Table of Contents

Professor James Seward (right) worked with students Craig Billings and Gulru Keten of the Applied Corporate Finance Program on applied projects for Thermo Electron, Deutsche Bank and Promega.

 

Students Research International Real Estate Investments

Real Estate students had an invaluable opportunity to help a Chicago-based real estate development firm make international investment decisions in 2003.

Students in a special topics class taught by Senior Lecturer Rod Matthews researched options in investing in affordable housing for Equity International Properties, Ltd., (EIP), a privately held company that invests in real estate companies outside the United States. The firm is affiliated with Equity Group Investments, Inc., one of the world’s largest owners of real estate, headed by Sam Zell.

Students worked in teams to evaluate housing in Central and South America and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Asia. At the end of the semester, the company brought the students to Chicago to make presentations to company executives, including Zell, based on their research. Chris Fiegen, EIP’s senior vice president, said the students’ input was instrumental in the company deciding to increase its real estate holdings in Mexico City, Mexico, by $42 million. This was the second consecutive year the firm chose to work with Wisconsin real estate students on a long-term project. In 2002, student recommendations helped lead to a major investment in Brazil. A similar collaboration for 2004 is being explored.

Marketing Research on Use of Products And Services

Students from the A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research helped a local engineering and industrial design firm with product research last year. Design Concepts uses a variety of research methods and approaches based on the social sciences to discover user needs, motivations for product/service use and understanding of overall experiences with the use of products and services.

The Marketing Research students worked on-site to support Design Concepts’ research department. They produced recruitment materials and recruited study participants, conducted in-depth interviews, participated in observational research and helped analyze data.

Student Kara Salganik said the experience with Design Concepts allowed her to “explore my passion for qualitative research in a real-world-setting.”

Applied Learning

The Real World as Classroom

Students had the opportunity to interact with real-world issues in a variety of ways in 2003: direct involvement with businesses and other organizations via research and consulting projects, internships and scores of other applied learning opportunities.


On The Road

In 2003, students had the opportunity to learn firsthand on site visits to a wide variety of firms coast-to-coast and around the globe. Among the firms visited by School of Business students in the past year were:
U.S. Locations
Andersen Windows
Bond Companies
CUNA Mutual
Harley-Davidson Motor Company
Harris Associates, Inc.
General Mills
Lehman Brothers
Marshall Erdman & Associates
Medtronic
UBS Warburg and UBS Global Asset
Unilever
International Locations
3M Argentina
BE Capital Golub (Czech Republic)
Colliers International Russia
Eurohypo, A.G. (Hungary)
Tritec Motors/Daimler/BMW (Brazil)
SARIO (Slovakia)

LEARNING FROM THE BEST

Hundreds of executives shared their expertise with students this year. Hundreds of executives shared their expertise with students this year. Speakers for 2003 included:
John Bogle
Founder and Former CEO
The Vanguard Group		 Thomas J. Falk
Chairman of the Board and CEO
Kimberly-Clark Corporation		 John Morgridge
Chairman of the Board
Cisco Systems
G. Steven Burrill
CEO
Burrill and Company		 Gordon Gunnlaugsson
Former Executive Vice President
and CFO
Marshall & Illsley Corp.		 Tom Pyle
Former Chairman and CEO
Rayovac
Paul Collins
Former Vice Chair
Citigroup		 Lou Holland
Chief Investment Officer
and Managing Partner
Holland Capital Management		 Pat Richter
Former Director
UW-Madison Athletic
Department
Scott Cook
Co-Founder and Chairman
of the Executive Committee
Intuit		 H. Fisk Johnson
Chairman
S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.		 Richard Teerlink
Former Chairman and CEO
Harley-Davidson
Erroll Davis, Jr.
President, Chairman
and CEO
Alliant Energy		 Michael Lehman
Former Executive Vice President		 Barbara Ley Toeffler
Former Arthur Andersen Partner
Sharron Watkins
Former Enron Vice President