Research Shows Benefits of Passing the CPIM Exams

By Nick Adams, Kristin Mirkes, Jennifer Slater, B.J. Theunis

Last year almost 900 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students and over 450 faculty members participated in a collaborative research project. This year, hundreds of students and faculty are working together on projects that they will present at the university's annual research day April 23-24. One College of Business research team consists of Roger Schwarz, a senior operations management student, and Theresa Wells, a senior lecturer in management. Schwarz and Wells are studying the importance of passing the certified in production and inventory management (CPIM) examinations. With over 400 management majors in the College of Business, the results of their study are important to students in this major.

Schwartz and Wells found that individuals who pass the CPIM exams have greater opportunities in the workplace. "Our research shows that 41 percent of businesses either preferred or required new employees to have passed the CPIM exams," said Wells. She projects that this percentage will continue to increase in the future. Schwartz and Wells also found that 42 percent of those who passed the exams also experienced an increase in pay, with some individuals receiving increases of more than 20 percent.

Collaborative research provides students with many advantages. Students learn more about their academic discipline while doing research - an experience especially beneficial for those considering graduate school. Many students receive independent study credit for their experience, and some students attend conferences and/or receive stipends for their work.

While collaborative research can be time consuming to complete, Schwarz believes it is well worth the effort. "I learned many things while interviewing companies for our study that I would not have learned in a classroom," he said. "The collaborative research project was a great opportunity for me to find out if I was in the right major."

The Authors

Nick Adams (left) is a senior public relations major from Austin, MN; Kristin Mirkes (not pictured) is a senior marketing major from Brown Deer, WI; Jennifer Slater (middle) is a junior accounting major from New Berlin, WI; and B.J. Theunis (right) is a senior management major from Kaukauna, WI. They wrote this article for a BCOM 306 class project.