Summer 2012 Leap Courses

New for 2012:

6700:696-405 ST: Effective Use of Consultants
Dr. Linda Orr of Marketing

Consulting is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States. It represents the single largest industry in the United States in terms of job growth. The College Board reports current and estimated total job growth of 835,000 jobs through 2008-2018. This translates into an 83% growth rate in the industry. Business Professionals seem to be more and more in search of answers to performance or strategy issues within their firms and are turning more to outside guidance for help. A few large consulting firms offer a variety of services that meet the needs of much of the market while the rest of the need is filled with the services of independent consultants. The firms run the gambit in terms of types of services offered.

At some point managers will be faced with the decision of where to turn for extra help. Some students may also want to go into the consulting industry and would be interested to know what set of decision tools a manager might use to evaluate them.

Some topics to be discussed in the class include:

• 1. Growth of the consulting industry
• 2. The origin of consultants
• 3. Why consultants can be effective/when should you hire a consultant?
• 4. Selecting the right consultant
• 5. The consulting experience
• 6. When shouldn’t you hire a consultant?
• 7. Other options besides consultants

LEAP courses may be approve for concentration electives. Students should submit a petition to Dr. Hanlon outlining how the LEAP courses selected fit the concentration. Students in the old MBA curriculum may also use LEAP courses to fulfill the free elective.