>> Corporate Partnerships
Applied projects for business students
Grow your business while mentoring tomorrow's business leaders and increasing your brand visibility among the next generation. ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business empowers corporate partners to engage with students and develop innovative business solutions by sponsoring applied projects.
Companies of all sizes collaborate with our academic departments to co-create mutually enriching projects. These applied learning experiences help you gain new insights for business needs and build a talent pipeline.
Contact [email protected] for more information.
Benefits of sponsoring applied projects
Sponsoring student projects gives your organization access to innovative ideas and creative talent who could be your company's future. Guided by faculty recognized as influential researchers and consultants, our students bring unbiased, fresh perspectives for solving your organization's business challenges.
These skill-based learning projects allow students to apply knowledge in a real-world context and prepare for the workplace. Your organization can help identify the technical and soft skills and experience you seek in business school graduates. Many of the W. P. Carey School’s corporate partners have confidently hired students based on their applied project performance.
63%
of employers identify skills gap as a major priority* — student projects help bridge that gap and teach desired skills
69%
of college graduates want employers to develop hands-on learning opportunities with their schools**
Sources: *World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report, 2025; **Cengage Group Employability Report, 2024
"These projects give us the ability to see emerging talent right out of the gate and the opportunity to harness innovative thinking. It's amazing for us to have the opportunity to host these students."
Jomarie Skurtovich, Global VP Operations, Avnet
"For small businesses, partnering with the W. P. Carey School of Business is an incredible opportunity. It gives you access to fresh thinking, enthusiastic talent, and practical marketing insights that can make a real impact."
Katie Cline, VP of Marketing, Bubbies Ice Cream
Frequently asked questions
Here you’ll find general guidelines for frequently asked questions from companies about student projects at the W. P. Carey School of Business, including how to sponsor a project of your own. Applied projects are one of many partnership opportunities available at the school.
When deciding to sponsor a project, it’s important to consider your area of focus and scope, understanding that the work must be possible to complete in a semester and that different types of activities will require different levels of knowledge and skills. For example, some projects are more appropriate for graduate business students than undergraduate students, and we can often point you to students in specific degree programs that will be well-suited to achieving your project goals.
With more than 60 degree programs and 23,000+ students, there are many sources of talent and ways to create an applied project at W. P. Carey.
>> Contact [email protected] to start a conversation about your unique needs and the breadth of applied project opportunities that are suitable for our student population. We look forward to hearing from you!
Companies own all intellectual property, results, and deliverables for the student projects.
The timeline and duration vary depending on the project (typically 10-15 weeks on average, with shorter opportunities available). Please contact [email protected] for more information.
Depending on the complexity of the project, companies may work with either undergraduate or graduate students in any of our academic departments. Our team will assist in determining which students and degree programs are best suited for your project needs
There is no fee associated with sponsoring an applied project.
All companies retain complete control of their data security and the level of confidentiality they'd like for the project. Students may be asked to sign non-disclosure agreements.
The W. P. Carey School of Business welcomes companies of all sizes and industries to sponsor applied student projects and receive valuable insights from future leaders in our business degree programs.
W. P. Carey faculty collaboratively co-create projects with partners to ensure the scope, area of focus, and student population are a good fit overall.
Yes! We provide direct access to academic personnel and network resources for SMBs. The Center for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (CSMB) empowers you to scale and optimize operations with technology solutions, workforce development opportunities, mentorship, and so much more.
Example projects and partners
Corporate partners of all sizes and industries work with the W. P. Carey School of Business to design undergraduate and graduate student projects that fit their needs. Find a list of past applied projects below. Rooted in research, W. P. Carey student recommendations have helped solve critical business problems — ranging from streamlining operational efficiency to improving social media engagement.
Graduate student projects
The Blacksmith Brand, a small business in the combat and sports equipment space, sought to identify and evaluate qualified manufacturing partners in Mexico to support the launch of new products. They wanted to grow while maintaining costs, quality, and agility, along with considering ethics and the environment.
Students pursuing the Master of Science in Supply Chain Management (MS-SCM) used market mapping, competitor benchmarking, and shipping and trade data analysis to screen potential partners based on relevant industry experience and capabilities. They developed a data-driven supplier evaluation process using a customized scorecard, providing the company with a replicable framework for supplier discovery and evaluation.
>> Learn more about the W. P. Carey Department of Supply Chain Management.
Lenovo, a leading PC manufacturer, wanted to improve their customer-facing service process and provide a better digital experience for self-service repair. A team of W. P. Carey Full-time MBA students with concentrations in marketing conducted deep research to understand Lenovo's service environment, diagnose customer journeys, and discover best practices.
Students developed key recommendations for enhancing the self-service portal, simplifying messaging, and updating the post-service survey. Guided by the student recommendations and their proposed product mock-ups and storyboards, Lenovo has implemented a better support experience for customers wanting accurate, relevant repair information.
>> Learn more about the W. P. Carey Department of Marketing.
Grand Canyon Council, a nonprofit organization supporting the development of Arizona's youth, wanted to raise their year-over-year donations. Students pursuing a Master of Science in Business Analytics (MS-BA), jointly offered by the Department of Supply Chain Management and Department of Information Systems, used segmentation, predictive modeling with synthetic data, geographic analysis, and strategy design to propose targeted fundraising actions.
They discovered that Phoenix and Scottsdale donors contributed 80% of the total donations, so they recommended that the organization allocate more resources to these two areas and launch localized storytelling campaigns in other areas.
>> Learn more about how to sponsor MS-BA applied projects.
Televerde Foundation (TVF), a nonprofit organization providing workforce development for incarcerated women, worked with the W. P. Carey School to develop a communication strategy that supports their growth goals. Full-time MBA students with concentrations in marketing identified current gaps in TVF's messaging using stakeholder interviews, detailed competitor analysis, and go-to-market strategy evaluation.
The students recommended increasing user engagement and searchability on website content and aligning strategy and messaging across audience segments. They developed a segmentation scheme to shape TVF's marketing procedures to meet each segment's unique needs and created pathways for corporate engagement. TVF implemented these recommendations, enabling them to reach a wider audience.
>> Learn more about the W. P. Carey Department of Marketing.
DHL, a multinational logistics company managing thousands of time-critical deliveries, has sponsored several projects for students in the Department of Supply Chain Management and Department of Information Systems. One of their projects for students earning a Master of Science in Business Analytics (MS-BA) involved improving warehouse allocation and routing efficiency to decrease delays and operational strain.
Students used historical demand patterns and a custom optimization model to reassign deliveries to warehouses based on proximity and warehouse type, causing a 40% reduction in shipment processing time. This approach laid the groundwork for automated routing optimization, improved workforce planning, and cost-aware network redesign.
>> Learn more about how to sponsor MS-BA applied projects.
Benchmark, a computer and electronics manufacturing brand, wanted to reduce idle time and improve workflow across the production floor. W. P. Carey students pursuing the Master of Science in Supply Chain Management (MS-SCM) used time-series data, motion studies, and direct observation to identify key operational bottlenecks causing downtime.
Students recommended low-cost practical solutions, including floor layout changes, storage reorganization, and process adjustments to enable scalable, efficient production. Benchmark used these recommendations as a starting point to improve operational visibility, enhance forecasting accuracy, and align production capacity with long-term business growth goals.
>> Learn more about the W. P. Carey Department of Supply Chain Management.
Undergraduate student projects
State Forty Eight, a local brand in the retail apparel and fashion space, asked the W. P. Carey Department of Marketing to pitch them a brand, organization, or individual for a potential future collaboration. A team of undergraduate sports business students worked directly with organizational leadership, receiving guidance from the CEO of State Forty Eight and other members of the executive team.
Students took into account State Forty Eight’s brand values, as well as marketing and sales insights, while building a feasible audience strategy, activation ideas, and social media plan. State Forty Eight used these pitches to gauge what a viable next collaboration could be.
Spear Education, a local small business that provides continuing education for dentists, has sponsored several projects for the W. P. Carey School’s Department of Information Systems. One of their projects looked at factors that led to customers churning. Using website activity and membership data provided by the company, students determined what constitutes a churned customer in the data and looked at website activity that preceded churn events.
With the student discoveries, Spear Education could reprioritize markets with low customer penetration, especially those previously considered successful but were actually skewed by patient volume.
CBIZ, a large national insurance brokerage firm, engaged undergraduate students in the human resources degree program to evaluate their employee engagement efforts and recommend changes to modernize how they approach and engage their teams. Students spent time with key stakeholders to ask questions and receive feedback throughout the project. The student consulting team created recommendations, templates, and program structure to present to CBIZ stakeholders, which were praised and implemented.
>> Learn more about the W. P. Carey Department of Management and Entrepreneurship.
The City of Glendale wanted to know how to allocate library resources across branches better and the impact of charging for printing services. Looking at usage data of various library resources, including books, videos, and printing services, W. P. Carey undergraduate students identified trends across library branches and made recommendations about printing services.
Based on the student recommendations, the Glendale public libraries started offering free printing services after seeing that troubleshooting payment issues was more costly than allowing complimentary printing.
>> Learn more about the W. P. Carey Department of Information Systems.
Bubbies Ice Cream, a local business in the frozen novelty space, has worked with both undergraduate and graduate W. P. Carey students as extensions of their marketing team. Brand management students were tasked with building brand awareness and strengthening customer loyalty to drive sales by creating omnichannel marketing campaigns and providing brand growth recommendations.
Using background information on the Bubbies brand and category, students conducted primary and secondary research to understand marketplace dynamics. Bubbies has implemented several recommendations from the students, ranging from packaging design to social media content.
>> Learn more about the W. P. Carey Department of Marketing.
Terros, Arizona's largest behavioral health provider, is the longest-running partner of the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship and has sponsored many student projects over eight years. A recent project asked student consulting teams in the human resources degree program to develop fundamental management trainings about management principles and the operational aspects of Terros facilities.
The students developed content outlines, sample presentations, and videos as potential material for the management trainings. Terros commended and implemented the final product that the students delivered.