Application Deadline for Spring 2009 ELC Projects:
Friday, October 31, 2008
Interviews for Spring 2009 ELC Projects:
Week of November 17, 2008
"My ELC project was the best thing I did in my college career. The team work, project management and time management skills I learned prepared me for my job today! It is a great talking point in interviews and most interviewers are very impressed with the program."
— Amanda Caruso
Caterpillar, Inc. - Web-Based Reporting Tool Project
"My ELC project helped me to get my first job out of school. Almost half of my interview led to questions regarding my ELC experience. They were extremely interested in what I did, what I learned, and what I accomplished in regards to it. It was an incredible opportunity! If you have the opportunity to take part, DO IT!"
— Julie Gearica
NICOR - Optimizing Efficiency for Field Operations
| Topic: | Employment Marketing and Branding Strategy |
| Meeting Time: | Mon. & Wed. 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. |
| Coaches: | Shail Godambe & Sonja Herington |
The Alberto-Culver Company manufactures and markets beauty, personal care and household products in more than 120 countries. A $1.4 billion company, Alberto-Culver is responsible for brands such as Alberto VO5, TRESemme, Nexxus, St. Ives, Mrs. Dash and Static Guard. The brands manufactured and marketed by Alberto-Culver are more recognizable than the Alberto-Culver Company brand. This makes employee recruitment a challenge. Alberto-Culver would like an ELC team to create a marketing and branding strategy to increase awareness of the company and of why it is a great place to work. In addition, the organization would like the ELC team to position Alberto-Culver as the employer of choice.
| Topic: | Marketing Plan & Implementation |
| Meeting Time: | Mon. & Wed. 2:00 - 3:15 p.m. |
| Coach: | Joan Petros |
Since 1936, Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) has focused on providing low-cost, high quality insurance. With over eight million auto policyholders and insuring more than 12 million vehicles, GEICO is now the fastest growing auto insurer in the U.S., and is currently the third largest private passenger auto insurer in the nation. GEICO, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, also enjoys the highest ratings in the industry for financial strength and claims-paying ability, including an AAA rating from Standard and Poor's, AAA from Moody's and A++ from A.M. Best.
GEICO has partnered with the Northern Illinois Alumni Association for several years. This partnership provides the NIU alumni with an additional discount on their auto insurance, which averages 8%. GEICO would like an ELC team to create and execute a solid marketing plan within a defined budget to increase the number of NIU alumni who receive a quote. Success will be measured based on the number of completed auto insurance quotes at the end of the semester. This will also be used as a recruiting platform for management careers at GEICO in various divisions within the company.
| Topic: | Supplier Performance Management Program |
| Meeting Time: | Tues. & Thurs. 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. |
| Coach: | Dr. Jim Johnson |
The McDonald's U.S Controller Group is a world class organization of innovative committed financial experts who are essential business partners in McDonald's success. The SpendSmart team supports the strategic sourcing initiatives performed by the US Controller Group which will drive company savings in excess of $20 million a year.
McDonald's SpendSmart Department would like an ELC team to develop a systematic Supplier Performance Management (SPM) program to analyze report on and manage Supplier relationships throughout the entire organization. This will include the gathering of the unique metrics across McDonald's departments, research on industry best practices, and the creation of a repeatable process to obtain the data from those departments. In addition, the team will evaluate existing technology tools as well as alternate tools to create a (SPM) scorecard and deliver a mockup of the scorecard.
| Topic: | Product Service & Delivery Analysis |
| Meeting Time: | Tues. & Thurs. 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. |
| Coach: | Dr. Charles Peterson |
McKesson is America's oldest and largest healthcare services company dating back more than 174 years. It is the largest pharmaceutical distributor in North America, delivering more than a third of all medicines used daily by pharmacies, hospitals, nursing homes and doctors' offices. McKesson has 30 Forward Distribution Centers varying in age and size. Many are reaching capacity. In the current business model, orders are placed overnight and all products are delivered by 12 p.m. the following day. McKesson would like an ELC team to analyze an alternate business model that differentiates the level of service provided and delivery method by fast and slow moving products. The team will be challenged to identify the slow moving products, quantify the impact of the proposed business model on the customers, and determine the benefits of the new model. All majors are encouraged to apply. One or two team members with MS Access and/or SQL expertise are needed.
| Topic: | Market Analysis |
| Meeting Time: | Mon. & Wed. 2:30 - 4:00 p.m. |
| Coach: | Dr. Robert Riggle |
The College of Business Board of Executive Advisors Strategic Directions committee is actively evaluating growth opportunities for the graduate programs in business, particularly the MBA in its various formats (evening, Professional, Executive). To enhance the planning and decision making, the Board has asked an ELC team to conduct a market analysis study of the Chicago and Chicago suburb market for MBA programs. The study should include coverage of both potential market size by region and by program type, and the competitive environment. The Board would expect the team to use both secondary and primary sources for research.
| Topic: | Market Research |
| Meeting Time: | Tues. & Thurs. 3:15 - 4:45 p.m. |
| Coach: | Ron Parrish & Sonja Herington |
With the help of state funding, the NIU College of Business offers the last two years of the Bachelor of Science in business administration (BSBA) program on the NIU Rockford campus. The Rockford BSBA program, started in fall 2004, is offered during the day for full-time students. It is an exact replica of the BSBA program offered on the DeKalb campus. The on campus BSBA is the college's fastest growing program. After several years, considerable expenditure on various marketing initiatives, and continued efforts to work with Rock Valley College to develop a pipeline for the Rockford BSBA program, NIU has yet to achieve the kind of robust enrollment which would justify the appropriation received for this program.
NIU Outreach, a division within Northern Illinois University responsible for researching off-campus market opportunities for degree programs, would like an ELC team to complete a market analysis comparing Rockford with the western suburbs for the BSBA program. NIU Outreach would like to know how demand in both markets is affected by: (1) program format: day vs. evening classes and (2) type of degree: generalist (BSBA) vs. specialist degree (marketing, management). In addition, NIU Outreach would like recommendations on differentiating the NIU Rockford BSBA program from the online offerings of out-of-state providers.
| Topic: | Human Resources Scorecard |
| Meeting Time: | Tues. & Thurs. 8:30-10:00 a.m. |
| Coach: | Dr. Terry Bishop |
OfficeMax is a leading supplier of office products including office supplies, paper, technology products and services, and furniture. The organization serves enterprise-level, mid-size and small businesses, and individual customers through direct sales, catalogs, the Internet and at nearly 1,000 superstores. OfficeMax would like an ELC team to develop a scorecard based on key HR Metrics. The project team should identify what metrics are of highest value to the HR Team and business leaders within the organization in order to improve organizational performance. This project should include key metrics from all areas of HR including, but not limited to Staffing, Compensation, Leadership and Organizational Development. All majors are encouraged to apply. One or two OM&IS majors are needed.
| Topic: | Dashboard Creation |
| Meeting Time: | Tues. & Thurs. 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. |
| Coach: | Dr. Charles Downing |
Wal-Mart would like an ELC team to work with the Real Estate Reporting, Systems and Strategy Team to develop a Realty Systems and Strategy Dashboard. The objective of this dashboard is to provide Real Estate management an automated and integrated view of key portfolio information across Real Estate. This will facilitate decision making across the portfolio. Some of the key information vital to this dashboard includes but is not limited to: (1) Realty Systems and Strategy Portfolio Statistics; (2) Program Health; (3) Project Alerts; and (4) Capacity and Resource Breakdown.