Top MBA Recruiters: Estée Lauder
An Estée Lauder career may not sound like a typical business person’s goal, but let me tell you: Beauty sells.
Continue reading…20 Cities Survive Amazon HQ2 Shortlist
Four months after Amazon announced plans to construct a second headquarters, North American cities have been making grandstanding pleas in order to court the ecommerce behemoth. New York City’s mayoral office lit up the Empire State building with Amazon’s glowing orange hue in a symbolic gesture, while certain cities like Chicago went the more extreme route, proposing laws that could funnel income taxes directly back to the company. After much speculation, here is the official Amazon HQ2 shortlist:
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Boston
- Chicago
- Columbus, Ohio
- Dallas
- Denver
- Indianapolis
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- Montgomery County, Md.
- Nashville
- Newark
- New York
- Northern Virginia
- Philadelphia
- Pittsburgh
- Raleigh, N.C.
- Toronto
- Washington, D.C.
Unsurprisingly, most of the cities that made the cut were among the largest in North America, with only one Canadian city—Toronto—left standing. Over 230 cities from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico made official bids for the company’s second headquarters, with Amazon prioritizing tech-centric metros of populations larger than 500,000. In fact, only four of the 20 metro areas—Miami, Nashville, Newark, and Pittsburgh—have a population of less than half a million, with Newark being the smallest of the entrants. Notably, Newark offered perhaps the largest financial incentive to the company, proposing upwards of $7 billion in tax incentives.
How the Amazon HQ2 shortlist was formed is not totally known, according to the New York Times:
“According to people briefed on the process who would speak only anonymously because the deliberations were private, the process was conducted by a team of about a dozen people within Amazon, including economists, human resources managers and executives who oversee real estate. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive who was the mastermind behind turning the search into a public process and coined the term “HQ2,” was also involved, the people said.”
At the time of the initial announcement, Amazon released a stream of positive economic statistics about its impact in Seattle, home to the original headquarters. The company stated (although these statistics are still not yet verified by any source outside of Amazon) that it added $38 billion USD to the value of the city from 2010-16 alone, due to its investments and rapidly expanding workforce. Detractors argue that the financial value added to the city did not positively impact the quality of life, however, with more than 51 percent of Seattle residents making less than $50,000 per year and more than quarter of city residents earn less than $25,000 per year. The influx of high-level employment also contributed to rapidly rising housing costs and poorer traffic.
Experts from CNBC believe that Raleigh might be the front-runner of the remaining entrants, which matches the initial bid criteria the most. Although some speculate that Austin most aligns up with Amazon’s future. The company declined to announce when the final decision will be made.
What Amazon Means For MBA Students
Not so secretly, Amazon has become one of the world’s largest MBA recruiters, hiring students from top schools all over the world. We’ve previously outlined the details of why it has become such an attractive destination for business school students.
The company creates a direct pipeline from its MBA internship program to full-time employment, which should rapidly increase with the creation of HQ2. In a previous interview with the Financial Times, Miriam Park, the Amazon Director of University Programs, highlighted the company’s recruitment strategy:
“The Amazon recruitment process is designed to ensure we hire top candidates with high-growth potential whatever their background may be. As part of this we recruit current MBA students and MBA alumni for permanent and internship opportunities worldwide and see MBAs as an important part of our leadership development. We value people who can balance long-term strategic thinking with tactical execution, and who have the ability to make data-driven decisions.”
Stay tuned for more information about the second headquarters and more potential MBA employment opportunities with MetroMBA.
London Business School Survey Finds Executives Struggle to Identify Chinese Brands
Almost half of business executives struggle to identify leading Chinese brands, according to a survey of more than 1,000 business executives by London Business School’s China Business Forum. The survey found that 45% were unable to correctly identify what Hisense, a leading consumer electronics brand, produces.
Nirmalya Kumar, visiting Professor of Marketing and author of Brand Breakout: How Emerging Market Brands Will Go Global, said: “While western consumers are surrounded by products made in China, Chinese brands are invisible. China hopes Haler and Lenovo are leading the transformation to global brands from China just as Toyota and Sony did for Japan or Samsung and Hyundai did for South Korea.”
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Cass Executive MBA Students Create Real Business Solutions in Chile
Chile, one of Latin America’s fastest growing economies, hosted Executive MBA students from Cass Business School for the school’s annual International Consulting Week.
More than 50 students traveled to Santiago, where they helped companies solve real business challenges.
This is the first time Cass has held its consultancy week in Chile, where a stable economy and government support for entrepreneurs have transformed it into a hot bed for new ventures.
“For International Consulting Week, our aim is to challenge MBAs to deliver real value for their clients. The stakes are high – client companies expect a lot – and their expectations are frequently significantly exceeded,” says Dr. Sionade Robinson, MBA Associate Dean.
Students applied their classroom skills to business challenges affecting 14 companies, ranging from start-ups specialising in health and technology to entrepreneurs and multinationals serving Chile’s mining and dairy industries.
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