News
Carpet Industry Leader’s Experience a Teaching Tool for Dalton State, Other Institutions
10/10/18
Dr. Ralph Boe’s experience had already become a teaching tool for students at Dalton State. Now, it’s a teaching tool for a much wider audience.
Boe, executive in residence for the C. Lamar and Ann Wright School of Business, and Dr. Marilyn Helms, dean of the school, co-authored an article on Boe’s experience as owner of a global company that can now be accessed by other institutions for teaching purposes.
“Turnaround at Carpets International” was published in The CASE Journal recently, which features peer-reviewed scholarly case studies that include teaching notes. The article speaks on how Boe purchased a company once suffering from ageing equipment and quality issues in the 1990s and made it competitive in the UK and international marketplace.
Boe teaches on his experience working in the United Kingdom and on purchasing his former company, Carpets International. He covers strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats analysis and uses strategic management tools covered in senior-level courses.
“After hearing the story of his turnaround that became an acquisition and the changes he made in marketing, products, innovation, distribution, and the entire supply chain, I thought it would make a great case for classroom use,” Helms said. “Students enjoy hearing the story, and it also brings an international flavor to the classroom.”
Helms attended Boe’s presentations and took notes which she then used to write the outline for the case. Boe filled in details and added the teaching notes.
“Cases are more challenging to write than shorter journal articles because not only do you tell the story in the case, but you must also write teaching notes for other professors to use in their own classrooms,” Helms said. “The case is rich with data, financials, and photos of the product. Dr. Boe’s story and experiences were too good not to write up as a case for our students and other business students to experience.”
Boe is currently president of ArrowStar and Arropol Chemicals in Dalton.