The (Almost) Recession, Pursuit of Knowledge, and More – Los Angeles News
It’s Friday, ya’ll! Let’s dig into some positive Los Angeles news from the previous week. And for those that can, please donate to those who are being affected by the California wildfires.
The Housing Slump is Not (Yet) a Recession – Market Watch
UCLA Anderson School of Management Economist Ed Leamer, one of the largest voices in the housing market to share his concerns leading up to the 2008 recessions, was recently interview by Howard Gold at Market Watch, regarding a distinct slowdown in housing prices and the number of new homeowners.
“Of the 11 recessions since World War II, nine have been preceded by ‘substantial problems in housing and consumer durables,’ Leamer wrote in his 2007 research paper “Housing IS the Business Cycle.”
““If you look back to 1994 or so, you’ll see a period of time where it was pretty flat around 1.4 million units, up and down a little bit, but it was sustained for a long period of time at that level,” he continued. “If it got over 1.4 [million annually] you’ve got to start worrying about it” because it would be a sign of too much froth.”
Leamer continues, saying, “There’s no question in my mind that the housing sector’s going to be difficult over the next couple of years. The price appreciation is going to be a thing of the past. The higher interest rates are going to be a problem, and the change in the tax codes that affects several states is yet another source of problems.”
You can read more from Gold’s interview with Learner here.
Pursue Knowledge, Not Happiness, Advises Mihaylo Professor – Mihaylo News
Cal State Fullerton’s Mihaylo College of Business Marketing Professor Chiranjeev Kohli announced a forthcoming book that will address many of the pressing issues young MBAs face as they fully embrace adulthood—from the practical to the more elevated, such as harnessing willpower and discipline, and how to handle difficult relationships in the workplace.
Some of the guidelines Kohli sets forth are Investing: How to Attain Reasonable Success; Warranties: A Needed Security or a Wasteful Expense?; and Do Unto Others … Only if Others Treat You With Respect.
Chiranjeev Kohli (second from left) / Photo via business.fullerton.edu
In his recent talk at the Pollak Library, Kohli poses the question, “What is the most important thing that we are trying to pursue in this life? If you say it is happiness, I disagree. The ultimate frontier is the search for truth or true knowledge … If you live by this, happiness will follow. But if you seek happiness, you may never find it.”
You can read more about Kohli’s book and more here.
LMU LA Professor Receives Innovation Award for Entertainment Finance – LMU LA News
David Offenberg, Associate Professor of Finance at LMU LA, received national recognition with the Financial Management Association’s (FMA) Innovation in Teaching Award.
The Association recognized Offenberg for his work in entertainment finance. His methodology, which combines the hard skills of modeling and the soft ‘people’ skills of communication, impressed the awards committee.
“The real gift of this award is that it allows me to show my peers a more effective way to teach financial modeling … It’s so exciting to know that courses will change and student outcomes will improve as faculty adopt my way of teaching,” says Offenberg.
First launched in 2014, the Entertainment Finance course made available to business students concepts that had been heretofore only available to film majors. Tom Sheppard, a former student of Offenberg’s, attests to the value of his guidance.
“I had virtually no connections in the film and television industry going into the course as a senior … [but] by the end of the semester, I had a job lined up at Lionsgate Entertainment—even before graduating. In my opinion, it’s the most valuable class [at] LMU’s business school.”
You can read more about Offenberg’s recognition here.
Top MBA Recruiters: Kaiser Permanente
Finding a job post-MBA is at once exciting and challenging. There are thousands of new opportunities before you that you’ll have to choose between, and that can leave you feeling overwhelmed. What happens if you choose Career A over Career B? Which employer will offer an MBA graduate the best perks and potential? What industry offers the most job satisfaction?
While there’s no single right answer, there are a few employers that stand out for MBAs. These are companies that actively recruit MBAs and have programs in place to enhance the first job experience. One such top MBA recruiter is Kaiser Permanente.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is a consortium of for-profit and not-for-profit healthcare entities based in Oakland, California. Founded in 1945, the company is made up of three distinct interdependent groups: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. (KFHP), Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and Permanente Medical Groups. Currently, Kaiser operates in eight states and one district (Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and Washington DC) and is the largest managed healthcare organization in the U.S.
- 11.7 million health plan members
- 208,975 employees
- 21,275 physicians and 54,072 nurses
- 39 medical centers
- 720 medical facilities
- $72.7 billion in revenue
- $3.8 billion in net income
What Is Kaiser Permanente Like for MBAs?
As the largest healthcare organization in the states, Kaiser Permanente has many unique opportunities available for MBA graduates. Not only does the company host internships each summer, but they also offer multiple early career opportunities lasting anywhere from six months to two years in a variety of areas from finance to marketing, sales, and administration.
The great part about choosing Kaiser Permanente as an MBA is that it means you don’t have to choose between a health insurance company and a hospital. Kaiser rolls together health plans, hospitals, and medical groups all in one, allowing MBAs to test their skills in a variety of settings. And hire they do, each year Kaiser hires hundreds of MBAs to fill positions throughout their organization.
As for working at Kaiser, 83 percent of employees say it’s a great place to work offering great challenges (86 percent), great atmosphere (89 percent), and great rewards (88 percent). Some of those rewards include unique benefits and perks such as KP WELL (KP Women Embracing Life and Leadership), which is a program to help women learn, connect, and develop their experience. Kaiser is also known for having a healthy workforce with multiple programs and tools for keeping their employees healthy in mind, body, and spirit.
It’s no wonder that Kaiser ranks 16th overall on the Great Places to Work list of the ‘Best Workplaces in Health Care and Biopharma in 2018,’ and ranked 43rd on the Great Places to Work list of the ‘Best Workplaces for Diversity in 2017.’
Among other benefits of working for Kaiser is a healthy salary. According to PayScale, MBAs can expect to earn around $108,000. However, salary varies based on experience and job with Executive MBAs earning $149,000, and MBAs with focuses in business administration earn $112,000.
Several of the most prominent business schools to offer a healthcare-focused MBA include:
- The Wharton School – Health Care Management MBA
- Columbia Business School – Health and Pharmaceutical Management MBA
- UCLA Anderson – Health Care Management MBA
The Kaiser Permanente Careers Search
MBAs should first consider a summer internship during on the Kaiser Permanente careers search. These internship programs are in a variety of locations, including California, Washington, and Oregon. In particular, MBAs should consider the Business Functions Internship, or Northwest Internship programs.
Both internships last 10 to 12 weeks (typically June through August) with recruiting from January to April. As interns, MBAs work on real-world projects and initiatives, like developing and analyzing financial data, supporting technology initiatives, and conducting market research. Areas of interest for the corporate internships include:
- Finance
- National facilities services
- Human resources
- Internal audit services
- Marketing
- Sales
- Service and administration
Join Kaiser Permanente’s University Talent Network to learn more.
After completing an internship, MBAs can join Kaiser in one of its many early-career opportunities programs. There are multiple programs available including:
- Marketing & Sales Program: One year working on marketing and sales strategy while also undergoing professional development through job shadowing, exposure to leadership, and educational experiences.
- Finance Fellowship Program: This two-year fellowship consists of three rotation assignments and is designed for new graduate candidates interested in a finance career.
- California Administrative Fellowship Program: This 12-or-24-month fellowship consists of two or three rotations at medical centers around Northern or Southern California.
What Does Kaiser Look for in MBA Candidates?
When hiring MBAs for a full-time position or internship opportunity, Kaiser looks for individuals with technical, business, and leadership skills. In particular, candidates with strong leadership, agility, quantitative, and communication skills are highly sought after. For consideration, you need a strong interest in the healthcare industry.
To get started, search for Kaiser Permanente careers here.
Shark Tank Success, Security, and More – Los Angeles News
Check out some of the latest news coming out of business schools in the Los Angeles metro this week.
The Founders of a ‘Shark Tank’ Success Relied on a Key Piece of Business School Advice – Business Insider
Hanna and Mark Lim, husband and wife entrepreneurs, recall the crucial role the UCLA Anderson School of Management played in the $100,000 investment their company was awarded on the hit TV show Shark Tank.
In 2012, Hanna and Mark presented a pitch for their startup company, Lollacup, which produced safe sippy cups for children. Going into the pitch stricken with fear, Mark reminded Hanna of an important piece of advice he had received during his business school education. While at UCLA Anderson, Mark had already gained experience in pitching business plan. During school, he and his classmates would often pitch ideas not just for professors but for professional venture capitalists. Throughout all this, he learned to not be overwhelmed by the celebrity of the investors but to instead treat them as equals.
“We’re here pitching to investors who are essentially our equals,” Mark told Hanna before their Shark Tank pitch began. “We’re not here for a handout; we’re not here to beg. This is an investment. We’re potentially handing over part of our company that we’ve built.”
The advice payed off, with both Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec deciding to invest $100,000 for 40 percent of the company. What began as Lollacup has since re-branded as Lollaland, which provides a range of products for infants and toddlers, and recently passed $2 million in sales.
You can read more about the Lims and their experience on ‘Shark Tank’ over at Business Insider.
Neel Patel Won the $3,000 HIMSS Scholarship – Cal State LA CBE News Archive
Neel Patel, a MBA/MSHCM at the California State, Los Angeles College of Business and Economics, was recently awarded with a $3,000 scholarship from the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS). HIMSS, a premier organization for professionals in the healthcare information management field, presented Patel with the award earlier this summer, making him the second student in Cal State LA history to receive the distinction. Patel has left his mark on the university before, however, as part of the winning team in this year’s Western Regional Healthcare Executives College Bowl Case Study Competition.
Patel connected with the HIMSS through Thao Tran, Chair of Academic Alliance Community for HIMSS, who was brought in as a guest speaker for one of Patel’s classes. Tran has been a crucial part of the connection between CBE and the HIMSS, helping introduce students to the organization and its benefits since 2011.
Read more about Health Information Management at CBE and the HIMSS here.
In Network Security, “The Bad Guys are Always Ahead” – USC Marshall Newsroom
Richard Drobnick, Director of the IBEAR MBA program at USC’s Marshall School of Business, recently interviewed Global CTO of NTT Security Kazu Yozawa for the USC Marshall Business Class podcast. During the interview, Yozawa maintains a positive view of the future of network security but warns vigilance. From young forgers to state sponsored hacking, the threats against network security may be greater now than ever.
Global CTO of NTT Security Kazu Yozawa / Photo via marshall.usc.edu
According to Yozawa, “only a few executives understand the situation,” making education surrounding security and how computer networks operate will be crucial going forward.
You can listen to the full interview here.
Curbing the Conspiracy Mindset at Northwestern, and More – Chicago News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
Conspiracy Theories Abound. Here’s How to Curb Their Allure – Kellogg Insight
Northwestern Kellogg Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations Cynthia Wang took a social psychological approach to understand what drives conspiratorial perceptions like Pizzagate, and “what are things that can be done by organizations that can prevent this mindset,” highlighted in a recent release from Kellogg Insight.
Wang co-authored a new paper with UCLA’s Jennifer Whitson, Penn State-Erie’s Joongseo Kim, Ohio State’s Tanya Menon, and Ball State’s Brian Webster, which finds that “individuals who exhibit a desire to take action in pursuit of their goals are less prone to conspiratorial thinking.”
The group began to focus on “regulatory focus theory (RFT), which looks at how people go about achieving their goals.” Kellogg Insight explains:
“RFT proposes two main strategies. People with a “promotion-focused” orientation aim to do everything in their power to achieve their hopes and dreams. In this mindset, individuals believe they can shape their future, suggesting that they feel a high degree of control over their environment. Those with a “prevention-focused” orientation, on the other hand, act diligently to protect the security they already have.
The researchers hypothesized that prevention-focused people might be more prone to believe conspiracy theories because conspiracies can feel like a threat to their security. The team suspected that people with a promotion focus, however, would be more skeptical.“
The team surveyed three groups of people, including military personnel and college students. Consistently, they found that people who were more “promotion” focused thought they had more agency in what happens to them, and therefore more control. In this frame of mind, those that felt they had more control were less susceptible to believe conspiracy theories.
You can read more about the group’s research here.
Yuxuan Tang is Ready for His 48 Hours of Fame – Gies School of Business Blog
Gies College of Business senior Yuxuan Tang was one of four University of Illinois students drawn from the Illinois MakerLab and selected to compete in Season 3 of the PBS show Make 48, a “televised national invention competition that gives teams 48 hours to come up with an idea, create a prototype, and present their idea to a panel of judges.”
Tang writes, “It’s an honor. The competition is like a sped-up creation process. Being able to make the model is important, but the rest of the team should diversify. You need some people to see ‘How’s the market? What do customers think of this service?’ That’s what business people do.”
You can read more about Tang’s work here.
Graduate Students Tackle Issue of Clean Water in Haiti – Quinlan School of Business Blog
Loyola’s Masters of Social Justice student Josh Goralski spoke with the Quinlan School of Business Blog about his social enterprise, which “focuses on building water filtration businesses [in Haiti] funded through micro-financing.”
This idea is an extension of a business idea he and his undergraduate classmates at Rockhurst University developed to address the 5,700 Haitians water-related diseases claim each year. According to the article, “52.4 percent of Haiti’s rural population does not have access to clean water.”
Loyola student Josh Goralski, pictured in Haiti / Photo via luc.edu
“Water filters would be sold by local community members. The sellers would be trained and certified to micro-finance the filters affordably for their community members.” According to the article, the ceramic water filter that the Haitian water enterprises sell can “provide clean water for a family of five for up to 10 years with little maintenance, and save families $400+ USD over 10 years.”
Goralski writes that his goal is to “empower communities. We wondered, how do we work with a local community partner, provide access to business education training, and empower these communities?”
You can can read more about Goralski’s work here.
LAPD Celebrates Latest Executive Programs Grads – Los Angeles News
We’ve rounded up the latest news coming out of business schools in the Los Angeles metro this week.
LAPD Chief Salutes Latest Officers to Finish Innovative Executive Program – Claremont Graduate University Newsroom
New LAPD Police Chief Michel Moore celebrated this year’s graduates of the Police Chiefs Executive Leadership Institute at Claremont Graduate University’s Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management recently. Now in its second year, the partnership between the Drucker School of Management and the California Police Chiefs Association invites police officers to the CGU campus for two intensive weeks in the study of management. Through training with Drucker faculty, the officers learn about management techniques, who they are as leaders, and where to make improvements in the way they lead. Thirty-four officers graduated from the program this year.
“The LAPD has been a partner with this school for a long time,” comments Police Chief Moore at CGU during graduation. “This is a progressive school defined by an ethos and values of how to give back to our communities, how to live our best lives, which is what I think we all want for ourselves.”
You can read more about CGU and the California Police Chiefs Executive Leadership Institute here.
UCI Paul Merage School of Business Center for Real Estate Receives Gift to Support Creation of Bill Halford Family and Bixby Land Company Student Award Endowed Fund – UCI Paul Merage Newsroom
A new gift from the Bixby Land Company will create a new endowed fund at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine’s Center for Real Estate. The gift will benefit merit-based graduate and undergraduate students interested in studying real estate and becoming an active member of the center.
The award is given in recognition of Bill Halford, the chief executive of commercial real estate developer Bixby Land Co, based in Newport Beach, who passed away earlier this year. Serving as chairman for Merage’s Center for Real Estate Advisory Board since 2006, Halford was a staunch supporter of higher education who encouraged the university to place focus on their graduate-level real estate program. He also served as a guest lecturer and often helped moderate education symposiums at the center.
(Left to right) Nakamura Brown, Merage School Dean Eric Spangenberg, Bixby Land Company President Aaron Hill, Cindy Halford, Center for Real Estate Faculty Director Ed Coulson, Center for Real Estate Advisory Board Co-Chair Watty WatsonNakamura Brown, Merage School Dean Eric Spangenberg, Bixby Land Company President Aaron Hill, Cindy Halford, and Watty Watson / Photo via merage.uci.edu
Read more about the Bill Halford Family and Bixby Land Company Student Award and Merage’s Center for Real Estate here.
Employees Actually Work Harder If They Think Their Boss Gets a Big Fat Paycheck – MarketWatch
New research from Ricardo Perez-Truglia, Assistant Professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, looks at the impact that knowing your coworker’s or boss’ salary may have on work ethic.
Circulated by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Perez-Truglia worked alongside Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Zoë Cullen to complete the study, which surveyed 2,060 employees at a large commercial break. According to the research, companies that try to prevent you from finding out the salaries of your coworkers may have good reason; employees who believed their coworkers’ made a higher salary than they did typically worked fewer hours and were more likely to leave the company. Conversely, employees who perceived their manager to have a higher salary than they do were likely to work more hours.
The perception of this makes sense from the rationale of the employer. Not only does the research support this methodology, but keeping salary details under wraps is a common union-busting tactic at larger companies. Union activity tends to correlate with larger salaries for lower and mid-level employees. It is illegal in the United States to prevent employees from discussing wages with one-another. However, several large companies, such as T-Mobile, tend to skirt the rules anyway.
You can read more about Perez-Truglia’s research here.
Which Business School Students Have the Top GMAT Scores?
A strong GMAT score is essential to a stellar business school application. Though the score is universally important to admission, certain schools emphasize a high score on the test more than others. Below, we’ve laid out a list of the 10 business schools with the top GMAT scores for incoming students.
