Logicbroker can now create the optimal prospect profile to further enhance its customer acquisition strategy as a consequence of our Master’s student team’s work. Continue Reading
MBA
Making Sure Global Brigades Does Well, So It Can Continue to Do Good
UConn MBAs Provide Operational Guidance to the World’s Largest Student-Led Social Responsibility Movement.
When you’re the world’s largest global health and sustainable development organization empowered by student volunteers, challenges arise. Fortunately, the UConn MBA program excels at approaching these types of challenges as opportunities for experiential learning, business process improvement, and making a positive impact.
The UConn MBA Case Challenge gives students the opportunity to strengthen their strategic decision-making skills as managers, understand and reflect the interplay between organizations and their environment in the formulation and implementation of strategies, and learn how an organization integrates strategic management with its operational functions.
For 2014, the Case Challenge focus was on non-governmental organizations (NGO’s). Invariably excluded from the mainstream world of corporate diaspora, NGOs are increasingly playing a vital role in providing support to communities which otherwise remain neglected and unable to sustain themselves due to the lack of access to basic necessities to engage in business or care.
Global Brigades has mobilized almost 30,000 graduate, undergraduate students and professionals through nine skill-based programs that work in partnership with community members to improve quality of life in under-resourced regions of Africa and Central America. The task for UConn MBA teams was to think through some of the implications of the complexity Global Brigades endures in its operational space and to review the following:
- Recommendations on improving the Global Brigades model in a framework of their mission, considering both financial and humanitarian objectives.
- Recommendations on strategic management of Global Brigades and potential growth and expansion tactics.
The winning team, Jaimin Bhatt ’15 MBA, Xiaoying Gan ’15 MBA, Ashish Kumar ’15 MBA, and Carlo Rivieccio ’15 MBA, presented Global Brigades with recommendations for segmenting its services into three distinct categories based on its core competencies, creating a stronger value proposition for donors, and diversifying income and investments.
“Our client representatives [Tanya Svidler, director of impact investing for Global Brigades, and Cole Hoover, director of the Global Brigades Institute] were very impressed with the quality of students’ presentations and recommendations,” said Rajendra Shirolé, MBA program director.
The Case Challenge is a program requirement for UConn MBAs. “In this exercise we were able to bring together all our newly learned academic knowledge and combine it with our practical experiences in order to deliver valuable recommendations to Global Brigades. I hope that we can continue to participate in such experiential activities as they solidify class learning,” said Kumar.
Bhatt added, “This was really a very exceptional experience.”
IBM, MBAs Use Visual Analytics to Tackle Business Problems
Stamford, Conn.– “Big Data.”
It’s a term we hear over and over again, and its impact is universal. But what is “big?”
According to a 2011 IDC/EMC study, the estimated size of the digital universe was 1.8 zettabytes, and is predicted to grow to 35 zettabytes by 2020. To put that number into perspective, it is the equivalent of 35,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes!Continue Reading
UConn MBA Business Trip Immerses Students in Chinese Business, Culture, and History
As the world’s second largest economy, it’s no wonder China is a compelling travel destination for global business programs such as those offered at UConn School of Business.
Thirty-seven MBA students traveled to China over the last Thanksgiving holiday for an intensive, 11-day study program designed to supplement their foundational business education with an understanding of the business and cultural aspects of the influential global nation.
“UConn’s travel program to China was an experience of a lifetime for me,” commented Namita Joshi ’15 MBA, manager of Drug Safety Operations at Purdue Pharma. “I had many perceptions about China regarding their business model, culture, food, population, cleanliness, etc. I literally got a ‘reality check’.”
Global Camaraderie
UConn is one of only a few MBA Programs in the U.S. to offer a study program in China that encompasses three cities. Now in its 12th year, the travel program includes visits to Beijing, Shanghai, and Jinan—the capital of Shandong Province—where the UConn School of Business has enjoyed a five-year relationship with Shandong University, with multiple faculty and student exchanges between the two universities.
One of the many highlights of the latest trip was meeting with fellow MBA students at Shandong University’s School of Management. Shandong MBAs accompanied UConn to meetings with Jinan companies and met later to network, share experiences and exchange ideas. Shandong faculty and MBAs hosted a dinner banquet in honor of the UConn visitors and invited UConn faculty member Brian Brady to present a guest lecture on entrepreneurial marketing to the associate dean, faculty and select students the following day.
Curriculum
The MBA travel program comprises two separate, but integrated, courses, OPIM 5894 – Global Supply Chain Management taught by Professor Tim Dowding, and MGMT 5894 – Management Issues in Asia taught by Brian Brady. Students may opt to take one or both courses.
As part of the curriculum, students toured and met with executives at over ten companies including Diageo, Henkel, GE Healthcare, RR Donnelley, WPP/Ogilvy & Mather Asia, SinoTruk and Tsing Tao Brewery. The group also had a private meeting with Elizabeth (Betsy) Shieh, an officer in the Foreign Commercial Service (U.S. Dept. of Commerce) at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
“I frequently travel to Asia on business, and participating in this study program has been invaluable,” says Jean-Pierre (JP) Karam ’14 MBA, a senior project engineer at Becton, Dickinson and Company. “It has given me a first-hand look at how other companies operate in China and given me a benchmark for my company.”
Photo: UConn MBAs pose with their peers at Shandong University in Jinan, China.
MBAs Continue to Collect Competition Honors
For the second year in a row, UConn MBAs won first place in the APICS Northeast Supply Chain Business Case Competition held this year February 7-8, 2014 in Albany, NY.
The winning “Grand Champion” team, comprising Jaimin Bhatt ’15 MBA, Mohit Ganotra ’15 MBA, and Bhupender Singh ’15 MBA, will represent the Northeast District in APICS International Student Team Competition scheduled for October in New Orleans. Continue Reading
UConn’s CFA Research Challenge Team Advances to Americas Regional Competition
Hartford, CT – The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. The Hartford CFA chapter hosted the local CFA Research Challenge competition for the first time this year. By participating in this competition, students gain real-world experience as they assume the role of a research analyst and are tested on their ability to value a stock, write an initiation-of-coverage report, and present their recommendations.
We are pleased to announce that with the assistance of the CFA Society Hartford Industry Mentor Leslie White and Finance Department Professor Michael Oancea, the CFA Research Challenge team representing the University of Connecticut School of Business was victorious in completing the research challenge for the local Hartford region and are moving on to the Americas Regonal finals in Denver this March. UConn’s CFA Research Challenge Team consists of the following MBA students: Kamran Momenzadeh, Pornpong Lueang (Omo), Jon Singsen and Jeff Makray.
This global competition tests university students’ skills on equity research and valuation, investment report writing and presentation skills. The competition consists of a written investment research report on a single, publicly traded company and a 10 minute presentation to the judges. The winning team is selected based on the thoroughness of the equity analysis and full research report as well as the overall knowledge of the company. Last year, over 775 universities in 54 countries participated in this global challenge.
From Left to Right: Leslie White – CFA Industry Mentor, Kamran Momenzadeh, Pornpong (Omo) Lueang, John Singsen and Jeffrey Makray
UConn EMBA in China 2013
Eighteen Executive MBA (EMBA) students from the UConn School of Business recently visited China as part of their Global Business Issues class.
Led by Professor Robin Coulter, EMBA academic director and Ackerman scholar, the group spent ten days in Beijing, the second largest city in China. They engaged with in-country business executives across multiple industries, becoming better versed in global business challenges and gaining first-hand experience in the dynamics of international business management.
Experiential learning is an important part of the UConn EMBA, which strives to develop truly global managers and thought leaders. For more than twenty years, the international study trip has enabled participants to experience firsthand how concepts and theories learned in the classroom are applied in the global arena.
Beijing is a modern metropolis full of vitality, together with a history of over 3,000 years. In addition to corporate visits, students were able to experience several historical wonders including the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall of China.
Trip Highlights
U.S. Embassy – EMBA students had the opportunity to meet with Andrew Billard, a Commercial Officer working for the U.S. Commercial Service in China. Billard talked with students about doing business in China and how the Commercial Service helps bring American goods and services to China. (Pictured: UConn EMBAs visiting the U.S. Embassy in China)
Great Wall – EMBA students had the chance to visit one of the greatest wonders of the world. The Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus. With a history of more than 2000 years, it is still one of the most appealing attractions all around the world owing to its architectural grandeur and historical significance. »See photo
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MBA Students Engage with News Corp. in Market Research Project for Mobile App
This past spring semester, a team of four MBAs and one Financial Risk Management student at the School of Business’ Stamford Learning Accelerator (SLA) completed a marketing research project for Connecticut-based News America Marketing, a division of News Corporation. The project was designed to assess the customer experience for a new mobile app developed by the company for grocery store consumers across the United States. What made the project particularly unique was that a member of the client team was current UConn School of Business Part-time MBA student Taylor Witt ’05, ’14 MBA, who is Director, Mobile Systems at the company.
The UConn team created three surveys deployed by News Corp. to unique target markets. The surveys’ response rate averaged over 7%, when the industry norm is much lower. In addition, the team ran two hour-long consumer focus groups held at the SLA over a two week period. The team not only recruited the focus group participants according to specific demographics, but one of the team members served as a moderator while other members acted as observers, answered participant questions and took notes.
Brian Brady, Director of the Stamford Learning Accelerator, was the faculty mentor on the project with assistance from Joseph Sweet ’10 JD/MBA, who previously worked at the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI). Student team members included: Archit Patel ’13 MBA, Tiffany Betz ’14 MBA, Siddhartha Sharan ’13 MBA, Danilo Komljenovic ’13 MBA, and Youzhuo (Aaron) Liang ’13 MSFRM.
Pictured from left to right: Pat McDonnell, Mobile Technical Specialist, News America Marketing; Jeff Caron, Digital Analyst, News America Marketing; Ray Moran, Vice President, Technology, News America Marketing; Dawn McCaffrey, Vice President, Applications, News America Marketing; Taylor Witt ’05, ’14 MBA, Director, Mobile Systems, News America Marketing; Andy Grussi, Project Manager, News America Marketing; Brian Brady, Director of the Stamford Learning Accelerator and Faculty Mentor, UConn School of Business; Tiffany Betz ’14 MBA, Team Member, UConn School of Business; Siddhartha Sharan ’13 MBA, Team Member, UConn School of Business; Archit Patel ’13 MBA, Team Member, UConn School of Business; Danilo Komljenovic ’13 MBA, Team Member, UConn School of Business; Joseph Sweet ’10 JD/MBA, Project Associate, UConn School of Business; Youzhuo (Aaron) Liang ’13 MSFRM, Team Member, UConn School of Business; Bill Christie, Executive Vice President, CIO, News America Marketing.
UConn School of Business Ranked Among “Top 100 Most Social Media Friendly MBA Schools for 2013”
Evaluated on presence and activity levels on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and others, the University of Connecticut School of Business was ranked among the “Top 100 Most Social Media Friendly MBA Schools for 2013” by OnlineMBAPage.com. The ranking site is ‘a social education community formed in 2012 in response to the growing demand of MBAs in the United States, China and the emerging markets,’ according to their website. The rankings are based on a comparison of data from over 400 business campus-based schools and their use of various social media platforms.Continue Reading
UConn MBAs Take 1st Place in Illinois Strategy Case Competition
A team of four University of Connecticut MBA candidates took first place in the fifth annual MBA Strategy Case Competition hosted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, held February 7-9. Ten schools participated in the competition: Arizona State, Baylor, Connecticut, Hong Kong UST, Illinois, Iowa State, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, and Purdue. Continue Reading