Driving change for Mazda Motors

Mazda Motors was experiencing a problem it needed help solving: How could the company engage a younger generation and make them want to buy its cars?

Through an integrated case and course last fall, students helped Mazda North American Operations answer this question. All of the juniors in the school were split into teams of five. In nine days, they had to devise their recommendations, submit a final in-depth analysis, put together presentations supporting their solutions and deliver them to Mazda executives visiting campus.

“This project emphasized market research, creativity and the numbers. The deliverables needed to be innovative and financially feasible,” says Associate Dean George Bobinski, who taught the course that offered the live case. “In today’s business world, you have to be able to work across a business, not just in a particular function like accounting, finance, marketing or operations.”

The juniors enrolled in SOM are required to complete core courses in finance, management, marketing and international business (colloquially known as the J-core) in the same semester. The SOM first introduced a “live case” component in the fall through a partnership with A+E Networks, where several Binghamton alumni work.

According to Bobinski, undergraduate programs traditionally use published case studies that lay out a problem (one that’s already been resolved) to challenge students.

“I believe we are one of the few business schools in the country where all of our undergraduates have the opportunity to develop solutions to real problems for global organizations,” Bobinski says. “Employers say it’s important to offer experiential learning assignments that mirror real industries and real companies, so the school made a stronger push to integrate more relevant projects like the J-core live case into the curricula.”

Half of the junior class participated in the Mazda case during fall 2016; the remaining half worked on the project during spring 2017.

Mazda’s Northeast Region, located in Bridgewater, N.J., has hired nine Binghamton graduates since 2014. These alumni-employer connections helped pave the way for Mazda to become the school’s newest partner in the J-core live case.

Benjamin Friedlander ’14, a district service manager who joined Mazda in 2015, says partnering with Binghamton creates a talent pipeline and enhances the company’s recruitment on campus.

It also gives Mazda a fresh take on appealing to millennials.

“Mazda is interested in exploring how the company can shape its mission and values to appeal to the millennial customer base,” Friedlander says. “What better group to consult with on this than undergraduate students from one of the country’s best business schools?”

Seven alumni returned to Binghamton to launch the first case in fall 2016.

“I remember being a J-core student only few years ago. Having gone through case studies as a student and now being a part of one as an employer, I see this project as a unique chance for students to immerse themselves in a real-world opportunity for a global company and use their knowledge and experience to create and present a business plan to upper management,” Friedlander says.

Jenna Dodd ’16, a district service manager, helped mentor students throughout the week as they worked on the deliverables. Dodd, a business major, started with Mazda as a regional operations specialist after graduation and was promoted to manager two months later.

“It feels good to help students and educate them about the career opportunities they could pursue,” Dodd says. “It’s surreal that I was in their shoes less than a year ago. As alumni, we want to show the students that they can get to the same place as us some day.”

Bobinski says the live cases have caused student engagement to reach an all-time high. “They are coming to office hours to ask more questions than ever. You can see how invested they are in the project and the results.”

“This case was one of the best experiences I have gotten as a student. We applied material — learned in and out of class — in a way that showed us how we can use this information to help businesses,” says Lyndsey Petrofsky, a senior studying business administration who was a member of the top team during last fall’s case.

Students from the top teams were offered internships in Mazda’s Northeast Region office.

Bobinski says the school wants to make the live case a staple of the undergraduate curriculum.

“Our students are working on real problems facing real companies. There aren’t many college juniors who can say they’ve consulted a global organization while in school,” he says.

SOM Dean Upinder Dhillon says that live-case projects and student organizations like the Investment Fund give undergraduates the confidence that they can contribute to organizations in real ways.

“Experiential learning teaches students what it’s really like to work in an industry. When they graduate, the hope is that they have the acumen and skills needed to know what it takes to be a financial analyst, a marketing associate or whatever kind of professional they become,” he says.