Undergraduate Opportunities in Business and Economics Business Information System Practicum The Business Information Systems Practicum provides an opportunity for students to work on an intensive consulting engagement with a business. Students work with client firms on individual or team projects that focus on information systems activities such as developing requirements, designing and implementing systems. Students are responsible for all aspects of the consulting project, from problem formulation to project planning, requirements analysis, systems design, programming, and team and client management. Students complete written reports and make formal business presentations to clients. 15-25 students annually. LUMAC: Lehigh University Management Assistance Counseling The Lehigh University Management Assistance Counseling program provides upperclass students a unique opportunity to work with small businesses. LUMAC combines the practical aspects of real world businesses with the academic specialization of the business curriculum. Business students work in small teams to provide clients of Lehigh's Small Business Development Center with recommendations based on a well-documented analysis of their business situation. Previous clients have included manufacturers, construction contractors, restaurants, retailers, wholesalers, service-oriented businesses and not-for-profit organizations. Counseling reports prepared by the student teams generally include an overall assessment of operations as well as specific suggestions for future growth. Recommendations have covered, among many others, financial and cost accounting systems and practices, advertising and sales promotion programs, resource utilization efficiency improvements, inventory control and record keeping, procedures for finding and selecting new personnel, new product introductions and even the formation of new businesses. Each year 75-100 students participate. Marketing Practicum The Marketing Practicum combines a consulting engagement with a business with formal class work on marketing problem formulation and business communications. Small teams of undergraduates work with real client firms to undertake original projects that address marketing needs of the client, such as market research, strategy development, sales management, and promotion management. Students are responsible for all aspects of the consulting project, from problem formulation to project planning, execution and team and client management. Upon completion of the project, student teams provide each client with formal oral and written reports documenting recommendations and supporting background research and analysis. 15-25 students per term. The Martindale Student Associates Program Each year, 12 select Lehigh juniors from multiple disciplines begin in-depth original research on business and economic issues in a country outside the U.S. The Martindale program extends the scope of learning beyond textbooks through international research and travel to organizations around the world for interviews and meetings with decision-makers, distinguished executives, and scholars. To gain first-hand experience of the society under study, the program includes an international field-research trip and a two-semester course dedicated to research and writing. Over the years, research has been done in Argentina, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Mexico, and most recently Austria and Switzerland. Ireland is next. The students’ research is published annually in Perspectives on Business and Economics, the undergraduate journal of the Martindale Center, distributed to over 1,500 people and libraries in the U.S. and Canada.