The University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business offers an innovative course called Business on the Frontlines, taught by Viva Bartkus, an associate professor of business management. The goal for the 19 MBA students participating in this course? To explore business in a real life context in countries trying to rebuild their economies after a war or violent conflict.

The two components of the course, first taught in spring 2009, are a classroom segment where students study developmental economies and topics related to peace-through-commerce efforts, and a field visit to explore in detail the activities and impact of local and international business in post-war reconstruction societies.

In mid-December, the students split into three teams and traveled to Lebanon, Kenya and Uganda.

“I had hoped that the students would do a deep-dive into Lebanon, learning as much as they could in advance, and then use the time in the country to meet a rich cross-section of people, and to dig even deeper,” said Edward Conlon, management professor and associate dean of the Mendoza College, who accompanied the Lebanon team (see his commentary here).

“And I think this plan worked beautifully.  In just a week or so, the students have been able to ask very nuanced and well-informed questions of bankers, business people and political leaders that enable them to see both the opportunities and challenges faced by business in Lebanon and, indeed, the country as a whole.”

The teams that traveled to Kenya and Uganda witnessed entrepreneurial efforts ranging from farming to tourism possibilities. In the process, the MBAs learned about microfinance and the work being done by various churches to start and support businesses. After talking with business leaders in the small town of Migori, the Kenyan team gave the leaders some time to turn the tables and ask about them about their lives.

“Everyone had only one question:  ‘What advice can you guys as business students give me to help me improve my business?’” said MBA candidate Garrett Busch. “It isn’t just the business owners either.  The whole country is just dying to learn more. They are so hungry for it, but their potential is just being handcuffed because of the lack of development and the government corruption.”

Photos and blog entries about the current students’ trip can be found at: http://businessonthefrontlines.blogspot.com/

source: Mendoza College of Business

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Professors Tim Calkins and Derek Rucker of the Kellogg School of Management are gearing up for the school’s sixth annual examination of Super Bowl commercials, known as the Kellogg School Super Bowl Advertising Review.

Rucker, associate professor of marketing and the Richard M. Clewett Research Professor, and Calkins, clinical professor of marketing, will serve as non-biased resources for students as they evaluate the advertisements in real time.

Known as the world’s top business school for marketing, Kellogg’s marketing faculty and members of the Kellogg Marketing Club will convene in Evanston, Ill. on February 7, 2010, to watch the event, rate the advertisers using a set of academic criteria known as ADPLAN and produce a final ranking of the most – and least – successful advertisers.

ADPLAN is an acronym for Attention, Distinction, Positioning, Linkage, Amplification and Net equity.

Students judge the advertisements based on their potential to drive sales, favorably impact companies’ bottom lines and improve brand awareness, as opposed to evaluating the commercials according to their popularity. They will address questions such as:

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As more and more business schools begin accepting both the GRE and GMAT for admission, applicants are stumped as to which test to take.  Francesca Di Meglio looks at the factors that go into this decision in a recent article for BusinessWeek.

After analyzing performance, post-MBA plans, demographics and the like, Di Meglio concludes that when you apply to business school may play a larger determining role than other factors.

If you plan to apply in a few years, by then the GRE and GMAT may be on more even footing with admissions committees. If, however, your answer is this year or next, then the GMAT is almost certainly the best choice.

“It is considered by many to be a rigorous, well-respected exam that provides a clear link between achievement on the test and success in business school, something the GRE can’t claim, at least not yet,” Di Meglio writes.

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Dean Rich Lyons from the Haas School at UC Berkeley shared his excitement about the way things are going these days in a video recently posted on YouTube.

Despite the budget squeeze in the state of California, Lyons says the Haas School has been building a more robust financial model for at least 15 years now, which has allowed it to make some of the investments that are generating a lot of excitement for 2010.

In this short video, Lyons focuses on three areas–hiring new faculty, ongoing faculty excellence, strategic program investments–he feels put Haas at the top of the heap.

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If you’re working to make the early to mid-January deadlines for schools like Wharton, Stanford, Kellogg, or HBS you are likely rushing to finalize your essays and other application materials. To make the last few days before the deadlines easier on yourself, make sure you have taken care of those last minute details before you hit submit.

Data Forms
Start filling out the online data forms now. Make sure you have reviewed the entire application and know what is required. You don’t want to find yourself missing your father’s date of birth or writing a 100 word essay on your favorite hobby at midnight on January 5th.

Most applications require a bit more detail about your job and your activities in the data forms section. While it is tempting to cut and paste from your resume, make sure you are really answering the questions and selling your value to the admissions committee. For example, HBS asks for your job responsibilities, which is really your job description. Ask yourself what your boss will write to seek a new candidate for your job once you head off to business school? The other questions about your job (challenges and accomplishments) are specific to you, and should provide a brief example of something you have done while holding the position.

Recommendations
Make sure your recommenders know the deadlines and are ready to submit! Encourage each of your recommenders to submit early, so you can focus on the part of the application you need to deliver.

If you prepared your recommenders well, with a packet of information to help them answer the questions, they should be feeling confident about the letters. Remind each of them to focus on the attributes MBA programs are interested in: leadership, teamwork, and management potential. Your recommenders want to make sure you are admitted and will welcome any assistance you can provide.

Essays
Stick to the word limits. While most schools will allow a 10% margin of error, the admissions committee wants to see concise and focused essays. When you are asked to keep your essays brief, make sure you are following that guidance. At a minimum holding to the word limit guidance demonstrates you can follow directions. If you are having a hard time cutting any of your material, seek the help of family or friends who can be more analytical with your words and let you know what is really essential.

After months of writing drafts, seeking feedback from friends and family, and changing everything about your essays you are finally ready to submit. Don’t just “accept all changes” and upload your essay documents. Make sure you have cut and paste your essays into an entirely new document that was not used for drafting. Many word processing programs can allow the reader to track changes and see earlier drafts of your document. To present the most professional application you will want to provide clean drafts.

Submit Early
Before you hit the submit button make sure you print out your application and read through it a few times. There are always a few typos you will catch. Seeking the assistance of friends and family for this task is always helpful as fresh eyes can find many small errors. Don’t panic if you end up submitting your application with a handful of minor typos, it is common and will not be held against you.

With online applications there is always an overload on the system the day applications are due. Avoid any concerns about your submission reaching the admissions committee by submitting a day or two ahead of time. Waiting until the last minute is both stressful and risky.

Finally, once you have submitted your application, relax! You have worked hard over the past few months, pouring your dreams onto paper, and it’s time to focus on other things. Avoid the temptation to visit online forums – they are full of misinformation and foster stress. Think about a plan B if you aren’t admitted this year, seek new projects at work, renew your hobbies, and, most importantly, spend quality time with your family and friends before you are absorbed into MBA life.

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The Monroe Street Journal, published by the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, recently ran an interview with dean Robert Dolan about the future of the school based on questions culled from the student body. Below you’ll find fragments of interest to anyone considering the Ross MBA.

The most commonly asked question–How is Ross going to maintain its competitive advantage with its action-based learning and what is the school’s high-level strategy going forward?–elicited this response:

“While there was some recent debate surrounding whether or not we should abandon our action-based learning as the cornerstone of our brand and pick a ‘new horse,’ the faculty has chosen to ‘feed and care for the horse we’ve got.’ In other words, the school recognizes that we do action-based learning better than any of our competitors and it should prevail as our primary differentiating factor. Moving forward, Ross looks to grow this strategy by taking it abroad.”

Dean Dolan is also committed to boosting Ross’s global footprint via the strategic placement of international offices, starting in India and then China, the MSJ reports. Having offices in Hyderabad, Mumbai or Bangalore will help Ross better source field-based Multidisciplinary Action Projects (MAP), and offices with local roots will facilitate placement of Ross students in India better than efforts based in the U.S.

Opening international offices will also boost  international applicants to the Ross program, Dolan indicated, and expand upon the variety of international electives currently offered. Though not yet confirmed, the roll-out of satellite offices in Asia and subsequently in South America is slated to begin during the next academic year, pending financial support.

When asked to comment on the Office of Career Development’s recent low ranking against competing OCDs, Dolan pointed out that the methodology used to measure the quality of career development programs (the percentage of students who have jobs three months after graduation) is flawed.

“Ross students graduate a good 6 – 8 weeks prior to many other business school programs. Therefore, when BusinessWeek collects data for post-graduation employment numbers for Ross students in August, many organizations won’t start handing out offers until early September. If our post-graduation employment statistics were to be calculated simultaneously with other top tier programs in September rather than in August, our numbers are more or less in line with everyone else’s.”

Dolan also addressed an issue of growing concern within the student body relating to class size. With the opening of the new facility, the MBA class saw its size grow dramatically, increasing from 430 to 500 students, the MSJ reports.

The dean suspects that this yield increase occurred due to a combination of factors: Ross’s action based learning, community feel, the great work current students do with prospective students and the down economy. Whatever the cause, the MSJ concludes that Ross is planning to decrease the number of acceptances in future years to combat the increased yield rate.

When asked what piece of advice he would like to share with the Ross community, Dolan reflected a moment before responding. “Take on new challenges,” he said, “and always put yourself in new positions. After all, that is what got me here.”

Check out The Monroe Street Journal for more of Dolan’s interview on the future of the Ross School of Business.

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If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

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