顶点体验

HEBSBA students share their skills with real-world businesses before graduation.

作为商业课程的一部分, HEBSBA students in Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Health Administration (MHA) programs are required to take a capstone course in their respective degree plans.

These courses are referred to as a "capstone" because they are one of the final pieces in a student’s degree and a culmination of their program education. The capstone course asks students to harness all the knowledge and skills gained from their other courses and apply them to real-world scenarios through a capstone project.

 

什么是商业顶点课程?

团队合作, students are paired with an established business or nonprofit organization – their client – and tasked with studying operations, approaches and company culture for the duration of the semester. 通过研究, the teams identify real organizational challenges, and utilize their comprehensive business knowledge learned throughout their program to discern real opportunities and develop solutions that the client can then apply. Student teams share their organizational analysis and solutions via a formal proposal presentation for the client and HEBSBA faculty.

 

顶点的好处

凯普斯通的学生在演讲前挤成一团

Capstone course projects draw upon the wealth of student knowledge and business education to help businesses and organizations address challenges. 学生 also benefit greatly from the project experience and complete the course more prepared to enter the workforce because the capstone course offered them the opportunity to:

  • 与组织决策者会面.
  • Understand organizational structures, employee roles and day-to-day operations.
  • Analyze business processes, policies and infrastructure.
  • Identify business, climate or market challenges.
  • 应用 creativity and business understanding to develop workable business solutions.
  • 磨练演讲技巧.
  • Generate portfolio-quality work and resume addition.
  • Develop key contacts and grow professional network.
 

顶点客户体验

近年来, dozens of organizations from charitable nonprofits to education institutions to retailers to mid-size corporations have partnered with HEBSBA on the capstone course. Among the many businesses who have partnered with HEBSBA on capstone courses is 英联邦的咖啡. The chain of cafes has grown steadily since its launch and its owners frequently utilize the capstone course to help them with specific business challenges and unearth new, 创意. The coffee company will soon launch another new endeavor, devised in partnership with their most recent capstone student group.

When the owners of 英联邦的咖啡 opened their first location in 2015, they knew their success would depend on the surrounding community ... 毕竟，他们说，这是名字. What they didn’t realize at the time was that they would find one of the driving forces for their success right across the street from their flagship location.

英联邦咖啡的顶点学生

"The 道成肉身的大学 really helped us get a leg up as we were new to the area,何塞·坎波斯说, who founded Commonwealth along with co-owner Jorge Herrero. "We forged relationships with the art department, 音乐系, the different directors from different schools to really incorporate our idea that we were going to be part of the community."

特别是, they found an ideal partner in 工商管理学院 capstone projects. 现在, 五年之后，又去了八个地方, Commonwealth still returns to that capstone common ground when they are generating new business ideas.

“你想超过5个, 5年半, there have been some semesters where we have taken two capstone groups,坎波斯说。, who estimates he has taken part in at least a dozen 校本 capstone projects. “这是一个具体问题具体分析的基础. 例如, 随着我们的扩展, we engaged capstone groups to help us with market analysis, competition analysis for different locations because now we are all over the city."

Campos and Herrero are starting a new venture called Callejero Roasting, importing coffees from around the world to San Antonio. An idea they are once again cooking up with an old neighbor.

"I am always very open to new ideas,坎波斯说。. “我认为这是一种合作关系. 我告诉他们我们就在这里. 这就是我们要找的. 这就是我认为你能帮上忙的地方. And we throw them a lot of information and ask for feedback. 这是一个来回的过程. 这不是一次性的. There have been several students who have done capstone who ended up coming on to our team as interns. We had a marketing intern who at one point ran all our social media. We had an operations intern who helped develop the employee handbook. 所以你永远不会知道."

But one thing they do know at Commonwealth is that they have a community with a common interest in tackling whatever business venture an entrepreneur can brew up next.

"We never could have imagined this kind of growth. 这从来没有在计划中，”坎波斯说.

HEBSBA students have worked with a wide variety of clients. Click below to find out more about recent years’ capstone projects.