Meet the Experts: Inside Business at Northwestern

Summary:

Business: Strategies, Innovation, and Success is a pre-college online course offered by Northwestern University and taught by leading faculty with input from business experts.

Key Points:

• Study online with Northwestern University Professor Joseph Patton.
• Study the fundamentals of business: product development, market analysis, and target consumer.
• Learn how to effectively communicate product differentiators to your target audience..
• Explore new technologies that apply to your product.
• Complete a Final Capstone Project where you assume the role of business strategist and pitch your concept.   

Among the bachelor’s degrees conferred each year in the U.S., business is among the top three. Here’s what the research concludes:

“Postsecondary institutions within the United States conferred 3 million undergraduate degrees in 2021-2022. These included 1 million associate’s degrees and 2 million bachelor’s degrees. At both levels, business and health professions and related programs were among the top three most common fields of study.”

If you are a high school student contemplating a future in business or are interested in business college prep programs, it’s important to understand the basics that apply to any business.

In this article, you will learn about the pre-college business program at Northwestern University and its course designed for high school students who wish to learn more about the foundation of successful businesses. You’ll review an overview of the course, explore the requirements of the Final Capstone Project, and hear from faculty and business professionals who teamed up to enlighten you as you pursue the first steps towards a future in business.

Explore the fundamentals of business

Business: Strategies, Innovation, and Success provides real-world examples and expert insights into how companies develop products, find their target market, and deliver value. How will you benefit?

• You’ll understand how businesses operate, how they are structured, and how they maintain success.
• You’ll learn the fundamental concepts of product development from idea generation to launch. 
• You’ll develop a sales strategy that aligns with customer needs and considers the competitive landscape to differentiate your product.
• You’ll discover the critical role played by operations and supply chain management: how products are sourced, procured, manufactured, and distributed.
• You’ll complete a Final Capstone Project where you take on the role of a business strategist, creating a presentation that analyzes a real product. You’ll describe its strengths, weaknesses, target audience, and marketing mix. Then, you’ll pitch your strategic vision.

The course is taught by Northwestern faculty with input from business experts for a truly engaging experience. But what is their perspective on the course?

Experts weigh in on the course

This course was designed and taught by Northwestern’s Joseph Patton, Sr. associate director of career advising & education/executive education lecturer at the Kellogg School of Management. 

His thoughts on the course:

“You will learn not only about the practice of business, but where it’s been and where it’s going. You’ll hear from guests who work for some of the most renowned corporations globally, giving you a front-row seat to how business works and what success looks like. At the end of the course, you’ll work on a Final Project and find answers to questions such as:

• How do I align a business strategy to support this product?
• How do I get my product idea to final completion?
• How am I going to tell its story to the consumer?
• What are some of the critical steps I need to take to actually manufacture and distribute my product?

Ultimately, everything you come up with will be put into a compelling presentation, and you will deliver it as a business pitch.”

Helping the professor create this engaging course are celebrated business professionals. Their perception of the course includes:

• As noted by Katie Augustus, VP product management, Slack Salesforce, “If there was a course like this when I was in high school, I absolutely would have taken it.”
• Adhvik Shetty, senior manufacturing manager at Lean Manufacturing, commented, “Real progress is fueled by business; we’re seeing it every day.” 
• And Atharca Mehen Daxe, product manager at Salesforce, remarked, “A course like this can change your life.”

Prelum, Powered by Kaplan, partners with top universities to offer a variety of online college preparatory courses. Curated just for high school students, these business classes in high school feature engaging, interactive videos and a flexible format. This allows you to study at any time and from anywhere. 

If you would like to take business classes in high school and want to learn about the various fields, this course is for you.

This was last reviewed by Ashley Simmons on 06/27/2025.