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Service-Learning by Doing

A challenge for undergraduate learning in strategy is that the students lack professional work experiences. Without a rich background of experience, many strategic management topics are difficult to grasp. Our solution has been to develop a strategic management capstone course that combines service-learning and problem-based learning. The experiential design puts students in charge of a consulting company serving struggling local nonprofits and small businesses. By consulting, students have access to strategic decision makers and learn to understand the missions of their organizations. Students acquire a sense of urgency to solve strategic problems and develop a commitment to improving their community. In this article, the authors describe their motivations for the course design and how service-learning enhances the design’s efficacy. In addition, the authors explain the use of a matrix structure for the student consulting company, how the company operates, and the strategic process consultation approach its consultants use. This study also describes the student leadership structure and just-in-time lecture technique that enables the instructor to provide on-demand instruction. The authors conclude by explaining the assessment system of quality checks, presentations, and reflection papers that allows instructors to maintain student learning in a very flexible and student-driven learning system.