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Poole College’s Consumer Innovation Consortium Announces First Corporate Research Partners

The Consumer Innovation Consortium (CIC), an academic-corporate research collaboration recently established in the North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management, today announced the selection of four foundational partner companies, chosen to represent thought leadership in consumer-centric approaches to marketing within their respective industries.

“We are very pleased to welcome AmerisourceBergen, Bayer CropScience, The Clorox Company, and Cotton Incorporated as our inaugural CIC research partners,” said Dr. Stacy Wood, Langdon Distinguished Professor of Marketing in Poole College’s Department of Business Management and CIC executive director.  Wood established the consortium in 2012 as an outgrowth of her research, which focuses on the psychology of consumer behavior.

“To be a successful innovator, employees throughout the company must understand consumers and how they make choices,” Wood said. “The Consumer Innovation Consortium was established to help companies integrate consumer research at all stages of their new product development processes, not just at the point of concept testing or product launch.”

Multidisciplinary Graduate Research

Each partner firm will be working with the CIC on a customized research project. The CIC project teams presently include Wood and students in the Consumer Inovation Practicum (MBA 590) in Poole College's Jenkins MBA program.

The CIC also is recruiting graduate students in other disciplines across the NC State campus for next year, particularly in the areas of advanced analytics, rhetoric and design. "So, our project teams will reflect the interdisciplinary expertise of researchers in these additional fields," she said.

“The student team members will receive specialized training in the tools and techniques for these research projects,” Wood said. "As a result, the research will expand the bandwidth of partner firms to engage in the kind of data collection that can guide important strategic decisions, allowing managers to make both short-term decisions and long-term plans."

“The CIC will serve as a conduit of new marketing knowledge through access to practical translations of academic research, topical email updates and two one-day ‘Power Conferences,’ said Dr. Colbey Reid, CIC director. “The consortium also will serve as a talent pipeline that connects partner companies with top NC State graduate students and creative thinkers in both Poole College and across the NC State campus,” she said.

“We look forward to working with these and future partner companies to expand their research capabilities and gain greater insight regarding their customers’ decision making processes,” Wood said. “In collaborating with such marketing trendsetters, we will bring a new dimension of real world experience to our marketing program, providing consumer-centric training to a new generation of marketing researchers and new interdisciplinary collaborative opportunities across the NC State University, adding to the well established university-wide leadership in initiating transformative change,” Wood said.

Companies interested in learning more about the Consumer Innovation Consortium or students interested in the practicum class or MBA marketing fellowship may contact Reid at 919.543.7491 or by email.

About the CIC Partner Companies

  • AmerisourceBergen is a global pharmaceutical services provider servicing both healthcare providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers in the pharmaceutical supply channel. Ranked 29th among Fortune 500 companies, AmerisourceBergen handles approximately 25% of all pharmaceuticals sold and distributed in the United States. “This business unit, AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation is striving to be a leader in promoting customer-centric service innovations,” says Stacy Wood, CIC founder and affiliated researcher.  
  • Bayer CropScience is responsible for the agricultural business of Bayer AG, a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of healthcare, agriculture and high-tech materials. CIC researchers will collaborate with Environmental Science, a division of Bayer CropScience LP that strives to foster healthy environments where people live, work and play. “The fit between the CIC and Bayer is ideal, given the commitment of NC State to sustainability and a long-standing relationship between the two organizations,” says Colbey Reid, CIC Director.
  • Burt’s Bees is headquartered in Durham and is one of the area and nation’s premiere designers of natural and sustainable personal care products. “Burt’s Bees is a pioneer in understanding the relationship between a thriving community and good business sense,” says Reid.
  • Cotton Incorporated is a global thought-leader in the use and promotion of one of history’s most important crops, cotton.  With offices in Cary, New York, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Osaka, Cotton Incorporated is a global resource for the entire cotton supply chain, with the mission of increasing the demand for and profitability of cotton through research and promotion. “The company’s partnership with the CIC is particularly meaningful for NC State, as it expands the longstanding relationship between Cotton Incorporated and our College of Design and College of Textiles,” Reid said.

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