Each week, Daniels is featuring a researcher who conducts meaningful research that impacts their field and the wider community. Learn more about their work in Q&As with Melissa Archpru Akaka, associate dean for faculty research. Email Melissa to nominate yourself or a colleague for a future Q&A.
Cristin Cornell Tarr is a teaching assistant professor in the Department of Marketing. She is founder and CEO at BSC Group, a boutique marketing consulting firm where she serves as fractional CMO to various businesses. Cristin successfully launched her first academic research project and co-published a case study called “SquarU and the Colorado Paradox” through Ivey Publishing. It is also available at Harvard Business School Publishing. Answering a call from Daniels to develop and use DEI teaching cases, Cristin worked with her past colleague and her sister, Candace Ruiz, who is a professor in the Colorado Community College system. The case features an African American social entrepreneur and business founder of SparqU as the protagonist. The case provides insights into the Colorado skills and equity gap while also correlating to a small business, challenged with a marketing decision.
What inspired you to write your first case study?
Daniels Dean Vivek Choudhury and Associate Dean Lisa Victoravich put forth an incentive to encourage writing and using more DEI cases in the classroom. I called up Candace, my past business partner and sister, and Lynn Wilson, the CEO of SparqU, and suggested we consider SparqU for this case study; they were both interested. I was a little naïve and unsure of the process, but I had an idea of what I was looking for in a case study to utilize in my graduate marketing courses and other business classes. Neither Candace nor I like 20-plus-page case studies; we were interested in developing a compact case study, something Candace learned about at a conference. It was this combination of need and interest that encouraged us to take this project on. We began to learn more about case study writing from a plethora of resources. We attended a six-week compact case study workshop and connected with others that have written case studies. Lynn Wilson, a past chair and our colleague at Denver Community College, recently left his job to dedicate full time to SparqU; we thought his business model was quite interesting. Candace had a strong research background, while I worked in industry for many years. Together, with our varying skill set, we made a great team.
Daniels Dean Vivek Choudhury and Associate Dean Lisa Victoravich put forth an incentive to encourage writing and using more DEI cases in the classroom. I called up Candace, my past business partner and sister, and Lynn Wilson, the CEO of SparqU, and suggested we consider SparqU for this case study; they were both interested. I was a little naïve and unsure of the process, but I had an idea of what I was looking for in a case study to utilize in my graduate marketing courses and other business classes. Neither Candace nor I like 20-plus-page case studies; we were interested in developing a compact case study, something Candace learned about at a conference. It was this combination of need and interest that encouraged us to take this project on. We began to learn more about case study writing from a plethora of resources. We attended a six-week compact case study workshop and connected with others that have written case studies. Lynn Wilson, a past chair and our colleague at Denver Community College, recently left his job to dedicate full time to SparqU; we thought his business model was quite interesting. Candace had a strong research background, while I worked in industry for many years. Together, with our varying skill set, we made a great team.
Can you tell me a little bit about the case itself? How did you come up with the idea for this particular approach?
My co-author and I had a mutual friend we knew from academia who was challenged to grow his business. Lynn Wilson, a BIPOC social entrepreneur, was doing great work in helping the underserved community become digitally literate. Lynn grew up in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood, where many of his classmates dropped out of high school or never attended secondary education. Lynn is a charismatic and interesting guy who shared his mission and was determined to change outcomes for those lacking digital skills and unable to advance in their careers. My co-author and I advised Lynn from time to time on both business and marketing decisions, and we thought he might be a good protagonist for the case. The focus of the business is to help what he calls “leveling up” individuals that are underrepresented and under-skilled in the Denver metro area, offering boot camps and tech certifications. He was willing to “open the books” and share dreams, opportunities and his challenges with us. Part of our challenge, as it is with probably any case, was understanding the deep-rooted business problem we wanted to tackle. The biggest challenge was finding a problem that also fit with my teaching needs, as I am often scrambling to find cases that fit the specific curriculum needs. We started unraveling the complexity of his business, Colorado’s skill-gap challenges and our case study needs. This triangulation came together in co-authoring “SparqU and the Colorado Paradox.” I’d like to say it was tied up in a nice bow, but the case had a lot of twists, many iterations and pivots along the way.
My co-author and I had a mutual friend we knew from academia who was challenged to grow his business. Lynn Wilson, a BIPOC social entrepreneur, was doing great work in helping the underserved community become digitally literate. Lynn grew up in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood, where many of his classmates dropped out of high school or never attended secondary education. Lynn is a charismatic and interesting guy who shared his mission and was determined to change outcomes for those lacking digital skills and unable to advance in their careers. My co-author and I advised Lynn from time to time on both business and marketing decisions, and we thought he might be a good protagonist for the case. The focus of the business is to help what he calls “leveling up” individuals that are underrepresented and under-skilled in the Denver metro area, offering boot camps and tech certifications. He was willing to “open the books” and share dreams, opportunities and his challenges with us. Part of our challenge, as it is with probably any case, was understanding the deep-rooted business problem we wanted to tackle. The biggest challenge was finding a problem that also fit with my teaching needs, as I am often scrambling to find cases that fit the specific curriculum needs. We started unraveling the complexity of his business, Colorado’s skill-gap challenges and our case study needs. This triangulation came together in co-authoring “SparqU and the Colorado Paradox.” I’d like to say it was tied up in a nice bow, but the case had a lot of twists, many iterations and pivots along the way.
What was your process like for writing your first case and then publishing it?
My co-author (and sister) had a strong background in research. She also had contacts in the publishing area that helped us get us started. I was more of the driver of capturing business decisions and meeting with Lynn to unwrap the layers of the case. In our research, we used secondary data and complemented it with primary data, almost exclusively interviews with Lynn, the protagonist of the case study. He shared great information, and he also collected his own first-party information on his company through annual and quarterly reports. After we wrote the first draft of the case, we ran it by Vivek and Lisa. Both felt the case had potential. With their suggested changes we completed the first iteration. Both Candace and I assigned the case to a couple of our marketing classes, to collect data, before we decided to send to a publisher. After the students completed the case study assignment, we surveyed and interviewed students and gathered their responses. The result showed very favorable experiences with good learning outcomes. One BIPOC student wrote how pleased he was to see a protagonist of a case study that looked like someone from his own community where he grew up. Candace and I were very excited. Then she said, “Let’s try and get this published!”
My co-author (and sister) had a strong background in research. She also had contacts in the publishing area that helped us get us started. I was more of the driver of capturing business decisions and meeting with Lynn to unwrap the layers of the case. In our research, we used secondary data and complemented it with primary data, almost exclusively interviews with Lynn, the protagonist of the case study. He shared great information, and he also collected his own first-party information on his company through annual and quarterly reports. After we wrote the first draft of the case, we ran it by Vivek and Lisa. Both felt the case had potential. With their suggested changes we completed the first iteration. Both Candace and I assigned the case to a couple of our marketing classes, to collect data, before we decided to send to a publisher. After the students completed the case study assignment, we surveyed and interviewed students and gathered their responses. The result showed very favorable experiences with good learning outcomes. One BIPOC student wrote how pleased he was to see a protagonist of a case study that looked like someone from his own community where he grew up. Candace and I were very excited. Then she said, “Let’s try and get this published!”
Now that you’ve published your first case, how do you feel about the research process?
This was a very rewarding experience, and a lot of work. I don’t think I’d ever do a research project without a collaborative group. I would make sure that the team that you’re putting together has complementary skill sets that offset each other’s weaknesses. I really did not think I would ever complete an academic research project, as my passion is teaching and student engagement, but things just came together, and we got so far into it, there was no turning back. We gave each other moral support and we both were inspired to tell Lynn’s story and his hope to be a changemaker. It was emotional for me; as we completed our case study, we were watching Lynn grow SparqU into a sustainable business. Lynn called me up the other day (and I am paraphrasing), he said, “You gals are the ones that made me continue my business with all the questions and confidence you gave me.” I feel so grateful about the impact this research had on his business and the students learning from this DEI case study.
This was a very rewarding experience, and a lot of work. I don’t think I’d ever do a research project without a collaborative group. I would make sure that the team that you’re putting together has complementary skill sets that offset each other’s weaknesses. I really did not think I would ever complete an academic research project, as my passion is teaching and student engagement, but things just came together, and we got so far into it, there was no turning back. We gave each other moral support and we both were inspired to tell Lynn’s story and his hope to be a changemaker. It was emotional for me; as we completed our case study, we were watching Lynn grow SparqU into a sustainable business. Lynn called me up the other day (and I am paraphrasing), he said, “You gals are the ones that made me continue my business with all the questions and confidence you gave me.” I feel so grateful about the impact this research had on his business and the students learning from this DEI case study.