MBA

UConn Receives $435,000 Grant to Create Particle Board with Recycled Carpeting; School of Business’ MBA Students Will Perform Marketing Viability Study

Posted on by Claire Hall

2015-03-02_care-slaThe University of Connecticut’s School of Engineering and the Institute of Materials Science have received a $435,000 research grant to develop products made from particle board containing recycled carpeting. Approximately $100,000 will be apportioned to the UConn School of Business to perform an economic and market analysis for these new products, which are targeted to the construction industry.

Richard Parness, Ph.D., a UConn faculty member in the Polymer Program of Institute of Material Sciences will develop and test the products, in conjunction with colleagues Ioulia Valla and George Bollas. Parness has tremendous expertise in this field, having patented other particle board while at UConn.

The grant is sponsored by the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), whose purpose is to develop market-based solutions for recycling and reusing post-consumer carpet. In 2013, some 3.7 billion pounds of carpeting was sent to landfills. Since then, CARE members have been successful in diverting more than 3.25 billion pounds of carpeting from landfills in the U.S., according to Robert Peoples, Ph.D., and CARE executive director. Because of its complex fabric and chemical makeup, recycling of carpet is particularly complex.

The UConn School of Business marketing analysis will be carried out by graduate students in the Stamford Learning Accelerator (SLA), said Brian Brady, SLA Director and co-investigator of the grant. “MBA students will be assessing the market opportunity for these new products, and will help identify optimal target customers and develop a pricing- and distribution- strategy. We are excited about the potential of patented particle board products incorporating post-consumer carpeting as one solution in aiding the sustainability efforts of CARE.”

The research will begin this summer and will take approximately a year.

“The fact that UConn was selected for this project is exciting,” Brady said. “This grant is substantial, and represents a cross-disciplinary effort between the School of Business and the School of Engineering and is a further example of the ongoing collaboration between both. We are excited to work with CARE, Dr. Parnas and his colleagues on this project in hopes that UConn’s efforts can help play a role in improving our environment and local communities.”

Moving Beyond Crisis Mode: Successful Corporations Merge Short-Term Goals, Long-Term Strategy, Expert Says

Posted on by Claire Hall

In a corporate world that is obsessed with immediate results, there is still plenty of need for long-term, strategic thinking, said David Souder, a management professor and the academic director of UConn’s Executive MBA program.

In a lively presentation, which touched on everything from light bulbs to major league baseball, Souder told 40 business executives that a progressive company must always strive for a balance between short-term goals and long-term strategy. Souder outlined four steps to bringing long-term goals into focus.Continue Reading

Global Pre-MBA Leadership Program Offered at Yale University

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Developing Leadership Skills Through Interdisciplinary Learning in a Culturally Diverse Environment

The Yale Global Pre-MBA Leadership program will develop your practical knowledge of business and management in a global context, and inspire you to draw upon your leadership abilities in order to make a positive impact in your personal and professional endeavors. It will introduce you to the impact of management education and give you the tools necessary to hone your individual leadership skills. This is a two-week program for recent graduates from cultural backgrounds under-represented in graduate management education; the Global Pre-MBA Leadership Program will help you learn more about global business while introducing you to the benefits of an MBA degree.

Leadership and Impact – The Global Pre-MBA Leadership Program grows out of Yale SOM’s mission to educate leaders for business and society. The program helps you build your leadership skills and capacity, so that you can build a successful career that has a positive impact on your community and the broader world.

Global Diversity – A central mission of the program is to expose students to global diversity. By meeting students from the United States and around the world, typically under-represented in management education, all participants will gain an understanding of the complexities within and between societies, a critical element of leadership in today’s flatter, but nonconvergent, world. One 2013 student commented, “One of the best parts of the program was the diversity and type of people in the classroom. I did not expect to get as close as I did to the many smart people selected to be in the program.”

Apply – The program will begin June 14. The application is available on the Global Pre-MBA Leadership website; apply by April 3.

Alumni Spotlight – Kimberly Foster ’13

Assistant Professor Gerlinde Berger-Walliser and MBA Student Group visit EM Lyon for International Business Study

Posted on by Nancy White

In January 2015, a contingent of part-time MBA and MSBAPM students led by Business Law Professor Gerlinde Berger-Walliser spent two weeks studying international business at EMLYON, one of the top business schools in France. The group attended lectures taught by renowned EM Lyon faculty about the European business, social, and regulatory environment. As part of the inter-cultural program the UConn students worked on projects with EM Lyon’s International MBA students and traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to visit the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. In the evenings and on the free weekend, the group sampled the great food that Lyon is known for and toured different parts of Europe. Professor Berger-Walliser is looking forward to taking another group of MBA students to Lyon in January 2016.

UConn B-School to Host Free Breakfast Seminar Feb. 24 – Long-term Thinking in a Short-term World

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

The University of Connecticut School of Business will offer a free breakfast seminar for the business community titled, “Long-term Thinking in a Short-term World,’’ from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. February 24 at the Graduate Business Learning Center, 100 Constitution Plaza, downtown Hartford.Continue Reading

What can a UConn MBA learn about leadership from Geno?

Posted on by Brian Kelleher

 

Here at UConn we’re pretty proud of our womens’ basketball team.  Led by Head Coach Geno Auriemma, they’ve won 90 games in a row along the way to 9 national titles.  So you can figure that Geno knows a little bit about leadership—in fact a Harvard Business School management professor profiled him in her research about how leaders create winning streaks.

On October 22nd and 23rd, six of our current UConn MBAs will be attending the second annual Geno Auriemma Leadership Conference.  Jaimin, Mark, Mohit, Patrick, Shafin, and Premika will be live-tweeting the conference, as part of an experiential learning course they are taking.

Join the conversation at #genoleads, and learn about leadership and innovation from Geno, UConn Business School faculty, keynote speakers and panelists with leaders from a range of industries.

UConn Makes A-List: Best Business Schools of 2015

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CollegeAtlas.orgFuture MBA students seeking high-quality programs without the price barrier of an Ivy League institution should consider UConn among their top choices, according to the latest College Atlas rankings.

The university’s MBA program placed among the top 100 MBA Programs in the country, putting UConn on the A-List for College Atlas’ Best Business Schools 2015.

“This list is for bright and ambitious students that are looking to find a school that has a reputation for high-quality education, marketable degrees, tuition they can quickly pay off, and reasonable acceptance qualifications that make getting into graduate school a possibility,” according to College Atlas.Continue Reading

UConn Full-time MBA Program Relocates to Hartford

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GBLC HartfordThe School of Business has relocated its Full-time MBA program to Hartford, a move that will give students more professional opportunities as well as the chance to learn alongside other UConn graduate students.

“We are thrilled that the UConn Full-time MBA will be part of the Hartford business community, allowing for the program to continue its tradition of providing excellence in graduate education,” said Rajendra Shirolé, director of UConn’s Full-time MBA program.

In the past, the students took their first-year courses in Storrs and completed the program in Hartford and sometimes Stamford. The dual campus set-up wasn’t popular with MBA students.

“The biggest reason for the move is to put first- and second-year students together,” said Professor Mary Caravella, who chaired a task force that recommended the consolidation.

“We chose Hartford because we wanted to put them together with students from the part-time and specialized masters’ degree programs. By working together, on the same campus, it gives them all the means to be successful.

“Both Storrs and Hartford are great locations, each with many strengths,” Caravella said. “But Hartford offers both close and broader connections with the business industry, and will certainly help our students with job placement.”

The program will be housed in the Graduate Business Learning Center in downtown Hartford, and its new offices can be reached at (860) 728-2440.

“This is a positive move on multiple fronts, including networking among all graduate business students and also engaging with alumni and employers in the Hartford area,” said Meg Warren, assistant director of the Graduate Career Development Office (CDO). “Our students are excited about it. There’s now an opportunity for the Full-time MBAs to network with professional students in the Executive and Part-time MBA programs as well as the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management and MS in Financial Risk Management programs.

Warren has met with representatives from Cigna, Aetna, Prudential and more, and all are pleased that the Full-time MBA program will be housed so close to their workplaces. In addition to hosting corporate information sessions and interviews in Hartford, the CDO and MBA Program Office work closely with the School of Business Alumni Relations Office which offers a number of alumni networking events running from August through March. Warren said, “Having the Full-time MBA Program in Hartford makes it much easier for students to attend these important programs where they can connect with alumni from target companies they want to learn more about. Building relationships with our School’s alumni is a vital part of our program.”

Alumni and other executives can visit for coffee, lunch, or for more structured programs in the evenings that will interest all graduate business students. Meanwhile the Full-time MBA students can easily go on corporate site visits from the downtown campus. “Overall, the employer’s ability to engage with our students has just become a lot easier. Storrs may only be a forty-minute drive, but it’s much easier for a hiring manager or an alum to have morning coffee before the workday begins or come by the GBLC for their lunch hour than it is to ask them to take a half-day from work to venture out to Storrs,” Warren said.

“From the moment they arrive, we tell our students that networking is critical for an effective job search. Students must start having conversations with people from industry or job functions that interest them,” Warren said. “This is necessary as 75-80% of jobs are filled as a result of networking. Being in Hartford allows us to offer more built-in opportunities for student and employer engagement.”

With the arrival of the new academic year, the School of Business is hosting an Alumni and Student Networking Reception at 6 p.m. Aug. 21 at the Society Room of Hartford, 31 Pratt Street. Melinda Brown, ’77, ’85 MBA, senior vice president and corporate controller for Coach Inc. will be the guest speaker. Brown joined Coach Inc. in 2012, after a 29-year career with PepsiCo.

https://mba.business.uconn.edu

UConn Executive MBAs Experience Business in South Africa

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Executive MBA South AfricaEach year, a team of UConn’s Executive MBA (EMBA) students travel abroad to enrich their experience and understanding of global business issues. As part of the curriculum, the international study trip enables participants to experience firsthand how concepts and theories learned in the classroom are applied in the global arena.

The program’s latest destination was South Africa, a diverse, emerging global market that serves as the gateway to the African continent. Students returned equipped with new knowledge and insights, having visited with executives from an array of companies and industries. The business visits covered discussions on topics such as investments in the country, banking, business ownership, and various challenges and opportunities:

“Investing in South Africa: High risk or High Return?”
Mteto Nyati, Managing Director, Microsoft

“Finance and Banking in South Africa”
Carolina Reddy, Head of Distribution and Sales, Standard Bank

“Challenges and Opportunities in the South African Real Estate Industry”
David Stoll, Regional Head and Martin Kearns, Development Executive at Victoria and Albert Waterfront, both of Growth Point

“Retail Strategies for Low-Income Population”
Suzanne Ackerman-Berman, Transformation Director, Pick n Pay

“Labor Market Challenges in South Africa”
Nico Grobbelaar, Executive Director of Human Resources, Paarl Media Group

“Building a Successful Business in South Africa”
Tony Gerrans, CEO, Grotto

“The Wine Industry in South Africa”
Gary Jordan, Owner, Jordan Wines

While in South Africa, students also explored its cultural history. One of the cultural highlights was The Apartheid Museum—the first of its kind—illustrating the rise and fall of apartheid, the system of racial segregation in South Africa that blighted much of its progress for half a century. EMBA students were also able to visit Robben Island; where Nelson Mandela served his prison term for his rebellion against the Apartheid regime.

A guided tour of Johannesburg and Soweto—an urban section of the city—immersed the EMBAs in its turbulent history and diversity of people and cultures.

“Understanding the history and culture of a country in which you conduct business is critical,” said Noel Petrolati, a current EMBA student. “I knew it was important, but to see and experience South Africa’s turbulent past and to see its economic development was enlightening,” she said.