Smith MBAs Work with Big Names on Social Venture Consulting Projects

This fall, twenty-one MBA students at the Robert H. Smith School of Business worked on semester-long consulting engagements with Amtrak, The National Aquarium and Remain Home Solutions. All of these organizations aren’t social ventures, but each contracted students to explore a social impact component of their organization.

Projects included a sustainable procurement & supply chain management analysis, business planning process design and development, and a marketing and operational plan for crowdfunding initiative. “I loved working on practical problems for an actual client, as opposed to just reviewing case studies of others' challenges.” Says Michael Kidd, MBA consultant for Amtrak.

Kidd and his team worked with Amtrak’s Sustainability team and Procurement department to develop sustainable procurement initiatives. The Amtrack team's final deliverables included a survey of current policies and practices, and a supply chain analysis to identify sustainability improvements. The Amtrak team analyzed solutions from several different angles. “We got to explore everything from optimization of capital budgets to secondary markets for railroad scrap” Says Kidd. “There has not been another experience at Smith that compares in breadth of scope.”

This Spring MBA students will work on social venture consulting projects with Mayorga Organics, Conscious Venture Lab and the University of Maryland's Environmental Finance Center. Learn more about the Smith School’s MBA Social Venture Consulting projects here.