Strong Hiring Numbers Highlight Banner Year for NYC School – New York News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from New York business schools this week.
Strong Hiring Proves Employers Crave Stevens’ Blend of Business, Technology Skills – Stevens Institute of Technology SOB Blog
The class of 2018 at the Stevens Institute of Technology’s School of Business recently posted a 98 percent placement rate, earning salaries of $72,480; far above NYC and national averages. The Stevens MBA focuses on how data and analytics are changing the way professionals work and how technology creates new opportunities while solving complex problems.
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies Dr. Ann Murphy notes, “We enjoy close relationships with managers in financial services, accounting, technology and media, which keeps us ahead of the rapid changes in industry. That real-world input influences our curricula, which helps our students get better internships and the jobs they want upon graduation.”
Seth Kirschner ’18, who majored in Business & Technology before accepting a position as a cyber risk advisory consultant with Deloitte, asserts, “The industry expertise of the faculty at Stevens comes through so clearly in the classroom. You’re learning from professors like Dr. Kevin Ryan, who have patents and years of experience in the telecom industry, or a turnaround strategist like Dr. Murad Mithani, who teaches you how to change a failing company. As a student at Stevens, you’re surrounded by excellence.
You can read more about the Stevens’ Class of 2018 here.
The Social Benefits of Candid Photos – NYU Stern School of Business News
New joint research from NYU Stern Professor Alixandra Barasch finds that candid photos elicit a more favorable response in certain social situations because they are seen as more authentic.
Barasch co-authored a new paper with Wharton’s Jonah Berger entitled “A Candid Advantage? The Social Benefits of Candid Photos,” which uses five experiments to determine how candid photos increase interest in observers in the realm of friendship and dating.
Barasch and Berger’s research finds that more candid, “real” photos are seen as favorable than staged ones, even in professional settings.
Barasch and Berger write, “People often assume that a curated, polished version of the self will generate the most favorable responses—that by smoothing rough edges and presenting one’s best side, others will like and want to interact with them more. But this assumption is not always correct.”
Barasch continues, “In some cases, viewers prefer an unvarnished picture because it seems more genuine. People value authenticity because it feels more accurate.”
You can read more about the research here.
Journalism Class Supports Lehigh’s West Coast Connections – Lehigh College of Business and Economics News
Launched in January 2017, the Lehigh@NasdaqCenter offers immersive learning experiences to six Fellows each year, offering a West Coast campus extension for Lehigh students based in Silicon Valley. This program is just one way in which Lehigh builds an academic bridge from Bethlehem to the innovation ecosystem of Silicon Valley.
Samantha Dewalt, managing director of the Lehigh@NasdaqCenter, describes the interdisciplinary program:
“The media fellows report on programs and events at the center, interview featured entrepreneurs and produce multi-media stories across a range of platforms about the risks and rewards of entrepreneurship. We work together to select projects the students are excited about and ones that will benefit both Lehigh and Nasdaq Center communities.”
Entrepreneur Craig Gordon, ’76, founder and Managing Director, Blueshift Research remarks, “I think this is a great example of Lehigh innovating in a course where there is nothing like it anywhere in the country. The enthusiasm was unbelievable. You want that at any experience you have at any university.”
You can read more about the Lehigh learning experiences here.
UVA, Oxford, CEIBS Rise in All-New Financial Times 2019 Ranking
The latest Financial Times MBA ranking is officially out, with several international schools rising closer and closer to the top in 2019.
The Big Picture: The 5 Most Important MBA Numbers of 2018
Each year there’s a ton of new information that comes out about MBA programs. From new rankings to the latest GMAC news, there are a thousand little tidbits that can overwhelm applicants, students, and alumni. We’ve collected the most important MBA numbers of 2018.
To pare down the news into the information you need to know, we’ve taken a look at the big picture of the MBA for 2018 and outlined the five most important pieces of data you need to know. We’re talking about everything from the decline and U.S. MBA applications to the increase in female enrollment, the higher salaries and GMAT scores, as well as the increase in interest in technology. Continue reading…
Wharton Talks Marketing Lessons Learned from Payless Publicity Stunt
What would you do and what would you think if you paid hundreds of dollars for shoes that sell for less than $20? That’s the dilemma that faced a select group of social media influencers who were invited to a private launch party for Italian shoe designer Bruno Palessi. What they found out later was that the hundreds of dollars they thought they spent on fancy footwear was just a ruse by Payless ShoeSource.
It was all part of a marketing ploy by Payless to highlight their new shoes and inexpensive designs. The question that’s on everyone’s minds now is, “Did the stunt work?” According to Wharton Marketing Professor Barbara Kahn and Lehigh University Assistant Marketing Professor Ludovica Cesareo, it was an elaborate ploy that paid off big time.
In the most recent Knowledge@Wharton radio show podcast on Sirius XM, the professors discussed what marketers could learn from the success of Payless.
Plan Ahead
A prank like the one Payless pulled off takes lots of planning of every single detail. The marketing team had to make sure nothing was missed if they were going to dupe their influencers, and they got it right.
“They did an incredible execution,” Kahn said. “The location they picked, the way the store was set up, the way they filmed it, the way they highlighted the shoes themselves while hiding the original brand and [adding] this very clean black-and-white logo. They did a fantastic job, from Payless’s perspective.”
Perception Frames Reality
The Payless shoes that the influencers were presented were no different than you’d find in any of their other stores, but by changing their location, packaging, and environmental clues, they made the influencers think that what they were getting was luxury. Payless proved that fancy packaging and clouding the judgment of a consumer can impact how they evaluate quality. The reality is that shoe quality won’t be revealed until weeks of wearing them.
Social Media is Powerful
Payless utilized the power of social media to get their stunt out to a huge audience and generate buzz. They realized that social media influencers could be just as powerful if not more powerful than retail marketers, fashion journalists, and designers in getting the word out to consumers. Social media is also why the prank worked so well. “They made something surprising and emotional, and therefore it’s much more likely to be posted,” Kahn said.
Publicity is Priceless
Payless has had poor publicity for a while now, but the stunt helped to turn things around and garner the company good press that they’d severely lacked in recent months.
“There are two things you want to get” from this kind of stunt, Kahn said. “The first thing is to build [positive brand] awareness. Payless has been in the news for very bad reasons recently — a lot of stores are closing down; it’s facing bankruptcy. It’s all been negative press. This is really turning the press around.”
Don’t Expect Long-Term Change
However, in the end, both Kahn and Cesareo don’t think that the stunt will impact Payless stores in the long term. While it might help bring in young customers who may not have shopped there before, Payless stores are still cluttered and unappealing compared to the fake store, so the long-term customer experience won’t impact sales.
Still, both Kahn and Cesareo agree that Payless got a lot of “bang for their buck” with the stunt.
This Wharton marketing article has been edited and republished from its original source, Clear Admit.
U.S. Tops Highest MBA Salary Rankings
Return on investment post-MBA is one of the main considerations for candidates. After all, who would want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on an education without a solid salary afterward? That’s why it’s so important to look at how the best MBA programs can affect a graduate’s salary.
So, where should you go to school for your MBA if you want the best salary after graduating? We’re taking a look at the highest earning MBA programs per country to dig down into what you can earn as an MBA all over the world.
The Best Energy Industry MBA Programs in the U.S.
With the current shift in global economics that coincides with climate change, business schools have seen the benefit of educating students toward a sustainable future. Whether through influencing public policy, investing wisely in carbon reduction technologies, or developing businesses that serve to adjust to global warming, MBA grads with a focus within the energy industry have limitless career prospects.
The Best Energy Industry MBA Programs in the U.S.
The University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business‘ Bay Area location (a center for innovation in sustainability) make it a clean energy industry leader. With an interdisciplinary approach that combines engineering, public policy, and law, Berkeley Haas MBA students have access to such initiatives as Cleantech to Market (C2M). This partnership between grad students, industry professionals, and researchers offers an annual symposium presenting the newest trends in clean technologies.
In C2M, professionals in such arenas as energy generation, storage, grid technology, and water purification guide students through past solutions. Students integrate their curriculum into real world solutions with the help of these professionals and leading researchers.
Cornell’s SC Johnson Graduate School of Management also offers a wealth of opportunities in the development of sustainable solutions for MBAs with the school’s immersion program, the Center for Social Enterprise. After receiving a sizable endowment in 2002, researchers and business leaders formed the SC Johnson Professorship in Sustainable Global Enterprise. Recently ranked 2nd overall by Bloomberg Businessweek, the sustainability curriculum at Johnson has achieved wide acclaim.
In addition, Johnson offers an Environmental Finance and Impact Investing Fellowship. With projects sponsored by corporate and government entities, students receive opportunities to work with the World Bank, Barclays, and The Water Initiative to address pressing issues in development and the increasing demand to find alternative energy sources.
UNC’s Kenan Flagler Business School offers an MBA that they consider “unique among major business schools.” The program, which exhibits a marked emphasis upon ROI, focuses on the energy value chain, and the intersection of oil and gas usage, renewables, and petrochemicals.
This degree focuses primarily on training future leaders in corporate sectors, power generation, renewable energy, investing firms, and consulting firms specializing in energy.
MIT’s Sloan School of Management takes an exemplary role in leadership development for the sustainable energy industry. According to Sloan’s Sustainability Initiative, the school “empowers leaders to act so that humans and nature can thrive for generations to come.” With a mission that includes a sustainability certificate, partnerships with NGOs and government agencies, and an ongoing lecture series, MIT Sloan offers a strong foundation in cleantech development.
In a recent roundtable, experts in renewable energy supply chain discussed potential solutions. These include wind farms and solar power for underserved populations.
“When you’re inside a startup and talking to your colleagues all the time, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture,” says Sandhya Murali, a recipient of the Sustainability Certificate. “Being able to talk with experts in the field and share ideas with veterans in the industry was extremely helpful.”
Murali, ’15, is the CEO of the Solstice Initiative, which provides solar energy to communities in every economic strata.
Finally, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business is at the forefront of energy efficiency, offering an MBA major in Business, Energy, Environment and Sustainability. Combining a focus in tech, regulation, finance, and business modeling trends, this degree prepares MBAs for leadership roles in energy, clean-tech investment, energy banking, consulting, government, and the sustainable non-profit industry.
Courses include Energy Markets and Policy, Energy Finance, Environmental Management, Law and Policy, Social Impact Marketing and Energy Law.
In addition, there is a dual degree option for Wharton MBAs. In which, students can combine an MBA with a Master in Environmental Studies for career opportunities in energy management.
