Last spring semester, an interdisciplinary team of Illinois State University Innovation Consulting Community (ICC) students collaborated on a unique project to help their client identify successful products for sale in Japan.
The team assisted Oak Lawn Marketing Inc., a company founded by Illinois State alum Robert Roche ’85, who was recognized by the College of Business Hall of Fame in 2024. Oak Lawn Marketing, known to consumers as Shop Japan, is a multichannel direct marketing company that sells some of Japan’s most well-known brands.
Roche is an entrepreneur, civic leader, and philanthropist who has launched, managed, and invested in more than 50 successful global businesses
This project provided the students with a unique opportunity to research and explore products that are gaining popularity for potential sale through Oak Lawn Marketing. “This multifaceted student project will build cross-cultural competency as well as develop business acumen,” stated College of Business Dean Ajay Samant. “We are very grateful to Mr. Robert Roche for making possible this great learning opportunity for our students.”
The student consulting team was large and divided into three subteams to cover all aspects of this project efficiently. This allowed every member to apply their individual strengths. Each subteam consisted of a student project manager and a student project recorder.
“This project was like solving a giant puzzle,” said Kaydence Wendt, a project manager majoring in integrated marketing communications and minoring in business analytics. “We are creating something completely new.”
She also mentioned that this was unlike any project she had ever done since there were no instructions to follow. It required brainstorming and collaboration with fellow team members.
The consulting team was supported by faculty coaches Dr. Peter Kaufman and Dr. Chiharu Ishida-Lambert, both from the Department of Marketing. The coaches provided support to the students while they, too, learned how to navigate and tackle new challenges.
“Because the teams consisted of students from diverse majors and expertise, the scope of the project could be expanded accordingly,” said Ishida-Lambert. She was proud of the teams for their initiative in taking on a major project like this and to step out of their comfort zone to grow as professionals.
“The students not only needed to respect and get the best insights from students from multiple different majors, but they also had to consider cross-cultural factors when developing their client recommendations,” Kaufman said.
Students Cristina Perez and Tristan Cravens are continuing this project this fall semester. “This ICC project has been a great complement to my studies, giving me hands-on experience with market trends and the impact of social media in global business,” said Perez, an international business major.
“This has helped me think about innovation beyond just technology—it’s been a unique chance to apply creative thinking to real-world problems in a global context,” said Cravens, a computer science major. Both students look forward to continuing this project and further developing their skills.
This project gives students a valuable opportunity to earn course credit and work on a project with a real, successful company. As the spring semester concluded, the students presented recommendations to the client, and a second consulting team will build on their work this fall to complete the project.
Robert Roche 