Can a Student Run Business Capstone Course Generate Relevant Forces That Last a Life Time- You Bet It Can

A majority of business schools use the Business Strategy course as their undergraduate capstone course with most instructors using the case method as the primary teaching method. Critics suggest the Business Strategy course does not offer authentic business integration; as a result, various business schools have implemented the Student Run Business (SRB) as an alternative. Controversy looms between these two camps as neither can offer legitimate evidence regarding student impact and preparation for the workplace. This debate lingers amidst a competitive educational marketplace. The Internet and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) challenge the nature of business schools as educational stakeholders demand transparency and accountability for student learning. Much research has been done with the case method used in the Strategy Course; however, limited research exists for the SRB. The dearth of pedagogical research investigating the SRB captures topical elements but various business scholars advocate for a deeper understanding especially from a student's perspective.;This dissertation responds to these concerns by presenting a substantive grounded theory on how a particular SRB capstone course facilitates transformation from a business novice to a business professional. The investigated SRB exists in an industrial engineering department at a land-grant research university located in the Midwest of the United States. While most SRB formats entail the purchase of product inventory to be marketed and sold to consumers, this student led SRB, known as Manufacturing Systems Design & Analysis (MSDA), requires students to literally manufacture their own product by designing, implementing, and operating a functioning manufacturing system. Furthermore, students are expected to develop their own company structure and peer evaluation system with limited guidance from the instructor within a four-month semester. The course has a 30-year track record of success. Endorsements for the course have poured in from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), hiring employers, and a vast majority of course alumni who have excelled in the business world.;The derived theory depicts a dynamic professional development cycle for the MSDA participant. This cycle entails the transformation from an industrial engineering novice to an industrial engineering professional sensei. The theory suggests this autonomous developmental process lies dormant within participants prior to entering the MSDA course. However, when exposed to the terrene business encounters during the MSDA journey, its existence glistens for participants.;Specific insights for business educators suggest deeper student development occurs during the MSDA experience than seen at first glance. The potency of the MSDA course rests in the instructor's ability to create business opportunities for participants to accelerate professional development. This growth primarily occurs as the instructor agitates the student participants' mindsets and forces them to perform as business professionals. The instructor purposefully creates a realistic business climate that propagates a flurry of unforeseen and dynamic business encounters. These situations reward tangible business results rather than docile academic propositions. Students must shift their focus from that of merely finding correct answers for clearly defined problems to that of actively seeking, defining, and solving problems within a vague industrial setting. They must then design and implement solutions while continuously assessing the effectiveness of their choices. In this process, students cannot rely solely upon rational decision-making rooted in theoretical algorithms but must integrate academic rationality with professional intuition rooted in personal judgments, value systems, and tacit awareness. The four-month course duration magnifies this fervor. The solutions students implement have time to morph into a proliferation of unintended dilemmas that exacerbate the already demanding course requirements.;In this MSDA environment, students must perform as business professionals in order to endure the barrage of business encounters that arise throughout the semester. This performance consists of making actual judgments and taking real actions that contribute relevant impact towards the success of the student company as well as of one's individual career. Knowledge goes beyond technical know-how in this case. Students must embrace the professional attributes of adapting to vague situations, of perpetual learning in order to solve problems, and of anticipating potential consequences of decisions.;Ultimately, participants get out of MSDA what they put into it. Professional growth occurs as participants react and reshape themselves while they encounter the various business situations. The greater developmental gains surface when students embrace a reflective self-adjustment process in which they contemplate the actions and associated consequences made throughout the semester.;The following study elucidates the above professional development process in detail. This study also includes theoretical contributions for business educators as well as practical recommendations for business capstone instructors seeking to improve course designs. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).