In the type of “win/win” program–benefiting both Metro State and the community–for which Metro State is increasingly becoming known, students provided area small businesses with in-depth strategic analyses during the 2008-09 academic year.

Fourteen small businesses and about 80 students participated in the first year of the Student Consulting Program, run by the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center.

“The support provided by Metro State helps to ensure that we are able to continue to provide small businesses with worthwhile resources, such as this program,” wrote Tameka Montgomery, executive director of the DMSBDC, in a June 4 letter to President Stephen Jordan.

The students enrolled in Management Professor Johannes Snyman’s Strategic Management course appreciated the opportunity to apply their learning in a real-life situation. One student, in a review of the experience, wrote, “Much like having an internship with a company, this project gave us the opportunity to take off our academic hats and put on our work hats. We actually could impact a real-life business, as opposed to studying how we could impact one.”

The small businesses involved benefitted from the students’ objective analysis. One wrote that the project “forced us to stop and actually think about our business, instead of just reacting to day-to-day events.” Another wrote: “The benefits we received were numerous. Just to name a few, we now have a better sense of our demographics, competitors and market placement.”