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Contact Us
forgrad@plymouth.edu
Tel: (800) FOR-GRAD or
(603) 535-2636
Fax: (603) 535-2572
Plymouth State University
MSC 11
17 High Street
Plymouth, NH 03264-1595
How SBI Works
The Small Business Institute® (SBI) has over a 30 years history at Plymouth State University and has celebrated numerous successes. Over the years our student teams, working under the guidance of faculty members, have made important contributions to over 300 client companies. The fact that reports submitted by Plymouth's SBI teams also have made a habit of winning state, regional and national awards for excellence, is of secondary importance. The importance of the SBI is that it serves the small businesses of the region while providing a real-world learning opportunity for students.
The Consulting Service
Businesses hear of the SBI through newspapers, word of mouth, or through other small business assistance groups such as SCORE, Small Business Administration and the New Hampshire Small Business Development Centers. They call us to request counseling by a team of students. We listen, determine if the job they need is one we might be able to help with, then, without promising anything, we send them a form called a "Request for Counseling", and ask them to prepare a short description of the task they need done.
The Consulting Opportunity
MBA candidates hear of the SBI from their professors, from other students, publications or the Web. Our role is to broker the pool of interested students with the available cases, trying to balance the student strengths with the client needs and locations. The goal is to have enthusiastic teams, for they are most likely to serve the clients well. Getting teams together has rarely been a problem, because students perceive the benefits of this course work as it relates to their business studies and resume enhancement. In addition, the SBI case affords MBAs a chance to accelerate their completion schedule in a convenient way since there is no formal classroom commitment. We invite all our graduate students to participate. Yes M.Ed. students are welcome to participate on a SBI team with MBA students!
