UWG MBA Students Explore Transformational Opportunities
As Southwire continues to grow, it is important for the organization to identify and explore transformational opportunities based on disruptive technologies and megatrends that are shaping the industrial electrical industry. To gain insight into these opportunities and give back to the community, Southwire partnered with the University of West Georgia’s (UWG’s) Richards College of Business (RCOB) Master of Business Administration (MBA) marketing strategy class to understand these transformational opportunities and allow students to tactically apply their research.
The class, taught by Dr. David Nickell Ph.D, Professor and overseen by Dr. Faye McIntyre, Ph.D, Dean of the RCOB, teamed up in groups of three to four students who worked with a Southwire Corporate Strategy Team (CST) member on one of five transformational initiatives.
“Partnering with Southwire for this project was truly mutually beneficial,” said McIntyre. “Our students were able to apply concepts learned in the strategic marketing course to a global company, explore the current environment and understand the decision-making responsibilities of the Southwire leadership team, which helped students grasp these issues at a depth not possible when analyzing an academic case from a textbook. The information gathered and evaluated by the students and their resulting recommendations should help Southwire make these critical decisions about future directions of the company. When UWG and Southwire partner, everyone gains – the University, our students, Southwire and our community!”
In the first two weeks of the semester, students visited the Thorn Customer Solutions Center, located in Carrollton, Ga., where CST members gave students an interactive tour of the facility, while explaining the history of Southwire and its product lines. There, students were able to gain insight into the company’s past, understand the current product offerings and focus on the future.
