MBA Project Testimonials
"We actually did five projects with the students. We had them execute demand studies for the City of Menifee for the following industries: advanced manufacturing, medical manufacturing, brewery and distilleries, local-serving amenities, technology focused. These industries are targeting industries that are identified in the City of Menifee’s federally approved Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy to diversify Menifee’s local economy. The students' project was to quantify the demand the city has for these specific industries. The students were very engaged and excited about the projects that they were working on and produced high-quality products that the City of Menifee will be using in the Economic Development attraction efforts for years to come. We are intending to use the program again have already recommended it to other outside agencies.
-Kayla Charters, Economic Development Analyst, City of Menifee
“We were looking for a way to better predict production. They students did a great job of coming up with good questions that we hadn’t thought about. Specifically, they looked at some of our quoting data and found a few deviations in the data output that we had, which helped us internally change some of the data input that we were doing. Based on the results from this first project and the value we received, there is no question we would definitely go with CSUSM again. It was great experience.”
-Brad Van Dam, VP of Sales, Metal-Era, Inc.
"The FEMBA Team's communication and investment in a viable solution for our organization was excellent! The Team delivered a very professional work product and provided resources for a seamless roll out of their recommendation."
-Lisa Fowler, Finance Director, City of San Marcos
"Hunter Pacific Group was seeking to identify growth opportunities and the Capstone Team was able to provide insight on strategies for reinvestment, rebranding, restructuring, and recruiting to help achieve our goal. Their outside perspective and internal/external analysis enabled us to take into consideration a wide range of options to achieve our goal."
-Carina Chelos, Hunter Pacific Group
"Working with the CSUSM MBA project team was a great experience. The team we worked with took time to understand our business, industry and challenges before starting their research. The project team was comprised of a diverse group of professionals with sales, operations, finance, engineering and science backgrounds. We were impressed with the overall depth of their research and the quality of their recommendations. "
-Howard Wallace, Vice President, Bright AV
"Northrop Grumman had the honor of working with three USMC veterans who were completing their MBA programs. These students put together an excellent set of research on future missions for the United States Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. They used this research to identify potential business cases for follow-on work for Northrop Grumman. Our management team had a great time working with the students while they completed a valuable business project for us. I highly recommend that if you have a challenging business problem, it is worthwhile to let the CSUSM MBA take a crack at providing potential solutions, and you get to help our future generation of business leaders."
-John Paterson, Global Hawk Capabilities & Capture Manager, Manager Programs, Northrop Grumman
“The work they did was excellent. Our goal is to have the concert venue open before the 2018 fair season. The idea of a concert venue was also kicked around. We wanted to make sure we were going in the right direction, so we reached out to our friends in the Business program at Cal State San Marcos. We’re very pleased with the work they did.”
-Tim Fennell, CEO of the 22nd District Agricultural Association, Del Mar Fairgrounds
“We really wanted them to focus on how do we get more people to know about us and get them to look into what we have to offer. They came up with some really interesting marketing ideas that will be fun to play with.”
-Kristianne Kurner, Executive Artistic Director and Founder, New Village Arts Theatre
“We received a very impressive, elaborate and very detailed report that has given us some ideas on expanding our social media presence and out-of-the box approaches we hadn’t thought about. There was so much information. They delivered exactly what was asked.”
-Nancy Richards, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, North Coast Repertory Theatre
“Very good job. Exceeded my expectations actually. Less handholding than I expected and good work product. We did have a good idea of what we wanted to get out of it which was part of the success. I think this benefited both sides. Even with a fairly specific project objective, good to have smart and unbiased people bring it all together and to poke holes in it (especially under your auspices).”
-Matt Turnbull, Executive Vice President, Good Food Holdings. Lazy Acres Natural Market
"We appreciate the opportunity to work with CSUSM's College of Business. We found that having access to such a high quality student resource for our projects, we were able to get an outside view into our customer's purchasing behaviors. As well, our customers were more open with information because they were assisting a student based project. We look forward to continuing our partnership with CSUSM on future projects."
-Paul Kessel, General Service Manager, Hawthorne CAT