In today’s economy, companies face financial pressures to optimize and streamline expenses every day. Cost-control processes are put into place that extends from products, procedures to people. Companies cannot afford to make mistakes in daily operations and decisions; hence, they rely on top management, the most skilled and experienced in the organization, to ensure that operations are fluid, costs are contained and the customer base is satisfied. In all companies and in all industries, people are what make the difference. People, although looked at as a single entity within an organization, are each very different, with skills, education and experience from various industries at different points in time.

It is often up to the company to train the employee with the procedures and information specific to the company and industry. This process takes time and costs the company thousands of dollars in non-productivity. In order to mitigate these time and cost burdens, Companies often rely on Human Resources to recruit and relocate the top candidates with existing experience in the industry and a graduate business education. There are two problems with this, however:

• Almost all MBA programs train students with a focus on a broad set of very generalizing principles. Without any industry-specific knowledge the student is not maximizing productivity for several months.

• The company often has to pay top dollar to attract the candidate but bears the risk of not knowing how he/she will fit in culturally or what type of performance it will obtain from this employee.

Through the Fogelman College of Business & Economics’ Customer-driven MBA program, the above two drawbacks are eliminated. Companies will get students who have held apprentice positions in their companies for the past 21 months, thus can immediately hit the road running. Companies also have the option of not hiring the student if s/he does not meet their performance standards; thereby, eliminating candidates without incurring significant costs. Companies will have the option to “tailor and customize” their future employees to meet the needs of their company and industry. Talent, employee recruitment, relocation, learning and the challenges associated with all of these elements in employee relations will be drastically reduced through this partnership program.

• The sponsoring corporate partners will benefit by having qualified professionals trained with specific industry-related education and company-specific processes; skills that they would not otherwise be able to acquire from any other MBA program.

• The company will reap the rewards of having an experienced professional working for the company throughout the program with an extended commitment of employment for a minimum of 2 years post-graduation.

• New-coming employees will not only have an exceptional graduate education, they will also encompass the exact skills and knowledge necessary to effectively operate in the industry in which they were trained with 21 months of hands-on field experience in the sponsoring company.

It is the goal of the Fogelman College of Business & Economics to collaborate with the Memphis corporate community in supporting a greater talent pool of students and employees with specialized skills that are both practical and transferable. Join us now for this exceptional opportunity.

Find out more details on the program and on how to become a Corporate Partner today. To get started click here.

Click here to view the Customer-Driven MBA Corporate Sponsors who have partnered with Fogelman College of Business & Business.