While MBA students around the country were preparing for final examinations, MBA students at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro were busy preparing to present their research findings on the feasibility of opening an ethanol production facility in North Carolina to the Greensboro Center for Innovative Development.  With gas prices dominating the media headlines, the assignment could not have been more timely or practical. 

Ethanol is a clean burning, renewable energy source that would serve the local community while at the same time reduce dependency on foreign oil.  The team presentation by Stephen Godfrey, Raj Mikkilineni, David Murphy, Sam Simaan, and William Wu provided an overview of the ethanol industry in the United States, a market survey of the North Carolina Triad, long-term revenue forecasts, several price sensitivity models, and financial analyses of start-up expenditures, operations, and logistics for an ethanol plant with an annual production capacity of 100 million gallons. 

Students in the day MBA program spend the majority of their final semester working on field research projects for the capstone course, Creating and Sustaining a Competitive Advantage.  “The course is designed to be the culmination of the MBA experience at UNCG.  Working in small teams, students synthesize everything that they have learned over the past two years by going out into the local business community and helping real organizations address real problems,” says Professor Sheldon Balbirer, the director of the MBA program and the faculty supervisor of the ethanol consulting project.

Other final projects this semester were completed for Tyco Electronics, the Greensboro Children’s Museum, Red Hat, Sun Trust, and Randolph Community College.  “The students are challenged by their projects, but are also enjoying them at the same time,” reports the course’s professor, Marilynn Baker, “and discussions of their projects have come up in several of their job interviews!” 

-May 2006