How Fisher students helped bring a German company to Ohio

By Vicki Christian
Fisher College of Business

When Kyle Clark and Yui Yu were creating a strategic business plan as part of an MBA project in spring 2025, they never imagined their ideas would result in an international company coming to Ohio.

But to their pleasant surprise, in January 2026, that’s exactly what happened. Based on the students’ advice, MKV GmbH Kunststoffgranulate, a German industrial plastics recycling company, established a sales office in Akron, Ohio.

“I was proud to know my team delivered something that was actionable,” said Clark (MBA ’25), who was part of a Global Applied Projects (GAP) team that worked with MKV. “There was the surprise of, ‘Wow!’ this wasn't just a college project, this had a real-world impact on a business.”

Fisher’s GAP program is a hands-on learning capstone project that turns theory into practice for MBA students. GAP allows students to gain professional consulting experience and develop increased global and cultural awareness while solving a real strategic business challenge for companies around the world. The program partners with JobsOhio to source connections with companies.

For Kai Zies, president and CEO of MKV,  the opportunity to work with the MBA students seemed too good to be true.

“We are a small to medium enterprise, so for us, having a few really bright young people work on our whole expansion was great,” Zies said. “None of the students were familiar with our industry which gave us a set of fresh eyes. They did a tremendous job. They had a great work ethic, were really curious and asked good questions.”

“It was fun working with them because they had such diverse backgrounds — from a dual degree in medical school to marketing, the industrial side and data analytics. That was part of the strength of the program. They were great examples of different paths to career success.”

At the start of the project, MKV knew it wanted to expand to the United States but had not pinpointed a location. The company identified three clusters of plastic manufacturing: the East Coast, the Midwest and the South, before eventually deciding on the Midwest.

“By chance, I met a representative for JobsOhio here in Germany, and that kind of got the connection to Ohio going,” said Zies.

JobsOhio put Zies in touch with Fisher and the GAP program.

“Before I started my MBA, I knew about the GAP program and thought it would be a good opportunity to practice and develop my skills in terms of international business,” said Yu (MBA ’25), a supply chain analyst with American Kenda Rubber. “This program is one of the reasons I chose Fisher.”

Clark, currently an analyst with GMA Consulting, agreed.

“In a globalized world, this project was a really good capstone, connecting all our coursework in a hands-on consulting project for a European company that required critical thinking,” Clark said.

Yu’s and Clark’s team, including classmates Daniel Hottois (BS ’17, MBA ’25), Sumaire Shamlal (MBA ’25) and Shuchi Sharma (MBA ’25), spent their spring semester working remotely with MKV before traveling to Limburg, Germany, for a weeklong consulting site visit.

During the experience, the students conducted a comprehensive market, location, legal and regulatory compliance and logistics analysis and then developed a brand and marketing strategy.

“MKV wanted us to give our analysis on different areas where they could locate and enter the market,” said Clark. “They also wanted help with their initial marketing plan to understand how the U.S. market and culture might differ from Germany.”

The students’ research provided MKV with useful information about things like customer service in the U.S.

“Even though our cultures are different, service applies no matter where you are,” Zies said. “If you put the customer first, that works in every environment. That is something we learned from the students.”

In turn, Clark learned how the U.S. and Germany approach carbon emissions and recycling.

“On our site visit to Germany, we discovered there's been a big push for all cars to be made with recyclable materials, whereas the U.S. doesn’t have those same regulations,” Clark said. “That's going to be a big thing for MKV since they have very high-quality plastics.”

The opportunity to collaborate with a European company provided a valuable experience.

“Before departing to Germany, we had webinars with GAP alumni to learn about the culture of European companies,” said Yu. “When we arrived in Germany, to observe this was interesting for me because I am not American or German; I’m Taiwanese. That was really interesting to observe two cultures at once. It’s important to see things from their perspectives. You need to consider their environments and country regulations.”

The pace at which the two countries conduct business offered the students one of the most significant lessons.

“MKV said business moves much faster in the U.S., where people sit down and talk about a business deal and then the next day ask, ‘Are you ready to sign the contract?’” Clark said. “In Germany, it happens at a slower pace and is a lot more relationship focused.”

The students began by gathering information and interpreting the terms associated with industrial plastics recycling, with MKV driving the conversations about their business and the industry.

“The best part was at the one-month mark, we all of a sudden understood what injection molding was and how MKV’s circular economy worked,” Clark said. “It became about how we could help them with the problem they presented us. From that moment until going to Germany, it was a lot of us developing a marketing plan and working with them to test theories about logistics and location.”

“When we got to Germany, the next light bulb moment occurred where we took a deep dive, seeing firsthand their operations. It was such a cool experience to be in MKV's headquarters and see all these things that at the start of the project I knew nothing about.”

During what Clark described as a highly collaborative process, MKV gave the students the direction of narrowing the search to the states of Michigan, Illinois and Ohio because they were already doing business in Michigan.

“We knew, especially around Detroit, there’s a lot of plastic manufacturing, but we also knew that when it comes to Illinois there's a lot of manufacturing as well,” Zies said. “We asked them to analyze those states from a logistics and customer perspective. We were looking for the best reach in terms of potential customers, labor availability and costs and nearby universities with polymer programs.”

When the student team returned to the U.S., they fine-tuned their recommendations, looking at car manufacturers as customers for high performance plastics, transportation issues, the costs of creating and recycling high quality plastics and how they could tweak their manufacturing processes.

“Much of our research geared us towards the Akron and Cleveland area,” Clark said. “Akron has a school of polymer science at the University of Akron. MKV didn't want to bring over a full lab right off the bat, so we thought being located near a great student lab might provide a collaborative opportunity.”

What ultimately clinched the decision for MKV to open their sales office in Akron?

“The students did a great competitive analysis when it came to marketing in terms of how best to position us, how best to communicate,” said Zies. “The students’ work definitely helped get us to the point that the opportunity was big enough and confirmed the city’s potential.”

In January, MKV opened its American sales office in the Bounce Innovation Hub in Akron. Since then, with JobsOhio’s help, it has made connections with Team NEO, an economic development engine in Northeast Ohio, the Polymer Industry Cluster, ASW Global, a third-party logistics and supply chain provider, a domestic partner for material testing and analysis and a domestic manufacturing partner.

“We left the students with the impression that if you work as a team then you can move forward with a lot of things,” Zies said. “The small steps add up as well. But if you keep at it, like we did, then you can make things happen. Sometimes it just takes time.”

Clark said he now feels a special connection to MKV.

“It's hard to put into words; it's a mix of surprise, pride and excitement to see what happens with them,” Clark said. “I think we're forever tied to their story. After meeting and working with MKV’s employees, I care about them and their future, and I hope they have great success.”