OCOB Ann Rep 07-08 - Orfalea College of Business - Cal Poly San ...

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ACADEMICSMarketing student races toward automotive careerFour students in the Orfalea Collegeof Business were elected to the ASIBoard of Directors in Cal Poly’sspring elections.Elected for a one-year term wereLaura Gunderson (InternationalBusiness/Marketing) of Santa Rosa;When representatives from Cal Poly’schapter of the Society of AutomotiveEngineers (SAE) came to a meetingof the American Marketing Association(AMA) in thefall of 2007 andasked for someoneto work withthem on theFormula SAETeam for the2007-08 year,Caulen LauriaCaulen Lauria ofGrass Valley knew this was theproject he had been waiting for.Lauria quickly volunteered andbegan working with the group toprepare for the Formula SAE Westcompetition in Fontana and theFormula Student UK competition tobe held at Silverstone Circuit inNorthamptonshire, England.The Formula SAE team, comprisedof approximately 45 engineeringstudents from manufacturing,mechanical, civil, electrical, andaeronautical engineering, and onebusiness student – Lauria – workedfor the entire academic year to puttogether their car, marketing andsales presentations.Faculty advisor for the group isJohn Fabijanic, a lecturer in theCollege of Engineering’s MechanicalEngineering Department and aformer NASA Associate and Formula1 engineer. Fabijanic shared hisknowledge of the motorsports industrywith the team, but for Lauria’smarketing work, he relied on JeffHess, associate professor of marketingin the Orfalea College of Business.With the expertise of bothprofessors to guide the team, thegroup headed off to Fontana and thefirst competition in June.Due to some noise problems,the team was disappointed with theirshowing in Fontana, but Lauria waspleased that, according to the judges,his marketing presentation “was thebest we’ve seen all day” among the70-plus teams there. It was thehighest score Cal Poly has everreceived in the marketing presentationcategory.Excited, the team moved on toEngland to the Silverstone Circuit forthe Formula Student UK competition.Over 100 schools from across theglobe competed, and over 60 of themwere from German universities. CalPoly represented the ONLY teamfrom the United States.The marketing presentationranked 26th of all the schools, “arespectable score considering it wasour first international Formula SAEcompetition where the Germanuniversities usually dominate,” saysLauria. The engineers received 47thas their design score.The marketing plan presidedover our car as a hypothetical businessproposal to a major car manufacturerto put forth the upfrontinvestment in order to manufactureand sell the car. It was Lauria’sresponsibility to make realisticdemand projections for the car,prove that there is a profitable marketfor the car, and put together aFour business students elected to ASI Board of DirectorsNima Salke (Finance) of Calabasas;Jesse Schwartz (Business Administration)of New York, and AshleySinger (Marketing) of Napa.The Board of Directors acts asthe official voice of students, overseeingASI corporate operations.dependable advertising and publicitycampaign for “activation.”The target market was selectedbased upon Sports Car Club ofAmerica (SCCA) autocross membershipdata, which helped to refine themost reachable, profitable and valuabledemographic possible. Otherconsiderations for the marketingpresentation was the break-evenpoint for potential investors, profitmargins and business arrangement,and a comprehensive plan thatincluded a lean manufacturingsystem for the projected capability ofproducing four cars per week.During the weeklong trip, theteam enjoyed several exclusiveFormula 1 facility tours, includingthe Renault F1 Team given by thehead of their marketing department,and a tour of Mercedes High PerformanceEngines Technology Center.“Thank you, Cal Poly and theOrfalea College of Business, for givingme a true and valuable foundation forbuilding my future,” says Lauria. “Iam sincerely grateful for the opportunity,and I can’t wait to give back!”Lauria gives special thanks toProfessor Brian Tietje for his encouragementand helping to makethe UK trip possible.Lauria graduated in spring 2008and accepted an offer from StevenPR of Beverly Hills, where he worksas an account associate. After gainingcareer experience, he hopes topursue a Formula 1 career in Europeand return to a corporate marketingjob in the San Francisco Bay Area.“Leadership is a gift and a task,because to be effective you need avolunteer mindset and a willingnessto serve the needs of others,” saysDean Dave Christy. “Thank youall for your willingness to serveour students.”38 ❚ ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08
ACADEMICSRay Scherr Business PlanCompetition encouragesentrepreneurial endeavorsFounded in 2002 by Ray Scherr andthe Cal Poly Orfalea College ofBusiness, the Ray Scherr BusinessPlan Competition is considered thepremiere entrepreneurship event atCal Poly.Organized by Students in FreeEnterprise (SIFE), the competitionserves as the convergence point forentrepreneurs across the greater CalPoly-San Luis Obispo community.Individuals from every academicdiscipline, alumni, university staff,and the community of San LuisObispo are invited to participate fora chance to win $10,000 and valuableintroductions to Angel andventure capital investors. The winneralso has the opportunity to competein the $250,000 Draper FisherJurvetson (DFJ) Venture Challenge.The competition provides ayear-round forum in which participantscan develop and test theirbusiness vision and plans. It providesa network of resources formentorship, team creation, education,networking and financing foraspiring entrepreneurs. In addition,all participants receive feedbackfrom qualified judges on the businessplans they submit.SIFE continues to develop theevent, with the original goals of thecompetition in mind: to supportstudents and alumni in their entrepreneurialendeavors to create realbusinesses; to encourage commercializationof promising ideas emergingfrom Cal Poly’s research centers;and to build bridges between CalPoly and the San Luis Obispo entrepreneurialcommunity.Finalists go through initialinvestment rounds by partneringangel investors, and the winningteam has the opportunity to appearin front of the largest venture capitalFive Cal Poly MBA students competedin the intense 44th annual three-monthlong International Collegiate BusinessStrategy Competition in San Diegolast spring.Teams from as far as Dubai in theUnited Arab Emirates participated insimulated business decisions. In all, 24talented teams from 18 top universitiestook part.Cal Poly was represented by thecompany SandCastle Labs, Inc. lead byErik Slayter (CEO), Naomi Guy (VP ofmarketing), Jesse Bilsten (VP of operations),Amy Engdahl (VP of finance)and Martin Flores (intern). The teamwas advised by Orfalea College ofBusiness faculty member David Peach.Teams were responsible for strategicbusiness decisions, including inventorymanagement, pricing andadvertising, production and capitalexpenditure control, human resourcemanagement, finance, and research anddevelopment decisions. They wererequired to develop unique businessplans and annual reports showcasingtheir strategies and results.firm in the world, DFJ Investments.This year’s competition was held onApril 11.Judges for the competition wereRon Meritt of Ron MerittInternationals, Frank Foster fromDFJ Investments, Robert Doust fromFirst Bank of San Luis Obispo, andJim Murphy (MA Education ’85), aretired industrial technology facultyand member of the Service Corps ofRetired Executives (SCORE).The winners of the communityprize of $,3000 were ScottMcCready, Donald Lee and EugeneLee with VisibleRealty. The winnerof the $4,000 student competitonwas Tricia Compas with H20-2-Go.The SIM team(from left): JesseBilsten, NaomiGuy, MartinFlores, AmyEngdahl, ErikSlayter andfaculty advisorDavid PeachMBA students compete with international business strategiesCal Poly’s team learned crucialbusiness crisis management strategiesthrough experiential learning duringthe competition as their simulatedeconomy was afflicted with a marketcontraction despite a growing economy.The judges came from diversebackgrounds with experience as highpoweredexecutives. Students wereable to interact with them and learnfrom their real-world experiences.They also had the opportunity tonetwork with business students fromthe other universities.“This event provides a uniqueway to pull together various disciplinesinto an overall strategy. It’sgreat to have a learning experiencethat doesn’t involve sitting in theclassroom,” says Naomi Guy.This competition provides anexcellent multi-discipline learningopportunity through a complexbusiness simulation program developedby Richard Cotter and DavidFritzsche (http://www.eskimo.com/~fritzsch/).ORFALEA COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ❚ 39
Page 1 and 2: ANNUAL REPORT ❚ ACADEMIC YEAR 200
Page 3 and 4: DEAN’ S MESSAGEMaking life better
Page 5 and 6: STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE 2008Progress
Page 7 and 8: Faculty news
Page 9 and 10: FACULTY NEWSFaculty and scholarship
Page 11 and 12: FACULTY NEWSFaculty and scholarship
Page 13 and 14: FACULTY NEWSNew faculty CONTINUEDYo
Page 15 and 16: Faculty reports
Page 17 and 18: FACULTY REPORTSof losing $100 and a
Page 19 and 20: FACULTY REPORTSCAPM-like model deve
Page 21 and 22: FACULTY REPORTSdustry can adequatel
Page 23 and 24: FACULTY REPORTSExplaining World Tra
Page 25 and 26: FACULTY REPORTSFigure 1: Measuring
Page 27 and 28: ACADEMICSAccounting program welcome
Page 29 and 30: ACADEMICStrip continued to push stu
Page 31 and 32: ACADEMICSChange of direction for th
Page 33 and 34: ACADEMICSBetter job opportunities a
Page 35 and 36: ACADEMICSThe Orfalea College of Bus
Page 37 and 38: ACADEMICSCollege celebrates achieve
Page 39: ACADEMICSOn Feb. 2, 2008, the 13th
Page 43 and 44: ACADEMICSCollege celebrates the stu
Page 45 and 46: his/her own decisions, we are encou
Page 47 and 48: Community
Page 49 and 50: COMMUNITYThe Cal PolyWheelchair Fou
Page 51 and 52: COMMUNITYDean’s Advisory CouncilR
Page 53 and 54: Operations
Page 55 and 56: OPERATIONSBeth Brenner joins colleg
Page 57 and 58: SUPPORT DESERVING BUSINESS STUDENTS
Page 59 and 60: Orfalea College of Business degree

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