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Goodwill Gets a Helping Hand from the Smith School

When Goodwill Industries International, Inc. needed a consultant, they turned to the Smith School’s Advisory and Collaborative Services. Goodwill is one of the world’s largest nonprofit providers of education, training and career services for people with physical, mental and emotional disabilities, as well as those with disadvantages such as welfare dependency, criminal history and lack of work experience.

Goodwill wanted to explore employment markets that involved the use of technology. They were particularly interested in the possibilities of document imaging services. “Our members view document imaging as a better opportunity than janitorial work, which is the core of our business currently,” says Doug Allen, Goodwill’s manager of contracts development. “A job using technology is very exciting to our constituents.”

Document imaging also had appeal because it offered job opportunities for Goodwill clients who struggle with severe disabilities. Before documents are processed they have to be unstapled and unclipped. Folds need to be smoothed out. This presents opportunities for those severely disabled individuals who might otherwise have a difficult time finding a job.

Through an MBA Consulting Project, Smith’s Advisory and Collaborative Services helped Goodwill flesh out their ideas, providing a tremendous amount of research and background information. Allen and Patrick Daniere, Goodwill’s director of membership development, worked with a consulting group comprised of second-year MBA students advised by one of Smith’s top-ranked faculty. “The consulting group helped us synthesize our knowledge and focus our future efforts,” says Allen. “One chart they produced helped me understand where Goodwill fit into the scope of the industry. It was a real eye-opener. We realized we were only playing in a certain-sized field, and that we could expand the field we were playing in. It was a very insightful analysis.”

►Full Story in Smith Business Magazine, Spring 2005

Hear How Smith Consultants Helped Three Other Companies

Marriott International, Inc.
"Marriott International has participated in the MBA Consulting Program for four years. We have been extremely impressed by the caliber of students assigned to our projects, and by their efforts to deliver a high quality and effective product. The recommendations made by the consulting teams have been utilized by our finance organization in developing sophisticated valuation techniques. The consulting program gives us a great opportunity to get an in-depth look at the students, which enhances our ability to recruit top talent from the MBA program."

Kenneth R. Rehmann, Senior Vice President,
Lodging Finance and Business Development

Lockheed Martin Corporation
"The Smith School consultants have provided exceptional value for our investment or time and money. The students went above and beyond in recognizing our need and aggressively developing an innovative, thoughtful, and useful deliverable to fulfill the need. I have worked with four teams from the Smith School in the past two years, and am very pleased with their intellectual and creative solutions. I look forward to our continued partnership. "

S.K. Gupta, Director, LM21 Operating Excellence

Verizon
"Verizon's relationship with Smith School consulting teams spans several years, and has provided us with a constant source of fresh ideas and new perspectives. The students are motivated, intelligent, and deliver well-crafted products. The consulting projects provide us with a superior return on investment, and solutions that are comprehensive, timely, and practical."

Vincent A. Reed, Market Manager, Consumer Marketing

►Project Profile