Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63428
responded by offering free ads. "The local TV station did a snazzy public service announcement showing students going up in helicopters. A newspaper just agreed to give us a half-page ad during the week of the conference," Ricchiuti says. "We've also had exposure on CNBC, CNN, and radio shows. Recently we were featured on a radio program called 'Ray On the Money,' hosted by Ray Lucia." The Burkenroad program requires not just a commitment of time, but of money, since travel and printing both can be expensive propositions. However, offsetting income almost allows the program to break even. The major source of rev- enue is the endowment provided by the family of William B. Burkenroad Jr., a Tulane alum and supporter, for whom the program is named. "We started off as the Freeman Reports The business school has to be prepared to support the pro- gram financially and emotionally for about three years before expecting it to run smoothly, he says, and it also must hire the right director. "You need a nontraditional faculty person, not someone who's just interested in why stocks go up every other Monday when it's colder than 40 degrees. You need somebody who's a salesperson, who can sell the faculty, the benefactors, and the sponsors on such a program." He also thinks such a program is likelier to be successful if it's located away from the big financial centers and if it focuses on small regional businesses that need the exposure. "You could do the same program for bigger-name corpora- tions, but you'd be less likely to get the appreciation of the companies," he says. "Some of our kids want to write about Microsoft. I tell them, 'There are 60 people writing about Microsoft! But we're the only people writing about the chicken at Sanderson Farms.'" Another reason it's so valuable to profile small firms, Ricchiuti believes, is that students get a chance to see busi- ness owners who are intimately connected to the fortunes of "There are 60 people writing about Microsoft! But we're the only people writing about the chicken at Sanderson Farms." until we got the endowment," says Ricchiuti. Additional money comes from conference sponsors and the $100 con- tribution investors are asked to make for getting the printed reports. Starting this year, the program also will receive a licensing fee from the Burkenroad Fund. Duplicate Success The commitment of time and money makes it a program that's difficult to replicate elsewhere—but not impossible. "We just got a grant from the International Development Bank to create Burkenroad Reports Latin America, where we'll be training the faculty of nine business schools of Latin America to create this program on their own," says Ricchiuti. The schools are now in the process of doing research on small public companies in their own countries, and their reports will show up on the Burkenroad Web site. Eventually, some of the Latin American CEOs will make presentations at the New Orleans conference. Other schools looking to craft such a program should anticipate a few bumps in the road early on, says Ricchiuti. their companies. "When we were at Piccadilly, the CFO took us to the cafeteria, and we all walked through the line with our trays. The CFO stopped at the drink counter and said, 'I've been running some numbers, and I've been thinking. If half the people who got water bought iced tea instead, we could add seven cents a share.' The students get to meet the people who have a fire in their bellies, the peo- ple who wake up three times a night with a little pad of paper next to them, jotting down ideas about how to get the price of stock to go up." The Burkenroad Reports program isn't successful only because it introduces students to engaged CEOs or because it brings small companies to the attention of curious investors. It's also successful because it directly helps students find jobs. "The investment market is a tough nut to crack, and kids need some sort of edge to get in," Ricchiuti says. "The report creates a great vehicle to send with a resume. It contains a writing sample and it shows the ability to model. The thing I'm most proud of is that we've sent more than 300 students from this program into jobs in investment business." ■ z BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2002 45