When a fledgling New York-based company called IsoSpace needed some marketing advice, it knew exactly where to turn.
IsoSpace Chief Operating Officer Ron Keusch called Marketing professor Lisa Bolton to ask whether she would be interested in setting up research teams in her consumer-behavior classes.
Two months later, her students are gaining a valuable look at the business world, Bolton said, while IsoSpace - which helps set up businesses with online conference spaces - gets free consulting.
IsoSpace is just one of several companies that is courting Wharton in hopes of receiving free consultation from students.
Companies sometimes approach professors directly, or they send general requests via the Marketing department Web site.
Messages that detail these companies' requests for advice, on everything from product design to market promotion, circulate through the inboxes of various Wharton officials.
Some are eventually answered by interested professors; others never get a response.
But when a professor's needs match up with a company's, both say they benefit.
Bolton said IsoSpace came to her with a vague idea of what they wanted, but she herself assigned to the students surveys and focus groups in order to help IsoSpace compile data about their services.
"The students are taking a new product and asking, 'How can we make it successful?'" Bolton said. "They're dealing with real-life constraints like limited resources and limited funding."
According to Keusch, the students did "excellent work that targeted the desired audience."
Two local businesses have also jumped on the student-consulting trend. VigorWorks Fitness Center and Penn Children's Center, for example, have both worked with Wharton classes.
Sometimes, it's not just the professors who choose which companies to work with - the students also get their say.
Penn Children's Center Director Anju Chawla submitted her business to an applicant pool from which Management 100 students could choose. Ultimately, students decided to help Chawla host a carnival and sell calendars.
But it's not just local shops that are benefiting: Even multinational corporations are taking interest in consulting from undergraduates.
Marketing professor Americus Reed's consumer-behavior classes, for example, have worked with representatives from Nike, Loreal Cosmetics and even the Army, which asked students to hone an advertising campaign based on the slogan "An Army of One."
"It's a pretty common practice for companies to consult prestigious programs," said Steve Parscale, director of the Accreditation Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, which accredits business schools in higher education.
According to Parscale, it can cost a company $20,000 dollars to use the services of a consulting firm like McKinsey and Co. and only about $1,000 dollars for expenses - like transportation costs - to use undergraduates.
Other schools have also embraced the trend, among them Pepperdine, the University of Maryland and Indiana's Kelley School of Business.
"I approached companies where it makes sense to step in," said Carolyn Wiethoff, management professor at Indiana University. "My students learn better because they get business insight into how the market thinks."
There's also an altruistic motive behind Wiethoff's selections. She prefers to help non-profits because it enables her students to "give back to the community in the way they know how."
Although some marketing students are grateful for hands-on experience, they also say they know their work may not have a significant impact on the company's success.
"Sure, it's cool to do something real instead of a simulation, but, unfortunately, our projects don't really matter to" the companies, said Wharton sophomore Sam Farber, who is working on the IsoSpace assignment. "This company is way too underdeveloped and gave us no direction, so it was hard to make suggestions."
