e-learning and central of the tutor

Funding 'curbs joined-up courses'

2007-06-30T02:25:00.000-07:00

Funding doubts are hobbling a programme which has led to good vocational achievements by teenagers, Ofsted says.
It said colleges with "centres of vocational excellence" in England had led to large numbers of young people staying on in education or training.
With specialist equipment, they were providing more high quality courses for those aged 14 to 16 than schools could.
But funding uncertainty was compounded by some schools' reluctance to let pupils do vocational study, it said.
The government is keen to encourage more youngsters, especially the less academic, to stay in education or training.
Ofsted said that in one area the numbers who would have been classed as "not in education, employment or training" (Neets) had fallen when the local college opened a centre for training on motor vehicles.
But high fliers also benefited. Another college was running film and media studies evening courses for gifted and talented pupils.
This gave them access to state-of-the-art facilities and they had been able to take AS-levels early, alongside their GCSEs.
Diplomas
In its small-scale survey of centres in 24 further education colleges, Ofsted found the motivation, attendance and achievement of 14 to 16-year-olds had increased.
Collaboration between schools and colleges will be crucial to the success of the new 14 to 19 Diplomas being taught from next year.
All the colleges involved in the Ofsted study had taken the lead in preparing or backing submissions to run the specialist Diplomas.
But a lack of clarity over future funding was a potential barrier to further development.
"At present, many colleges subsidise their work with schools. Schools which contributed to the funding were also concerned about the sustainability of the work."
There was also concern about the lack of clear funding where several different providers were involved in delivering courses.
"A few of the colleges reported that some schools were denying their more academic learners an equal opportunity to choose a vocational pathway," Ofsted reported.
"There were also concerns about the status of vocational qualifications if many schools continued to channel students who were considered less academically able into vocational programmes."
It recommended that the Learning and Skills Council, local authorities, schools and colleges should review the funding to ensure such programmes were sustainable.
A spokesperson for the new Department of Children, Schools and Families said: "Consultations were held on the 14-16 and 16-19 funding systems earlier this year with the aim of creating an overall funding system for 14-19 year olds.
"Following these consultations we announced changes to the School, Early Years and 14-16 funding systems, which also set out how the new diploma qualifications would be funded."
The national director of skills for employers at the Learning and Skills Council, Jaine Clarke, said: "Schools, colleges and employers will need to continue to work closely together in order to deliver the skills and qualifications that young people will need to achieve good and sustainable employment."
The centres of vocational excellence programme had recently been reviewed and a new standard for working with employers had been released, she said, to which colleges were "responding positively".
"In combination with other developments such as the introduction of 14-19 Diplomas we believe that this will mean that young people in England will be better prepared than ever before for the transition into the workplace or further learning."

China top CO2 producer

2007-06-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China has overtaken the United States as the world's top producer of carbon dioxide emissions -- the biggest man-made contributor to global warming -- based on the latest widely accepted energy consumption data, a Dutch research group says.
According to a report released Tuesday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China overtook the U.S. in emissions of CO2 by 8 percent in 2006. While China was 2 percent below the United States in 2005, voracious coal consumption and increased cement production caused the numbers to rise rapidly, the group said.
"It's an expression of their fast industrial production activities and their fast development," Jos G.J. Olivier, the agency's senior scientist who compiled the figures, said Wednesday. The agency is independent but paid by the Dutch government to advise it on environmental policy.
The study said China, which relies on coal for two-thirds of its energy needs and makes 44 percent of the world's cement, produced 6.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2006. In comparison, the U.S., which gets half its electricity from coal, produced 5.8 billion metric tons of CO2, it said.
The group's analysis makes sense and had been predicted to happen by 2009 or 2010, said experts from the United Nations and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and outside academics.
Bert Metz, a senior researcher at the Dutch agency and a leading expert on efforts to battle global warming, said the analysis was done using methods and data that "are the best currently available."
This means that "Chinese contributions to global CO2 emissions are getting more important," Metz said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Telephone calls to China's State Environmental Protection Agency and the National Development and Reform Commission, the Cabinet-level economic planning agency, were not answered Wednesday.
Earlier figures indicated China would likely surpass the U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions as early as 2009, although other predictions said it could happen this year.
Chinese environmental officials have said that while total emissions are going up, they are still less than one quarter of those of the United States on a per capita basis. Because China's population of 1.3 billion people is more than four times that of the United States, China spews about 10,500 pounds (4,763 kilograms) of carbon dioxide per person, while in the United States it is nearly 42,500 pounds (19,278 kilograms) per person.
Olivier said there was not much chance China will now lose its lead.
"China's growth will saturate at some point," he said. But "for now, we don't see a trend (toward) this saturation yet."
Olivier said the research was based on data on fossil fuel consumption from BP PLC's Review of Energy 2007, compiled by the British oil company, and cement production data through 2006 published by the U.S. Geological Survey.
John Christensen, head of the U.N. Environment Program's Center on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development in Denmark, said the figures did not come as a surprise.
"The Dutch agency referred to BP statistics, which is the standard reference tool. We have no reason to doubt that the numbers are right. We have no reason to doubt the methodology," Christensen said. "It's been stated many times that China will overtake the U.S. in emissions."
Other sources of carbon dioxide, such as deforestation and the flaring of gas in oil and gas production, are not included in the data. They also do not include methane from fuel production and agriculture and nitrous oxide from industry.
Fatih Birol, chief economist of the Paris-based International Energy Agency also said the findings were not surprising, given China's economic growth of more than 9 percent annually over the past 25 years.
His agency had estimated China would overtake the U.S. before 2010; in November it sharpened the forecast to 2007 or 2008.
But the issue is not just current emissions, but carbon dioxide stuck in the atmosphere, where it lingers for about a century trapping heat below, said Jay Apt, a professor of engineering, business and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Apt and a colleague calculated the share of carbon dioxide now in the atmosphere that can be attributed to each country and determined that the United States is responsible for 27 percent, European nations contributed 20 percent and China only 8 percent.
"The planet does not respond to emissions, the planet responds to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," said Apt. "It means the U.S. will have the lion's share of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for the foreseeable future. In fact, even if China's exponential growth continues, China will not surpass the U.S. in the numbers of carbon dioxide atoms in the atmosphere, that is concentration, until at least 2050, which is too late to start anything."
The International Energy Agency's Birol said the key message from the emission figures is not who is No. 1, but the need to slow growth in CO2 emissions. "The rest of the world with the help of China needs to find ways for China to reduce CO2 emissions," Birol said.
China has come under growing international pressure to take more forceful measures to curb releases of greenhouse gases.
This month, China unveiled its first national program to combat global warming with promises to rein in greenhouse gas production. While the program offered few new concrete targets for greenhouse gas emissions, it outlined steps the country would take to meet a previously announced goal of improving energy efficiency in 2010 by 20 percent over 2005's level.
Beijing also indicated an unwillingness to enforce mandatory emissions caps.
Ma Kai, the minister heading the National Development and Reform Commission, said economic development is a priority for China, but efforts would be made to raise awareness about global warming.
China signed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which caps the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted in industrialized countries. But because China is considered a developing country it is exempt from emission reductions -- a situation often cited by U.S. President George W. Bush's administration and Australia for not accepting the treaty.
Yang Ailun of Greenpeace China called on the country to take more steps to protect the environment. "Due to the urgency of climate change, China has the responsibility to take immediate actions to reform its energy structure and curb its CO2 emissions," Yang said in a statement.
She noted that Western consumers use products made in China.
"All the West has done is export a great slice of its carbon footprint to China and make China the world's factory," she said. "This trend has kept the price of projects in the West down, but led to a climate disaster in the long term."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Application Essay

2007-06-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students apply for admission to colleges and graduate schools in America. It’s impossible for each school to consider every applicant in full; they just don’t have the time, people, or money for such an endeavor. For this reason, they use academic profiles to help them in their selection process. They’ll look at an applicant’s grade point average, how rigorous a school or college they graduated from, and their results on one or more nationally recognized standardized tests. These things have all been shown to be very strong indicators of how well a person will do in school. They’ll determine their own criteria for acceptable GPA’s and test scores, and they’ll use this to immediately eliminate a very large percentage, often the vast majority, of their applicants. Anyone who doesn’t make the basic cutoff is denied admission. But that still leaves most colleges and universities with far more applicants than they can accept. To further narrow down the field to the best possible students, they also require an essay upon application. They will then read the essay of those students whose applications made the cutoff in order to get some insights into what kind of a person the applicant is, beyond what the numbers say. A badly written essay can disqualify even a student with the best GPA and test score, and a terrific essay can be the ticket to admission for someone who barely made the cutoff. For these reasons, you’ll want to write the very best essay you possibly can if you’re hoping to go to college or get into graduate school. In this section, we’ll tell you about the different types of essays you might be asked to write, and give you some tips on how to write an excellent one, and really make yourself stand out from the competition. But first, here are some helpful tips on writing essays in general.The quality of your essay is crucial to your chances of getting into graduate school. This can’t be stressed highly enough. It would be completely reckless and foolhardy to simply write something on the spur or the moment and send it in. You’ve got to give your essay a lot of thought, and you’ll want to thoroughly edit and rewrite it before submission. You’ll also want to have some pages of raw material written down before you even begin your essays. On these pages, you’ll be writing down things, books, ideas, events, and people of significance to use as essay material. Think back on your life so far. Think of five books that have profoundly affected you. Think of five people who have inspired you. Write them down. What are your five best qualities? What are your five greatest accomplishments? What are the five biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve overcome? What are the five adjectives people would most commonly use to describe your personality? What are the five highlights of your life so far? What are your five biggest failures in life? What are the five most memorable events of your life? Write all these down, and think of some questions of your own to ask yourself, and to ask your family and friends. When you’re done, you’ll have the basic building blocks upon which to write a good essay. You certainly won’t use all the material, but you’ll have a lot to work with, and you can pick and choose what you need as you see fit for the various essays you’ll be writing. And don’t get hung up on the number five-if you can only think of a couple or three for some categories, that’s fine. The goal is to get you thinking. And here are some general guidelines to keep in mind when you sit down at your keyboard:1. If you’re applying to several schools, you don’t necessarily have to write a different essay for each school. You will probably have to write more than one, but many of them will have very similar questions and you’ll be able to reuse the same material without hurting your chances. There’s absolutely nothing unethical about this at all. Just make sure that you’re actually answering the question, and that you don’t mention one school in an application to another, and that you proofread your work extremely carefully. 2. Make it personal. A generic essay won’t help the admissions committee to get a picture of who you are-what makes you special, what your strengths are, your uniqueness, if it doesn’t come out in your essay. You’re not writing a textbook; you’re trying to make the best case for the college to accept YOU. So your essay needs to be about you, without being conceited. And write with some flair. A dull essay not only may ruin your chances of acceptance, but it may not even be read all the way through if it’s not interesting.3. Play it straight. Don’t try to be cute, or sarcastic, or facetious. It’s the wrong time and place for attempts at humor, and I hate to say it, but you’re probably not nearly as funny as you think you are. You may be able to crack up your friends, but make no mistake, the admissions committee will not be laughing. They’re looking for people who take college seriously. A humorous reference or sentence or two is fine, but don’t try to make your essay into a comedy routine.3. Don’t tell them what they already know. If the committee has gotten to your essay, that means they’re already familiar with your academic record and achievements, so mentioning them isn’t necessary and only makes you look conceited.4. Play up your strengths, and don’t mention your weaknesses. Of course, if you’ve changed radically in the past few years, and have overcome some bad habits to buckle down and become a top student, feel free to write about that. But don’t mention that you could’ve done better in school had you spent less time watching TV or chasing girls. That’s probably not going to help your chances.5. Don’t focus on your race, gender, or sexual orientation. It’s okay to mention these if they have some relevance to your essay topic, but these facts alone shouldn’t be your entire essay. Colleges and universities are always seeking to increase diversity, but they are not looking for people who have no identity beyond their racial and gender identifications. Mention it, but don’t dwell on it.6. Don’t write a sob story. Just like being flippant or facetious, turning the essay into a long and obvious plea for sympathy is very likely to sour the reviewers on your application. It’s okay to mention that you spent months recovering from a terrible car accident. That‘s important, and can tell the committee a lot about what kind of person you are, but you certainly don’t want to make that the focus of your essay. Mention it if it’s germane, and then go on.7. Be sure to answer the question or address the topic. Some applicants spend so much time talking about themselves that they never get around to actually addressing the assigned topic. Needless to say, this will kill your chances of being accepted. Answer the question, and give evidence and arguments that back up your answer. 8. This should go without saying, but pay extremely close attention to spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and word usage. In this day and age of spell checkers and other computer tools, it’s harder to miss errors and typos. Which means that they’re even more inexcusable than they used to be. And none of these tools are perfect, so proofread, proofread, proofread. And then let others proofread your essay. You can’t be too careful.You’ll also want to demonstrate good writing skills. Your essay should be written with the reader in mind. If it doesn’t grab and hold their attention, then they may not even bother to read the whole thing. That would ruin your chance of being accepted. So make in interesting. Use some style. You don’t want your essay to sound like everyone else’s. And write logically and with good sentence and paragraph structure. You should outline your thoughts after you’ve selected your topic, and then make sure you follow the outline. You don’t want a rambling, discordant essay, which can easily result if you don’t outline the structure ahead of time. Don’t forget to check for typos and other errors. And read the essay out loud, because doing so is the only way to catch some errors. Use varying sentence lengths, and break them up-long sentences divided by short and medium ones. Avoid slang, and avoid using big words just to impress. If a longer or more unusual word is necessary, by all means use it, but if you’re just using it to show that you’re very intelligent it will be obvious to the reader, and their reaction won’t be positive. And don’t use “I” over and over, especially at the beginning of sentences. Also, as you hopefully learned in high school English but have probably forgotten, do not overuse the passive voice in your essay. In fact, don’t use the passive voice much at all. Active verbs are much more interesting to read. Don’t use your first sentence or two as a summary of what you’re about to write. They should be introductory sentences, where you set the stage for the rest of your essay. Likewise for your conclusion. It shouldn’t be a rehash of your main points, but a way to wrap things up and state some lessons learned or insights gained. Of course, you’ll want to avoid phrases like “lessons learned” and “I gained insights”, just as you most definitely don’t want to say something like “in conclusion”. Remember, avoid clichés. Your essay reader has seen thousands of them, and will lump you in with the rest of the unoriginal writers they’ve seen. And, one more time, because it can’t be stressed enough-proofread your essay. Then have others proofread it. Then read it out loud to make sure it sounds right.

The multi-disciplinary school

2007-06-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Not so long ago, business schools taught business and largely left it at that. Now, with the commercial world becoming increasingly globalized and multi-disciplinary, they are having to think in broader terms.
More or less every month, a school announces a joint study program linking business with other areas of knowledge.
Recent examples chronicled on Executive Education include joint business and government programs (see here), socially responsible business (here) and even military MBAs (here).
Now, a leading UK business school has gone a stage further in setting up a specific multi-disciplinary center with two partner institutions, one an engineering faculty, the other one of the most famous art and design schools in the world.
The new Design-London institution, being established at a cost of more than $10 million, is intended to help innovation by bringing together the fields of design, engineering, technology and business.
Its creation follows a major review of higher education carried out for the British government, which specifically recommended that institutions assist the country's business innovation through such "centers of excellence" touching on a number of areas of expertise.
'Innovation triangle'
Design-London joins London University's Tanaka Business School, the science and engineering-specific Imperial College -- of which Tanaka is part -- and the Royal College of Art (RCA), also based in the British capital.
The aim is create what is being dubbed an "innovation triangle" between design (represented by the RCA), engineering and technology (Imperial's faculty of engineering) and the business of innovation (Tanaka).
The founders hope that combined teaching will improve knowledge interchange between graduate students in business, arts and engineering. Research will also explore how design can be more effectively integrated with business and technology to create world-beating products and services.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurial-minded graduates from RCA and Imperial will be given the chance to develop new ideas in the "Incubator," a multi-disciplinary environment for business development allowing collaborations between different disciplines and organizations.
Separately, business partners of RCA and Imperial will be able to build innovation capacity via exercises in the so-called "Simulator."
"This is a really important stage of development for the RCA," said the college's head, Sir Christopher Frayling.
"Building on the triangle of design, technology and business at this high level is good for us and in time will be good, no doubt, for the British economy."
Sir Richard Sykes, head of Imperial College London, said the new institution would help his college's students become more business minded.
"Innovation is an important part of what we do at Imperial and we are constantly exploring new ways of turning exciting ideas into reality, encouraged greatly by the presence of an integrated business school," he said.
"Our previous collaborations with the RCA have sparked some imaginative problem-solving, so I'm delighted that this partnership provides further opportunities for us all to work together to tackle design challenges in a creative and dynamic multi-disciplinary environment."

Beware of title inflation

2007-06-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Many people take MBAs with the intention of, somewhere down the line, picking up not only a fat salary check but also an impressive job title.
These days, according to new research by a leading business school, the latter could come sooner than you think. The bad news? Your fancy title might not mean very much.
The phenomenon responsible, as documented by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, is so-called "title inflation."
This describes the process by which a company which once had a handful of easily identifiable top jobs -- CEO, chief financial officer -- can now have a string of staff with the word 'chief' at the head of their job description.
Apart from other by now relatively well known examples such as chief technology officer, chief marketing officer and, in some places, chief diversity officer, such titles -- many pioneered in the tech industries -- can include chief talent officer, chief cultural officer, chief reputation officer and even chief geek.
This in part reflects a long-term process of corporate restructuring away from simple hierarchies, says Betsey Stevenson, professor of business and public policy at Wharton.
"People want to be distinguished in some way from everyone else, but in a flat organization there is less hierarchy and therefore less opportunity to be distinguished," she says.
This can be a problem for high flyers seeking to reach the top, for example those with MBAs.
"One good thing about hierarchy is you can climb a corporate ladder. If there is no ladder, there is nothing to climb."
1970s phenomenon
The first examples of title inflation in the US corporate world appear to date back to the 1970s, when wage and price controls meant promotions could not always be matched with wage rises, meaning people were compensated with an impressive, resume-improving job title.
However, the researchers noted, new job titles are not always meaningless -- they can reflect changing business priorities, for example the post-Enron rash of chief ethics officers.
According to Wharton management professor Sarah Kaplan, the reason many companies give out new "chief" titles is "to signal the importance of that particular issue to the corporation. So you have a chief diversity officer because the company realizes that diversity is an important initiative."
But if pushed too far, title inflation can render job descriptions meaningless, potentially damaging both the holder and their company, warns Wharton management professor Ben Campbell.
"A company does need to be frugal," he says. "Not everyone can be above average. Firms should be deliberate about how they give these title awards out to employees, because each additional person who gets a C-level title dilutes the currency."
Another devalued title -- especially in the financial sector, targeted by many new MBAs -- is that of "vice president."
Vice presidents in the financial services industry "are typically sales positions," notes Wharton marketing professor Len Lodish.
"That's no big deal. And now even the title of president has been hit with inflation. The number of presidents within organizations has risen significantly in the last 15 years, especially as the pressure increases on companies to stay competitive when it comes to hiring and retaining employees.
"The companies aren't organized any differently; they are just giving people different titles. Being president doesn't mean what it once did."

Learning to lead in Champagne

2007-06-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Many people choosing MBAs hope to go on to enjoy the finer things in life. But one business school is taking a more direct route by actually studying one of the globe's true pleasures -- Champagne.
Reims Management School is based in the north-eastern French city of the same name, which itself is located in the heart of the Champagne-Ardenne region.
It is this area alone, under European Union rules, which is allowed to call its sparkling white wines by the Champagne name.
However, other wine growers around the world produce their own variants -- often available at cheaper prices -- which have placed the Champagne region's wine houses under increasing pressure in recent years.
With this in mind, the Reims school recently appointed an academic to the enviable post of the world's first professor of Champagne.
To the possible chagrin of local French experts, Dr Stephen Charters is British-born and was previously based in Australia. However, he brings wide experience of the global wine trade, particularly marketing, having taught wine marketing at a university in Australia.
Champagne, and the wider wine industry, is a massive business both in France and a series of other countries.
Already, Bordeaux Business School in the south-western French city of that name -- at the center of perhaps the most famous wine-producing region in the world -- has launched a one-year Wine MBA.
Now, Dr Charters has set about trying to help growers in the Champagne region decide the future of their industry, notably the trend towards smaller, more distinctive brands that reflect a particular "terroir" -- the combination of climate and soil composition that gives a wine its character.
Traditionally, the bulk of the Champagne trade has been in the hands of a handful of major houses like Möet and Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Laurent Perrier and Pommery. Between them, these controlled around 70% of annual production and a whopping 97% of sales outside Europe.
Now, however, more and more grape growers are opting to produce their own Champagne for export, something Dr Charters says is an opportunity to bring grape growers and Champagne houses together to discuss their trade.
"The Champenois [people from the Champagne region] know very well what makes their wine special," he says.
"We want to help them understand in greater depth how it fits into a changing world of wine and how to maintain that 'specialness,' and we want to give them a chance to reflect on how their industry can best manage itself for a successful future."
He has created a new course called "Champagne's Future Leaders," to be offered at the school from the end of this month.
Targeted equally at growers and executives from Champagne houses, it involves 10 one-and-a-half day sessions over the course of a year, after which students can be considered for an MBA at the school, should they wish.
The course is intended to provide students with a global and international understanding of the issues faced by the profession, and to develop new skills relevant to the Champagne industry, as well as developing future leaders for the trade.
The 10 sessions will combine Champagne- and wine-specific topics with more general, practical business education, including marketing, human resources and brand management.

The good times are back

2007-05-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- The market is booming for MBAs, according to a new survey -- so much so that the one factor that might rein in the market is employers' worries about arrogant would-be executives demanding sky-high starting salaries.
But overall, the numbers are very cheering for anyone leaving business school this year.
The TopMBA.com International MBA Recruitment and Salary Report 2006, which surveyed 445 companies in 33 different countries, says it gives the most global perspective on the MBA market.
Of the respondents, 28% were based in Europe, 38% in the North America, 13% in Latin America, 11% in the Asia Pacific, 6% in Eastern Europe and 4% in the Middle East and Africa.
According to the findings, the call for new MBAs among recruiters worldwide will set records in 2006, with an overall 24% increase in demand, rising to 38% in the consulting sector.
During this year, average MBA salaries have increased by 7.5%, according to the survey, 5% more than the average inflation rate in the main industrialized nations.
Salaries for new MBAs are also now above levels seen before the downturn in 2001, with those taking jobs in North America or Western Europe beginning with an average salary of $90,500.
"This increase reflects a high level of optimism amongst MBA recruiters and increased competition for the top talent." the report's authors, QS Research, said.
Risk of overheating?
Among the employers surveyed, 35% of employers expect to increase MBA hiring in the next 12 months against just 3% who anticipate a decrease.
However, the report warns that this might slow down during 2007 as the market overheats, with some respondents fearing "that the huge growth in demand over the last two years cannot be sustained, not least because the supply of MBAs is not growing as rapidly and companies may not be willing to push salaries much higher."
Also, the authors say, there is a fear of a return to "the bad old days," when new MBAs had a reputation for arrogance.
"MBAs coming out right now are beginning to have a sense of entitlement once again," Tiffany Wogelwede from appliance manufacturer Whirlpool told the report's authors.
"The ego is sometimes getting in the way of the hiring process."
But for now, it is a job-seekers' market, with business school career services "delightedly reporting their best year on record," according to the report.
"By April 2006, over 90% of our class had at least one full time offer. We expect all the class to have offers by graduation," Kim Keating of Tuck Business School in the United States told the authors.
Outside of the traditional MBA hotbeds of North America and Western Europe, MBA salaries are gradually catching up in developing markets -- while there is still a 30% salary gap between the highest and lowest paid regions, this gap is narrowing each year.
And although the United States long paid the highest salaries, this crown has now been taken by Western Europe, although this is partly due to the weak dollar increasing the value of European salaries when denominated in the US currency.
Other MBAs, meanwhile, are playing a longer game and turning their attentions to Asia.
"More and more MBAs are joining Chinese companies from international MBA programs and Asian MBA business schools," Michael Yang, general marketing manager of Motorola (China) told the authors.
"I think the attraction for these MBAs is not the starting salary, but the growing opportunity. For example, the average MBA salary growth rate is higher than 15% per year here in China."

The vexed issue of MBA league tables

2007-05-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Another new survey of business schools, this time exclusively in the U.S., has confirmed one increasingly evident fact for those considering an MBA -- there is a clear elite in the field.
The top of the list of graduate business schools produced by U.S. News and World Report sees a series of names familiar from other, similar league tables.
In top place comes Harvard Business School, followed by Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton school, MIT's Sloan and, in joint fifth, the Kellogg school at Northwestern University and Chicago.
Other well-known names -- Tuck, Haas, Columbia, Stern -- follow to make up the rest of the top 10.
These are the names that tend to crop up in most of the series of business school rankings published each year, for example the well-known lists drawn up by the London-based Financial Times and by Business Week.
The process tends to be exhaustive. For example, U.S. News and World Report canvassed 406 schools, of which 113 provided enough information for a ranking to be assessed.
A school's score was then compiled via a complex procedure combining the assessments of deans from other schools and from recruiters, salaries attracted by graduates, the academic scores of new students, and other data.
However, one fact cannot be avoided -- however rigorous the process, it will necessarily be subjective, meaning the ratings inevitably vary.
For example, Yale School of Management makes it into the Financial Times top 10, but is ranked 14th by U.S. News and World Report, 19th by Business Week's 2006 poll and 24th in the annual list compiled by the Economist magazine.
Differing views
Much of this is due to clear differences in methodology -- some lists are U.S. only while others consider schools from around the world, but there is no escaping the stress such tables cause deans and admissions offices.
Some schools even refuse to take part, doubting the validity of league tables in properly informing students.
"They are inherently unreliable due to the differences in methodology and I'm not sure they present an accurate picture of the worth of a good MBA program," Ken Jones, dean of the Faculty of Business at Ryerson University in Toronto, told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper last month.
Taking part in such exercises "adds additional expectations to the faculty and students that are not always realistic," he said.
Other schools, however, accept that for many would-be MBA students, one of the very first things they look at when deciding which school to apply for is a league table of this type.
"While no survey can completely capture the richness and impact of a two-year educational experience, we take the results of each survey seriously," Joel M. Podolny, dean of the Yale School of Management, said shortly after the U.S. News and World Review ratings were published in the school's official assessment of such lists.
"Our foremost objective is to understand what information that survey reveals about the perceptions and experiences of our key stakeholders to whom we are accountable," he said.
"We then integrate this information with that from many other sources as part of our ongoing effort to make institutional changes that support our very noble mission of educating leaders for business and society."

Helping Africa help itself

2007-05-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Africa is generally seen as the continental poor relation in business school terms, lagging behind North America, Europe and Asia, even South America.
However, as detailed before on Executive Education (click here), Africa does have a number of top schools, and the Association of African Business Schools is working hard to raise general standards.
Also, schools elsewhere are also getting involved, as illustrated by a recent conference hosted by Insead, the highly-ranked school based jointly in France and Singapore.
Deans and other staff from more than 30 business schools worldwide got together at Insead for the second annual meeting of the Global Business School Network Academic Advisory Council, an event based around the theme of "Nurturing Business Education in Africa."
The aim was to lay out a precise plan of action on how leading schools in developed nations can help their African counterparts grow and improve.
Africa is in desperate need of qualified and talented management to help its economies, not only running companies but helping entrepreneurs and ensuring more effective corporate and legislative governance policy.
Qualified African managers can also help put together vital inward investment with policymakers, multinationals and charities.
With its own global perspective -- it has faculty from 32 different countries -- Insead "has a responsibility to support business education in Africa and thereby help to build the foundation for economic growth and poverty reduction," said the school's dean, Frank Brown.
Partnerships and progress
Among subjects discussed at the meeting were the possibility of mentor professors teaching in African schools, joint student projects, pro bono consulting support projects and even formal pairings or partnerships.
"The challenges that African nations face as they try to improve the welfare of their people are enormous, and those of us who can help, even if only modestly, have an obligation to do so," said Landis Gabel, professor of management and the environment at Insead.
"We will be looking for practical ways that business schools and their professors can strengthen the capability of African schools to train the continent's future managers."
The meeting is part of a wider series of projects organized under the umbrella of the Global Business School Network, a non-profit body put together by the International Finance Corporation, the private sector investment branch of the World Bank.
It brings together schools, companies and international organizations to develop sustainable programs for management education and training in developing countries.
Among the members are a series of leading US business schools, as well as their equivalents in countries ranging from Denmark to India and Nigeria.

Competing for more than profit

2007-05-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The entrepreneurial challenge has long been a mainstay of MBA life. Students get together before a panel of judges to pitch their business ideas, the best being rewarded with accolades and -- often -- start-up cash.
However, more and more these days the judges are looking for something beyond just a cold-eyed profit opportunity -- they want sustainability.
This is illustrated by two contests at leading schools, one just gone and the other upcoming.
Several weeks ago, students from eight US school gathered at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School to take part in a competition which labels itself the only such event to consider the so-called "triple bottom line" of profit, environmental friendliness and social equity.
The second Sustainable Venture Capital Investment Competition has another twist to other contests in that the students get to pick one of four business plans from real world entrepreneurs and, together with them, pitch it before judges.
Making this even trickier, students receive the plans in advance but only have 15 minutes to quiz the entrepreneurs in person.
"Part of the game plan was to get as much information as possible, but also to be friendly," said Heidi Lubin, one of the winning group of MBA students from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
"The challenge was to build a rapport and avoid putting the companies on the defensive under a difficult, but necessary, line of questioning."
Big prizes
In a similar vein, next month sees the grandly-named 21st Century Challenge Competition at Oxford University's Saïd Business School.
The contest -- which carries a healthy $40,000 first prize -- is intended to promote sustainable new businesses that mix financial returns with "significant social and environmental benefits."
These can include new products and services, innovative operational processes and business models.
"We want to contribute to broadening the idea of business and encourage radical thinking in the pursuit of sustainable business models and markets," said Fiona Reid, Director of Entrepreneurship Saïd, the entrepreneurial arm of the school.
"We hope the competition will become a launch pad for successful commercial ventures in key challenge areas facing society."
A third contest has taken a different approach to business idea competitions -- handing the winner no-strings cash so they can work on their idea during their MBA vacation, when they would normally be carrying out a more formal internship.
The newly-devised Wharton Venture Award saw six students from the University of Pennsylvania's business school of the same name handed $10,000 grants.
Many of the winners are high-tech ideas, such as SpotShop, a company which has devised tools that allow local businesses to build and place video ads online.
Winning the award "has really jump-started our company," said a grateful SpotShop founder, Nat Turner. "Resources in a startup are always tight."

Doggedly pursuing a business answer

2007-05-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- It's a common dilemma for a start-up business -- to expand, you need complex marketing data analysis, but this is an expensive process.
One company's solution? Go back to school.
Petplan USA, which provides insurance for pet owners to cover veterinary bills and the like, was itself the product of a business competition at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 2003.
Founders and Wharton MBAs, Chris and Natasha Ashton, thus had the perfect place to go for advice when they realized their fledgling firm could not afford to pay for a mainstream market research group to help devise a possible nationwide marketing strategy.
They were put in touch with Alan Abrahams, a visiting Wharton professor who teaches the complex and expertise-heavy subject of data mining, in which large amounts of information are surveyed to glean the required information.
After a test run in the summer of 2006, in which a student dug out some sample data about the location of veterinary surgeons' offices nationwide, the co-operation went further.
Abrahams used the Astons' dilemma as a "live case" for his data-mining class, instructing students to come up with the best possible algorithms for analyzing the reams of data relevant to Petplan's marketing campaign.
Surprise findings
First, the Ashtons visited Abrahams' class, presented their business plan and took questions. "The students pushed back on our ideas and really tested our assumptions," Chris Ashton said.
The three best plans were then used to help Petplan decide where to focus its marketing efforts.
"The project would help us to identify demographically favorable parts of the country," Chris Ashton explained. "The students were trying to identify indicators that would make households more likely to buy pet insurance."
The analyses came up with some interesting findings -- not only did the students confirm that average household income and average age played a big role in deciding who was most inclined to buy pet insurance, they also discovered that proximity to pet superstores and even race played an apparent role.
As well as providing very real benefits to a business, the exercise helped get the students out of the theoretical forum of the classroom and textbook and into the real world.
"In most, if not all, of my classes, you go to the lectures and do readings," said Daniel Sabido, who came up with one of the three best solutions.
"Then it's a lot of applying what you learned in a test. This class was a lot more practical. This sort of setup should be done again. It was very useful for us as students."
The exercise was also useful in that the data mining class includes both business students and those from the university's engineering department, among them graduate computing student Rosskyn Dsouza, who gained some new commercial insights.
"I learned how to calculate the cost-to-market of Petplan's policies and how to calculate the profits that Petplan or any insurance company could make by selling their product," he said.

Opening the book on business history

2007-05-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- While business schools are renowned as dynamic academic institutions where eager students are fed the very latest in strategy and research, underpinning it all is many decades of thinking about the most fundamental questions of how companies work, and how they can work better.
One of the most influential figures in this process of understanding, a pioneer in the fields of business history and corporate strategy, was Harvard Business School's Alfred D. Chandler, who died this week aged 88.
In a career as extraordinary as it was long, Chandler produced some of the most significant ever studies of big business and its history, formulating ideas that are still used in MBA classes around the world today.
Chandler -- professor emeritus of business history at Harvard at the time of his death -- wrote dozens of books and articles which influenced scholars in not only management but also history, economics and sociology.
While his subjects and methods varied enormously, the central thesis was constant: How were things done at a certain time, how were they done later, and what happened to cause the change?
"Al Chandler created the field of business history and nurtured it at this school with the help of outstanding colleagues who worked closely with him and admired him as a mentor and friend," said the HBS's dean, Jay Light.
Throughout his books, Chandler looked at the factors that made the U.S. economy thrive in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, identifying things such as railroads, concentrated urban markets, mass production techniques and electrification.
Business strategy
In "Strategy and Structure," published in 1962, he examined four industrial giants from the 1900s to the 1940s -- General Motors, DuPont, Exxon, and Sears, Roebuck & Company -- and studied their organizational structures, helping give birth to the entire field of corporate strategy.
In the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business" from 1977, Chandler argued that the 'visible' hand of management had replaced the 'invisible' hand of market forces in coordinating and allocating the economy's resources.
There was little need for middle managers prior to 1840, he found, whereas by the mid-20th century the companies they administered had become the "most powerful institution in the American economy."
He also looked into different business approaches around the world through a historical context, and carried on working until the very end of his life.
In 2001 he wrote "Inventing the Electronic Century: The Epic Story of the Consumer Electronics and Computer Industry," which contrasted the fall of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and the rise of Sony and Matsushita in Japan.
As late as 2005, he turned his attentions to a book on the global chemical and pharmaceutical Industries.
"Al Chandler was an extraordinary scholar whose research and publications over five decades exercised a transformational effect far beyond his own discipline in business history," said Geoffrey G. Jones, HBS's Straus Professor of Business History.
"Although he began his career as a traditional historian who labored long and hard in archives, his resulting insights on the growth of firms and the emergence of modern management were so compelling that he became a major formative influence on many areas of management studies."

Degrees go for specialist redesign

2007-05-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- The traditional one-size-fits-all MBA degree could soon be consigned to the dustbin of history as business schools look for ways to boost flagging enrolment numbers.
Keen to ensure their academic offerings stand out in a competitive market, growing numbers of schools are redesigning their degrees around specialist areas.
Rather than the conventional structure which focuses on generic business fundamentals, these new MBA degrees contain content tailored to specific industry segments.
The schools believe specialist MBAs will appeal to students who have a clear idea of the direction they want their careers to take. Whether it's manufacturing, finance, tourism or the arts, it's increasingly likely they'll be able to find an MBA to match.
For years, MBA participants have been able to mould their degrees through careful selection of elective subjects covering the areas of most interest to them. However the bulk of the course has remained a standard block of core material.
The new specialist degrees, however, have been designed from the ground up to be directly relevant to a particular business sector or industry.
One high-profile example is the MBA offerings at the University of Wisconsin's Madison School of Business. Students entering the school's course can choose from one of 14 different areas of specialisation. Areas range from arts administration and marketing research to supply chain management and real estate.
School dean, Michael Knetter, says the school has made a conscious effort to appeal to students who have a clear career objective.
"By making the choice to serve that specific segment of the market, we can serve them better than anyone else," he says.
The State University of New Jersey's Rutgers Business School has also been busy, carving out a niche by offering an MBA course specialising in pharmaceutical management.
Working with a range of companies that includes Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Roche, the business school has designed its MBA course to provide the specific skills required in this rapidly evolving and highly competitive industry.
"The goal is to have graduates who can hit the ground running as quickly as possible, and require as little extra training by the employer," says school dean Howard Tuckman.
He says the school uses a board of external business advisers to constantly give feedback on the MBA course curriculum. This monitoring, he says, is vital if MBAs are going to remain relevant in the business world of tomorrow.
While such specialist degrees are currently only offered by smaller, second-tier business schools, the larger players are watching their success with interest. If these schools manage to grow their proportion of the overall market, it's likely the big names will follow suit.
Meanwhile the Richard Ivey School of Business has also announced a revamp of its MBA course structure, incorporating what it calls "cross-enterprise leadership".
Rather than approaching study by considering individual disciplines such as finance, marketing and accounting, the course uses a series of modules which draw information from multiple disciplines.
The modules cover areas such as cross-enterprise management skills, competing in a global environment and developing leadership skills.
Ivey dean Carol Stephenson says the school recognised that the old-model MBA was not working as well as it could to produce graduates with the skills required by the modern business world.
"When we looked out at the business school landscape, we realized that the traditional model did not really deliver any more," she told CNN. "So we decided to turn it inside out -- to start with the goal of producing cross-enterprise leaders and to build from there."
Stephenson says rival schools are watching the changes with interest and she expects others to begin offering similar course structures in the not-too-distant future.

Marketing your business school

2007-05-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A great deal of attention is paid to the tricky business of how aspirant MBAs can identify and then get into the best courses at top business schools.
But there is another side to this, one that is less often remarked on but is equally crucial for the whole process -- how business schools can attract students.
At the sharp end of this equation, business schools have to make sure they have sufficient enrollments each year to pay the wages of their professors, not to mention the host of other bills involved in running such an institution.
Yet even when every place is massively over-subscribed, leading schools still pay great attention to getting their message across to would-be students, making sure that the very best and brightest beat a path to your door.
Much of this marketing is conducted overseas. For example, this week, managers from the UK's highly-rated Manchester Business School have been in Dubai for an information session aimed at business professionals.
Executives can quiz the school's team on their various MBAs, which can now be studied for via distance learning through a center in Dubai, as well as existing bases in Hong Kong and Singapore.
In a different vein, San Francisco State University has taken a novel approach in making its courses more accessible to students -- it has moved its College of Business graduate programs to a new base inside a downtown shopping mall.
As well as shifting existing students out of cramped accommodation on a satellite campus into plush new rooms in a former department store -- "from the VW bus to the Cadillac or Mercedes of classroom space," according to Aaron Anderson, director of the Executive MBA Program -- the new site is more easily accessible.
"The new location is in a vibrant area of town. It is an exciting place that has a lot of visibility," said Gail Whitaker, dean of the College of Extended Learning, which offers classes mostly for mid-career professionals.
"This new location is going to be excellent for people to find us and to get to us to continue their education while living their busy lives."
Newspaper ads
Even a name as revered as Harvard Business School is not above marketing tactics -- the school has just begun a new push for its executive education programs, including a cheeky print campaign.
The ads feature the famous HBS crest or emblem, much like those usually sewn onto a blazer, with various tongue-in-cheek statements such as "Nobody Has Time for This; That's Why They Come" and "On Today's Agenda: Tomorrow."
The school believes it has a lot to shout about.
"Since Harvard Business School established the first executive education programs in the world 60 years ago, we have distinguished ourselves by our strong focus on practice through the case method, the broadened perspective the programs nurture among participants, and the action-oriented lessons that can be put to work immediately," said Professor David Yoffie, chair of executive education at HBS.
The ads began appearing shortly before Christmas in publications including The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and the Financial Times.

It's not easy being green

2007-05-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Global warming is no longer purely the concern of politicians and environmental campaigners -- business is increasingly affected.
In October last year, a major study of the potential economic impact of climate change, commissioned by the UK government, warned that failure to tackle the issue could eventually cause a global slump.
Then this year, the latest report by the IPCC group of international scientists studying the problem concluded that global warming is almost certainly the result of human activity.
As with so many emerging issues, business schools have been paying attention.
Earlier this month, the highly-rated Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. launched its response to the problem, the Laboratory for Sustainable Business.
Also known, in a more catchy fashion, as the S-Lab, it aims to help future business leaders tackle the issues connected to climate change.
Interactive computer-based simulations will let students to play the role of entrepreneurs seeking to maximize their profits investing in companies that do not harm the environment.
In doing this, they will learn the challenges of using renewable resources within the framework of existing business models.
One exercise will make students examine an attempt by oil major Conoco-Phillips to win an oil development contract in Ecuador's tropical rain forest, looking at the choices that can minimize ecological disruption and restore the environment.
Major challenge
The creation of the S-Lab recognizes the scale of the challenge caused by climate change, said Richard Locke, one of six MIT professor who set up the new courses.
"A critical issue for global warming is the ways in which the risks are communicated, and the framing of the solutions, both for specific organizations and for communities," he said,
"S-Lab will teach future CEOs and business leaders the challenges of implementation and how the science of sustainability can be best communicated to policymakers and citizens.
"Up until now we have considered aspects of sustainability -- climate, energy, water, food, poverty, and social development -- in isolation," he said.
"S-Lab is developing an integrated framework to consider the system-wide dynamics of human society along with tools and methodologies for measuring and monitoring sustainability efforts and their applications."
Other business schools around the world are also responding.
The Indian Institute of Management in Lucknow, in the country's north, has started a special course to help MBA students understand the complex system of carbon emissions trading, whereby companies and countries can buy and sell their permitted outputs of greenhouse gases.
The course will also deal with more general ways in which companies can minimize their environmental impact.
It is estimated that India could see an income of around $2 billion from carbon trading in the future, Sushil Kumar, professor of agribusiness at the Institute told the country's Economic Times newspaper.
"There is tremendous potential for companies to grow in this segment and hence essential that future managers are made aware of this," he said, adding that he had already talked about the issue with some of India's biggest corporations.
"They feel there is a need for future managers to be aware of carbon markets and environmental issues," he said.

The business boat race

2007-05-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's two most venerable universities, Oxford and Cambridge, are popularly viewed as bastions of traditional learning, all manicured lawns and academics in flowing gowns.
Yet the institutions are continually at the forefront of new initiatives in all academic area -- now including business.
Both universities have highly-rated business schools, Oxford's Saïd school, set up in 1996, and Judge at Cambridge, in operation since 1990.
Oxford and Cambridge have a friendly rivalry dating back centuries, largely fought out in sporting prowess, most famously the annual boat race every spring on the River Thames in London between the 'light blue' rowers of Cambridge and their 'dark blue' opponents from Oxford.
This month, the inter-university competition has taken on a new form: Business ideas.
Saïd Business School hosted budding entrepreneurs from both universities who pitched their business ideas before a daunting panel of successful businesspeople and venture capitalists, with almost $20,000 in capital up for grabs.
The competing sides fought their way through qualifying rounds at their own university, respectively Oxford's "Idea Idol" and the "Business Ideas Competition" at Cambridge.
Innovative ideas
Oxford's three teams were Camerge, who developed an algorithm that helps digital cameras work better in varying light conditions; Matoke Matoke who have set up a fair trade company to sell embroidered napkins made by women displaced in the civil war in northern Uganda; and Design the Time, which lets people buy minutes to store personal content on the Internet.
The latter team so impressed one venture capitalist judging the Oxford heats that he has already offered them start-up funding.
Turning out for Cambridge were NeoHeal, who aim to use nanotechnology in place of traditional surgical sutures; RemRom Medical Devices, who specialize in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of medical devices used in minimally invasive surgery; and TouchSight, who have developed a glove allowing disabled people to 'sense' their surroundings using ultrasonic and vibration feedback devices.
Among the judges was multi-millionaire entrepreneur Peter Jones, best known in Britain for his participation in a BBC television series, "Dragons' Den," in which inventors and would-be businesspeople pitch their ideas to a sometimes scathing panel of experts, Jones among them.
Other judges included Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of well-known British Internet travel firm Lastminute.com, and Ian Lobley, a senior partner at leading venture capitalists 3i.
The runners up were Matoke Matoke and RemRom Medical Devices, while the overall winner -- getting almost $10,000 in capital -- was TouchSight.
'The competition was a huge success and we had an exciting and inspirational evening of commercially viable entrepreneurial ideas," said Rajeeb Dey, president of the Oxford Entrepreneurs student society.
"The quality and diversity of the entries was superb and all contestants did a fantastic job. Often great business ideas lie dormant; by providing a rewarding platform, we hope to germinate a company of real significance."

Crossing the Anglo-French divide

2007-05-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- One of the most important parts of any business education program is teaching would-be executives how to conduct themselves in different commercial cultures.
This is true whether the geographical distance between the companies involved is many thousands of miles or -- in the case of Britain and France -- a mere 21 miles, this being the narrowest part of the English Channel (or, if you are French, La Manche).
In fact, Britain and France have a centuries-long traditional of mutual misunderstanding. While generally this is treated indulgently by "the frogs" and "les rosbifs," as they call each other, it is something businesspeople must take far more seriously.
It is a major issue given the size of the two countries' enormous mutual trade and one a leading UK business school has decided to tackle in a slightly quirky yet very illuminating way by looking at the two nations' contrasting approaches to leadership.
Saïd Business School, part of the University of Oxford, has taken as its starting point the fact that both nations are about to get new leaders -- Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to announce his departure date within weeks, while France's population have just voted for a new president to replace Jacques Chirac.
The study, by Marshall Young, director of the Oxford Strategic Leadership Program at the Saïd School, and Jo Owen of the Leadership Partnership interviewed several dozen senior leaders in both countries to compare their different approaches.
It found that while France has yet to mimic the rapid economic transformation Britain saw under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, its leaders remain in awe of the so-called Thatcher revolution.
"The scale and speed of change experienced in the UK in the Thatcher era is something they cannot imagine happening in France without extreme social unrest," the authors noted.
Public vs private
Much of Thatcher's doctrine involved replacing state intervention with the private sector, and this remains another major difference found by the researchers -- that the state is still seen as a highly prestigious employer in France while private companies tend to win the war for talent in the UK.
Another key difference they identified was French skepticism at what British leaders called "pragmatism" in decision-making, but which to their Gallic cousins -- who expect a severe level of intellectual rigor -- seems shambolic.
And while Britain is traditionally seen as the home of the old boy network, through elite private schools such as Eton and universities like Oxford, the research noted that this is even more the case in France.
Just 100 people a year graduate from France's ultra-elite Ecole nationale d'administration, which has provided a string of the country's leaders, and French people tend of value personal and professional networks more highly than the British, the study found.
There was some ambitious reasoning behind the study, said Owen. 'This may look like a light-hearted issue but a more serious question prompted the research," she said.
"Much of the leadership literature and research reflects a very Anglo-Saxon view of the world.
"We felt that this was increasingly inappropriate in a global context, and wanted to explore the different business and leadership models that exist in order to understand better what helps drive success in different economies.
"Global companies are working across a range of different implicit models in different cultures and may struggle to harmonize or work within them all. We believe these organizations would benefit from a map of the models in operation, and more guidance on how best to work within these contexts."

When news meets business education

2007-05-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- At some point in their course, pretty much every MBA student will encounter "synergy," a modern-day business buzzword for the mutually advantageous combination of separate elements or interests.
And what better example of the phenomenon than this: a media group owning a famous magazine name and a fast-growing online university combines the two for a branded business degree.
Meet the Newsweek MBA.
Launched with a flurry of publicity this month, the new MBA promises a "revolutionary approach" to business education, with fresh classes of students beginning the distance learning course nine times in the coming 12 months.
It combines the resources of Newsweek, the venerable news magazine which sells more than 4 million copies worldwide, and Kaplan University, an online-only institution with 26,000 students.
Both are subsidiaries of the Washington Post Company, also owners of the newspaper of the same name.
The new MBA's main selling point is the provision of up-to-the-minute case studies from the journalism resources of the magazine, rather than dusty examples from the past, as well as personal input from magazine staff.
The intention is to "use breaking business news to illuminate the issues and theories that are part of traditional MBA course work," according to the company.
"The Kaplan/Newsweek MBA will offer the best of both the classroom and the real world," said Newsweek Editor-in-Chief Richard M. Smith.
"The program will also provide an important new outlet for Newsweek's all-star cast of business reporters and editors and allow us to use online education to build an audience of young people who are on track to become the decision-makers of tomorrow."
Personal input
In practice, this will mean students receiving instruction from senior Newsweek staff on everything from global business strategy to leadership and the ethics of business transactions.
The online teaching will include interactive seminars, online quizzes, one-on-one feedback from professors and discussion forums.
"Traditional M.B.A. programs rely heavily on case studies, some of which are decades old," said Eric Goodman, Dean of the Graduate School of Management at Kaplan.
"While these studies have great value, students also have much to learn from events that are happening in the business world right now, events that Newsweek -- which recently broke the controversy over the Hewlett-Packard board of directors -- is in a perfect position to discuss.
"In addition, given Newsweek's strength covering international politics and business, this program will help us provide a global perspective to all our courses, from economics to finance to human resources management."
Of course, synergy tends to imply something more than just elegant efficiency: profit. Kaplan had revenues of more than $1.4bn last year, a figure it aims to add to thanks to the lucrative MBA market.
Whatever the innovation, some observers have been slightly skeptical at the idea, noting that Newsweek is more of a general interest news title than a business-specific one.
The writer of one finance-based weblog, or blog, said he was "not sure" about the concept, saying: "It's impossible to know how many business professors assign Newsweek as required reading, but it is probably a low number."

The business school touchdown

2007-05-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- One thing that modern-day sports stars are very good at -- apart from the obvious -- is making money. Unfortunately, too many prove less adept at keeping hold of it.
While the old stereotype of the embittered former star spending his twilight years running a ramshackle bar or restaurant, regaling customers about the glory days, is largely defunct, there is instead a litany of tales about sports people losing considerable sums in badly-judged business ventures.
Some sportsmen and women have also had well documented problems paying their tax on time: To take just tennis, in 2002 Boris Becker was convicted of tax evasion while Steffi Graf's father served a jail term for mishandling her tax affairs.
Luckily, more than 100 players in the U.S. National Football League (NFL), are now less likely to suffer such problems, thanks to four leading business schools.
They are attending a series of specially-arranged executive education seminars this month and in April at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program, as it is officially known, is organized by the NFL and the NFL Players Association to help athletes prepare for life after football.
"This program helps smooth the transition from locker room to the business world and enables players to use football as a pathway to a second successful career," said Professor W. Carl Kester, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs at the Harvard school.
Sports field to boardroom
"A critical part of this rigorous program involves helping players hone their business judgment so that they can recognize the difference between attractive and unattractive business opportunities."
The curriculum includes topics such as financial analysis and valuation, marketing strategies, real estate investment and -- very importantly -- legal and tax issues.
During a four-week break between the two modules, players will research a business concept or entrepreneurial venture and then discuss the idea with faculty members on their return to campus.
This is the third year of the program and 116 current and former players have enrolled, against 112 last year and 66 in 2005.
Among this year's intake are New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, his Chicago Bears counterpart Brian Griese and Matt Light of the New England Patriots.
"I'm always looking for ways to better myself whether it is on the field or off the field," Brees said ahead of the first set of lessons.
"I see myself starting a business or multiple businesses when I'm done playing so this program will give me a foundation to build upon. It is great that the NFL puts together programs like this for its players."
Players' representatives are keen for their charges to acquire more learning, whether in business or elsewhere. Under the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, players can be reimbursed up to $15,000 for education expenses at an accredited institution.
Last month, some NFL representatives were at another business school, Sloan, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However, this was for a seminar on something far more familiar -- how to win.
Executives from basketball, baseball and hockey also attended to learn about how to introduce a more analytical approach to their personnel and business operations.
Among key questions addressed by the conference were why are some sports teams and leagues tend to be more successful than others, and how business-style analysis methods can help teams decide on drafting and trades, not to mention areas such as ticket pricing.

Learning from the king of con men

2007-05-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- It might seem peculiar for one of the world's leading business schools to invite as a guest speaker a man who made his name -- and, for a while, his fortune -- by conning a succession of corporations.
But then again, Frank Abagnale Jr. is no everyday con man.
Immortalized in the 2002 Steven Spielberg film "Catch Me If You Can," in which his youthful self was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Abagnale was one of the most notorious fraudsters of his era, stealing millions in the 1960s and impersonating an airline pilot, a pediatrician and a lawyer.
After being arrested in Paris in 1969 and serving a prison sentence, Abagnale turned himself into an anti-fraud adviser for both the FBI and a series of corporate clients, something he has now done for more than three decades.
Although Abagnale's Oklahoma-based company specializes in combating high-tech fraud, as he himself says, it was all very different when he began his own career as a con man.
Most famously, he impersonated a Pan Am pilot, visiting around 250 cities in 26 countries, free of charge. A key element of this scheme involved faking a Pan Am ID card, a process he completed by taking the logo from an airplane model kit sold at a hobby store.
This was the essence of his address to the assembled audience at Wharton -- businesses have to be even more vigilant against fraudsters nowadays, because technology has made their work so much more simple in many ways.
"What I did more than 40 years ago is now about 4,000 times easier to do because of technology," he said after his speech.
"When I used to print checks, I needed a Heidelberg printing press -- it was a million-dollar machine, it was 90 feet long and 18-feet high, and it required different printers and color separators and negatives.
"Today, I can open up a laptop, create a check from a large, existing Fortune 500 company, capture their logo from their web site, print it on their check and come out with a perfect document in a matter of just minutes."
Fast-moving fraud
With technology -- and its possible abuses -- advancing all the time, Abagnale says he is never short of clients.
"Technology tends to breed cons, and it always will," he said. "There are always people willing to use technology in a negative, self-serving way."
Abagnale began life as a con man aged 16 after the trauma of his parents' divorce prompted him to leave the affluent family home in New York state.
After arriving in Manhattan, Abagnale, who looked considerably older than his age, began trying to support himself with real work, but then started writing fraudulent checks.
He then began impersonating a pilot, keeping himself in cash by cashing bad airline checks at airport terminals.
As he points out, fraud in a lower-tech age was often far more difficult.
"You know, when I said I forged checks, people would say to me, 'How did you know who signed Pan Am's checks?' I said I had no idea. 'How did you know where they are drawn?' -- I would just make that up. I had no idea.

Breaking the MBA gender barrier

2007-05-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- When asked to picture the archetypical MBA student, most people will describe someone relatively young, fiercely ambitious and focused on success. Oh yes, and most likely male.
While women make up slightly more than half the potential global workforce, they fill only around a third of seats in classrooms teaching MBAs and other graduate business degree courses.
There are a number of reasons for this, everything from prejudicial attitudes towards women in the workplace to the greater demands family life can often take on businesswomen.
However, there are now also increasing resources for those seeking to break through the so-called "glass ceiling" limiting women's business ambitions, by taking an MBA.
The MBA Women site (here) contains information about special events as well containing as things like the top 10 interview tips for trying to gain admission to a business school.
Schools themselves are also taking direct action, for example Northwestern University's highly-ranked Kellogg School of Business which is this week holding a special forum for women considering an MBA or similar course.
The two-day Women's Leadership Workshop, held at the Kellogg campus, is, according to the organizers, "designed for high potential women, early in their career, in industries and functions where an MBA is not considered a part of the traditional career path and who are looking to enhance their leadership skills."
And while MBAs themselves generally cost many thousands of dollars, the two days of networking and expert advice comes with a price tag of just $65.
Talking and networking
Those attending will hear talks by both faculty and top businesswomen, and will be able to take part in discussion groups on subjects such as negotiating and network strategies. They will also have the chance to meet current Kellogg students.
"This is a real opportunity for both Kellogg and the women attending," said Liz Mahler, co-organizer of the event,
"We hope to open a dialogue and encourage these women to embrace the leadership possibilities ahead of them."
Among the speakers is Stephanie Gallo, granddaughter of Ernest Gallo, who along with his brother Julio founded the famous wine house taking their two names. Now senior director of marketing, she graduated from the Kellogg program in 1999.
Women are said to often pick their MBA on different criteria than that of men, looking for personal development and a well-rounded curriculum rather than a more direct and traditional career path.
"Anecdotal evidence shows a spectrum of women working in the non-profit or otherwise non-traditional MBA track sector," said Mahler. "We want to show them how the skills developed through the Kellogg School can truly propel their career and passions in any industry."
This is not the only such event. In June, New York University's Stern School of Business is hosting the three-day MBA Forum for Women, this time aimed particularly at those seeking to enter the financial services industries.

The latest MBA must-have job

2007-05-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Every generation of MBA students has its dream job.
In the 1980s, it was the paneled boardrooms of Wall Street, while in the fever of the dot-com boom, those that actually stayed on to complete their course generally left carrying a portfolio of planned Internet start-ups.
Now, according to a series of reports, private equity is the sector that has MBA students salivating over their lecture notes. It is fashionable, booming and - most importantly - it can be fantastically well paid.
However, one business school is warning that some of the shine could come off the sector, meaning newly-minted MBAs who manage to get a position in private equity might have missed the peak of the party.
Private equity, in the strict sense, refers to investment in a company or other asset in which the cash injected is not from a publicly traded source.
In recent years, a series of private equity funds - stars include the likes of the Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group - have created headlines with the scale of their purchases, often taking companies listed on the stock market back into private hands and parachuting in a new management team focused on boosting value.
Standing out
According to Business Week, the very best newly-minted MBAs can command salaries and bonuses totaling more than $400,000 in private equity, meaning the competition for spaces is fierce, even if many funds are expanding.
Students seek to stand out by joining private equity clubs on their MBA course, and in some cases going even further: some students at the Tuck School of Business passed up the chance to go on vacation this winter break to fly to India and work for free from private equity firms there.
But could all this effort be in vain?
A new report by the University of Pennsylvania's highly-rated Wharton business school warns that while private financing looks set to remain strong this year, some are worried.
The school cited the reaction of one investor when a private hedge fund grabbed all the $10 million second-round financing of a life sciences start-up he owns: "A warning flag went up in my head. I hope we're not in for a repeat of the (dot-com) bubble era."
The caution was echoed by Wharton finance professor Pavel Savor, although he said the good times were not about to end straight away.
"Everything is very peachy now, and maybe the only way to go is down, but I would say that nothing is imminent," he said.
"Last year was the best on record by size, and 2007 in all likelihood will be even better in terms of activity. Whether it will be a good year for investors is an open question."
Saikat Chaudhuri, a management professor at Wharton, noted that the rush into private equity means the quick profits might be harder to find soon.
Hedge funds, which once dealt mainly with public companies and had a short-term outlook, are now dealing with far bigger businesses that might need more patience for a good return.
Typically, buyout firms come into a new company and can quickly create value with a new financial structure, simple operational fixes or big cuts in the workforce.
"As you start to get into these large deals -- in the double-digit billions -- that's going to require management expertise in the field and probably also holding the company for a longer period of time," Chaudhuri said.

Pitching 'outrageous' business ideas

2007-05-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- As business pitches go, it's certainly unorthodox. Two young women, dressed in what are clearly hastily home-made bridal outfits, stand in a corner of an elevator and talk to a video camera.
One speaks at length about how much she learned planning her wedding, while the other laments the amount she still has to do before her own big day.
Then, with a flourish, they pretend to tap on computer keyboards and simultaneously 'discover' a new Web site, Brideboard, "where brides advise brides."
Welcome to Columbia Business School's annual Outrageous Business Plan Competition.
This event allows the school's MBA students to pitch slightly more unorthodox or untested ideas before a panel of top businesspeople and venture capitalists. As one student says of his own idea: "It may be outrageous but it's not crazy."
This year's contest began with a series of two-minute mini pitches. These are all delivered to a single video camera by the individuals or teams themselves, all standing in the same place -- the somewhat unglamorous location of the corner of a stationary elevator.
Mixed approach
A near-hour long compilation of all the pitches can be viewed on the school's website (click here -- video file) and offers an illuminating insight into both the sheer variety and imagination of the ideas, and the extremely different ways in which they are presented.
Some are clearly well-rehearsed -- in a similar vein to Brideboard, one team offers up a quick but heartfelt dramatic vignette in which a couple who forget about an imminent social event are saved from their disaster by their son, who tells them about "bpampered," a Web site that sends hairdressers, beauticians and the like to your own home.
One of three eventual third-place winners, KidsLunch.com, not only have a warning slogan -- "are your kids packing on the pounds?" -- but end up throwing items of junk food around the elevator as they try to market their healthy school lunch delivery service.
Others are more prosaic in approach: Some pitches involve a single participant clutching a sheaf of notes and mumbling their spiel to the camera -- in one case, speeding up noticeably towards the end to beat the two-minute time limit.
Likewise, the ideas themselves vary greatly, everything from technical sounding business-to-business ideas to the more clearly unorthodox, such as another third-place winner, a designer clothes range purely for online communities such as Second Life.
The top prize and formal title of Most Outrageous Business Venture -- along with a $6,000 prize -- went to MBA student Michael Dwork for GreenWare, a line of disposable plates, cups and bowls that are organic and biodegradable.
Second place, and $5,000, went another single-person team, Brandon Kessler and his submission, ChallengePost, a Web site which aims to solve problems using co-operation and group action shaped by market imperatives.
"We are very pleased to recognize this year's winners," said Glenn Hubbard, Dean of Columbia Business School.
"Bold, original, and thoughtful, this year's entries demonstrated the kind of entrepreneurial thinking that we seek to cultivate in all of our students."
The contest, hosted by the school's Entrepreneurship Program and the Columbia Entrepreneurs Organization, is now in its eight year.
Unusual ideas from previous years include Gifts From the Grave, which allows consumes to continue to give gifts to loved ones after they have died, and Misfortunes, a company selling broken fortune cookies containing messages of ill-luck.

Teaching business to the arts world

2007-05-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- One of the biggest trends in modern business education is trying to help future executives be more creative in their thinking.
As documented before on Executive Education, students are now exposed to everything from the craft of acting (read here) to art gallery visits (read here) and lessons from works of literature (read here).
However, a leading Italian school is now taking a parallel approach -- teaching those in the creative world to be more businesslike.
Bocconi University, based in the northern Italian city of Milan, home of the famous La Scala opera house among other cultural treasures, has since 1999 offered an undergraduate course in such management.
Now it is going a stage further, and from September this year would-be executives in the creative world can begin an MSc in Economics and Management in Arts, Culture, Media and Entertainment.
Taught entirely in English, the course is aimed at managers and professionals in industries such as cultural heritage, media, entertainment, fashion and design.
The two-year program will see students explore economic, legal and managerial issues relevant to their industries and develop specific managerial skills.
As well as taking a mixture of general and specialized courses, the students will be encouraged to test out their skills in seven so-called "learning laboratories" aimed at specific areas such as cultural heritage, cultural tourism and design.
Real world experience
They will also have the chance to undertake placements and research at institutions partnered with the university such as the Rome-based International Center for the Study and Preservation of Cultural Property, which manages archaeological sites in the Mediterranean, and the elite Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, in the central Italian city of the same name.
Those taking the undergraduate version of the course have previously gone on to work for organizations including the Royal Opera House in London, EMI, Virgin and MTV.
There was now clearly room for a more advanced equivalent, program director Stefano Baia Curioni said.
"After eight years it became clear that the overall transformation of the cultural industries, arts markets and the growing attention paid to creative activities by institutions has produced a demand for high-level managerial capabilities with an international perspective," he said.
The international perspective comes from the opportunity for students to take part in one of several dual degree programs that Bocconi has established with other universities, such as Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and Science Po in Paris.
Some will also get the chance to carry out internships with institutions such as the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

Meet the manager-as-performer

2007-04-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

CNN) -- The most inspirational business leaders can sometimes seem to be inhabiting their role much like an actor, using their rhetorical and persuasive powers to motivate a crowd of peers and subordinates.
For one management professor, the parallel is so striking that he teaches executives a whole series of lessons they can learn from the theatrical world -- whether mimicking actors, directors or writers.
Harry L. Davis, Professor of Creative Management at the University of Chicago's highly-rated Graduate School of Business, teaches his innovative course, "Leadership as Performance Art," to senior managers at the school's US campus.
Now, in the best theatrical tradition, he is taking the show on the road, leading courses over successive days later this month in Dubai, London and Paris, part of the school's Global Leadership Series.
The free, one-evening events -- a bargain given that the usual week-long course costs around $8,000 per person -- aim to demonstrate three separate leadership roles, with their own distinct set of skills.
Firstly, leaders who are actors are able to connect fully with all manner of different "audiences," guiding them through sometimes complex concepts, and delivering an effective performance again and again.
Leader-directors are adept at keeping a large "cast" focused on the company's common goal, learning how people influence each other and how hidden preconceptions can block change.
Finally, leaders-as-playwrights can devise and revise corporate "scripts" according to the changing business environment.
"Leaders rise to high levels of effectiveness when they develop strong connections to the performance aspect of their role," Davis says in an introduction to the course.
"Life requires improvisation. No matter how much one plans, the unpredictable appears.
"Rapid changes in customer and employee needs, the increasing geographic reach of many organizations, and shifting competitive landscapes reward leaders who can improvise skillfully rather than follow out-dated routines."
Global events
The event is part of a range of Chicago's Global Leadership Series events taking place in 13 cities from late 2005 to early 2007.
Some of the other lectures are more traditional business school fodder, taking in areas such as risk management and how to attract suitably qualified employees.
Others are more unusual. For example, last month in Tokyo, an audience learned about how businesses and markets can be affected by one extremely hard-to-control source -- gossip.
Ron Burt, Professor of Sociology and Strategy at the Graduate School of Business, explained how gossip can help spark productivity improvements in the workplace, and sometime, more destructively, can shape the reputations of leaders.
Burt noted how good reputations in business "not necessarily come from your hard work, but more from the interests of the people who talk about your work."

The science of business dominance

2007-04-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- As well as turning out ever-more qualified graduates with a burning desire to ascend the rungs of leadership, and researching specific issues related to commerce and economics, business schools have another key role.
Often ignored, yet none the less vital, it can be summed up as, in the modern management by-word, blue sky thinking.
It involves coming up with often very theoretical research and concepts which might seem tangential or even irrelevant to everyday business decisions, but have the potential to bring very real benefits to companies.
One such notion was explained in a recent lecture at the Stanford Graduate School of Business which looked at the vexed issue of how social hierarchies and displays of dominance can influence negotiations.
Much like a chest-beating gorilla or chimpanzee, it has long been documented that humans -- particularly, it has to be noted, men -- exhibit more subtle yet nonetheless unmistakable physical signs to try and assert their self-perceived alpha status, explained Lara Tiedens, associate professor of organizational behavior.
"We have all had experience seeing someone in a group who stands out, who seems more compelling, more able to get what they want -- in ways that may not have anything to do with their position," she said.
People can do this through signs such as adopting an open physical posture, gazing directly at others and leaning in towards others' personal space, and this can bring very real benefits in negotiations, Tiedens said.
"The person who displays dominance is seen as being more of the decision-maker and go-to person in their organization -- deserving of a higher position and socioeconomic status. We think of these people as deserving even more status ... not only do they have it, but they should have more."
The dominant person is also viewed as being more influential, Tiedens said: "Arguments made in the context of dominance displays are believed more, agreed with more, and impact others' behavior more."
Benefits and risks
However, for all those standing up tall and puffing their chests out as they enter a meeting, comes a warning -- dominating people can be seen as "less nice, less likeable, and less warm", and trying to assert dominance can be a risky strategy.
Elsewhere, Chicago University's Graduate School of Business has been tackling an even more fundamental issue, and one with even more lessons for the commercial world -- why don't people do what makes them happy?
The assumption that consumers and citizens are essentially rational creatures acting in their own best interests is at the very foundation of the market economy.
Unfortunately, as Christopher Hsee and Reid Hastie, respectively professors of behavioral science and marketing at the school, argue in a new paper, this is not necessarily the case.
The study (read the full paper here) shows that when presented with a range of options, most people consistently make bad decisions, thanks to everything from a poor prediction of their future needs to the problem of competing choices.
This has great implications for both business and government, the paper explains.
"Many social policies, such as free choice of health providers, retirement plans, and public offices, are built upon the assumptions that people know their own preferences and that what people choose must be in their best interests," it says.
"The behavioral-decision research findings we have reviewed here cast doubt on these assumptions and, therefore, on the derived policies They also give the old aphorism, 'Be careful what you wish for; you might receive it', a new significance.

Companies look for long-term links

2007-04-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- Just as companies employ legal firms, technology consultants and accountants, an increasing number of them are adding education providers to their list of specialist suppliers.
Keen to ensure their competitive edge remains as sharp as possible, many firms are forging long-term relationships with business schools. The benefits, they say, are worth the not inconsiderable expense involved.
The move has been spurred by growing recognition that one-off executive education courses may not be sufficient to arm senior managers with the skills they require to perform their jobs. With business conditions and techniques in a constant state of evolution, an approach that uses career-long learning is becoming more appealing.
Traditionally, many large organizations have had structures in place that determine when and where senior managers will undertake company-sponsored education. This might occur when a manager is promoted to a new position or moved into a new department. At that time, a suitable course -- say, personnel management techniques -- would be offered. When completed, that manager would be considered ready to undertake the new role.
But now leading firms are factoring multiple courses into the career development plans for senior staff. As well as ensuring their skills match their growing and changing responsibilities, proponents believe the approach promotes a higher sense of personal and professional satisfaction.
Director of executive programs at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), John Urbano, says large firms are keen to ensure they have sufficient senior executives in their ranks to ensure their future growth can be maintained.
He says executives typically go through six or seven significant turning points during their career, each of which will require training and education. Making sure that training closely matches the real requirements of the executive is where working with a business school can pay big dividends.
'Truly transforming'
"People learn differently and providing a truly transforming experience can only be done by delivering the learning in the right way and in a passionate manner," says Urbano.
"If an executive is moving into a vice-president's role then he or she will need material which outlines the issues that keep vice-presidents up at night so they can see how to make that shift in mindset."
Like other business schools around the world, AGSM works with large organizations to put in place long-term educational strategies for their staff. Options include standard short courses or the creation of customised courses to address particular issues or skill areas. AGSM short courses cover areas including management and leadership, information systems, marketing and corporate governance.
At the Canada-based Richard Ivey School of Business, executive director of executive development, Erich Almasy, reports continuing strong demand for courses. He says the school is happy to work with large companies to develop long-term educational programs for staff.
"For example, we had an organization where we started out by developing a custom program for them," he says. "Within a short period, they added some more programs and essentially it became a leadership program. This then led to the company sending 30 staff to do an EMBA program -- I think this is a very intelligent approach."
By stitching together a combination of open courses and customised content, companies can be sure they get education programs that match their requirements exactly. Generic learning in areas such as management skills can be supplemented with company or industry specific skills.
Around the world most big business schools are busy forging links with big business, positioning themselves as expert education consultants. For example, the U.S.-based Kellogg School of Management boasts a client list for its custom courses that includes companies such as BP, Microsoft, Merck and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Bridging commerce and research

2007-04-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The environment, everyone now agrees, is a big issue for companies, something increasingly recognized by business schools, and chronicled previously on Executive Education (see here).
However, as with all aspects of commerce, any such big subject cannot be tackled just as a generality -- there are an ever-increasing number of specializations to be considered.
Luckily, business schools are rising to this challenge, too. The latest innovation in this vein is the Center for Energy Studies at Cambridge University's Judge Business School, which concentrates on the vital subject of energy security.
The UK-based center has just announced the name of its first director, Nick Butler, formerly a group vice president at oil giant BP.
The center is tasked with examining subjects of crucial importance to businesses worldwide, for example how European nations can use Russian energy supplies more heavily as insurance against instability in the Middle East.
Other areas include the fast-growing market in alternative and renewable energy sources, and possible international frameworks for the management of carbon emissions.
"As global demand for energy continues to rise, and energy security concerns become ever more important, I believe Cambridge has an influential role to play," Butler said.
His ambition, he added, is for the center to "play its part in the process of responding to one of the greatest challenges facing the world in the 21st century."
Inaugural lecture
Kicking off his new role, Butler is addressing dozens of senior figures from industry, government and academia in a lecture at the university, explaining the main issues of energy security facing the globe.
The center illustrates a key role that business schools can play, the director of the Judge school, Professor Arnoud De Meyer, explained.
"By basing the center here at the school, we can act as a bridge between the academic world and the world of business and finance, bringing together people from different backgrounds, academic disciplines and from the international business community, to jointly focus on the most important policy debates of our time," he said.
"We can help focus attention on the management issues and institutional arrangements which will need to be created if this enormous challenge is to be solved."
Similar moves are taking place elsewhere in the world. For example, California's Stanford Graduate School of Business has just held a major conference on another key part of environmental policy for businesses -- supply chain management.
The event saw more than 200 corporate and academic supply chain management experts discuss how to bring environmental sustainability and social responsibility to the key business issue.
"We are providing a platform for business leaders and others concerned with the environment and corporate social responsibility to work together toward the common goal of ensuring the availability of natural resources, supporting social reforms, and at the same time securing the efficient delivery of supplies," said Hau Lee, co-director of the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum.

Boom time for MBAs in 2007

2007-04-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- The job market is booming for those graduating with an MBA in 2007, a survey has shown in a further dose of welcome news for business school students.
According to a report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), based on a survey of US-based employers, companies reported plans to hire 22% more MBA. graduates from the Class of 2007 than they hired from their counterparts a year before.
More than 40% of the new MBA recruits will begin with an annual base salary of $75,000 or more, the Job Outlook 2007 report showed.
However, a slightly larger proportion -- 47% -- will have to make do on a base salary of between $50,000 to $75,000.
"Projections for MBA hiring are in line with what we're seeing in the job market for new college graduates as a whole," said Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.
"Employers reported plans to increase their college hires by more than 17% this year."
More good news
The survey is the latest in a crop of studies this year that have shown how the MBA market has rebounded following some lean years in the wake of the dot-com crash and the subsequent travails of the US economy.
Two months ago, a Business Week magazine study came up with the eye-catching finding that those graduating from a top business school can now often demand an starting salary of $100,000 or more as soon as their studies are over.
The once-every-two-years survey, which processed questionnaires from more than 9,000 students and 200-plus recruiters, found that graduates from almost a third of the top 30-ranked US MBA programs earned an average of $100,000 or more on graduating, a figure generally boosted further by other benefits.
Earlier in the year, a study by the MBA Career Services Council found that MBA students graduating in 2006 were expected to get more job offers and higher average salaries than their peers of 12 months ago.
Rewards had increased the most for those entering the consulting, financial services and consumer product industries, according the mainly US-based poll. It found that 98% of employers had seen increased recruiting activity during the fall and winter recruiting period compared to the same time a year before.
The NACE survey showed that manufacturers have the most aggressive hiring plans of any sector, expecting to hire 32.4% more MBAs in 2006-7 than they hired in 2005-6. Service employers plan a 15.4 percent increase.
The South of the United States appears to be especially booming -- 59% of respondents expect an increase in MBA hiring, followed by 51% in the Midwest.
In contrast, those looking for jobs in the Northeast (14.6% of employers expecting an increase) and West (13.5%).are sill in luck, but less so.

Educating future education leaders

2007-04-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Throughout their MBA courses, business school students get the chance to apply their new skills to hypothetical problems from the world of commerce.
Some, however, are also asked to go one better and tackle genuine cases. And what better challenge than reorganizing a major education authority with a debt of $100 million?
That was the task facing students from a series of leading U.S. schools earlier this month at the Education Leadership Case Competition, the first contest of its kind in the country.
It involved teams of MBA students from seven top business schools, among them Northwestern University's Kellogg School, and the Hass school at the University of California, Berkeley, which hosted the event.
The scale of the task facing them was enough to make even the most experience executive have to think long and hard.
The teams were asked to come up with a new financial plan for the Oakland Unified School District, which runs schools for 40,000 pupils in and around the Californian city of that name.
The financially-troubled educational authority has been in state receivership since June 2003, and owes $100 million to the state, the largest such debt in Californian history.
One plan mooted recently to help clear some of the loan was the $60 million sale of the school district's administration building to a developer, which would have been demolished to make way for condominiums and commercial space. However, this was abandoned following local opposition.
And while such financial woes might seem unglamorous compared to a career in investment banking or private equity, there is a clear need for talented, well-trained business professionals in the U.S. education system -- since 1991, seven California school districts have had to be taken over by the state.
New financial plan
The contest was a chance for MBAs to understand the challenges, and opportunities, in the sector, said Anna Utgoff, a Haas School MBA who developed it with classmates in the Haas Leadership in Education Club.
"We created the event to get the word out to MBAs that their business skills are really valuable and can make a significant impact in education," she said.
"Similar competitions exist for many other business professions but there wasn't an event that focused on education."
In the end, the host team won, with the three Hass MBA students and another from Berkeley's Goldman Public Policy School taking the $2,000 prize for their plans and presentation.
Teams had to focus on the school district's new financial plan, finding ways to improve its implementation and communicate how it is working to local people.
The Hass team's presentation was "the most well rounded," said Barak Ben-Gal, budget director of the Oakland Unified School District and one of the judges, who also included Professor Bill Ouchi of UCLA's Anderson School of Management, the author of "Making Schools Work."
"The presentation was very comprehensive in terms of getting the gist of the case and talking about all the different aspects that you must invest in to transition from a start-up phase to something that is more sustainable," Ben-Gal said.
A team from Northwestern's Kellogg School finished second, winning $1,000.

Where business and government meets

2007-04-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Once, business was business and government was government. Leaders passed laws and companies made money within those laws.
These days, however, the lines are blurring and people with business qualifications are found increasingly within the top levels of government -- most notably, President George W. Bush, the first incumbent of the office to hold an MBA.
A study last year found that Bush's then-cabinet contained two other MBAs, less than the six law graduates but an interesting phenomenon nonetheless.
Elsewhere, in particular with the advent of economic globalization, there are ever more areas of public policy in which governments and companies must collaborate for mutual benefit, for example the issue of climate change.
The time thus seems ripe for a new tie-up between two of the leaders in their respective fields of business education and public policy education -- Harvard Business School (where Bush took his MBA) and the same university's Kennedy School of Government.
Earlier this month, they announced the creation of two new joint postgraduate degrees which share the resources and expertise of both schools.
Students will be able to choose from a Master in Business Administration/Master in Public Policy (MBA/MPP) or a Master in Business Administration/Master in Public Administration-International Development (MBA/MPA-ID). To take either degree, students must pass the rigorous admissions procedures of both schools.
The aim is to produce people able to work where government and business meet, for example the environment, health care or economic development.
"Graduates of this new program will be able to address some of the world's most pressing issues -- issues that call for collaboration between the public and private sectors and that require leaders who can effectively operate in both areas," said the Kennedy School's Dean David T. Ellwood.
"It will provide graduates with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to fulfil key leadership roles throughout the world."
Tough program
Students -- who begin arriving late next year -- will study for three years, the first two a compulsory mix of core curricula from the two schools, followed by a final year in which they take electives along with a series of specially-designed joint courses.
"From tax policies and trade agreements to a wide range of laws and regulations, the interaction between business and government for the greater good of society has never been more important," said the business school's Dean Jay O. Light.
"As they embark on careers that will have a significant impact on corporate policy and public affairs, students in this new program will benefit from the strong practical focus that is the hallmark of both schools."
If the formal academic program were not enough, students must also complete two separate summer internships. Between the first and second years, they will work in a public service or policy-based position and between the second and third years, they will obtain positions in a private sector or non-profit organization.
According to Robert Stavins, professor of business and government at the Kennedy School, who co-chaired the group which devised the course, there is "no academic program in the world that can match the theoretical, analytical, and practical elements offered".
"In a truly integrated joint degree program such as this, students will be able to synthesize the lessons they learn in each school to become professionals skilled at devising innovative approaches to a broad range of complex challenges in society," he added.
"There is also a wealth of expanded opportunities for faculty collaboration in research in this arena."

Turning technology into money

2007-04-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Technological advances are all around us, everything from increasingly powerful personal computers to the latest in disease-beating drugs.
However, coming up with a great new concept and making money from it -- as many bankrupt inventors and innovators over the decades could tell you -- are two entirely different matters.
This is something business schools are increasingly aware of, and many of them now have special departments intended to not only help technological innovators profit from their developments but also assist established corporations to keep pace with the dizzying pace of change.
A pioneer in this was the Management of Technology Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, initially established in 1981 as a joint program between the university's engineering department and its highly-rated Sloan management school.
Intended for experienced staff in technology-based companies and organizations, the qualification has since then, according to the school, "taught hundreds of engineers to assess, mine, and market technological enterprises."
These days, technology management MBAs are available around the globe, including one at the University of Washington Business School in the high-tech hub of Seattle, which boasts of preparing managers for "leadership in the rapidly evolving technology sector" to a similar qualification at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand.
However, such is the complexity of many new innovations that even this specialization is being broken down further.
Tanaka Business School in the UK already offers courses on the bio-pharma and health technology sectors in its one-year MBA program.
Now, it has just announced a pioneering professorship in technology transfer in the physical sciences, the likes of physics and engineering.
Addressing a need
Professor Erkko Autio, from Finland, is the first incumbent in the post, which is financed jointly by a UK government funding agency for the physical sciences and QinetiQ -- pronounced "kinetic" -- a defense technology company created in July 2001 when the UK government's official defense research agency was privatized.
The chair has been set up at Tanaka -- part of London University's Imperial College, which specializes in science and medicine -- to address the lack of research into the most effective methods of commercializing ideas in engineering and the physical sciences.
Autio has been tasked with looking at how companies and academic institutions exploit existing ideas in the physical sciences and examine how this can be expanded to cover new markets.
"Innovation in engineering and the physical sciences plays a key role in driving economic growth but the process appears to take longer and be more challenging than in the life sciences," he notes.
"The importance of technology transfer for growth in the British and global economy cannot be stressed enough," adds Professor David Gann, head of Tanaka's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group.
"This chair will develop new business models and policies for improving the effectiveness with which knowledge from engineering and physical sciences can be commercialized and deployed in industry."

Studying business in a war zone

2007-04-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Like many MBA students, particularly those combining a distance-learning course with a full-time job, Joel Parker occasionally finds it difficult to complete his assignments on time.
He does, however, usually have a good excuse, as illustrated by the recent email he sent his graduate advisor at Regis University's business school, Bob Deemer.
"If it's okay with you sir, I may be a little late handing in my assignments as my unit may be under fire," wrote Parker -- or to give him his full title, Captain Joel Parker of the U.S. Army's 3rd Brigade, currently stationed in Iraq.
Deemer has heard all mannser of excuses for late work in the past, but was happy to grant Parker a bit more time, given that he does not have many students in war zones.
The 36-year old infantry officer began his MBA at Regis University, in Denver, Colorado, while still stationed in the United States before being posted to Iraq.
Despite the difficulties of his mission, Parker has continued his studies and has completed more than half the degree while in Iraq, something he says has actually helped make the deployment more bearable.
"I'm working on my degree because it brings normalcy to my life," he says.
"It gives me something to look forward to. Everyone has a means of mental escape. Some people work out, exercise or play cards to pass the time. I'm just choosing to use my time to complete my degree."
Parker's MBA class holds their commencement, the ceremony for graduating students, in less than three weeks, when he will still be in Iraq.
However, he still hopes to "attend" by watching a live Internet broadcast of the event, which his father, Leedell, will attend on his behalf.
Determination
The elder Parker has long been impressed by his son's dedication. "While he was in the reserves in the Marines, he got his undergraduate degree while working two jobs," he says.
"I'm blown away by his progress with his master's degree. It's beyond words how proud I am of him and what he's done to enhance his life. All of this while he's in war zone -- it's extraordinary. I don't know how to tell him how proud I am of him."
Captain Parker himself says he wants to be an example for other people serving in a war zone.
"I want others in the military to know that it's possible to fight in a war and complete your degree, says Parker. "I just did it, I hope others will follow."
It is a worthwhile aspiration, says Regis's Deemer.
"Getting an online degree isn't easy by any means, but it does afford you the flexibility of working a degree into your life, regardless of career demands," he says.
Parker has a number of options once he completes the MBA.
Should he decide to leave military service, he will most likely find himself in demand in the civilian world -- as Executive Education detailed recently, some recruiters now directly target former officers with postgraduate business qualifications (see here).
And if he stays, armies around the world are waking up to the benefits of MBAs and similar qualifications within their own ranks. In another Executive Education story, we profiled a special MBA (Defense) which UK service personnel can now study for (see here).

Competing to do good

2007-04-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Along with teaching executives how to make a lot of money, business schools increasingly lead the way in ethical and socially-focused projects, as detailed before in Executive Education (see here).
Another key element of modern MBAs is the way students from various schools compete against each other in pitching ideas to panels of experts (see here).
This week comes an annual event that fuses both of these -- the eighth Global Social Venture Competition (GSVB).
Taking place at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business, it sees 11 schools from three continents battle it out for a total of $45,000 in prizes and funds. These finalists came from an initial entry of 157 teams from 80 universities in 20 countries.
The competition, started by UC Berkeley MBA students in 1999, gives entrants the chance to come up with business ideas that benefit more than just consumers, executives and shareholders.
"GSVC has the potential to put the 'heart' back into graduate business education," said John Mullins, Associate Professor of Management Practice at the UK's London Business School, whose team is one of the finalists.
"By encouraging entrepreneurs to consider both social and economic returns, it broadens their perspectives and encourages them to think more clearly about why they are in business."
The London team will be pitching an idea known as Cool to Care before the panel of judges.
This is a venture intended to improve the lives of families caring for disabled children, which can be extremely difficult and stressful. It will match up carers with families, who will be able to hand-pick the carer and their hours of work from Cool to Care's pool of qualified staff.
Initially UK-based, it is intended to be a replicable and sustainable business model that can be used in developing countries.
Varied ideas
Another innovative idea, called d.light, will be presented by students from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
This aims to set up a for-profit company selling cheap, safe and easy to power LED lights to the hundreds of millions worldwide who live without mains electricity, many of whom spend a high proportion of their incomes on kerosene.
Other entries are inspired by the countries in which the schools are based -- for instance, Peking University's Beijing International MBA team hope to market a new technological device called a plasma seed processor to help hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers achieve higher yields from drought-afflicted, infertile land.
Meanwhile, the host team at Haas have devised an idea for a company to provide healthy meals and nutritional education for schools in California, especially those in low-income communities with traditionally poor access to such foods.
The other finalists are the University of Geneva; Columbia Business School; Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, Canada; Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; Harvard Business School; Babson College in Babson Park, Massachusetts and Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand.

The vexed issue of MBA league tables

2007-04-16T00:55:00.000-07:00

The students who give back

2007-04-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- One thing business schools are clearly very good at is producing graduates who are likely to make a lot of money in the future.
Apart from sheer educational vocation, the schools also have a slightly vested interest in this -- they hope grateful alumni will give something back.
Such potential generosity was highlighted earlier this month when the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business announced that a product of its MBA class of 1948 was to give $30 million to its graduate program.
Bill Hough, the founder of a municipal bond company he sold in 2004, intends his gift to support teaching and other work in the school, and also partly to finance a new school building.
"I was moved by the professors I had in graduate school," Hough said. "They taught us fundamentals of the practical securities business and prepared me to be a successful broker and investor."
The school -- now to be called the Hough Graduate School of Business -- was equally effusive.
"Public higher education is about providing everyone the opportunity for excellence in their lives," the university's president, Bernie Machen, said.
"Bill Hough is ensuring that perpetual resources are available so that future generations can receive the kind of excellent academic foundation to which he credits his success."
Haves and have-less
Such gifts, whether to a university in general or a business school, are a common part of alumni life in the United States, but far less so in Europe, where universities have traditionally been state funded.
The wealth disparities this can cause were shown in the recently-released list of global MBAs compiled by the Financial Times newspaper.
Eight of the top 10-ranked schools in 2007 were U.S.-based, and they each had an endowment fund of $200 million or more.
In contrast, the only non-American school in the top 10, the French-Singaporean Insead and the UK's London Business School (LBS) had a pot of around $100 million and $12.5 million respectively.
European schools have been trying to boost their funds through increased endowments, as shown by the fact that both Insead and LBS have recently appointed deans from the business world rather than academia.
Robin Buchanan, UK senior partner with consultants Bain and Company, has taken the helm at LBS, while Insead appointed Frank Brown, a veteran with accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Brown told the FT that increasing the size of the endowment is critical.
"The issue that I see is that we are trying to be the business school for the world. That means diversity of nationality, profession and socio-economic diversity," he said.
"If Insead tries to attract a student from, say, Nigeria, in competition with a top U.S. school, the U.S. school is able to offer a full scholarship. Insead is not."

Fast pace of business drives EMBA

2007-04-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- As companies throughout the world strive to improve performance and boost growth, attention is focusing on the potential economic benefits of professional executive education.
With the pace of global business increasing, senior managers find themselves needing to make complex decisions quickly. As commercial conditions change, they must quickly assess new opportunities and put in place the strategies necessary to take advantage of them.
Key forces, such as globalization and the rise of information technology as a business tool, require senior executives to maintain a state of constant learning. It is no longer sufficient to supplement an early university education with on-the-job experience. Increasingly, companies are recognizing their most valued employees need more.
The classic form of executive education, the Master of Business Administration (MBA), was devised in the early 1900s as a vehicle to foster strong senior management within large US-based companies.
This original format involves graduates undertaking two years of full-time study in which they are schooled in fundamentals of business -- economics, accounting, business strategy and management skills.
By the 1960s, the MBA was a global phenomenon with universities across the world offering their versions of what had become a "must-have" business degree.
But during the next two decades, the rigid format of the MBA course came under pressure. Companies wanted to have graduates entering the workforce rather than spending another two years in a classroom. Universities responded by changing course structures to allow for part-time, external and even Internet-based study.
Adding such flexibility allows far greater numbers of students to undertake MBA studies. There are now more than 2600 MBA courses being offered by around 1400 universities across some 125 countries.
Classic MBA offerings have also been augmented by a range of so-called Executive MBAs, designed for managers who already have a considerable amount of work experience. These courses encourage participants to share their knowledge and discuss real-world challenges within the academic framework.
An example is the EMBA offered by the Richard Ivey School of Business at its campus in Hong Kong. The course is structured so that virtually all class work is completed outside normal working hours. The 22-month course costs $67,500, and the 2005 class has 49 participants.
Managing director of the U.S.-based Executive MBA Council, Maury Kalnitz, says growing demand is leading to a rapid increase in the number of business schools offering EMBA courses.
'Tremendous growth'
"There is tremendous growth both in the U.S. and international markets," he says. "People want to build on their strengths and realize that, if they are going to progress in their careers, they will need more skills."
For executives with less time or looking for training in more specific areas, an increasing number of academic institutions are offering intensive short courses. This format allows participants and their companies to choose material that is directly relevant to their industry sector and future business plans.
One example is a course offered by European-based business school INSEAD at its campus in Singapore. Called the Asian International Executive Program, the two-week course covers a blend of international business, marketing, corporate strategy and human resource issues. Designed for executives with at least eight years' working experience, the course costs $11,000 and is offered four times each year.
INSEAD offers a range of other short-course programs including the Young Managers Program. This three-week course, held in both Europe and Singapore, is designed to improve executive communications and managerial skills. It costs $19,600.
Another trend in executive education being led by a number of academic institutions is the provision of tailored content for individual organizations. Working closely with a company, an institution will devise a course or series of courses specifically for the company's executives.
An example is U.S.-based Duke Corporate Education, owned by Duke University. It works with organizations throughout the world to train their executives. DCE staff analyze a particular company's requirements and then develop a customized course designed to increase employee skills in particular areas.
Vice president of business development at Duke Corporate Education, David Miller, says it is this area which is showing the fastest growth for business schools.
"Ours are growing at around 25 per cent a year at the moment," he says. "And there is no sign of things slowing."

Big hitters dominate MBA rankings

2007-04-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- There are a number of rankings produced each year for business schools and MBAs, but the one seen as perhaps the most authoritative in global terms is that produced each year by the Financial Times.
The London-based newspaper has just produced its 2007 MBA rankings, and there is one simple message to be seen from glancing at the top 10 -- the big hitters of the MBA world are here to stay.
All but one of this year's top 10 were also there in 2006, with only a few minor moves.
The second message is this -- the United States still dominates. Only two non-US schools broke up the American dominance of the top 10, London Business School at fifth and the French-Singaporean Insead two spots lower
First place, as in the previous two years, went to the University of Pennsylvania's understandably-revered Wharton school.
In fact, Wharton topped all the other main rankings -- graduate salaries, alumni satisfaction, future careers, gender diversity, international diversity and idea generation.
In the main chart, the next three were fellow giants of the US business school scene, Columbia, Harvard and Stanford. Next came London Business School, followed by Chicago University's graduate business school, Insead, and then a trio of other U.S. big names, Stern, Tuck and Yale.
A series of other leading schools are in the top 20, for example Northwestern University's Kellogg school.
Apart from Insead's Singapore joint base, the two-continent hegemony is first broken up by Shanghai's Ceibs school in joint 11th.
Apart from these, only six other schools in the top 100 listing are based outside of North America or Europe; two more in Singapore, a pair in Australia and one each from Brazil and South Africa.
Booming market
Overall, the FT found, the MBA market is booming, with a combination of both an increase in applications for MBAs and a healthy job market for those graduating, the first time this has happened since the early 1990s.
"There's a good sense of assurance in the degree... that's become more recognized by the applicant pool," Rose Martinelli, associate dean of student recruitment and admissions at the University of Chicago's school told the paper.
Other data from the survey shows that an MBA is, indeed, a good investment.
Figures from graduates of the current top 10 schools showed that three years after graduating, alumni earned an average salary of $148,609 a year, an increase of 127% over the period.
However, the study warns that the boom might not be all it seems. While many schools are receiving more applications, this might not necessarily translate into more would-be MBAs.
"There is not a lot of statistical data to show that there are more applicants," Ms Martinelli told the paper. "The competition for the top schools is increasing, so applicants are applying to four or 4.5 schools. Last year it was three."
The survey also pointed out another trend -- the sheer amount of business schools.
The number of US schools grew 10% between 1999 and 2006, giving the country 927. But India increased even faster, and now has 953 business schools.
Even this growth is beaten by Europe, where from 1999 to 2006 the number leapt from 181 in 1999 to 658, with 150 MBA programs now offered in Germany alone.

Business students follow the case

2007-04-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- Rather than using traditional lectures as the basis of executive education courses, growing numbers of business schools are running interactive sessions built on real-world case examples to instruct and inspire their students.
First used at Harvard Business School more than 90 years ago, the case technique involves close examination of actual problems faced by companies and the steps they took to overcome them.
Rather than simply being passive recipients of a lecturer's wisdom, students are encouraged to dissect the examples and discuss them in group sessions. Advocates say such an approach provides insight and practical knowledge that can be applied in the future.
Harvard Business School executive director of case development Michael Roberts says students are exposed to a large number of cases drawn from a wide variety of industry sectors.
Students first study a case alone before discussing it as part of a small group. Once opinions have been formulated, the small groups must defend their conclusions in larger sessions during which alternative approaches are aired and debated.
Most group sessions are conducted in a purpose-built room in which students face each other in a horseshoe configuration with the lecturer acting as a discussion moderator. It is common for MBA students to analyse and discuss around 14 different cases each week during their course.
"It's an approach that teaches them how to think, present their ideas, listen to others, defend their point of view, and use their judgment to make a decision, even if the information in the case is incomplete," says Roberts. "That, after all, is a reflection of real life in the business world."
Because the cases form a vital part of executive education courses, a considerable amount of time and effort is invested in creating them. School professors and research staff visit each selected company to conduct intensive interviews with senior staff and look at written records and background material.
Gathered information is then written in a narrative format and can include examples of company data and video footage of pertinent facilities or activities.
"One of the most recent electronic cases focuses on the shuttle Columbia disaster and puts the student into a particular role in a simulated environment that reflects a decision making process at NASA that went deadly wrong," Roberts told CNN.
Reverse engineering
He says case structure is essentially "reverse engineering based on the logic". Lecturers figure out the points they want students to debate and then set about constructing their cases to illicit that response.
Although structured, cases are designed to stimulate discussion and foster creative thinking. Students are encouraged to defend their conclusions and back them up with examples drawn from the materials provided.
"We believe that business is a mix of science and craft," says Roberts. "There are theories and principles but the application of those theories depends upon the specifics of the context in which they are applied.
"The case is the way to provide that context and give students practice in the application."
As well as using them in its own executive education courses, Harvard Business School has also developed a global business from selling cases to other schools. According to the school, more than 80 per cent of all cases in use around the world have been generated by Harvard.
"Some cases simply never work as well as the faculty had hoped, but others are simply classic because they capture timeless issues, such as how to give a subordinate negative performance feedback," says Roberts. As an example, the school has been using the 1957 film 'Twelve Angry men' -- which looks at the workings of a jury -- as a case study in influence techniques for more than 30 years.
Roberts says the success of the case method will ensure its remains a critical part of business education courses in schools around the globe well into the future.

Schools' task: Attracting women

2007-04-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- They might make up slightly more than 50 percent of the world's population, but women are significantly under-represented when it comes to executive education, according to top-tier business schools.
Some schools admit that females make up only as little as one-fifth to a quarter of class numbers.
The figures will come as little surprise to female executives, who have been battling lower average salaries and stereotypical perceptions in many large organizations for years.
However, faced with this challenge, business schools are actively trying to bolster the number of women joining their MBA and executive MBA programs. By nurturing the considerable pool of talent that exists in the market, they believe they can play a part in addressing the gender imbalance that exists in top levels of management.
In 2000, a group of major corporations, business schools and not-for-profit groups formed the Forté Foundation. This organization is charged with encouraging and assisting women to assume senior managerial roles.
A vital part of this is process is communicating to women the career benefits of undertaking an MBA degree course. Regular forums and seminars are conducted by the group to facilitate this process.
Some in the education sector believe MBAs have suffered from an image of being a male-dominated club, where female executives could feel uncomfortable. However, others say successful female executives deal with male-dominated situations every day, and such courses are nothing more than an extension of the environment that exists in the wider business world.
Howard Kaufold, vice dean for the MBA for Executives program at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school, admits his institution is not seeing rising numbers of women joining its programs -- and it's something that needs to be urgently addressed.
"In full-time MBA courses, particularly in the United States, it is a great achievement if women represent a third of class participants, and that proportion would be at the high end of the scale," he said. "This is a real challenge for us."
Kaufold believes the problem stems from the fact that Wharton MBA participants tend to be older -- with an average age of 27 years -- which means most are already established in their careers and have families.
Women in that situation can find it difficult to attend a full-time course, which requires taking long periods away from both work and family life.
"We also find this in our executive MBA programs, where women are really having to juggle a lot of factors and this can make it very tough for them," he says.
Some business schools are addressing the problem by making some courses more flexible and, where possible, removing the need for full-time, live-in participation. Others have found that being able to take some classes on campus or using online learning techniques can also help.
Ethan Hanabury, Columbia Business School's associate dean for executive education, says it is the residential component that often becomes the toughest factor for women keen to take his school's courses.
"For a mother to be in residence for a month is a big deal," he says. "So we are looking at ways of making our courses more flexible to overcome this."
Hanabury says Columbia also offers a series of scholarships, including one designed to assist women of color. He believes positive initiatives such as this will help to gradually increase the proportion of women in courses, although admits it will take a long-term effort.

Learner Encouragement In E-Learning

2007-04-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

Author: Vishwanath Shankar
While much stress is laid on the design, user interface and other technology centric aspects of e-learning, no light has been shed upon how to encourage learners to buy the concept of learning, leave alone sticking through to its completion.
This is more so when the learners are employees. Little wonder then that some of the best managed e learning initiatives have bitten dust due to low levels of learner retention. Clearing the final hurdle of assessment tests successfully is what most corporate learning programs aim at instead of seeing to it that learners have actually learnt to apply these skills to their working environment. In the absence of such an initiative, the program imparts knowledge to the employees without exploiting these acquired skills to the benefit of the organization. Checking the current levels of motivation among learners can be achieved by evaluating them on the basis of the following criteria. Expectations form the learning initiative Interest in the topics involvedValue addition to learners provided by the initiative Obstacles, if any, to learning Encouraging learners to take up and stick to the program can be achieved by the following factors. Capture attentionHolding the learners’ attention is the first step towards motivating them. Start the program with an attractive sequence and preferably have a senior addressing them through the system elaborating upon the benefits of the program to the learners. Tickling the learner’s sensory stimuli and extracting answers to thought provoking questions are other methods to hold learner interest. Explain significance Capturing or holding attention for the first few slides will do no good if the learner is not convinced of the significance of the course to him. This needs to be explained in detail, while stressing upon how the completion of the course will develop skills in learners that they would be able to apply to their daily jobs at hand. Learners must be able to identify the program to be beneficial both at a personal and professional level. Provide learners with a list of applications that would be made easy by the learning initiative. Make the content interestingWell organized content presented in small and easy chunks called learning objectives will develop interest among learners. Small chunks facilitate a sense of achievement on the completion of each one. A jamboree of media that combines audio, video, text, and graphics will make the learning process seem a cakewalk, and make it more enjoyable. Always take care to explain the content before starting to demonstrate its use. Instill confidence Do not present the content in a complex manner that might shoo away potential learners. If learners lose confidence in themselves and find it extremely difficult to achieve the objectives of the program, or if learners feel that completing the program will require extensive effort or time on their part, they will probably be apprehensive about the whole exercise. To instill confidence in them, make them aware of the approximate time it might take to be over with a module, while providing them regular feedback about their advancement. Imbibe concepts Absorbing important but difficult concepts is often a cumbersome exercise for the learners. Guidance is required in order to preserve complex theories. This can be done by providing relevant examples, explaining case studies and stimulating memory through congruence of facts or correlation. Graphical representations can also aid memory. Make the experience rewarding Small achievements call for a reward. Award certificates for successfully completing online tests. Alternatively, offer a promotion or a minor pay raise for crossing milestones in the program. Encouraging words from the supervisor too can do wonders to motivate learners. But the fact that they are able to apply skills to their daily jobs surpasses all other prizes. Offer feedback Feedback of learners’ performance allows them to know their standing in the context of the program. Modules followed with short exercises provide guidance and improve comprehension on the part of learners. Boost knowledge applicationWith almost all learning initiatives attaching importance to performance enhancement, it is important that the learners retain most of the learnt skills in order to augment productivity. Repetition is the age old method of doing this, which can also be alternatively achieved by electronic or online job-aids, references, templates, and wizards. Epilogue Motivating the learners not only increases retention in e learning initiatives, but is also a sure shot way of extracting better productivity out of employee-learners. And motivated learners can definitely take your program towards success.

Teens Boarding Schools

2007-04-06T21:29:00.001-07:00

Author: Monica Craft
Troubled Teens Boarding schools are independent, college preparatory schools that provide housing facilities for students and faculty.
Boarding schools have been around for a long time, and they still create an environment that is appealing to people even today. Boarding schools can help prepare its students on both an academic and a social level. Boarding schools for teens can also help your teenager with their personal growth and advancements. Sending your teen to a boarding school, can help them learn how to face the world that lay ahead of them. If you are a parent evaluating boarding schools for a teen struggling in school you may feel overwhelmed by all the options available to you. Parents with troubled teens who have struggled with finding solutions sometimes feel as if they have no place to turn. Maybe you have tried a number of treatments or interventions to get a troubled teen back on track, yet still find the solutions fall far short of the mark. Types of Boarding Schools for Teens Even though boarding schools have been around for a while, some people do not realize there are different types of boarding schools. Here are a few: Boarding schools that are either all male or female Boarding schools to help prepare for college Boarding school for troubled teens Religious boarding school Troubled Teens Boarding schools are independent, college preparatory schools that provide housing facilities for students and faculty. Boarding schools are sometimes referred to as intentional communities because the faculty and staff at boarding schools work very hard to create an environment for students that are safe, academically challenging, active, and fun. Our hectic, fast-paced society makes it more difficult for young people to make the transition from childhood to adulthood. Rites of passage that once helped teens understand the growing responsibilities that come with age no longer play a major part in our chaotic world. Children and teens get many of their messages about how to act from inappropriate sources - from an individual peer group or the larger peer culture. There are many different types of Troubled Teens boarding schools. If you decide boarding school is the best way to help your troubled teen, the first step to choosing a school is to consider what type of school will best serve the student. Boarding schools will accept a troubled teen, or a student that does not want to be there. Parent Help is familiar with several boarding schools. We know which schools will accept a troubled teen and we are willing to provide you with information about each of these schools. You are in the process of looking for a boarding school for your out-of-control teenage daughter. You need something that addresses both emotional growth and academic growth. I don-t want a lock-down situation, but hopefully something that-s isolated enough that it accomplishes the same purpose. Residential school for teen with emotional problems If you are looking for a residential school for your teenaged son who, while very bright, has severe emotional problems. They have exhausted all local options and feel that a therapeutic/residential program may be the best option now. Go to:- http://www.troubledteensadvice.com/Teens_Options/boarding-schools.html

Following the funny money

2007-04-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Many business school programs are launched in response to student demand, while others follow academic and technical innovations.
But one course run by London's well-regarded Cass school was put together for another reason -- government departments and private groups asked for it.
The Graduate Diploma in Anti-Money Laundering, established by the U.K. school in late 2005, has recently accepted its second intake of 25 students.
The highly specialized course was launched in association with the Center for Financial Regulation and Crime (CFRC), set up at Cass in 2004.
The CFRC, a leading base for the identification and enforcement of so-called "white collar" financial crimes, was itself formed with the assistance of police officers and financial institutions, both commercial and regulatory.
The anti-money laundering diploma aims to train people to better tackle what is recognized as one of the most difficult crimes of all to enforce, especially in the modern era of globalized business and instant electronic transactions.
Money laundering involves using commercial transactions to 'clean' finances obtained through illegal means, such as organized crime.
Increasingly, however, law enforcement agencies say it is being used to provide funds for other groups, for example terrorist organizations or even nations subject to financial sanctions, such as North Korea.
Police assistance
London, one of the principal global financial centers, is at the forefront of efforts to trace and seize money acquired from dubious sources.
The Cass course is run in association with the International Compliance Association, a professional group aimed at improving anti-money laundering efforts, and with the support of police and the British Bankers' Association.
It covers everything from how money is laundered and recognizing illicit transactions to designing a specific anti-money laundering strategy for a financial services business.
The course, according to Cass's Dr Chizu Nakijima, director of the CFRC, was set up "at the request of many government agencies and private sector bodies."
The students attracted have been a mix of bankers, lawyers and businesspeople, as well as financial regulators police and prosecutors.
"Half the course is from the public sector, representing law enforcement and regulatory agencies, while the other half is private sector, representing various sectors within the financial services industry," explained Dr Nakijima, adding that prospective students had a range of reasons for signing up.
"For those in the public sector, it is either for promotion or for moving into the private sector, and for those in the private sector, it is for moving into managerial positions or those already in such positions to have formal qualifications," she said.
"There appears to be a need and demand for formal qualifications, rather than just training programs of which there are many."

Rapid rise beckons mobile workers

2007-04-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- Rapid career advancement is a key driver for students enrolling in an MBA or EMBA degree, yet the same thing can cause trepidation for existing employers.
Armed with new skills, insights and contacts, degree graduates believe their journey up the corporate ladder will be faster and the final destination higher than it would otherwise have been.
From a personal perspective, such a boost can only be attractive. In an increasingly competitive global business marketplace, constantly upgrading professional abilities is no longer an option -- it's become a necessity.
But for employers, having their staff continually improving their skills is a double-edged sword. While it brings obvious benefits to the company, it also makes them more attractive to the opposition.
The rapid salary increases enjoyed by many graduates brings the challenge into stark relief. While some achieve the rises while remaining with their current firm, a significant proportion get them by packing their desk and moving on.
In the Financial Times 2006 MBA rankings, graduates of the top-placed Wharton school reported salary increases of 139 per cent in the period from starting their course until three years after graduation. Students of the Yale School of Management reported increases of 154 per cent. Many of these advances were achieved by changing to a different employer.
The FT rankings also measured the degree of international mobility enjoyed by students, based on their employment movements since graduation. Top ranked schools included Swiss-based IMD, Trinity College Dublin, and France-based HEC Paris. Students from these schools not only changed employers but were also prepared to change countries in search of their next position.
HEC associate dean Bertrand Moingeon says the hefty price tags attached to many top degrees can be one way for companies to ensure staff graduates do not leave quickly after completing their degree. Moingeon says between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of EMBA students at HEC are sponsored by their companies.
"Sponsorship can in fact be a way for companies to either reward their high performers or to retain their high value executives in a company," he told CNN. "Participants may enter agreements with their company committing them to staying for X amount of years in return for sponsorship on a program."
Microsoft's director of human resources for Australia and New Zealand Mark Newton says his company puts a strong emphasis on encouraging senior staff to undertake further education.
Newton says staff can either seek out a course they wish to undertake or the company's HR team may identify suitable courses and suggest them to particular employees. "Microsoft certainly does support employees who wish to study for an MBA by giving them time off for study, exams and some financial support," he told CNN. "Microsoft is a large employer of MBA-qualified executives as well. We actively target this group to help ensure we have the best and brightest talent."
While recognizing that qualified senior staff are valued by all companies, he is not concerned that encouraging staff to undertake further study will lead to them walking out the door to competitors.
"The secret of retaining them is not worrying about rivals but instead, it is about making Microsoft the best place to work," he says. "And Microsoft is a great place to work, which is reflected by our high staff retention rate, high staff engagement rate and low attrition rate."
Like many large international companies, Microsoft has established an internal structure for all employees to ensure they have a defined professional development program.
"The development program becomes a critical part of their career objectives," says Newton. "When you take this seriously it increases your organization's retention because we are helping people to fulfill their career goals."

Turning technology into money

2007-04-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Pitching 'outrageous' business ideas

2007-04-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

Learning to be creative

2007-04-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Creativity is the buzzword in many a modern boardroom, yet some in business still complain that too many newly-minted MBAs are competent but uninspired, well-versed in the technical theory but lacking in imagination.
A series of business schools have tried to improve this perceived failing with some innovative classes.
For example, Professor David Sims, who teaches organizational behavior at London's Cass Business School, aims to teach students the seemingly intangible virtues of imagination, inspiration, intuition and improvisation.
He does this by taking students choosing his elective on themed exercises, for example going to London's National Portrait Gallery to look at pictures of leaders with the help of an art historian.
Other schools use art to illustrate business principles. Saïd Business School, part of Britain's Oxford University, ran a three-day leadership course based on the history of Julius Caesar as told in William Shakespeare's famous 1599 tragedy.
Meanwhile, Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Badaracco's course on learning business lessons from literary characters has proved so popular he turned it into a book.
In a new initiative, Judge Business School, part of the University of Cambridge in the UK, is taking a more direct approach.
It has just teamed up with a leading advertising agency to hold what it calls a "unique creativity workshop" for its MBAs.
Market gap?
The two-day event was developed after research showed that only two top U.S. MBA schools offer courses in creativity, and only one European school has incorporated design into its curriculum.
It was jointly taught by staff from the Judge school and executives from Saatchi and Saatchi, with the idea of breaking down the notion that creativity should be the sole preserve of the so-called "creative industries" such as advertising.
The aim was "to provide a perspective on business and career development that lies totally outside the established MBA curriculum, confronting prejudices about creativity and providing innovative methodologies developed to channel creativity to 'stretch the walls of the elastic-sided box', that can be successfully applied to any industry, to generate momentous ideas," according to Kevin Roberts, Saatchi and Saatchi's worldwide CEO.
This was an important concept for would-be future business leaders to grasp, said Allegre Hadida, lecturer in strategy at Judge.
"Leonardo Da Vinci did not specialize as an artist or a scientist but produced masterpieces in both domains," she explained.
"Likewise, business leaders in the age of ideas should not consider themselves either left or right brain thinkers. The challenge for our workshop is remove from the students the common 'I am a left-brain person, I can't be creative!' mindset, and to train them to unleash their creativity."
Other schools can take a less direct route, but still challenge their students to come up with new ideas.
The International University of Monaco has just handed a particularly tough challenge to 24 MBA students enrolled on a marketing management course -- develop the concept for a new board game.
In just six weeks, the groups of four and five students generated 70 new game concepts which were evaluated by executives from game companies.
Several of the most promising ideas are being chosen for the students to now take into a new product development course this month

The first virtual business school campus

2007-04-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- One of the key elements of modern business education is the lengths to which schools will go to connect and communicate with students, whether actual or potential.
While years ago, acquiring an MBA inevitably involved scribbling notes in a campus classroom for hour after hour, these days ever more schools offer part-time studies, or distance learning via email and the Internet.
Now, one business school has gone a step further and established a "campus" in a virtual reality world.
INSEAD, the highly-rated business school based in France and Singapore, has just announced it is to build up a presence in Second Life, an increasingly popular digital world which now has five million registered "residents."
Second Life, while often referred to as a game, is not in fact based around any specific goals. Residents, who create their own online character, or avatar, instead have an almost endless choice of pursuits and options inside the ever-changing digital world, much as in real life.
Now, your avatar can even go to business school, thanks to INSEAD's Second Life "campus."
Mixing, making money
One element of this will be to give existing and applicant students the chance to mix and discuss their thoughts in the online world. In the future, INSEAD hopes, as well as hosting open days at its physical campuses in Fontainebleau, France, and Singapore, it will also hold them on the virtual campus.
Students will even be able to join courses, such as a proposed MBA class on entrepreneurship in which participants will have the chance to develop a business plan and test it inside Second Life.
Apart from the increased opportunities for mixing between people who are geographically distant in the real world (or "meatspace," as Second Lifers call it) and marketing opportunities for INSEAD, the virtual campus highlights a curious but potentially lucrative opportunity -- real entrepreneurship in the virtual world.
Increasing numbers of Second Life residents earn real world incomes through their activities in the online realm, putting together goods and services for avatars to use.
They pay for these in "Linden dollars," named after Linden Lab, which created the world, but these are fully exchangeable into real US dollars, part of Second Life's increasingly sophisticated economy.
A number of people make a living through activities inside Second Life, while international brands including Reebok and American Apparel have set up "stores" inside the world.
Such is the potential importance of such commerce in the future, that INSEAD says it will incorporate learning about Second Life into a range of programs, including its MBAs, and Executive MBAs.
It will also build a research center and social science research lab on its virtual campus.
"As an international business school with participants from around the world, INSEAD embraces innovative approaches to learning that will enable us to develop leaders who are prepared to operate in a constantly evolving global business environment," said Antonio Fatas, dean of the school's MBA program.
"We recognize the growing importance of the digital marketplace and want all of our participants to have the opportunity to experience it first-hand."

Firms Are Offering Perks to Lure B-School Talent

2007-04-03T03:14:00.000-07:00

The M।B.A. job market has continued to heat up this year, resulting in multiple offers and heftier salaries for many lucky full-time graduates. Jeffrey Rice, executive director of career services at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University, may have the best perspective on the recruiting scene because of his additional role as president of the M.B.A. Career Services Council. By keeping in touch with the council's members--about 350 career-service officials and 40 corporate recruiters--Mr. Rice closely monitors hiring trends. M.B.A. Track columnist Ron Alsop recently talked with Rice about the bullish job market, possible talent shortages, and the ways technology is changing the recruiting process.

Q: How intense has the competition for M.B.A. graduates become this year?
A: There's fiercer competition mainly because more industries have ramped up their recruiting, specifically retail, insurance and other financial services, private equity, health care and technology. At the same time, activity is up in the M.B.A. bellwethers--consulting, investment banking and consumer products--with 15% to 20% more companies in those industries doing recruiting. For students, that means there are more diverse opportunities in what is clearly a seller's market.
Q: Are some companies facing an M.B.A. talent shortage this year?
A: Many companies are asking, "Will there be enough M.B.A. students for us to recruit for our future leadership moving forward?" Already, some companies in the bellwether industries are not going to meet their projected yield this year. An investment bank that wanted to hire 80 associates this year may end up getting only 70. To their credit, the company plans to increase its pipeline of summer interns this year to try to avoid a shortfall again next year for full-time recruits. If it only wanted 50 summer associates before, now it's hoping to get 70 and focus on converting many of them to full-time hires by the end of the internship.
Q: How are schools helping companies deal with a potential scarcity of full-time M.B.A. students?
A: Many schools, including Fisher, are expanding the supply base by adding career-service resources to bring older part-time and executive M.B.A. students into the recruiting mix, along with some of our alumni.
Q: Is it more challenging to recruit part-time and executive M.B.A. students?
A: The most significant challenge is finding a convenient time to meet with them। We're encouraging companies to do presentations and interviews when it's more amenable for our working students, in the evening instead of the afternoon. Virtual recruiting can also work. We recently made 50 Webcams available to full-time, part-time and executive M.B.A. students at Fisher so they can borrow one, plug it into their computer and ask a company to do an interview remotely.

Q: Is technology changing M.B.A. recruiting in any other ways?
A: Technology is definitely becoming more and more important in reaching the current millennial generation of students. But companies should realize that today's M.B.A. students can smell spam a mile away and want communication that is individualized and sincere. As a result, some companies are doing more instant messaging and sending more personalized emails, telling students they have been identified as top candidates and inviting them to call with any questions. Podcasts are another increasingly popular way to reach students and give them information about a company and its culture before they interview with a recruiter. Our M.B.A.s really like the progressive nature of podcasts. Companies are also starting to do recruiting blogs, sometimes managed by an employee who is an alumnus from the target school.
Q: Is the recruiting process as heated as it was during the dot-com heyday in the late 1990s?
A: That was a really unusual time, an anomaly. I don't think the recruiting opportunities are as prolific as they were then, but today the choices are less entrepreneurial, less risky in nature. The job offers are coming from more sustainable, stable industries today. And if there's one thing that's definitely true about the millennial generation of M.B.A.s, it's that they're looking for stable companies where the financial rewards are clear and they can see the trajectory for how they can advance.
Q: It appears that recruiters are making a full-court press to woo students. What are some of their tactics?
A: It's pretty amazing stuff. We've had students taken by limousine from the Ohio State campus in Columbus to Cleveland for interviews; others were flown by corporate jet to Providence, Rhode Island. A consumer packaged-goods company put on a two-day event for prospective interns from several different schools and gave each student an iPod with his or her favorite music preloaded on it.
Q: Of course, the bottom line in recruiting is compensation. How much are companies willing to pay M.B.A. graduates in this competitive market?
A: Starting salaries continue to rise. This year at Fisher with about 70% of our second-year students having accepted a job, we are up 10% from last year to a median base salary of $88,000. While starting salaries are always a factor, students are getting much more focused on compensation over the first five to eight years on the job. They aren't necessarily taking the highest monetary offer if they believe the compensation trajectory is higher at a company with a slightly lower initial offer. For example, in consumer packaged goods, if a student starts as assistant brand manager or brand manager, he can expect $80,000 to $90,000. But in five years, he could become a senior marketing director with compensation of $150,000-plus. So he may recoup the costs of the M.B.A. degree quicker on that career path than on another where the compensation rises only $20,000 in five years.

Maintaining your System

2007-04-01T04:51:00.000-07:00

Author: Jowyne Leong
This article basically shares about the 3 basic proceedures (Data Backup, Malware Maintenance and Disk or File System Maintenance) you can do to maintain your system.

Maintaining A SystemPerhaps you have handpicked the finest computer from the I.T mall, selected the fastest processor and graphic card and slammed in few gigabytes of memory. So you thought to yourself that your machine is probably going to sustain you for the next 5 years. But little did you discover that some 6 months down the road, your computer is behaving like a Pentium 2 computer, perpetually flustering you with its choppy images, frustrating pop-ups and tremendous slow disk access. Gradually, your computer crashes and all your data is lost on one fine afternoon.And so you wonder - what is the problem here?One thing you have probably missed out on is the need for system maintenance. The basic routine maintenance comprises of the 3 basic processes: 1. Data Backup 2. Malware Maintenance 3. Disk or File System MaintenanceLet us address each of the processes in detail so that you can better understand how you can apply them in your system to extend its longevity.What Is Data Backup?Backing up basically means to create a redundant copy of a data so that in case anything should happen to the original data, you have a spare copy. This is typically a simple thing to do.Firstly, you must ask yourself why should you back up data or system.If you feel that you should backup your valuable data, then you should decide and select what are the data to be backup. Depending on your needs, you may choose to backup your windows registry, or your Outlook Express mail data, or even your windows security keys.Windows operating system-s friendly interface allows you to drag and drop computer files from one storage device to another. And this can be as simple as copying a document file from your desktop into a floppy diskette or thumb drive.But when these files gradually grow overtime, you may need to seek help from archiver utilities such as Winzip which enables you to compact your files into a single compressed file. You can then break up this large file into several pieces to be stored in several mediums such as a span of CD or DVD-Recordable.Winzip also allows you to protect your file with encryption and a software password to prevent any unauthorized access. There are a number of backup methods you could use.What Is Malware Maintenance?Malware refers to any kind of malicious codes, objects or content that infiltrates your computer, resulting in damage and causing your system to act in an undesirable manner. Commonly, these include viruses, spyware, worms, trojan horses, spams and many more. When you-re infected, you can lose your privacy, confidential data and access to your system when software and hardware are damaged. Fortunately, there-re a couple of preventive measures you can take to protect yourself from malware.Firstly, you absolutely require a working Anti-Virus scan running in your computer. This is the only one thing that you should never compromise if you frequent the Internet. Running a system without an Anti-Virus scan is practically risking your computer to 90% of all kinds of software attacks. In some cases, your hardware can fail due to a virus attack. Remember the CIH virus that attacks the computer flash BIOS that resulted in tremendous business damage during 2001?Also, having a virus scan residing in your computer is as good as zilch if you do not take time to update the scan engine and virus pattern files. Every week, virus signature files are released for download to equip you with the latest protection.Next, the choice of websites you visit plays a major factor. Certain websites contain malicious active content such as Javascript and VBscript that automatically infects your computer when they are downloaded into your computer without your knowledge and consent. (That-s why they-re known as spywares) If you have experienced new icons appearing in your system tray or desktop, this may be a sign that your computer has been infected.Thankfully, those malicious active content usually lurks in pornographic and hacking websites. So if you can refrain from them, you generally safe. Nevertheless, if it is absolutely necessary to visit these sites, always disable ActiveX content running in your Internet options.Lastly, avoid downloading, executing software or mail attachment that you are uncertain.As a rule of thumb, do not even consider opening an attachment unless the file is from someone you know and the message makes meaningful references to the file.Okay, say you have accidentally downloaded an executable file into your computer and you are pondering if you should run it because a reliable colleague has sent it to you. But you notice that the file has a weird file name such as meetingsxpzss.jpg.exe. But you are told that it is crucial that you read it now.One thing you can do at this point in time is to scan the file for any virus infection before you attempt to open it. If the scan shows nothing, it-s probably a safe file. But then again, it may be a new virus yet to be updated in your virus scan. You can either wait and apply the next virus signature update and perform a second scan or risk it all, cross your fingers and open the file.If you ever decide to do this, you can take an extra step to protect your organization by disconnecting from your network during the process. If you suspect you have been infected, try to remove the spyware of virus immediately before they propagate to harm your entire system or network.Always make it a point to update latest operating system of software patches to shield against any security issues.Disk MaintenanceDid anyone tell you that your hard disk is a pretty tricky machine? When you first installed your operating system, you may be pleased to know how smooth and efficient your software applications are running. But gradually, it slows down and this bothers you. What truly causes the dip in performance? You may argue that your disk is just a couple of months old. This has much to do with the way you operate on your system.Try to imagine a big tool bucket filled with gadgets. Initially, the bucket only contains a few spanners, a hammer and some screws. So every time you search for a particular item, it is relatively easy to find. But soon as you keep pilling the bucket with all sorts of items and especially when the amount of items grows, you-ll discover that you may need more time just to search for a particular screw head. In such cases, uninstall any unnecessary software and defragment your disk. Typically, your system performance will dip when the amount of data in your hard disk starts to grow.Next, would you be surprised if I were to tell you that 30% of your data in your computer may be junk files? Temporary files are stocked up in your computer each time you browse the internet or perform an installation. Most programs clear these files away after it exits but unfortunately, software that are poorly written do not. Thankfully, Microsoft Windows comes with a couple of useful utilities which helps to solve some of these problems.The disk defragmenter packs your data neatly to facilitate quick accessibility. Disk Cleanup does the job of scanning and removing all redundant temporary files. Unnecessary startup files could also be cleaned up.And to cope with physical error such as bad sectors, ScanDisk helps to repair and recover any data lost due to mild data corruption.Your could also fix minor system file corruption or repair the corrupted system files essential for the system operation. If you suspect the installed software is giving you problems, try to repair the software corruption.So now you see that there is more to just picking and plunging a speedy hard disk drive into your computer. Healthy and regular disk maintenance practice can greatly benefit your system and data.for more information, you may visit us at Adroit Data Recovery Centre http://www.adrc.net/
About Author
Adroit Data Recovery Centre (ADRC) Pte Ltd is the data recovery expert established since 1998. Headquartered in Singapore and Malaysia, we recover data for customers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam. http://www.adrc.net/Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com

Mac Computers are Gorgeous

2007-04-01T04:40:00.000-07:00

Author: Monica Craft
24th June 2006 ,No doubt. Since they retain the hardware specs, and therefore, a lock on the hardware on which Jaguar will run, they've done a great job at making said hardware sleek, modern, and fancy. They've done a lot of work to make the computer look like a futuristic device.

24th June 2006 ,No doubt. Since they retain the hardware specs, and therefore, a lock on the hardware on which Jaguar will run, they-ve done a great job at making said hardware sleek, modern, and fancy. They-ve done a lot of work to make the computer look like a futuristic device. My Mac Book under load runs up to 95 degrees Celsius, or 203 degrees Fahrenheit. It isn’t rocket science to understand that is extremely hot, easily hot enough to inflict a wound. Launching System Preferences, I immediately found that configuring the system was a breeze. The Mac jumped right online, and making the desktop look like I wanted was more than intuitive. Setting up Mac Mail was also a breeze. Since my web mail account is POP3 enabled, I hopped on and pulled down my mail without a hitch. Mac Mail is actually a nice program - not so much better than the equivalents in other worlds (Outlook Express, Mozilla Mail, Evolution, K Mail), but certainly an attractive and matching app. The new announced Mac: it was PowerMac G4 with dual 1.25 GHz processors, a 120 GB IDE hard drive, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, a "super drive," which can record DVDs, a 64 MB video card, gigabit Ethernet, a 17" flat panel studio display, and a fresh copy of Jaguar, Mac OS X 10.2. Here everything is packed perfectly; Setting up the Mac is easy. There are various Mac parts follow: eMac: Adapter, DVI to ADC Video Adapter, DVI-I to ADC Video, V2 Adapter, DVI-to-VGA Adapter, Power, AirPort Base Station, 220v, Euro (International Only) Adapter, Power, AirPort Base Station, 240v, Aust (International Only) AirPort, Card Guide APPLE KEYBOARD, REQUIRES MACOSX 10.2+-KOR APPLE KEYBOARD, REQUIRES MACOSX 10.2+-TWN iMac (Flat Panel): Antenna Cable, Microphone Cap, Vent, Upper Base DSPLY,15 XGA,LG Cover, Open Top, Faraday Cage Inverter iMac (17-inch Flat Panel) Antenna, Wireless Battery, Lithium, 3.6V iMac (17-inch Flat Panel, 1GHz) iMac (Early 2001) eMac (USB 2.0) If you are thinking of buying Mac or Mac Part than i can suggest you a site who can be great benifitted to you " DVWARE!" Yes dvwarehouse Go to http://www.dvwarehouse.com they are a leading independent reseller of quality new, used, and refurbished Macintosh computers, parts, and accessories. Thee have one of the most extensive inventory of Digital Video products, Mac Computers & Parts and Pro Audio & Video Equipment, all available at warehouse prices, all of them almost always ready for rapid delivery to you They offer the industry-s highest-quality products, more than 20,000 items are available for shipment every business day through our online store, at their lowest possible prices.

USB Flash Memory

2007-04-01T04:38:00.000-07:00

Putting a World of Data in the Palm of Your Hand. Until recently we had to depend on bulky floppies, zip disks and CDs to store all our digital data - not a great fit in our increasingly mobile lifestyle. However, with the emergence of the incredibly compact USB flash drive, you can now fit a world of data in the palm of your hand. USB flash drives are small, plastic devices that connect to your computer via a USB port with the capacity to write and copy data from an internal flash memory chip. They are similar in function to your computer's hard drive, but provide you with the freedom of portability. Another key advantage of a USB flash drive is that they can maintain data for as many as ten years, far greater than the lifespan of most hard drives. Attach one of these tiny devices to your key ring, put it in your pocket and take a world of information with you wherever you go. To use this revolutionary device, simply insert the USB flash drive into an available USB port and drag files to and from the drive. Your computer will recognize your USB flash drive as an external drive, and allow you to drag and drop data from the USB flash drive window. The only difference among USB flash drives is storage capacity, transfer speed (determined by the type of USB Connectivity - USB 1.1 or USB 2.0) and appearance such as size, shape and color. If you prefer a drive that is more functional, you can get an MP3 flash drive player that not only stores data but can also allocate space to hold and play your favorite tunes.The Industry's Most Complete Selection of USB Flash DrivesWith the industry's most complete selection of brand name products, we're your one-stop shop for USB flash drives. Our huge inventory includes thousands of drives in all standard memory configurations from such outstanding manufacturers as Crucial, PNY, Kanguru, Lexar, Corsair, A-DATA, Kingston, Ultra, K-Byte, Viking, Memorex, SanDisk and Buslink. Whether you're looking for a simple storage device, a multi-functional drive that includes an MP3 player and other entertainment features, or a security drive that offers special security features to prevent data loss or theft, we have the USB flash product you need. If you're looking for fast, reliable and extraordinarily portable data storage, you'll find it right here on this site.

Educating future education leaders

2007-03-31T23:17:00.000-07:00

Helping the Middle East's young businesswomen

2007-03-31T23:14:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Being a young woman trying to forge a career in business can be difficult enough at the best of times.
But when you're trying to do so in Iraq -- or perhaps Saudi Arabia, or the West Bank -- it can seem like a near-impossible task.
This month, however, 41 young females leaders in business, and in law, from around a dozen countries and territories in the Middle East and North Africa are in the United States to get some of the very best academic help available.
A group of them are spending a month taking a specially-designed executive education program at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, something to be followed by a five-month internship with a leading U.S. corporation.
Their peers in the legal field are receiving similar training at the university's law school, to be followed by their own internships at major firms.
The women, aged between 22 and 32, are the latest group to benefit from what is formally known as the Legal and Business Fellowship Program, or LBFP, funded by the U.S. government's Middle East Partnership Initiative, part of the State Department, and run in association with different business schools each year.
In 2004, during the first incarnation of the program, which is organized by the non-profit group America-Mideast Educational and Training Services, 22 woman studied at the Fuqua School of Business, part of Duke University in North Carolina.
Welcome respite
For a few of those initial participants, as with the latest group, the program offers more than a just a chance to learn more about U.S. and international business methods -- at Duke, three of the women were from Iraq and two were Palestinian, meaning they were also getting away, for a period, from conflict and violence.
Duke hosted another group of women on the program last year, while others studied at Emory University's Goizueta Business School in Atlanta.
The LBFP is open to women from 16 countries at territories -- Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen.
Many women struggle to forge business careers in these places, where traditional customs and beliefs can often discriminate heavily against them.
Change is happening, if slowly, even in the most conservative states. Women can point to the success of some peers, for example Dr Nehad Taher, senior economist at Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank and Elham Hassan, senior partner with accountancy giants PricewaterhouseCoopers in Bahrain.
However, such stories remain uncommon, making initiatives like the LBFP all the more valuable.
"The Middle East Partnership Initiative supports the aspirations of people in the region seeking greater freedom and opportunity," U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scott Carpenter said of the latest program.
"This impressive group of women embodies these aspirations, and we are happy to stand with them as they develop new business and legal skills to help their communities flourish."
There are also benefits for the schools involved, according to Sandhya Karpe, senior director of executive education at Wharton.
"Gathering such a large group of women from a wide variety of countries will encourage information-sharing, networking, and bridge-building among the participants and faculty. It is from such unique opportunities that great ideas --and change -- can emerge," she said.

Gap between space flights worries NASA

2007-03-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- Sometime in 2010, the world's leading space-exploring nation will say goodbye to manned space flight for more than four years.
And that has U.S. policymakers worried.
The flight gap will occur because NASA is winding down its space shuttle program near the end of 2010 to move into the next phase of space exploration -- the moon and Mars. The next-generation spacecraft, the Orion capsule, won't be ready for manned flight until March 2015.
During those gap years, the United States must rely on the good will of other nations if it wants to send astronauts and cargo to the international space station.
"Who knows what the geopolitics is going to be like in 2015?" asks U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat who chairs the Space, Aeronautics and Related Sciences subcommittee. "Is Russia still going to be allied with us? Would they possibly be allied with China at that point?"
The space agency has been in this position before. There was a six-year gap between the last Apollo flight in 1975 and the first shuttle flight in 1981.
In the meantime, NASA will have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to Russia for a lift to the space station, although private companies also may be hired for trips to low-Earth orbit.
"It is not a very desirable situation," said John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. "We will have an orbiting destination that we have spent multiple billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money to develop. To not be able to get there except for the good will of others is a little ironic."
NASA fears the United States will risk losing its title as the leading spacefaring nation as Russia, Europe, Japan, China and India improve their ability to send humans and cargo into space during the gap years. Currently, the only three nations with vehicles able to fly people to space are China, Russia and the United States.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin recently told lawmakers that China's ambitious space program could feasibly beat the United States in the race back to the moon, although he and outside experts say there's no indication yet that China is on that path.
The gap also could contribute to a loss of interest in space exploration by the U.S. public and Congress, and that could diminish the resources allotted to the space agency, said W. Henry Lambright, a political science professor at Syracuse University.
"It's really important for NASA to have activity, to keep going, to constantly have a face in Washington based on its successes," Lambright said.
Griffin recently called the gap "unseemly," but he has few options with the budgets NASA has been given by the White House and Congress since President Bush first announced plans to return to the moon three years ago. NASA has put the cost of returning to the moon at $104 billion, although the General Accounting Office puts it at $122 billion through 2018.
"Space is not only not a high priority, it's hard to keep it on the radar screen for the White House right now," Lambright said.
NASA had hoped to have the first manned Orion flight as early as 2012. That would be a low-orbit test flight. But that goal was pushed back to 2014 when NASA had to raid the Orion development fund to fill in a $3 billion shortfall for finishing space station construction and ending the shuttle program. Repairs to NASA buildings damaged by Hurricane Katrina also siphoned off money.
Space agency officials said the 2007 budget would remove more than $500 million from what NASA had budgeted for developing the new spacecraft, pushing the first manned flight of Orion into March 2015. A moon landing is scheduled for no later than 2020.
U.S. Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, this month proposed increasing NASA's funding by $1 billion. Mikulski also called for a space summit between Congress and the White House to raise the profile of NASA's budget needs.
Nelson said the gap could be narrowed to three years if NASA were to get an extra $400 million above the 2008 budget request and an extra $800 million each in 2009 and 2010. NASA's budget request for 2008 is $17.3 billion.
During the last gap in space flight, which ended in 1981, the agency had a brain drain in which experienced engineers and technicians left for other opportunities and "essentially, the manned space program went off the radar screen," Lambright said.
"When you don't fly for four or more years, people become stale," Griffin said recently. "Very good people often move into other enterprises where there is more action. Facilities degrade. It's not a good thing."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Comparing TOEIC to TOEFL

2007-03-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

What's the difference between the TOEIC® and TOEFL® tests? See the table.
TOEIC IP(Test of English for International CommunicationTM)
TOEFL ITP(Test of English as a Foreign LanguageTM)
Purpose
Evaluates English proficiency for the global workplace
Evaluates English proficiency for those pursuing academic studies
Primary uses
For corporations
To make decisions about recruiting, promoting, and deploying employees overseas
To determine readiness to participate in technical training conducted in English
To demonstrate learning progress in corporate training.
For English language programs/schools, especially for academic-track students
Placement test
Assessment of progress from beginning to end of course
Measurement of program effectiveness
Exit test and measurement of readiness for academic programs.
Other uses
For English language programs/schools, especially business-track students
Placement test
Assessment of progress from beginning to end of course
Measurement of program effectiveness
Exit test
Practice for secure TOEIC
Professional credential
For institutions of higher education
To fulfill language requirement or graduation requirement
To screen for scholarship and exchange programs
Practice for TOEFL or other multiple-choice tests
Professional credential
Who takes the test?
Employees in international corporations
Job applicants
Students in business, vocational, and trade schools, community colleges
Students in the business track of English language programs/schools.
Students in the academic track of English language programs/schools
Students in colleges or universities that have a language requirement
Applicants to scholarship and exchange programs.
Who uses the results?
Training managers
Human resources managers
Recruiters
Employees
English language programs/schools
English language programs/schools
College and university administrators
Directors of scholarship and exchange programs
Students
Formats and proficiency levels tested
TOEIC Bridge — high beginning to intermediate
TOEIC IP — low intermediate to advanced.
Pre-TOEFL ITP — high beginning to intermediate
TOEFL ITP — low intermediate to advanced.
Language context
Language used in the global workplace
Language used in academic contexts
Test format
200 multiple-choice questions
140 multiple-choice questions
Score scale
10 – 990 Total
5 – 495 Listening Comprehension
5 – 495 Reading Comprehension.
310 – 677 Total
30 – 68 Listening Comprehension
30 – 68 Structure and Written Expression (grammar)
30 – 67 Reading Comprehension.
Length of test
120 minutes
115 minutes
When test is given
Available on demand for any date
Multiple forms for testing throughout the year
Two forms of security
semi-secure — administered on-site by own staff, trained by TOEIC staff
secure — administered on-site by TOEIC staff. NOTE: Maximum-security TOEIC Open Test is available in some countries.
Available on demand for any date
Multiple forms for testing throughout the year
One form of security
semi-secure — administered on-site by own staff. NOTE: Maximum-security TOEFL CBT and PBT are available in most countries.
Score reports
Individual score reports
Score roster
Certificates (may be available for an additional fee)
Individual score reports
Institution score reports and roster
Turnaround time for score reports
Usually 3 to 5 days
Rush reporting on request for an additional fee.
Usually 3 to 5 days (7 days in the U.S.)
Rush reporting on request for an additional fee.
Test prep
For a list of TOEIC test preparation products, contact your local ETS representatives.
Available on TOEFL Web site:
Sample Test, 6th Edition
TOEFL Test Preparation Kit, 2nd ed.
TOEFL Practice Tests, Vol. 2.
See also:

Test Content

2007-03-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

The TOEIC test is a paper-and-pencil, multiple-choice assessment. There are two separately timed sections of 100 questions each.
Section I: Listening
Examinees listen to a variety of questions and short conversations recorded in English, then answer questions based on what they heard.
Part 1: Photographs (20 items)
Part 2: Question - Response (30 items)
Part 3: Short Conversations (30 items)
Part 4: Short Talks (20 items)
Section II: Reading
Examinees read a variety of materials and respond at their own pace to questions based on the content.
Part 5: Incomplete Sentences (40 items)
Part 6: Error Recognition (20 items)
Part 7: Reading Comprehension (40 items)
Test Length
The test lasts approximately 2 ½ hours. Examinees have:
45 minutes for Section I
75 minutes for Section II, and
the remaining time to respond to biographical questions and a brief questionnaire about education and work history.

TOEIC Details: Corporations and Institutions

2007-03-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

Overview
What Is It?
The Test of English for International CommunicationTM (TOEIC) measures the everyday English skills of people working in an international environment.
Who Takes It And Why?
Nonnative English speakers take the test to demonstrate their English language skills when applying for new positions and obtaining credentials.
Where Do People Take It?
The test is given at open public sessions, and at companies and language schools around the world.
Who Accepts It?
The test is widely accepted by corporations, English language programs, and government agencies around the world.
Corporations use TOEIC to document progress in English training programs, recruit and promote employees, and put standard measurements in place across locations.
English Programs use it to place students at the right learning levels, and show student progress and program effectiveness.
Government agencies use it to document progress in English training programs, and to recruit, promote, and hire employees.
Testing Format
The TOEIC test is a paper-and-pencil, multiple-choice assessment that uses audiocassettes, pictures, and written materials to evaluate English language skills.