The Raj Soin College of Business and i-Zone, a Dayton non-profit business organization, teamed-up once again to provide a valuable learning experience for students and unique insights for companies in the region. Through a Special Topics course, teams of undergraduate, graduate business students and i-Zone mentors critiqued and assisted local companies with their business growth strategies.

It was refreshing and energizing to work with the students. Because of their fearless and even naïve approaches and responses, each business was able to receive answers to their problems without the typical business/political baggage... Rob Miller, i-Zone and Solve Interactive.

The ten-week project allowed students to gain real-world experience by working with managers and other professionals from four growth firms in the region. Scott Williams, Associate Professor of Management at the Raj Soin College of Business, provided guidance and mentoring to the students. According to Dr. Williams, “Connecting students with the business community is a high priority for us. It increases the transfer of classroom learning to the workplace, lets us validate and update our curriculum, and lets us showcase our students’ capabilities and talent.”

The four firms included CDO Technologies, PerkinElmer, Quanexus and Edict Systems.

CDO Technologies, which is headquartered in Dayton, is a leader in turning technology into innovative solutions for a variety of commercial sectors. Several of CDO’s products, such as the Tool Accountability System (TAS) product, have become the industry-wide standard used by the United States Air Force. The student team was given the challenge of keeping CDO’s product portfolio current in the context of a rapidly changing market. Stefan Ries, the Director of Marketing for CDO praised the team and commented that “the team’s comprehensive approach has enabled CDO Technologies to make more rapid, fact-based decisions.”