Experiential Learning Courses- Spring 2015

Dear Evening & Weekend Kellogg Students,

 want to make you aware of the Experiential Learning opportunities that are available to you as you enter bidding for the spring quarter.  Experiential Learning courses offer you a chance to practice the skills that you have learned or are learning in the classroom by working in project teams on real-world business problems. They also offer you the opportunity to get experience in an industry you would like to enter, giving you relevant examples to speak to during job interviews as well as the opportunity to “test-drive” an industry or function to see if it is a good fit. 

Spring courses in Experiential Learning are listed below.  Please refer to attachments or links for further information on each course.  Unless otherwise stated, enrollments for a specific class is through the bidding process.

Corporate Innovation and New Ventures (KIEI-903) -  With most classes conducted off campus, KIEI-903 explores the emerging practice of corporate entrepreneurship, providing students with innovation frameworks and interactive experiences at Chicago’s top corporations and incubators.  Students are immersed in a unique experiential learning curriculum through live sessions with business and civic leaders, and by tapping into the entrepreneurial movement, user experience ideation, design thinking, venture development and startup partnering as tools to drive growth for large enterprises.

Organizational partners where classes are held include: United Airlines, Hyatt, Exelon, Chase, Whirlpool, CME, Motorola, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Target, VISA, Quaker, Grainger, Accenture, P&G, United Healthcare, Salesforce, Leo Burnett, AKTA, TechNexus, Treehouse Adventures, 1871 and MATTER.  Each term, a company is selected as the lead sponsor, assigning real innovation challenges to student teams.  Teams develop plans for new products, services and experiences, from the ideation phase through to final concept phases of the innovation process, culminating in a final presentation to the sponsor corporation’s executive team. Student feedback can be viewed here.

Digital Marketing & Commerce (MKTG-957) - In this experiential learning class you and your business team members will create an online retail strategy and working internet commerce site – including positioning your retail brand against target consumers, choosing category assortment, negotiating certain terms with vendors, setting prices and promotions, managing inventories, developing messaging and advertising, factoring in competition, and constructing a viable online business model. Then comes the hard part: real consumers will shop your stores at a KSM online shopping Mall.  You will be evaluated on your team’s ability to optimize performance and results, as measured by a range of relevant retailing results metrics and shopper insights.

Implementing Process Improvement (OPNS-932) - Evaluating and improving operating processes is essential for the growth and health of any business. This course introduces a variety of frameworks for assessing performance as well as identifying and prioritizing improvement opportunities. It draws on the most frequently used tools from Six Sigma and Lean as well as project management techniques. The course also emphasizes organizational considerations in implementation. Students will have opportunities to apply these tools in visits to local firms as well as be expected to use them in a final project.

Launching New Products and Services (MKTG-465) - Innovating new products and services (and new product and service features) is among the most complex challenges faced by managers. How can one generate potentially breakthrough new product and service concepts? Given an infinite world of possibilities, how does one decide which products and feature concepts to pursue? How does one get customer feedback for products and features that do not yet exist? What marketing strategy & tactics should one employ to convince customers to purchase products they might not yet know they want? How does one reconcile the introduction of new products with an existing product portfolio? The goal of this course is to introduce students to marketing principles and concepts that they can use to tackle these questions and to develop their own approach to innovating new products and services.

Marketing Research  (MKTG-450) - The broad objective of this course is to provide a fundamental understanding of marketing research methods employed by well-managed firms. The course focuses on integrating problem formulation, research design, questionnaire construction, sampling, data collection and data analysis to yield the most valuable information. The course also examines the proper use of statistical applications as well as qualitative methods, with an emphasis on the interpretation and use of results. Student teams work on actual research projects for real clients with a deliverable tailored to address a business problem. A portfolio of client projects are provided for student teams to select from based on their interests and prior experiences.

New Venture Discovery (KIEI-462) focuses on the initial stages of idea generation, team formation, and testing the key assumptions of a business idea. Students work in teams of 3-5 and can enroll in this course through the course bidding process. Through this “Launchpad” course, students will determine if their ideas are unique, relevant, profitable, and sustainable. At the end of the course, students with a credible business concept are encouraged to enroll in one of the NUvention courses or participate in the Kellogg mentorship programs. Students enrolling in this lab do not need a team or a fully developed business idea, as the course focuses on the “discovery” process.  Please refer to the attachments to see the “pathways” available to students interested in this area.

New Venture Development (KIEI-940) - This course is the logical continuation of New Venture Discovery (KIEI 462). If a student or student team has a business concept that they want to pursue further, they are encouraged to apply to New Venture Development. This course is focused on testing and validating product-market fit, user interfaces and experience and advancing to the development of a refined MVP concept. Teams are not expected to have programmers at this point as the focus is on using a variety of free ware to test the product/service. A significant portion of the workload for this course will occur outside of the classroom. Students must be prepared to test and validate their business model hypotheses by engaging with potential customers and industry experts. Within the classroom, students will be encouraged to share learning experiences and help other student teams.

New Venture Launch (KIEI-942) This experiential course is targeted to students who have business concepts that have been tested to determine that there is a compelling product-market fit and will focus on fine-tuning the business model, building out financial projections and preparing investor pitches.  Students must be prepared to test and validate their business model hypotheses by engaging with potential customers and industry experts. Student teams can be composed of students from other parts of the university, but at least one member of the team must be enrolled at Kellogg.  Acceptance into the course requires instructor approval.  Students continuing from KIEI 940 need approval from Linda Darragh; students who have not been in KIEI 940 need approval from Tom Parkinson.

Social Entrepreneurship (KIEI-452) - "Social entrepreneurship is a dynamic and quickly evolving field. This course immerses students into this world through discussions, readings, guest lecturers, field trips and - most importantly - a quarter-long, team-based consulting project. This class is intended for students who want to start, work for, advise or invest in a business designed to have a social impact. This class is not designed to teach students how to start their own social enterprise however it will require students to work through a set of questions that will enable them to be evidence-driven (rather than assumption-driven) in how they approach, support and evaluate social enterprises.  In Spring 2015 student teams will work with companies focused on community and economic development; support for aging populations; immigration; environmental sustainability; arts and culture; and education.

Technology Marketing (MKTG-468) - This course provides students with conceptual frameworks and analytical tools for marketing decision making in high-growth and turbulent technology businesses. The course is cross-functional, decision-focused and strategic in its orientation. Student assignments include developing quantitative spreadsheet-based forecasting models and playing an interactive strategy simulation called DigiStrat--PhotoWars, an action-learning exercise that teaches students about strategic decision making in dynamic technology markets. Students are also required to create a case study in collaboration with a technology firm, or to write a scholarly white paper on a knowledge domain of their choice. MKTG-450 is recommended. Prerequisites: MKTG-430-0 OR MKTG-440-0.

If you have any questions about these courses, please feel free to reach out to me.

Warm Regards, 

Karen Larson ’97
Interim Associate Director, Experiential Learning

Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University
2001 Sheridan Road
Evanston IL 60208