Turning Ocean Garbage Into Helpful Prosthetics, and More – Chicago News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
How “Speed Factories” Help Companies Adapt to Capricious Consumers – Kellogg Insight
In a new study co-authored by Northwestern Kellogg Professor of Managerial Economics and Operations Jan Van Mieghem, Vlerick Business School’s Robert Boute, and Cardiff Business School’s Stephen Disney, the trio survey the return on investment for “speed factories” or local-market facilities “designed to quickly pump out products with shorter life cycles and less predictable demand.”
In the e-commerce age, speed factories are in high demand for manufacturers of realms of sneakers and sports apparel where they “offer fast turnaround to meet demand [for] custom-made products for very small local markets.”
Van Mieghem writes, “Amazon and fast-fashion trends mean that companies have had to increase their speed from product design to delivering that product to customers. If things must happen in days or weeks rather than months, you can’t be doing that from somewhere in Asia.”
The catch is that production costs are often extremely high. However, the trio found that speed factories are “worthwhile, despite their cost, and are best used as part of a portfolio of on and offshore production.”
Van Mieghem adds, “It’s about maintaining the flexibility to bring certain products in and move others out of a speed factory as needed.”
You can read more about the trio’s research here.
Anacortes Couple Turns Ocean Plastics into Prosthetics – K5 News
Gies College of Business Online MBA (iMBA) student and Anacortes, Washington resident Chris Moriarty and his wife Laura co-created the nonprofit Million Waves Project, which “takes littered plastics from the beaches for use in the creation of prosthetics.”
According to a recent profile on Seattle’s K5 News, “It takes just 15 plastic bottles, $45, and two-and-a-half days to make one hand. The couple uses open source software, a company that processes the plastic into filament and a 3-D printer.
In the K5 profile, Chris said, “We thought, wouldn’t it make a lot of sense to take something deplorable in one sense and something heartbreaking in another, put them together and see what we could do.”
Laura adds, “It is daunting. Life is daunting. But like we tell our kids, that doesn’t mean you don’t move forward and try.”
Taking Stock of Market Uncertainty – Quinlan School of Business Stories
The Loyola University Quinlan School of Business blog recently profiled Assistant professor Hae mi Choi, Ph.D. about her research on how macroeconomics and market uncertainty influence financial analysts’ incentives over time.
Professor Choi explained that “financial analysts’ incentives and their forecasting performances are affected by market uncertainty, [which is] when investors have difficulty assessing the current and future market conditions because there is a lot of volatility within the market.”
Choi explains the value of her research to Quinlan students:
“If you want to be a good investor, you need to not only understand what’s going on within a firm, but also the macroeconomic conditions and the stock market conditions in general. Understanding how other investors in the stock market process information and how financial markets function is fundamental, as it impacts the wealth of us all.”
You can read the full interview here.
How To Break Into the International Business World in San Diego
Known for its beautiful beaches, perfect weather, and being the home to Comic-Con, San Diego is the ideal destination for those seeking serious studies and fun in the sun. Located a mere 100 miles south of the entertainment capital of the world, San Diego is surrounded by some North America’s busiest ports, and due to its location directly on the border with Tijuana, Mexico, large portions of its population and workforce cross the border daily. Aside from being an economic powerhouse, Southern California’s diverse landscape and international visibility make it one of the premier tourist industries on the planet. The advantages of this region are innumerable, especially compared to the rest of the country. Natural Splendor aside, San Diego Also boasts a booming biotech industry and is located in the richest state in the nation. If California was its own country, it would have the sixth largest economy in the world just between the U.K. and France.
San Diego’s multicultural environment and bustling trade economy make it an excellent place to earn an MBA with a career focus in international business. Below, we’ve laid out four of our favorite SD schools to earn the degree.
Our Favorite San Diego International MBA Programs
California International Business University (CIBU)
The California International Business University offers an ideal San Diego international MBA. In addition to the San Diego campus, CIBU has campuses in China, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Denmark, it’s home country. From the time the school was started, its mission was to provide students with a unique international education that would ensure that they entered the business world with a well-rounded perspective upon graduation. Since the school has only 300 students, it is an excellent option for students seeking more individualized attention.
Fermanian School of Business – Point Loma Nazarene University
San Diego’s Fermanian School of Business offers 10-day international trips to cities in Europe, Asia, and South America. These trips are open to all MBA students, in order to help MBAs gain a global perspective, and an understanding of the business practices and ethics in cultures around the world. Fermanian is also ideal for students looking to pursue their MBA in a values-focused environment, as the school integrates Christian principles into their curriculum and culture.
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Fowler College of Business Administration – SDSU
MBA students looking for an education tailored to international business would be wise to look at the San Diego State University Fowler College of Business Administration’s International Business Specialization. Students in this program are groomed to take on significant roles with multinational enterprises, nonprofits, and government agencies. This specialization offers electives such as international business finance, international marketing, and global supply chain management.
University of San Diego School of Business Administration
The International MBA (IMBA) at the University of San Diego’s School of Business Administration is an 11-month program that includes a site visit to Madrid, as well as an international consulting project that will involve working with companies in Asia, Latin America, or Europe. Students will spend one summer in Madrid before returning to the San Diego campus. Eventually, all students will complete an international consulting project that will give them the opportunity to problem-solve on a global scale.
Wait, This MBA Is How Cheap?
An MBA can cause varying levels of distress. Price, of course, likely tops the list. But not every degree needs to reach the dreaded six-figure mark. In fact, some, like the brand new online MBA offered by the University of Illinois College of Business at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), are shockingly inexpensive.
$22,000. That’s all. For an entire online MBA.
Let those numbers sink it, because figures like that appear far too often when pursuing any kind of graduate degree—nevermind an MBA.
The UIUC online MBA—dubbed the iMBA—was officially launched earlier this year. CNN Money reports that around 265 students are currently enrolled at an average age of 37. The majority of those students reside in the U.S. with around 18 percent international students joining.
This is a massive development for online MBA programs, according to some experts.
“About 10 years ago, online programs were really the stepchild of course offerings,” says Chioma Isiadinso, a former Harvard Business School admissions officer.
“There was a stigma attached to an online MBA years ago, but today employers are not asking how you got the degree. What’s more important is where you went and what skills you learned,” he continues.
The iMBA was created in partnership with Coursera, which has been helping implement online programs at top institutions like Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania since 2012.
Nikhil Sinha, the Chief Business Officer at Coursera, says, “We’re catering to people who typically wouldn’t be able to come into an MBA program at this stage in their life, but still need it to advance their careers.”
Heidi Moore, a systems engineering manager at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, earned a bachelor’s in aviation from the University of Purdue, but was looking for a business-focused career. She, like many, was wary about pursuing a non-traditional MBA. But the pricing and flexibility of the iMBA program at UIUC was more than enough to convince her.
“I want to get a master’s to become business savvy, but I don’t want to get into personal debt to do so. To me, that’s a contradiction,” she says.
Enrollment for January 2017 classes is currently underway. Applicants are encouraged to submit GMAT or GRE scores, but it is not an official requirement. Click here for more information on the program.
REGISTER: Feb. 17th iMBA In Person Preview at Lake Forrest
Connect with Lake Forest faculty, admissions staff and current students and experience a live interactive demo of the school’s iMBA program on Tuesday, February 17th. The event begins at 5:30PM with Dinner and a session networking followed by an hour-long presentation and live demo at 6PM.
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management is offering an innovative avatar learning iMBA where students can access an online curriculum that provides access to the organizational structure of a virtual reality company. Sounds pretty crazy, right? The virtual company includes all facets of sales, production, management, competition and growth opportunities. Continue reading…
