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HERE'S WHAT OUR EDGE CRAFTERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE
The Consulting Case in my Capstone course ended up being relevant in ways I didn’t expect. Working through this case brought attention to a different way I want to look at my future. I have always felt that by not fully understanding what I want to do with my career, I wasn’t able to make strides until I figured it out. This project showed me there are far more aspects to success then a defined vision. I understand now that an emergent strategy can truly set me up for success through analyzing my core competencies like we did with the consulting case. In addition, our topic was very relevant to the industry I am going into. Working with a distribution company and analyzing supply chain efficiency in a company will be part of my career moving forward.
Jessi / “Brewery Distributing” Case
The case analysis of Cofem, S.A. to determine the next market for entry really provided the practical focus and basis to catapult my novice interest into a realistic venture. The whole process of implementing appropriate analysis and perspective really hit me as we worked towards the implementation method for the case. It became REAL! It was that moment that concepts became reality for me, which further increased my interest.
What’s next?
The dilemma is determining what the current need is, when to act, how to do it, but most importantly are you ready and can you fill the need. Realism is important. Growth and success aren’t guaranteed. But having the courage and resolve to dig deeper, self-reflect, practically analyze, and make an initial move is what it takes to start something special. If nothing else, I realize this initial exposure is a start but there is much more to learn, experiment and apply. I’ve got to put myself into organizations and situations that provide the avenues for continued exposure. Looking forward to continuing that journey.
Jeff / “Cofem, S.A.” Consulting Case
On the BE-EDGE project investment to my personal capital:
While earning my graduate degree at Northeastern, I applied and expanded on my 5+ years of professional experience and growth within the field of Marketing. A crucial pillar of my learning experience, and what makes me the perfect candidate for my role in advertising can be attributed to a consulting case that myself and a group of colleagues completed for the software product LastPass, a password management and enterprise single-sign on solution. I played a key role in tailoring an international market entry strategy for LastPass, and due to the emphasis that needed to be placed on localizing a historically domestic product in a new foreign country, I am confident that I have the skills to work in a role that allows me to apply this same tenacious and thoughtful approach to advertising campaigns.
Ultimately, this class exceeded my expectations for how I personally wanted to use what I learned to help my career. It helped me become more confident in what I eventually want to do with my career, which is to tailor informed marketing campaigns for different brands and companies domestic or international.
John / “LastPass” Consulting Case
The most valuable aspect of this experience was the opportunity to help an organization that I love to enhance its business. The most challenging experience was to fully understand the core of the problem, and start writing from it. Putting pieces of information together and connecting them directly to the problem was not an easy task for me. However, at the end, I felt completely satisfied when I realized that I made a big difference in people’s lives just applying what I was studying and writing about. It was the feeling of plenitude of helping people to become better ones, and organizations to develop their business.
Thaissa / “Instituição Beneficente Nosso Lar” Case
The BE-EDGE experience allowed me to find the source of the problem in my family business. After graduation, I went back to my country and applied the knowledge into a practical issue. For example, the consulting case revealed that the culture was critical for my organization – more than other management components. Though I still had a long way to learn and needed to gain more experience, I relied on the BE-EDGE experience to establish myself as a transformational force. I introduced a task force effort to transform the culture, and together with my team, we made it successfully. The fundamental and practical knowledge we have learned from Dr. Ivy was the greatest power and a lifetime skill for us to be the survivor in the future, and it also helped me establish my own voice as a leader.
Henry / “JL Cambridge International, Inc. (Taiwan branch)” Case
AYUDA is an organization I care deeply about. I think it is a necessary resource for diabetes communities who have limited access to knowledge about how to live with the condition and how to manage their life in a healthy way. I really feel strongly about wanting to enact positive change in the world, and I feel as though this organization works to do just that. Working on the case for this organization gave me the opportunity to get an inside look on how nonprofits operate as well as the challenges they face in their work. I learned a lot about the industry they operate in and if I choose to work in the non-profit sphere, this information will be extremely valuable.
What’s next?
I feel that this project was an important part of my journey in becoming a global manager. Having the skills to create a consultancy report such as the one we worked this semester is essential for understanding how to analyze different markets around the world while simultaneously understanding each area’s unique culture and customs. I learned so much about my organization as well as the two markets we studied extensively and will bring this knowledge with me into my future career. I am happy to have learned these various frameworks that I can use to breakdown various organizations and markets, and feel that these elements are some of the most important topics I have learned this entire semester
Hannah / “AYUDA” Consulting Case
The most rewarding thing for me was proving to myself that I can do complicated research about the industry I knew nothing about. I was able to communicate with the company’s executives and provide my recommendations based on my theoretical knowledge.
I've spent a lot of time researching the industry, the company, and it's a new technological tool to be able to discuss it during the interview and get details for my case. I also realized that I really like to do this kind of project.
Jane / “GrabCAD. Social Marketing Strategy” Case
Being a recent graduate from the undergraduate level, I was absolutely terrified at what the future would hold for me. The biggest driver for me to pursue further education so early on was to feel more secure in myself and my abilities to perform in the career path I wish to pursue. Prior to taking a course with Professor Ivy, I had no idea where to start or how to start defining my path and creating a competitive portfolio of my characteristics. From day one in professor Ivy's program, I knew that I would find these answers. Primarily, I have been using the knowledge of crafting my EDGE to create a more in-demand portfolio for myself that is targeted at the career I want. Much like we learn quite early on in her book, I was able to define my industry, and then ultimately following those steps throughout the semester, I was able to envision myself at the point I want to get to in my career; something I was unable to see before. Also, beyond crafting my EDGE, I purposely chose to complete a second course with professor Ivy as the information from these classes directly enriched my professional goals.
Tamara / MSIM “Beyond Meets” Consulting Case
I think it was a wonderful idea of Dr. Ivy to let us choose a consulting case to work on for the master course, especially in biotech. The industry isn’t clear on how someone could move from a site to a corporate position and with an MBA that’s where students really want to be. The professional capital perspective, this case helped me outline my biopharma trajectory. It also helped me improve in my love for solving problems and collaboration to learn different perspectives.
On the social capital investment, I find people’s stories to be fascinating and working with four wonderful people who I would never have had the opportunity to work with otherwise was very interesting. I feel that when working on a project, if you can understand where someone is coming from or how they are looking at the same problem, then we can solve the issues of the problem more efficiently than if we were just strong-arming our own perspective.
What’s next?
I think I’m going to use this case in interviews when I move on from my current role. It covers a variety of situations from the PESTEL model that affect a drug going into market or a company building a facility in a country. Understanding social implications also help when being audited by different regulating countries while being a US manufacturer. Being aware of their values, norms, and beliefs will allow me to not make an error that could be seen as unprofessional.
Jenn / “Novo Nordisk” Consulting Case
Working on the HC consulting case gave me confidence to seek strategic partnerships in my own career. As a commercial real estate agent, I have used the skills learned from the case to form alliances with institutional real estate companies and investors. Working with foreign investors and international companies with an interest in US assets, I have found it very helpful to consider the frameworks discussed in the case when working with my clients.
