Retail Consulting Class: Experiential Learning Platform to Develop Future Retail Talents

Abstract

Today's retail landscape is changing drastically. The digital revolution has reduced barriers to entry and thereby created an increasingly competitive retail marketplace. The rise of online and omni-channel retailing has elevated the needs and expectations of the average consumer. Technological advancements have increased the amount and variety of accessible data. These changes have pushed retailers toward data-driven strategies with real-time implementation to stay relevant in a dynamic marketplace (Perrey & Spillecke, 2011). Such a shift requires a new breed of talent in the corporate retail workforce. Retail firms, especially well-established ones, are in dire need of new talent with diverse skillsets (Lobaugh, McElroy, & Sloan, 2016). Skills such as critical thinking, cross-functional teamwork, data analytics, and communication/leadership are highly demanded in the corporate retail environment. Retailers can look to young professionals who recently completed their higher education as a means of filling their demand for talent. Preparing students for this retail workforce is no small undertaking. It requires rethinking traditional education methods to provide students with the skills necessary for success in today's retail landscape. This poses a challenge for educators because many skills demanded in this evolving industry (such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities) are not easily developed in traditional classroom settings (Willingham, 2007). Many educators consider experiential learning through real-world projects to be the best method for students to develop critical thinking skills demanded by employers (

Developing a Work‐Ready Social Media Marketing Analytics Course: A Model to Cultivate Data‐Driven and Multiperspective Strategy Development Skills

“…Although working in teams may improve the quality of the final product by enabling students to leverage the skillsets of their team members (Oh & Polidan, ), a valuable learning opportunity will be wasted if students merely divide and complete the tasks according to their expertise (Glenn, ; Spiller & Tuten, ). Therefore, students were required to present on their nonexpert areas during the final project presentations.…”

“…The judges were professors from the same school, consisting of one marketing professor and one nonmarketing professor, who were blind to the purpose of the study. Since most professors are familiar with the term “critical thinking,” to facilitate the evaluation process we instructed the judges to evaluate the level of “critical thinking skills” rather than “data‐driven and multiperspective strategy development skills.” Critical thinking skills refer to the ability to actively conceptualize, apply, analyze, synthesize, infer, and evaluate information to produce a logical conclusion or solution to a problem (Dwyer, Boswell, & Elliott, ; Oh & Polidan, ), which corresponds to our concept of data‐driven and multiperspective strategy development skills. The judges were provided with an instruction sheet explaining the definition of critical thinking skills (see Exhibit ) and were asked to rate the student answers on its level of critical thinking skills (“please evaluate each answer on the level of critical thinking evident in the answer”) on a seven‐point scale (1‐low to 7‐high).…”

“…For example, providing an opportunity to interact with analytically proficient peers (i.e., ISDS students) while working on an assignment together can motivate marketing students to learn analytics skills while feeling less intimidated than learning it through a formal lecture from a professor. Although working in teams may improve the quality of the final product by enabling students to leverage the skillsets of their team members (Oh & Polidan, 2018), a valuable learning opportunity will be wasted if students merely divide and complete the tasks according to their expertise (Glenn, 2011;Spiller & Tuten, 2015). Therefore, students were required to present on their nonexpert areas during the final project presentations.…”

Achieving Scaled and Sustained Use of Client-Based Projects in Business School Marketing Education: A Proposed Suprastructure

“…Many scholars contend that business education is overly focused on the science aspect of management and needs to change asserting that student self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1993), one’s confidence in their ability to tackle a given situation, is best achieved through attained experience (de los Santos & Jensen, 1985; Gosling & Mintzberg, 2004; Kolb & Kolb, 2005; Mintzberg, 2004; Oh & Polidan, 2018). A report summarizing the findings from a massive online forum of 6,000 participants (scholars, students, and practitioners) discussing the future of management education (Ayling, Price, Tucker, & Vellner, 2015), similarly explicitly called out the need to increase co-construction of learning experiences between industry leaders and academics to address the expanding gap between theory and practice.…”

“…Internships, simulations, case studies, and practicums are typical forms of experiential learning used in business schools. In the applied discipline of marketing, client-based projects (CPBs) have been recognized as a particularly advantageous form of experiential learning (Bove & Davies, 2009; de los Santos & Jensen, 1985; Oh & Polidan, 2018; Strauss, 2011). However, while CBPs have become more commonplace in undergraduate marketing curriculum, their use in graduate business school curriculum remains sporadic (Hagan, 2012).…”