Contact: Jeremy Stroop, Carpet America Recovery Effort (706) 428-2127

Dalton, GA – October 2, 2009 – This semester, a group of students at Dalton State College are testing what they have learned about business by learning the ins and outs of carpet reclamation and recycling. Senior-level students working towards a bachelor’s degree in business at DSC have chosen the Carpet America Recovery Effort as a case study for MGNT 4701, Strategic Management and Policy, or the “capstone course” that marks the pinnacle of their academic studies.

“MGNT 4701 is the class where students take everything they’ve studied here at Dalton State and pull it all together,” said DSC Professor of Management Marilyn Helms, PhD. By exploring their chosen company’s market, studying its competition, and finding ways to create business for that organization, “They learn to see the big picture and think like top management.” Students work in small teams, first meeting with their case study “client”, then conducting independent research, and finally presenting their findings to their client company.

Dalton State worked with the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce to help identify local companies that would make for interesting case studies. According to Dr. Helms, CARE was chosen in part because students recognize the growing importance of sustainable business models. For its part, CARE is enthusiastic about the prospect of fresh input from new eyes. “What CARE is doing – finding ways to use post-consumer carpet and divert it from landfills – is exciting, in that it is in many ways a developing field that is open to multiple paths forward,” said CARE Executive Director Georgina Sikorski. “We are anxious to see what the DSC students recommend, and we are honored to have been chosen as a case study for them.”

Other case studies being undertaken by the class include a charitable organization, freestanding dog wash, the city of Dalton, and a manufacturer of custom pool cue cases, among others.