Each Fall and Spring semester, senior students in the Masters of Biotechnology Studies Program develop a marketing/business plan for a Biotech company as a requirement for their capstone class. Students work in teams, each of which is matched with a sponsor company. We have had students work on several elements of a business plan including:
- Product differentiation
- SWOT analysis
- Market size and segmentation
- Competition assessment
- Financial projections
- Product pricing
- Promotion
- Placement analysis
The sponsor company’s representatives work closely with the students to develop a plan for a particular area of interest to the sponsor company. Since the course is offered on-line most of the information can be gathered via email or telephone with limited face-to- face meetings. Company representatives are given access to a specially designed classroom on UMUC server where they can interact with the team members. At the end of the semester the plan and findings are presented to the company representatives for their use at no charge.
In the last few years, several companies including environmental firms, biotech companies, IT firms, and manufacturing enterprises have acted as sponsors. The subjects have ranged from nutritional genomics, new software launch program, and environmental analysis to new pharmaceutical products.
We are currently looking for companies that will act as sponsors for our future classes. For corporations interested in participating in this program please contact:
Dr. Rana Khan
Program Director, Biotechnology Studies
Email: rkhan@umuc.edu
Phone: 301-985-7679