Second Place: Every Student Creates a Business Plan
Winner: Dawn Iacobucci, Professor of Marketing, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University
Idea: Reflecting on the thousands of students she's taught over two dozen years at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Vanderbilt, Iacobucci says she would characterize most of them as smart. Many are nice. But few are hungry. The few memorable students she had were the ones with a sparkle in their eyes—they wanted to do something different. Her suggestion is that schools require a "thesis"—a business proposal that addresses how to do something in the world better. MBA programs produce about 500,000 MBAs a year. Even if only 1 percent of the new ideas were ultimately implemented, she says, "how cool would that be!" Students' creative and integrative mindsets would benefit themselves, their schools, and their communities, whether they proceed as entrepreneurs or take jobs in established corporations. As a final by-product, all these rich, new ideas might enhance the reputation that business, and perhaps by implication the U.S., has throughout the world.
Iacobucci: "The idea would be good for students. [It would] help motivate them to learn and apply ideas from all of their classes—the ultimate in integrated learning, an increasingly important element in B-school education. Part of why I like this idea is that it could be implemented in any B-school, regardless of its resources."
Idea: Reflecting on the thousands of students she's taught over two dozen years at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Vanderbilt, Iacobucci says she would characterize most of them as smart. Many are nice. But few are hungry. The few memorable students she had were the ones with a sparkle in their eyes—they wanted to do something different. Her suggestion is that schools require a "thesis"—a business proposal that addresses how to do something in the world better. MBA programs produce about 500,000 MBAs a year. Even if only 1 percent of the new ideas were ultimately implemented, she says, "how cool would that be!" Students' creative and integrative mindsets would benefit themselves, their schools, and their communities, whether they proceed as entrepreneurs or take jobs in established corporations. As a final by-product, all these rich, new ideas might enhance the reputation that business, and perhaps by implication the U.S., has throughout the world.
Iacobucci: "The idea would be good for students. [It would] help motivate them to learn and apply ideas from all of their classes—the ultimate in integrated learning, an increasingly important element in B-school education. Part of why I like this idea is that it could be implemented in any B-school, regardless of its resources."
