent and eager students will experience learning in a new and memorable way. They are not only business majors at the Charlton College of Business at UMass Dartmouth. They represent our future entrepreneurs, business executives and business leaders. Their Facebook page is a work in progress – please visit it to see how their final presentation will unfold. As their instructor, while I expect a few missteps, oversights and errors in judgment, I also expect them to function at their highest capacity, especially since they will be presenting their concept beyond the classroom. Thank you in advance for your support.