A new Gardiner Centre initiative is taking Memorial MBA students from the classroom to the boardroom, giving the students real-world experience and helping the local business community answer their toughest questions. 

Gardiner Solutions is an MBA consultancy that connects the Gardiner Centre’s support for small business with the experiential learning that is a cornerstone of Memorial’s business programs.

Dr. Jim Barnes is a professor of marketing in the Faculty of Business Administration. A year ago he started a course that was unlike any other in the MBA program. With no textbook, no final exams and no classes, the students were tasked with becoming business consultants for local organizations. The students worked closely with client companies and drew on their knowledge of all aspects of business to develop a strategic plan with real-world applicability. 

The support of the Gardiner Centre for students taking the MBA Consulting course is one example of the activites the Gardiner Centre will engage under Gardiner Solutions. The student consultants will receive guidance and support from senior staff in the Gardiner Centre, including Rick Daw, the faculty’s executive in residence and a certified management consultant.

“It’s a win-win situation. Students are exposed to the kinds of decisions managers have to make in complex organizations and businesses have access to consultants they might not otherwise be able to afford,” explained Brian Vallis, acting director of the Gardiner Centre.

When the course first ran last fall, one of the participating companies, Domestic Moving and Storage, valued the experience at $40,000. 

Martin and Rex LeDrew are the principals of Domestic Moving. Mr. LeDrew said the end result of the consulting project was a strategic plan that was in line with the company’s goals.

“We’ve implemented about 60 to 70 per cent of the recommendations and we’re not done yet,” he said. “We keep referring back to the document and I hope to get to 100 per cent.”

Bringing together student expertise with the needs of the business community in Newfoundland and Labrador is central to the mandate of the Gardiner Centre. “Gardiner Solutions actually harkens back to the original mandate of the P.J. Gardiner Institute,” explained Dr. Barnes. ““When the P.J. Gardiner Institute was created in the late 1970s, it was heavily involved in offering consulting services to small and medium businesses. The Gardiner Centre exists to make small and medium businesses more successful and MBA students have the skills to help them do so.”

Gardiner Solutions will officially launch in January 2009 when the MBA consultants meet with their clients for the first time. The project will continue throughout the semester.