The faculty of the Duquesne University Palumbo-Donahue School of Business asked if Energy Swing would be interested in having the senior class perform a semester-long evaluation. This evaluation is on Energy Swing’s Total Basement Finishing product line.
President Steve Rennekamp gave an overview presentation to the students about his company. He detailed the culture and 20-year business philosophy of always striving to do the right things right. Rennkamp also provided them background on the TBF product line and why we decided to add this system to the business portfolio.
The students (split into teams) were given the responsibility to investigate the Pittsburgh market for basement finishing. From there, they would recommend their own business approach. At semester’s end, school faculty selected the three teams with the best analysis. Those three team would then give a formal presentation to several ESW/TBF employees.
Each team covered specifics related to every aspect of the business. Starting from marketing to sales, installation and financials. Each team member gave recommendations in their areas of specialization. After the presentations, the ESW/TBF Team, along with the faculty and the Dean of the School of Business selected the winning student team. Every member of the winning team was awarded a $300 prize.
“We enjoy the strong relationship we have with the Duquesne Business School and we were excited to participate in this project,” Rennekamp said. “It was exciting to see how involved the students were and how much investigative work they did. Best of all, they came up with good ideas to help us improve our TBF business. We would love to do this again in the future.”
