[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Bates with students.jpg” caption=”Starting in September, local businesses will have the opportunity to work with students from the DeGroote School of Business on three-month projects at no cost. File photo.”]For many businesses, hiring consultants to help develop marketing plans, sales strategies, or even plans to launch a new business is often too expensive. Business owners know that having a strategy can increase the likelihood that their business will succeed, but developing those strategies is often both daunting and cost-prohibitive. The DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University has a solution.

Beginning in September, local business people will again be given the opportunity to work with students from DeGroote on three-month projects at no cost.

In the Applied Marketing Management course, students work with existing businesses to develop comprehensive marketing plans. They will look at consumer trends, competitors, socio-cultural and economic trends, and the company's marketing objectives before devising some winning marketing strategies.

In the Sales Management course, business people give the students a problem or challenge to overcome and the students have one semester to come up with a viable sales plan.

In the Entrepreneurship course, students work with someone trying to start a new business to compile a comprehensive business plan that includes an analysis of finance, marketing, human resources and production along with an examination of potential customers and competitors.

“These courses offer projects which are a win-win for both the business person and the students,” says Mandeep Malik, lecturer of marketing at DeGroote. “Businesses benefit from fresh new thinking, while the students gain practical experience in a real world environment.”

Last year, more than 500 students worked in teams on over 100 different projects. Local companies involved in previous terms included the Hamilton Waterfront Trust, Hamilton Cab and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Other small businesses that took advantage of this program included mortgage brokers, restaurant, realtors, tea-shops, artists, authors, small specialty stores and service providers.

Businesses interested in participating in the program must complete the form available on the DeGroote www.degroote.mcmaster.ca/courses/under/mktg/Student_Project_Application.pdf”>website
and return it to the school by Friday, Sept. 14, 2007.