“What’s New” In the CBE- February 2009
Dr. Gary S.Wilson, Director

For several years, I have tried to find effective ways to communicate to both perspective students as well as our 7500-8000 Center for Business and Economics (CBE) Alumni about the exciting happenings and events taking place in the CBE. The first element of this communications effort was the creation of a CBE newsletter—“Chillin With the CBE”. An objective of the quarterly publication is to provide readers with additional insights into what is really happening in regards to current students and Alumni. As a result of the hard work by Professor Kelly Cunningham and Melissa Cunningham, the third edition our newsletter is available in both hard copy and electronic form. If you would like a copy just contact me at the e-mail address at the bottom of this column.

A second strategy that I thought I might try is to write a monthly column under the “What’s New” section of the CBE website. The best part of writing this column is the fact that there is so much going on that is difficult to focus on just one for this introductory column. As a result, I thought I might want to tell readers a bit more about one of the relatively unknown aspects of the CBE—The Hardin Market Research Institute.

So here goes my attempt at what I hope is the first of many columns—Enjoy!

The Hardin Market Research Institute
(Note: my comments are adapted from documents utilized during the creation and development of the Institute).

The David K. Hardin Endowment for Market Research was established at Elmhurst College upon the first payment of the $1 Million Award from the David K Hardin Generativity Trust in April 1997. As a leader in the marketing research field, Mr. Hardin was Chairman for many years of Market Facts - an international market research firm headquartered in the Chicago area.

The union of the Hardin Endowment with Elmhurst College has been a natural one since many of the same enlightened values, strong ethics and progressive spirit that are the essence of Mr. Hardin in the way he conducted his life and work are shared by the Elmhurst College Community—students, faculty and staff. One of the major objectives in the management of David K. Hardin Endowment was to honor Mr. Hardin's legacy while at the same time being able to provide a valuable resource to serve the needs of academic, small business and non-profit organizations affiliated with the college and community. The leadership within the CBE, as well as on campus, believes this to be one of the most important guiding principles when it comes time to decision-making concerning the direction of the Institute.

Central to our vision was the creation of the Hardin Market Research Institute. A main goal of the Institute was to develop opportunities for students and faculty to work together on collaborative projects. This provides students with valuable experiences in high quality research as well as provides services to academic, small business and non-profit institutions. These three sectors were chosen because of the natural fit between their needs and the strength and comparative advantages of Elmhurst College and the Institute. Typically, many academic institutions, small businesses and non-profit organizations may have little experience and few resources to conduct proper market research in order to facilitate sound decision-making.

The CBE has significant experience in conducting collaborative student/faculty research, small business consulting, and faculty and students in marketing. The specific relationships and projects have varied widely. In some cases, small businesses requiring market research to collect important marketing information to begin or expand business operations. In the cases of academic institutions and non-profit organizations, the Institute has helped them to apply tools of market research to their specific needs and environments. In all cases, students have received “hands-on” research opportunities to increase their skills and provide them with insights into what it means to do high quality work as a professional in market research. For example, this spring the Institute will be conducting three major research projects for-non-profit clients utilizing the skills of two MBA graduate students and four undergraduates.

As a result of its work, t he Hardin Institute was a past recent recipient of the AABE, award for Business Excellence, in the educational programs category sponsored by The Business Ledger.

If you are interested in learning more about the Hardin Institute, as a student intern or possible client, please contact Ms. Sherry Smoak, Coordinator, (630) 617-5543 or ssmoak@elmhurst.edu.

I look forward to providing readers with many more columns during the next few months. In the mean time, if you have any questions or comments regarding the CBE or anything dealing with something you read on our website, please feel free to contact me at garyw@elmhurst.edu or 630-617-3785 or stop by my office at 321A Lehman Hall.