Building collaborative engagement
The Office of Business Partnerships at Purdue University’s Mitch Daniels School of Business creates and provides solutions to the business challenges of today and the future.
Dedicated Daniels School professionals streamline opportunities for industry partners and alumni to connect with students and faculty beyond the traditional classroom setting. The partnerships office helps companies solve business challenges through consulting-focused experiential learning projects across all business functions via course-based engagements or contracts with our centers.
Applying the power of data to serve industry needs is in the Office of Business Partnerships’ DNA. Moving beyond theory into real problem-solving is a call to action our office takes seriously. We understand organizations large and small face uncertainty, rapid technological changes and the continuous need to train employees and cultivate new talent.
Let’s get started, together.
TOP 8
Public University in the U.S.
QS World University, 2025
TOP 10
Most Innovative Schools in the U.S.
7 Years Running
U.S. News & World Report, 2025
BRANDS THAT MATTER
For the 4th year in a row, Purdue is the only university on Fast Company’s Brands That Matter list.
There are so many ways we can work together to create and nurture a rewarding partnership that benefits your organization. Explore the opportunities that make up the core of a strategic partnership with Purdue and the Daniels School.
Enhance your organization's leadership capacity by investing in their development through a residential, online or hybrid degree program, certificate courses or a custom offering.
Collaborate with our centers of excellence and expert faculty researchers to gain access to top thought leadership.
Develop future team members while filling your most challenging positions. Your next hire could be that talented intern, a stellar full-time candidate or a transformational executive you meet through a tailored recruitment strategy designed for your company.
Join forces with our expert faculty and top students to create a consulting project that will define and test solutions for your pain points.
Drive industry and academic innovation through board membership, mentoring, guest lectures and curricular guidance.
As precision agriculture becomes increasingly essential for farming efficiency and sustainability, the company aims to expand its market share by offering advanced upgrade solutions for existing agricultural equipment. This project focuses on developing a comprehensive business strategy to position the company competitively in the retrofit market, targeting customers who prefer to enhance their current machinery rather than invest in new or used alternatives.
Students will explore and recommend marketing strategies tailored to upgrade-minded customers, evaluate the competitive landscape — including identifying leading players and their strategic advantages — and assess how regulatory trends, technological innovation and evolving market demands shape the value proposition of equipment upgrades. Additionally, the project will propose a long-term upgrade portfolio roadmap to ensure sustained innovation and business growth in the precision agriculture space.
In 2024, the partner was notified by the United States government that all manufacturers must meet the prescribed 2030 Emissions Standards as set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The partner presented the students with three product options, from which each team chose one for the company to focus on based on financials, projections, and economic indicators.
The Partner’s procurement data was fragmented, inconsistent and lacked standardization. Supplier selection was decentralized, causing pricing inefficiencies. Many plants bypassed bidding thresholds, undermining compliance. Also, legacy approval flows were slow and lacked actionable insights.
Academic and industry partnerships bring together the best of industry-specific and cutting-edge business knowledge to craft new and innovative ideas.
Mike Pettit
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Wabash
Read the full story about our collaborative partnership with Wabash.
When we explore different avenues through what the students help us understand, that opens up new ways of solving the problems that we face.
Dave Teeter
Vice President of Talent and Organizational Effectiveness, Wabash
What's really impressed me is [the students are] clearly getting a lot of training very early on. They’re well prepared for what's going to be required of them as they move from the academic world into the business world.
Michael Day
Executive Director, Engine Business Segment, Off-Highway Finance, Cummins
