Requirements

About the I-Core Project

A partner company will be assigned to an I-Core class. The class will have 5-12 student teams, with 5-6 students on each team. The teams will analyze the company’s current business situation and develop recommendations for new products or services. Each team will provide the company with an analysis of its recommendation. This analysis will address the marketing, operations, and financial aspects of the recommendation. We limit the number of teams working on the same idea to two, if necessary.

Prior to the start of each semester, the I-Core faculty will meet with each company to establish the parameters of the project. During the semester, students work closely with the company in conjunction with their classroom work. At the conclusion of the semester, each team will make an oral presentation of their findings and recommendations to a panel of the company’s managers and the I-Core faculty.

Requirements

Work with the I-Core faculty to establish the objectives of the project.
Have 5-12 student teams working on the project.
End-of-semester presentations by all teams of their findings and recommendations.
Access to any of the deliverables that the company would like to see. Only the ungraded work can be given to the company due to student privacy laws.
Confidentiality agreement.

One on-campus meeting for a discussion about the company’s current business and history (Q&A).
Subsequently meet with teams individually (about 10 minutes per team) to answer an initial set of questions, if applicable.
A primary contact from your company to be assigned to the teams. You can specify a routine contact schedule (such as one email per week on a specified day with a reasonably-timed response).
A site visit to your facility if appropriate.
Provide background information and data about your company as needed for the analysis.
Attendance at the oral presentations.

Once an application is reviewed, the company will be contacted by the I-Core coordinator. This typically takes 10-15 minutes.
After an initial phone conversation to determine if both parties are interested and a good fit, an on-campus meeting with more of the I-Core faculty will be scheduled. This typically takes an hour.
If it looks like a good partnership and both sides are willing to commit (the decision does not need to be made at the meeting), the I-Core coordinator will follow up with the company regarding next steps and specific dates.

Companies need to be for-profit enterprises in order to meet the academic requirements of the project.
Companies should have been in existence for five years, though three is acceptable.
Companies should be open to wild, pie-in-the-sky ideas. The groups are tasked with coming up with their own revenue-generating idea for the company that has a significant change to operations and a significant financial investment (capital investment preferred).
Must be an S corp, C corp, or LLC.

FAQs

This is the most common question and the one we struggle with the most. We have a couple of ways of handling this. If it is a larger class (the vast majority), then having all the teams look at one idea is not feasible. If you have four or five ideas in mind, and they meet the academic requirements of the project, we might be able to let groups pick which one they’d like to do. What is most common is that the faculty and the company representatives determine some workable ideas beforehand and ‘feed’ them to any groups struggling to come up with ideas.

There are no costs, only time.

None. What is most common is that "nuggets" of ideas appear to the company representative. These nuggets might be related around a new product, possible promotional idea, a new market, etc. These students are juniors and just really starting to take business classes. You get fresh, but very inexperienced, eyes.

Investing in future business leaders. Over 95% of Kelley students from the IUPUI campus stay in central Indiana after graduation, although many are willing to relocate or travel if asked. This is your opportunity to get connected and help strengthen the quality of future employees in the area.
Many companies offer employment or internship positions to students due to their impressive projects.
I-Core faculty will help promote your job openings or internship positions.

We can, and have, worked with a wide variety of industries. Companies that sell tangible products or companies that offer services that require investment (i.e. significant materials, facilities, etc.) are the best for this project. Service companies that do not need investment may require our student groups to use fabricated parameters in order to meet the educational objectives of I-Core. For example, we might require them to purchase a truck or lease a building even though one is not needed. Tech companies that are all digital are more difficult. We are willing to work with any industry, but we might have to get creative regarding how we fit it within our requirements.

Ready to partner with us?

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Kelley School of Business

I-Core Partnership

Requirements

About the I-Core Project

Requirements

FAQs

Ready to partner with us?

Requirements

About the I-Core Project

Requirements

What your company can expect from Kelley

What the teams will need from your company

Process

Company requirements

FAQs

Can the groups investigate a project we are thinking about?

How much will this cost us?

How many of the project ideas typically turn out to be worthwhile for our company to pursue?

What benefit do we receive?

What type of industry works best?

Ready to partner with us?