The Brierley Institute at SMU Cox is one of the only places in the world where you can get live consulting experience as an MBA student.
Layton Cox
MBA '20
Strategy Consulting Senior Associate at Strategy&
Projects in a Hands-On Learning Laboratory
The SMU Cox School of Business is known for connecting students with Dallas's corporate leaders and pushing innovation in experiential learning. The Brierley Institute's specialization in Customer Engagement opens even bigger horizons.
From the airline loyalty programs pioneered by Institute founder Hal Brierley to today's digital personalization models, customer engagement programs build success. As a student taking specialized courses through the Brierley Institute, you’ll gain expertise in this growing field by studying with thought leaders while working hands-on with top companies to tackle real-time customer engagement challenges.
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The Curriculum: Designed for the Real World
Whether you plan a career in marketing, business analytics or consulting, the Customer Engagement curriculum gives you a competitive advantage. You'll learn to leverage digital and traditional media to build customer relationships, measure financial impact, and design experiences that engage customers and create value.
Customer Engagement is a 4-course specialization within the SMU Cox School of Business Marketing concentration. Students with an interest in marketing, business analytics, and consulting as well as other analytic areas of study are encouraged to explore the courses as elective offerings. Covering the spectrum from loyalty to analytics, the curriculum connects theory and practice, and prepares you to be an influential player in a fast-growing field. Classes are taught by Hal Brierley, a pioneer in the customer engagement field, and Marci Armstrong, a regarded professor, sought-after consultant, and director of the Brierley Institute. -
Learn from the Experts
It doesn't get any better: You'll learn directly from visionary Hal Brierley and accomplished professor, Marci Armstrong. Hal served as the only outside consultant to collaborate with American Airlines on the design of the AAdvantage loyalty program, and went on to engineer over 175 loyalty programs. Marci Armstrong is a seven-time teaching award honoree, and a prominent customer engagement consultant.
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Dynamic Project Opportunities
Brierley Institute’s Corporate Project Sponsors present students with projects on current customer engagement challenges. The result: an opportunity to provide a fresh perspective and present recommendations that leverage cutting-edge analytics and customer insights.
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Building Brand Preference with Millennials
MBA students are selected to manage consulting projects for sponsoring companies. Brierley Institute corporate member Synchrony recently brought a new business challenge to students featuring one of their own clients, Sam's Club.
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What Motivates Diners?
Executive MBA candidates learn fundamentals in the Customer Engagement Strategy course, designed for seasoned professionals to apply concepts on projects featuring their own companies. Read how Fuzzy’s Taco Shop benefitted from a student team’s insights.
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The Brierley Institute Advantage
With opportunities to work on classroom projects and extracurricular consulting work, the Brierley Institute allows MBA candidates to leverage customer engagement skills throughout their education and after graduation.
Read a Student’s Story
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Take the Next Step
Interested in studying at the first academic institute in the nation devoted to customer engagement? Learn about our MBA program at the SMU Cox School of Business.
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