MKTG 376: Executive
in Residence
Advice to Future Students
Spring Semester 2003
Instructor: Timothy
Johnston
***
Daniel Schmidt
This course
gives an excellent insight into the industry and firms that operate in
I wish I
had known that this course would have given me the opportunity to get to know
the professionals so well. I wish I had prepared a resume or at least were
graduating at the end of this semester. I recommend this course to anyone that
would like to do an internship with a company in the surrounding area, anyone
that needs a job and is considering staying or working in this area. The
employers are helpful and willing to answer any questions that you may have.
***
Jana
Harris
Marketing
376
What
I learned"
What
I learned in Executive in Residence Class is a lot of valuable information that
will help me further my career. I was able to get an
inside look on companies around the west Tennessee area.The
highlights of this course was we were able to have speakers come to our
classroom to talk about their jobs and what exactly they do and what they had
to do to get the job. Another highlight of this course was I was able to go to
dinner with one of the speakers. Each one of us was able to have one on one
contact with one of the speakers. Overall, this class was entertaining and
informative class. I highly recommend this class to anyone that needs to pick
up one credit hour.
"I
wish I had known"
There
is absolutely nothing that I wish I had known before taking this course,
because this was the first time for this course to be taught.
***
Amy
Watson
What I Learned
I learned
in Executive Residence that companies have many strategic issues to
consider. Many companies that came and
spoke to us had all started out as small and never really imagined to be the
size that they are today. In starting a
business, one needs over 300,000 dollars I believe to quoted
by one speaker. That was an amount I
really didn’t ever think to be so large.
Some decisions seemed to be made on instinct, when listening to one speaker, and one bad choice could really harm your
company. One man emphasized that when
your business was going bad most times that is when your family starts to go
bad. My thoughts were changed about the
short term operational goals of first starting businesses, in that the most
successful ones do not start off huge.
They start off small and work their way up. I also realized owning your own business is
more complicated when you hear it from a true entrepreneur instead of just
reading it from the book.
I Wish I Had Known
My advice
to someone beginning the course is to come in open minded. This is a course that provides a hands on learning experience by listening to individuals
discuss their personal business life instead of you reading it from a
book. This is a course to relax in and
let information come to you instead of you having to read and memorize
material. It is a nice change of a
learning experience. I do not wish I
would’ve done anything differently in this course. I enjoyed the flexibility of events and
learning about different details of different businesses. It was an informal environment with
educational experiences.
***
What
I learned:
In this course, I learned about
several different people’s jobs and the corporations they work for. I learned many differences in goals and strategies
among the various people and their companies.
The highlight of the course was that it offered variety. Each class meeting, wherever it was held, was
different from the previous class meetings. Each speaker made their own
impression on me. This is because each
one had their own opinions and outlooks about their jobs and even about Martin
itself. I have always thought that
Martin will always be the same little town, but after hearing the speakers, I
now realize that Martin does have great potential for growth, and I am excited
to see it change during the time I am here.
I
wish I had known:
I wish I had known more about the
different companies from which the speakers represented. I think the speakers would have been even
more interesting if I had known much information about the background and
history of their companies. Most of the
speakers talked about the growth of Martin, so I wish I had known more about
Martin’s current economic status, population, and potential for growth. If I had known this beforehand, I could have
asked more intelligent questions and been more all around knowledgeable.
***
Jeff Joslin
What I learned- Some of the more interesting
things I learned in this class were the actual people or speakers that came to
us. The man that owns the Java Café also owns most of martin and is fighting
real hard to make this town a whole lot more fun and give us a few more places
to go and hang out. I also learned a lot of different aspect of what employers
look for in a confident young person looking for that first big job.
I wish I had known- I don’t really wish I had
known anything about this class; it was very laid back and beneficial to me.
Listen to the speakers because soon enough you will graduate and half to apply
what they are talking about.
***
Tommy
Allmon
Executive-In-Residence
1. What I learned from the Executive-In
Residence class involved the Martin
community in a major way.
Many of the speakers that spoke in class were
from the Martin area and they provided a tremendous
amount of insight on the
economy of Martin and what the future holds. A couple of the guests covered
the topic of economy growth in Martin. These speakers informed us that the
surrounding towns in Martin would grow before us because of
reasons such as,
future interstates, hotels and motels, and the impact of
the citizens.
Apparently
the citizens of Martin want to keep things the way they have
always been, one speaker said that Martin was “old
fashioned.” I was very
interested to hear about future prospects in Martin such as a
hotel
possibly, and maybe a nice restaurant opening in the
future. I would like to
see Martin grow just because I feel like it might feel
more like a college
town. I feel
that growth would have a major impact on the University and it
would be a positive impact. The guests opened my mind to many factors
that
Martin
must deal with before it can grow. The
most interesting topic to me
that we discussed in this class without a doubt was the
prospective growth
of Martin. I
really enjoyed hearing the speakers and the information that
they provided to the class.
2.
What
I wish I had known going in this class would have been to pay more
attention to
each speaker. Since this was a new class
I didn’t know
what to expect coming into the semester. One of the main things to know
about this class is you must attend class; attendance is
really the key to
maintaining a satisfying grade. There aren’t many assignments in this
course except profiling one speaker, so when it’s your
time to do research
it’s vital that you do it. There isn’t really anything that I would do
different in this class.
The speakers that visit are very interesting and
give us a professional point of view about the
workplace, so all I know to
tell you is to listen to what they have to say and try
to remember the
points they focus on.
One thing they may help is if a certain guest is
interesting to you, or in your field of study, then you may
want to try and
exchange contact information for future job possibilities
or internships.
***
Adam
White
Executive
in Residence
What
I learned? I learned many things about
what
people actually do and how business people create
businesses in a small market environment. Many of the
people we talked to have small businesses or worked
for them. I
also saw that many of these people were
smart and gave very informative speeches on how much
work it is to get to the point of doing what they were
doing now. I loved
some of the pointers they gave us
about how to look for work, how to present yourself,
and how to stand out in front of an employer. The TV
station manager was very interesting. I never new how
all the stuff sent that picture to my television.
I
wish I had known? I wish I would have
known what
the class was really about. I knew it was in the
first semester and did not know much about what was
going on it until we jumped in and got our feet wet.
Sometimes
it was a little uncomfortable talking to
some of these people and we had to do quite a bit of
traveling around for the class. It was all right
though. Maybe some
firms from
could come in next semester so students can see more
of a larger approach to the economy. MTD was our
largest company and they are large, but still not
traded on the stock market, etc. Overall it was a
good experience, but I probably would not have taken
the course if I would have known what it was all
about, but it will be beneficial in the understanding
of how small business owners run the businesses and
compete against bigger competitors.
***
Randi Morgan
Advice to Future Students
”What I learned”
What I
learned in this course is that the Hispanic community is steadily rising in the
I
would tell the students that are thinking of taking this course to take it.
It’s a one- hour course that bases your grade on class participation and
attending a few luncheons that the school sponsors. Its
good for that stressful semester you have and are in need of an hour more on
your schedule. From a students stand point its an easy
class that you are allowed to make suggestions on some of the surrounding
businesses you’d to come in and learn more about.
***
Kevin
Gardner
What
I Learned:
In the Executive in Residence class
I learned a little more about local business and the owners or Supervisors of
such businesses. I believe getting a better understanding of the politics and
red tape involved in such business dealings really made me open my eyes a
little more. I knew such things existed but it is very frustrating to know
there is nothing you can do to avoid it. Highlights of the course for me were
getting to go over to Java Central and talk to Michael Day. I believe he is on
the ball so to speak and I like his approach to things. Also getting to eat
lunch with Andres Gallegos, VP of the HBA was a very interesting experience for
me.
I
Wish I Had Known:
The only advice I could give to
someone new to the course would be to come every week. It is not but a one hour
class and you can really appreciate getting to know some people and hear real
business leaders thoughts and perspectives on things
in their community.
***
Travis K. Davis
Executive-in-Residence
1.
What I learned?
The duration of this course has been
a worth while experience. I was able to
listen to speaker from businesses in the surrounding area. Furthermore, learn
more about their business and what they have to offer to the community. I feel that this was a good time to network
with these people to gain more of an understanding about their company and
hopefully gain a job opportunity upon graduation from college. I feel that every business student should
take this class because this might be a way to get their foot in the door when
the other doors of opportunity are shut.
I really enjoyed this class, and I hope that you will be able to enjoy
it as well.
2.
I wish I had known?
I felt that coming into this course
not knowing anything was great because I was able to come out with something to
use for future reference. I will suggest
that whenever you have a guest speaker, you should research the company to able
to answer more questions, and make them feel that you are very interested in
their company. Furthermore, it will make
them feel more welcome. I feel that even
though this class does not require a lot of work, but you should take it very
seriously because you do not know when you will have to use this information
again. I feel that I took advantage of
the opportunities offered, and I feel that the knowledge that I have acquired
in this course will help me in my field of study.
***
Eric
Britt
Executive-in-Residence
In
this course I learned a lot in general about just how the business world
operates and what perspective employers are looking for in employees. I
particularly enjoyed the fact that it was a hands on
class that allowed you to interact with real people. If I had to pick one class
meeting that I enjoyed more than the others I would have to say that meeting
with the gentleman from the Java Café. I thought he had interesting ideas and
thoughts for the future.
There’s
really nothing I wish I had known it was a pretty easy course. As long as you
show up and take the final it’s a cake walk.