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Free labor? Great. Free labor from top M.B.A. students? Even better.
免费劳力？太好了！MBA优等生提供的免费劳力？好上加好！
For decades, companies have relied on business-school students to be unpaid consultants, assessing takeover or expansion opportunities. It is low risk and high reward for firms, with almost no financial outlay and a number of fresh new ideas from eager up-and-comers.
数十年来，众多公司都靠商学院学生充当免费咨询师，让他们对接管业务或扩张业务的时机进行评估。对公司来说，这可是低风险高回报的事情，基本上不会产生财务支出，还能从干劲十足的人身上获取很多新的想法。
But now some companies are going a step farther, placing entire brands in the hands of students, with the hope of developing long-lasting partnerships between company and school instead of one-off advisory relationships. Schools promote the projects as a hands-on learning experience for students and a solid resume booster in a tight job market.
而现在，一些公司要更进一步，将整个品牌交给这些学生，希望公司与学校之间建立长期伙伴关系，而非一次性的咨询关系。学校力促这些项目，将其当作学生获取实践经历的机会，也为学生在竞争激烈的就业市场上投递简历时增加筹码。
Still, the programs aren't entirely altruistic: While the companies get free -- or nearly free -- labor, and schools' total compensation for these projects can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the students don't get paid a dime.
然而，这些项目并非完全没有私心：公司获得免费──或者说近乎免费──劳力的同时，学校获得的项目补贴可以达到数十万美元，而学生却分文未得。
Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. this year handed over the reins of its Yoo-hoo chocolate-drink marketing campaign to two M.B.A.s from the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. The students -- working for no pay in the spring and fall, though one will be a salaried intern this summer -- are taking over the brand completely to create Yoo-hoo's first major marketing push in more than four years. The 90-year-old beverage, considered a 'midsize' brand at Dr Pepper Snapple, had 2011 sales of more than $100 million, the company says, citing Nielsen data.
Serge Bloch今年，Dr Pepper Snapple集团把它的Yoo-hoo巧克力饮料的市场营销活动交给了两名来自德克萨斯大学奥斯丁分校麦库姆斯商学院（University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business）的MBA学生。这两名学生──春秋两季无偿工作，不过其中一名夏季将会带薪实习──正全面接手该品牌，准备进行Yoo-hoo饮料四年多来第一次重大的市场推广活动。公司援引尼尔森市场调查公司（Nielsen）的数据说，这个在Dr Pepper Snapple集团被视为“中型”品牌的饮料拥有90年的历史，其2011年的销售额超过了1亿美元。
The two students, picked via a rigorous selection process, each spend up to 20 hours a week on the project, their combined effort contributing almost the equivalent of one full-time employee. (McCombs graduates who took jobs in brand management last year earned an average of $94,300 a year.)
经过严格筛选选拔出来的这两名学生每人每周投身于该项目的时间达到了20小时，两人的合计工作量相当于一名专职的员工。（从事品牌管理工作的麦库姆斯商学院毕业生去年的人均收入为94,300美元。）
They report directly to the chief marketing officer and other senior executives and are expected to vie for a slice of the marketing budget alongside the company's other brand managers. When the students graduate, others will step in.
他们直接向首席营销长或其他高级主管汇报工作，并可望与其他品牌经理一道竞争，赢得公司的一份营销预算。等到这两名学生毕业时，其他人会来接手。
The hope, says Andrew Springate, senior vice president of marketing at Dr Pepper Snapple, is that the students will oversee the brand, 'soup to nuts,' for the foreseeable future. 'There's no real risk, no downside at all,' he says.
Dr Pepper Snapple集团高级营销副总裁安德鲁•斯普林盖特（Andrew Springate）说，希望学生能够“全方位”地远瞻到品牌可以预见的未来。他说，“根本没有真正的风险，没有负面的东西。”
The students signed a contract and serve as unpaid employees, and Dr Pepper Snapple covers operating expenses and travel costs. It also pays a former employee to serve as a coach to the student team, and it expects to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in the students' research efforts.
这两名学生签订了合同，无偿为公司工作，Dr Pepper Snapple集团则负责项目运作的开支和交通费用。公司还出钱聘用一名前任员工来担任两名学生的指导。公司对这两名学生的研究工作的投资预计会达到数十万美元。
In addition, the company pays $25,000 as one of a half-dozen sponsors of the school's Center for Customer Insight & Marketing Solutions. The payment isn't in exchange for the students' work per se, but sponsorship does open the door to projects like the Yoo-hoo initiative. Lamar Johnson, the center's executive director, is considering reaching out to the other sponsors for similar partnerships.
此外，作为商学院消费者观察及营销解决方案中心（Center for Customer Insight & Marketing Solutions）的六家赞助商之一，公司要支付25,000美元。这笔钱本身不是用于换取学生的劳动，但是这种赞助关系的确开启了类似Yoo-hoo计划这样的项目之门。该中心的执行董事拉马尔•约翰逊（Lamar Johnson）正在考虑与其它几家赞助商联系，以期建立类似的伙伴关系。
Dr Pepper Snapple's approach is still rare, and more traditional semester-long, self-contained projects remain in high demand. Slots for the E2B education-to-business program at Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, for example, are full for the summer and 90% full for the fall.
Dr Pepper Snapple集团的这种做法还不太常见，需求量大的是更传统的为期一学期的独立项目。佩珀代因大学格拉齐亚迪奥工商管理学院（Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University）推出的E2B（education-to-business）学以致用夏季项目已经满额，秋季项目满额率也已达到90%。
But even in those more restricted frameworks, companies are becoming repeat customers and using students to tackle a series of strategic initiatives over a number of years.
甚至在那些限制性更大的领域，很多公司也开始成为项目的回头客，经年累月地利用学生来处理一系列战略方案问题。
Westinghouse Electric Co. has used students from the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business & College of Business Administration in more than 10 projects over the past six years, and it has hired at least a half-dozen students from those projects. Assignments include assessments of acquisition strategy in China and an alliance opportunity in India.
西屋电气公司（Westinghouse Electric Co.）在过去六年里开展的10多个项目中用了匹兹堡大学约瑟夫•M•卡茨工商管理研究生院（University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business & College of Business Administration）的学生，并且在项目完成后正式雇佣了至少六名学生。这些项目的任务包括对在华并购策略和在印度建立联盟的机会进行评估。
Katz receives $9,000 for most projects, though nonprofits and government organizations receive services free and first-time partners can pay as little as $1,000. Twelve to 16 organizations participate each semester. If all those clients were large corporations, the school could bank more than $250,000 a year.
尽管非盈利机构和政府机构可以免费获取服务，首度合作的合伙人支付的费用则可以低至1000美元，但是卡茨研究生院在多数项目上还是有9000美元的收入。每学期有12至16家机构参与项目，如果所有客户都是大公司，学院每年会有250,000美元入账。
Laurie Kirsch, the senior associate dean at Katz, says it isn't about turning a profit. Rather, the nominal financial stake keeps companies engaged. Katz uses the money to pay faculty and executive-in-residence coaches, to fund a competition for project proposals (which has no monetary prize) and for other organizational expenses.
卡茨研究生院高级副院长劳里•基尔希（Laurie Kirsch）说，做项目不是为了赚钱盈利。其实，正是象征性的收费吸引了各家公司。卡茨研究生院用这笔钱为教职员工和驻企高管指导支付酬金、建立项目提案竞赛（以前没有货币奖励）基金以及其他组织管理开销。
Low costs are a big draw for Tom Nguyen, executive vice president of strategic operations at Westinghouse. 'I can't remember any time that we've spent more than $25,000 [or] $30,000 on a project,' Mr. Nguyen says. He estimates the same assignments would cost 10 times as much if the company hired a top-tier consulting firm.
对西屋电气公司战略运营执行副总裁汤姆•阮（Tom Nguyen）来说，低成本是最大的吸引力。阮说，“我不记得我们什么时候在一个项目上的花费超出过25,000或30,000美元。”他估计，如果公司聘请的是顶级咨询公司，同样的项目其开销将是现在的10倍。
Bob Krapfel, associate dean for M.B.A. and M.S. programs at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, says organizations are attracted by the fact that they can 'pay next to nothing' for 'pretty high-quality M.B.A. talent.'
马里兰大学罗伯特•H•史密斯商学院（University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business）负责工商管理硕士和理学硕士项目的副院长鲍勃•克拉普费尔（Bob Krapfel）说，各大机构受到吸引是因为它们“几乎分文不花”就能获得“质量极高的MBA人才”。
Large companies pay $7,500 for work conducted by four-to-six-person teams, with each member logging about 80 hours during the semester. Established nonprofits pay $5,000, and Smith does pro bono work for start-up nonprofit organizations. All companies are asked to cover basic project costs beyond $500, such as travel.
对于一个由四至六人组成、每位成员一学期工作时间累计为80小时的团队所完成的工作，大公司的支付价是7,500美元，老牌非盈利机构的支付价为5,000美元。对刚起步的非盈利组织，史密斯商学院则提供无偿服务。按要求，所有公司都需要为500美元以上的基本项目开支买单，比如交通费。
For their part, many students say they don't mind working without pay -- at least, for the moment. 'The experiential learning is more valuable than the money at this point,' says Nicole Quesada, a McCombs student with a chemical-engineering background who is working on Yoo-hoo.
对学生而言，许多人说他们并不在意自己的工作没有报酬──至少目前并不在意。目前正在进行Yoo-hoo项目、有着化学工程学方面背景的妮科尔•克萨达（Nicole Quesada）说，“这个时候体验式的学习比金钱更有价值。”
She will intern this summer at Dr Pepper Snapple before returning to the unpaid position in the fall. She says her summer salary is 'very competitive.'
她今年夏天要在Dr Pepper Snapple集团当实习生，秋天再回到无薪的岗位上去。她说自己在夏季获得的工资“非常有竞争力”。
