DPS has tapped a pair of McCombs MBA students to serve as brand consultants for its Yoo-hoo and bring a fresh, innovative approach to marketing the chocolate [...]]]> The FINANCIAL — Dr Pepper Snapple Group and the McCombs School of Business have embarked on a novel program to grow one of the company’s iconic brands.

DPS has tapped a pair of McCombs MBA students to serve as brand consultants for its Yoo-hoo and bring a fresh, innovative approach to marketing the chocolate drink. The team will develop a strategic growth plan for the brand and present it to DPS in May, with the potential for implementation in the fall.

The students and DPS are the first participants in the McCombs Brand Experience, an experiential learning initiative launched this year by the Center for Customer Insight and Marketing Solutions at McCombs.

To make the experience as true-to-life as possible, the center created MBA Brands, a limited liability company, or LLC. DPS will use the student team through the company on a consultant basis. “The LLC structure allows for much more of a real-life experience. It’s a breakthrough in marketing education,” said Lamar Johnson, CCIMS director.

“This pilot will eventually lead to opportunities for many other students to participate in the future, for DPS and other companies,” Johnson added. “Cream-of-the-crop students will receive experiential training and a great opportunity, and the program will strengthen relationships between McCombs and DPS. The project brings great value to both parties — DPS will get excellent marketing strategy and planning and a great look at McCombs’ best and brightest.”

Jim Trebilcock, executive vice president of marketing for DPS, said the company designated Yoo-hoo for this project because of the brand’s broad and passionate fan base.

“We are excited to be working with the McCombs School of Business and look forward to the creativity and strategic thinking they will bring to the Yoo-hoo brand,” said Trebilcock. “This innovative brand management program will not only provide a unique learning experience for the students, but will also provide DPS with a novel way to tap the growth potential of smaller, regional and niche brands in our portfolio.”

Yoo-hoo is one of the leading chocolate drinks in the United States. It was created during the 1920s by Natale Olivieri, who discovered a way to produce a dairy-based chocolate beverage that would not spoil on the shelf. Yoo-hoo enjoyed explosive growth in the 1950s and 1960s, thanks in part to an advertising campaign featuring New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra, who popularized the tagline, “It’s Me-hee for Yoo-hoo.”

The brand went through several ownership changes leading up to its 2002 acquisition by Cadbury Schweppes, which spun off its entire North American beverage business into Dr Pepper Snapple Group in 2008.

The Yoo-hoo student team will experience a hands-on approach to managing a consumer packaged goods brand. To develop a financially sound growth plan, the students will need to analyze existing data, identify data needs and also learn to work with less than 100 percent of the desired data. They’ll learn to respond to the real-time market and how to deal with people issues and constraints.

According to The University of Texas at Austin, if all goes as planned, a new team of McCombs MBA students from the class of 2014 will take over Yoo-hoo or another DPS brand in January 2013, and the program will be extended to more students and companies.

Take the case of Nishaan Malhotra, who graduated from [...]]]> Traditionally, the United States and United Kingdom have always been popular overseas education destinations with Indian students. However, in recent years countries in Asia such as Singapore, Hong Kong and China have emerged as alternative locations for Indian students looking for an overseas education experience.

Take the case of Nishaan Malhotra, who graduated from one of Delhi’s top schools. Nishaan has enrolled in an undergraduate engineering program at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Malhotra zeroed in on Singapore after attending an education fair. “Singapore came across as a fun, vibrant city and the university is well reputed. Also, Singapore is not that far from India, just a short flight away so my family is also not too worried about sending me far away.”

There are many others like him who are applying to colleges and universities elsewhere in Asia. According to Kavita Singh, CEO, FutureWorks Consulting, a company that provides admissions guidance to Indian students, the high cutoffs and shortage of places at Indian colleges have forced many bright, talented students to look overseas. “While countries such as the United States and United Kingdom are still the top picks, many students are looking east as well.” Singh has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the UK’s Oxford University and an MBA from Columbia Business School in the US.

Asian colleges and universities score highly on the cost and competitiveness factor. While the quality of education offered by institutions in countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong is very high, the cost of education is often lower than universities in the West in terms of tuition and living expenses. Most of these countries are close to India and with their economies thriving, employment options are also plentiful.

Hong Kong, for instance, has made a name for itself in the education arena. Some of its institutions such as the Chinese University of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong are favourably positioned in the annual QS World University Rankings™, and QS Asian University Rankings. All eight of Hong Kong’s government-funded universities use English as the medium of instruction. Courses such as engineering, bio-sciences, art and design are popular with Indian students.

“China and India constitute two of the BRIC countries that are signaling a major shift in global economic power. Tomorrow’s world will need leaders who can capitalize on this by understanding both countries and facilitate the rapidly increasing trade between them,” says Professor John A Spinks, Senior Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor, at the University of Hong Kong.

“We are fortunate in having a number of factors come together at the same time – the priority accorded to education by students and their parents in Asia resulting in high academic standards, the continued support of Asian governments for universities and the investment they provide, and the ranking of HKU as the best university in Asia,” Spinks continued. “With the economic development in Asia and the availability of jobs after graduation, many students are choosing to stay in Asia for their undergraduate studies rather than going to the more traditional educational destinations of the US, UK and Australia. This is the new Spice Route of the 21st century – exchanging knowledge across Asia”.

Singapore, on the other hand, offers global education against the backdrop of a vibrant, bustling, culturally diverse city. Three universities that are known for their high academic standards are the National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University (SMU) and the Nanyang Technological University. These institutions have partnerships with leading universities across the world, and their degrees are globally respected.

Popular courses here include those in the fields of science and technology, medicine, and arts and design. However, the cost of living and tuition fees in Singapore are considerably higher than that in China and Hong Kong.

Along with Singapore and Hong Kong, China is also fast becoming an important educational hotspot. Seven Chinese universities rank among the top 200 in the 2011/12 QS World University Rankings™, with Peking University and Tsinghua University both making the global top 50. Chinese universities are known for their programs in medicine and business among other courses.

Another city that has become popular with Indian students is Dubai. Nearly 20,000 students from over 100 countries are enrolled in courses at the some of the world’s leading universities through branch campuses in Dubai.

Dubai’s education sector has expanded phenomenally in recent years. Leading universities from across the globe have set up branch campuses offering both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The standard of living in Dubai is known to be high, and a comparatively low cost of living enables students to lead a comfortable life. A short flight away from India, Dubai has become a popular hotspot for Indian students looking for an international education experience at a reasonable cost.

With a range of attractive options closer to home now complementing the more traditional study destinations such as the US, UK and Australia, students from India are spoilt for choice when it comes to international education.

A manual by business administration academicians, sketching guidelines on ‘how to write project report’, to help students upgrade the quality of projects taken up as part of the course, was released [...]]]> A day-long quality improvement workshop on ‘Research and Guidance Skills for MBA Projects’ was organised by the Canara Bank School of Management Studies.

A manual by business administration academicians, sketching guidelines on ‘how to write project report’, to help students upgrade the quality of projects taken up as part of the course, was released on the occasion.
Postgraduation in business administration is one of the most sought after courses today.

Quality regulation Bangalore University alone has 12,000 students pursuing MBA. While scores of students are stepping into the profession, there has been a need to regulate the quality of course content.

Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor Prabhu Dev inaugurated the workshop. He promised support to business management experts if they came up with a framework for upgrading the content for MBA course.

He also called upon professors to help students improve their analytical skills so that they could come up with creative ideas in projects.

Innovation

Pavan Sony, a research fellow at IIM-Bangalore, spoke about enhancing innovation and creativity in projects.

He pointed out to the budding entrepreneurs that “business does not always depend on a B-plan, but on being open to a plan B.”

“Projects should be chosen on the basis of value of practical applicability. The project reports must always be short,” he said.

He said there was great competition in all fields today, but deficiency in attention among the people. “Mind-mapping is important to handle this challenge effectively, as it will enhance creativity in projects undertaken,” he explained.

C Manohar, dean of the International School of Business and Research, and the programme director, said the seminar would help bridge the gap between industry and academics by enabling students to pursue projects useful to the industry.

It would also help students draw from the experience of those in industries, enriching their academic knowledge, he added.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve talked about the process of managing career transitions and evaluating the many academic options you can explore when thinking about [...]]]> A guest post from Rose Martinelli, formerly the longtime admissions director at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, where she wrote a popular admissions blog, The Rose Report.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve talked about the process of managing career transitions and evaluating the many academic options you can explore when thinking about that next step. As we dig a bit deeper into those options, I’d like to spend a bit of time discussing the full-time MBA program in general and then the one-year versus two year program format.

While there is only one MBA degree, no two programs are exactly the same. While MBA programs teach you the fundamental tools of business, the way each does so can be distinct. When I try to explain the differences, I think about the range of attributes that particular programs present along a continuum of choices. By the time you stack all the attributes together, it basically boils down to what fits your needs best. While rankings can be valuable, I don’t believe that there is a “best” school for everyone.

Here are a few attributes to think about:

Size of program: Harvard is one of the largest, with Stanford being one of the smaller programs.

Location: Columbia is in a big city; Tuck is in a small town.

Flexibility of core programming: Harvard is least flexible in delivering its core curriculum while Chicago Booth is one of the most flexible.

Majors/Concentrations: Some schools are general management only, though you can take electives in a broad number of areas. Other schools offer majors/concentrations that will allow you to take courses with some depth in particular subjects.

International, national, or regional locations and reputation: What you want to do and where you want to live will have some impact on your choice of location or view of the reputation of an institution.

Experiential learning: Almost all programs have experiential learning but differ in the degree and access.

Study abroad: Programs either do or do not have this option.

Availability and support for summer internships: Almost every program has these, but they might differ based on industry, function, or location. Look carefully here.

Then there is the question of one-year vs. two-year programs. Time and investment are the biggest trade-offs when making this decision, so it depends upon your prior background and present career goals when making this choice. If you’re making lots of changes in your career and will have to learn a lot of fundamentals from scratch, a two-year MBA program will provide you with more time, opportunities to explore internships, and the freedom to take more classes. If time is your limitation, the one-year MBA will allow you to cover the basics, as well as a narrow set of focused areas of study, along with community activities—but less time for career and academic exploration and breadth. In reality, the difference in costs and forgone wages between programs is not that different, so focus on needs over cost.

Every choice you make boils down to making trade-offs. What’s the right mix of attributes for you?

When I accepted admission to Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, I remember giving a summer [...]]]> Someone outside of MBA-land recently asked me if I was thinking about getting an internship this summer. I didn’t know what to say—after spending five months wringing my hands about the entire internship process, “yes” seemed to be an understatement.

When I accepted admission to Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, I remember giving a summer internship passing consideration, figuring it would be another small part of life at school. Since then I’ve realized that much of the focus of first-year MBA students is on landing an amazing summer job, even sometimes at the expense of academics.

Really, the entire process seems counterintuitive. Many students head into an MBA program to learn more about new fields or to make a career switch, but (almost) the second we arrive on campus, we begin recruiting for life after school, gearing up in black suits and name tags to tell our stories to company representatives, as if we’re certain we know what we want to be when we grow up. Throughout the fall I would wonder why I was focusing so much on finding an internship, when I really needed to understand accounting.

Fuqua had a mind-boggling number of top companies recruiting on campus this fall, first coming to give official presentations on their organizations, then usually back again to host “industry insight” panels or invite-only networking events. Looking back at the recruiting season, I suspect that my fellow first years and I didn’t realize just how competitive the on-campus process would be, perhaps because our school is so collaborative and team-oriented. When a group of us made the interview list for a competitive internship program, we prepared together, sharing insights from our various conversations with company contacts, helping one another hone our interview answers and reframe our various strengths and weaknesses. After all that effort, collaboration, and hope, it was disappointing to see some of us receive offers while others did not. I think the experience is typical at Fuqua, however—we got through the process together.

Unbelievably, this fall recruiting snapshot describes only what happens at school. Fuqua’s career center also prepares us to recruit “off campus,” where students go to companies to investigate job opportunities instead of companies coming to students (also known as the way the real world works). These are companies that don’t traditionally recruit MBAs or that don’t have the resources to conduct MBA recruiting on campus. Off-campus recruiting encompasses many social sector employers—socially responsible businesses, nonprofit organizations, and large companies with sustainability and corporate social impact departments—which is appealing to me. So, in addition to my on-campus recruiting, I was also setting up informational interviews and applying to internships to explore those less-traditional MBA career options.

I definitely found it challenging to determine the best line of experience for me to make the most impact in the social sector. There is no set path for people who want to do my line of work—and unfortunately, much of recruiting is all about path. I ultimately ended up interviewing across a few different industries, on and off campus. I have so many interests, and I was fascinated by the array of opportunities and experiences out there. I’ve ultimately decided to accept an internship offer with a large company with a strong corporate social responsibility focus, and I’ll be working on its social impact goals, an opportunity to blend my B-school education with my interests.

Now that I have an internship, and I’m preparing to head out west for the summer, I wonder if I could have made it through the year without all the internship-related hand-wringing. Looking back at the fall, I feels as if I had an out-of-body experience—where did all that time go that I spent researching companies, networking, attending presentations, and prepping for interviews?

In September, a few second years told me to write down the reasons I decided to come to B-school and post them on my bathroom mirror, so I could remember them throughout recruiting season. Of course, like a headstrong first year, I didn’t listen to them, and I definitely felt lost at certain points this year. As painful as it was, however, to find my way through the career path fog, the internship search also provided me with the chance to reflect on why I’m here, what my goals and values are, and what I’ve learned about myself since starting my MBA program. While I might have earned a few grey hairs in the process, the informal education was invaluable—perhaps as invaluable as learning accounting.

While thousands of management graduates are churned out yearly, many taking seven-figure annual pay packages in multi-national companies, there is a dearth of professionals addressing logistical and marketing concerns of the rural population. And for many educators, this [...]]]> It’s a difficult task at a time when management graduates look only at the pay packet

While thousands of management graduates are churned out yearly, many taking seven-figure annual pay packages in multi-national companies, there is a dearth of professionals addressing logistical and marketing concerns of the rural population. And for many educators, this gap is directly linked to the fact that MBA education is driven by salaries.

Currently, most rural entrepreneurship programmes are funded and run by the State and Central Government. Sanjeevani, an entrepreneurial and innovation programme, launched by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department, is one such example. The Central Government scheme, which apart from imparting industry skills to rural youth, will also aid rural entrepreneurship by mobilising capital. The pilot project now covers 20 taluks in Belgaum, Dharwad, Gulbarga, Mysore and Tumkur districts and would soon be implemented across the State.

Similarly, the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development of Karnataka (CEDOK), which is aided by the Government, conducts entrepreneurship and managerial training to those subsisting on rural industries. However, as Maltesh Jeevannavar, Director of the CEDOK, puts it, the programmes are meant only to motivate the rural entrepreneur, while leaving it to them to figure out logistics and marketing.

“What a rural entrepreneur produces should be lifted, and the product marketed well. For this, some managerial skill is required,” said B. Vijaya, Professor, Department of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Commerce, Gulbarga University.

However, from the private MBA education point of view, rural management is limited to short projects or electives in the syllabus, with very few students ending up in the hinterland to bolster the entrepreneurship foundation there.

“Only when MBA graduates have support or funding can they be encouraged to work in rural areas. With high pay packages in corporate companies, there is nothing to attract the graduate to the villages,” said Mr. Vijaya. He suggests that if rural management is seen as social responsibility, there may be a higher participation of MBA graduates in the rural sector.

Sanjay Padodi, a Board of Governor of the Institute of Finance and International Management (IFIM), Bangalore, concurred: “Anything with the tag ‘rural’ doesn’t command the same interest as consulting or marketing with an MNC, and in fact acts as a deterrent for aspiring candidates. Unfortunately, MBA education is driven by salaries, and students look at the prospective salary of campus placements before joining a college.”

To reverse this, he said, it was up to the Government to introduce special schemes for MBA graduates to allow their participation in healthcare, government agricultural storage houses, among others.

Like in most MBA colleges, rural management and rural entrepreneurship in IFIM is taught as an elective; and often, students are encouraged to do their management projects using rural case studies – which are hawked as an opportunity to learn rural marketing demographics.

However, the social impact of short-term projects is limited, said Mr. Jeevannavar. “Rural management cannot really work part-wise or piece-wise. Learning about the marketing, logistics in rural places, and overcoming problems like power supply take a long time,” he said.