Business Administration Education Research Articles

Enhancing business students’ self-efficacy and learning outcomes: A multiple intelligences and technology approach

This research investigates the effect of multiple intelligences (MIs) teaching strategy with technology-enriched environments on business administration students’ self-efficacy, confidence, and learning outcomes. The study involved 276 participants from a university’s business administration department, undergoing an international business course. A range of technology-based activities incorporating MI strategies was employed, exploring key topics such as globalization, corporate social responsibility, and market segmentation. Hypothesis testing revealed that high expectations and changes in viewpoints positively impacted self-concept, ability, and motivation, contributing to improved learning outcomes. The integration of technology in teaching facilitated these transformations, demonstrating how digital tools like virtual reality, interactive platforms, and online tutorials can enhance learning experiences. However, the effect on learning gain varied when viewpoints changed, indicating a need for further research into the differential impact of technology on learning outcomes. Despite some limitations, the study offers compelling evidence supporting the integration of MIs teaching strategy with technology-enriched environments in business administration education. Future studies should further explore the role of emerging technologies in this context.

Research on the Model of Cooperation between Universities and Enterprises: Its Impact on Business Administration Education

This article aims to study the cooperation models between universities and enterprises in business administration education and their impact on education. We conducted a detailed analysis of the types of cooperation models, differences in educational impact, and specific manifestations through the use of mixed research methods, including quantitative and qualitative analysis. The research results indicate that there are various modes of cooperation between universities and enterprises, with the most common being joint course design and student internship projects. These collaborative models have had a positive impact on business management education, including improving the quality of curriculum design, innovating teaching methods, increasing student satisfaction, and increasing graduate employment rates. The analysis of qualitative data further supports quantitative results, indicating that the collaborative model provides students with a more practical learning experience, enhancing their practical abilities and professional competitiveness. However, there are also some challenges in the cooperation process, such as scheduling and communication difficulties. Therefore, schools and enterprises should actively address these issues, strengthen communication and coordination, in order to achieve better cooperation results. The results of this study provide useful suggestions for universities and enterprises, and provide strong support for improving the cooperation mode of business management education and improving the quality of education.

Evaluation of Business Management using COPRAS Method

Business Management. "Business management" is the coordination and organization of business activities. Business managers supervise operations while assisting employees to reach their greatest level of productivity. An organization's operational and financial goals can be met with the assistance of a business manager who can also supervise or train new hires. A business administration degree is still an attractive choice for ambitious young entrepreneurs as well as company leaders. It provides academic expertise and abilities to pursue company-based based possibilities as well as develop a broad comprehension of industries and specific locations including finance and human capital. An advanced degree given to those pursuing higher education in business administration is the master of business administration. Typically, processes, financial reporting, finance, and marketing are all included in an MBA program. Management styles can be divided into three major categories: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. There are particular subcategories of management styles within each of these categories, each with advantages and disadvantages. However, since business administration is a difficult and complicated field with such a lot to learn in order to prepare for a successful managerial position, that doesn't presume it's a main topic you should avoid. Economics and administration are the core subject of business education. But you'll also pick up knowledge on subjects like marketing, public relations, finance, and human resources. Additionally, you will pick up valuable skills and information from the process, like how organizations function. Business management refers to the act of planning and coordinating an organization’s information, including employees, revenue, knowledge, and more. Business management centers on monitoring individual personnel and huge initiatives. Create goals and objectives for the business management that will promote expansion and prosperity. Develop and carry out company plans and approaches to encourage the achievement of goals. Ensuring that the organization has sufficient and suitable assets to finish its activities. Business management gives skills and information that are immediately applicable to all elements of your life. Business management aids in the development of crucial skills that will enhance your employment prospects and eventually lead to success, whether you're planning, persuading, analyzing, networking, or organizing. A business degree can help you gain a solid understanding of fundamental economic concepts, how global events affect markets, as well as how to assess the economic health of businesses. Especially when coupled, this will allow you to make knowledgeable investment choices and eventually figure out how to reach greater ROI. The organization and coordination of business activities are known as business management. Operations are overseen by managers, who also assist staff in maximizing production. To assist a company in achieving its financial and operational goals, a company's management may manage or train new hires. The functions of the management framework—decision-making, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling—are among the specific types of duties that students will try to fully comprehend as they start to consider what it means to manage. COPRAS (Complex Proportional Evaluation is proposed to evaluate the possible maintenance strategy. Linguistic terms are used to evaluate the ratings and weights. The rankings of the alternatives are COPRAS Business, Data, Application, and Technology are Alternative, and Value, Processes, Functions, and Resources are evaluation. Business, Data, Application, and Technology. Evaluation Parameters Value, Processes, Functions, and Resources. Data gets the first rank whereas Business has the lowest rank.

PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY: THE MEANING OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR COMMERCIAL EDUCATION ALUMNUS FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS STATE UNIVERSITAS NEGERI MALANG

Seeing the important role of entrepreneurship in the Indonesian government's economy, universities in Indonesia have provided education on entrepreneurship for their students. It is intended that their students can become entrepreneurs after graduating from college. However, becoming an entrepreneur is not easy, because it requires strong motivation from within a person to start their own business. The decision to become an entrepreneur is also not popular because of the large responsibilities that must be borne by business owners. Therefore this study wants to see the meaning of entrepreneurship for an alumnus of Business Administration Education. This research was conducted using a qualitative phenomenological method. The results of this study state that several attitudes must be owned by an entrepreneur, challenges that must be faced by an entrepreneur, and the benefits of entrepreneurship. The subjects of this study were alumni of the Universitas Negeri Malang Faculty of Economics and Business Commerce Education who already have their businesses. This research is also expected to be able to provide additional contributions to material about entrepreneurship

CHARACTERIZING INVESTMENT BEHAVIOR AMONG BUSINESS STUDENTS IN SOUTHERN MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES

<p>The purpose of this study is to characterize the investment behaviors of college students taking Business-related programs in Mindanao, Philippines. This includes determining their awareness of investing and whether the identified measures of investment behavior would pose a likelihood of appropriate investment decisions. The study is a sequential-exploratory mixed method research design, implemented in three phases: qualitative approach in the first phase and quantitative approaches in the second (data reduction procedure) and third (regression procedure) phases. A total of 300 college students taking Business programs in the College of Business Administration Education and College of Accounting Education of the largest university in Mindanao, Philippines participated in the survey, where they were asked to respond to the 35-item financial behavior scale developed in the first phase. Exploratory factor analysis was able to trim the 35-item scale into 29 items which loaded in ten dimensions: information/random walk, negative investor mindset, expert influence, investor’s awareness, publicity, financial capacity, stock market orientation/literacy, risk appetite, interest, and venture capital. Regressing these ten dimensions with students’ demographic variables revealed that Business students are cautious in investments and rely on expert advice before proceeding to invest but at a later time. Implications are discussed.</p><p> </p><p><strong>JEL:</strong> E22; F21</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0567/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Systems Thinking for Sustainability Education in Building and Business Administration and Management Degrees

In 2015, the United Nations set the 2030 Agenda, which established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including different areas—among them, Education—which determine the reality and the future of new generations. The data of SDG24 2021 establish that, by 2030, the reference values will be below those expressed in SDG 4. Education for sustainable development poses a series of competencies to achieve it; the challenge for teachers is to develop strategies, tools and methodologies that enable meaningful learning for the required complexity. Managing and solving sustainability problems requires people with systemic competences who are able to see the whole in the individuality, presenting a breadth of vision for a complex world. It is important that training takes place in universities so that students are equipped with a holistic understanding of systems. The aim of this research is to propose a didactic proposal for students of the double degree in Building and Business Administration and Management to acquire the competences of systems thinking, interdisciplinary work, personal and inter-collaborative relationships and tolerance to ambiguity and uncertainty using project-based learning and systems simulation. To achieve this, a classroom intervention proposal has been designed for the subjects Strategic Management and Sustainable Building in the fourth year of the double degree using the project-based learning and systems thinking. This practical proposal allows participants to develop a holistic view of the problems, enhancing the capacity for systemic and sustainable resolution in the design of more sustainable building systems, as well as promoting training in strategic decision making in environmental management in the medium and long term.

Competences for Sustainable Development Goals: The Challenge in Business Administration Education

Abstract This research aims to answer the following question: How to advance in the development of competences aimed at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in business administration education? An exploratory literature review was conducted to discuss human competences for the SDGs and to propose advances for their conception and development in undergraduate courses in Business Management. The discussion was based on the guidelines established by the main body engaged in the cause, UNESCO. Education for sustainable development (ESD) guided the proposal of this study for the operationalization of competences for the SDGs, organized into: i) information used in the development of competences for the SDGs; ii) how competences should be defined; iii) competency based ESD content; iv) expected results from the operationalization of competences and v) who is involved in the process.

Research on the Training Mode of Business Administration Talents Based on "Excellence Plan"

With the gradual advancement of China’s educational reform, China’s higher education has changed from elite education to mass education, which leads to a series of problems. In order to improve the quality of business administration education in colleges and universities, change the talent training mode and train outstanding business administration talents, this paper takes the business administration major in Anhui University of Finance and Economics as an example, puts forward the main problems existing in its training mode, and puts forward corresponding solutions.

Undergraduate Students' Social Entrepreneurial Intention: The Role of Individual Environmental Responsibility and Absorptive Capacity.

As social entrepreneurial intention has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners, no clear conclusions have been drawn regarding antecedent or external factors that influence social entrepreneurial intention. This study aims to develop a structural model to shape the social entrepreneurial intention of business administration students, which involves the theory of planned behavior (i.e., attitudes, subjective norms), social capital, individual environmental responsibility, and individual absorptive capacity (i.e., potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity). Furthermore, this study regards potential absorptive capability as a multi-dimensional construct of a higher-order structure. The participants were students from business administration colleges/universities (including general universities and science and technology universities) in Taiwan. The empirical data from 969 participants were analyzed using Smart PLS 3.0 to obtain the results. The results revealed that: (1) social capital had a significant positive effect on attitudes and subjective norms; (2) attitudes, subjective norms, individual environmental responsibility, and realized absorptive capability had a positive effect on social entrepreneurial intention; however, social capital and potential absorptive capability had a negative effect. The results were discussed, and some specific recommendations for practitioners of business administration education were proposed.

Closed Loop: the art of succession planning

Subject area This case is particularly applicable for use in courses on entrepreneurship, people management, and business strategy. It is intended to give students an overview of a succession planning strategy, and provide insight into the particular challenges facing founders of small businesses as they identify and prepare a successor for the most senior management role. Given the position of Closed Loop as an early mover technology firm in the insurance industry, this case also explores the strategic business considerations. The case therefore offers students detailed, authentic, and practical lessons on leadership through the personal experiences of a founder-CEO in a high performing organisation. Subject level/applicability This case is appropriate for students enrolled in postgraduate programmes such as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Executive Education programmes. Although the case learnings are transferrable to more general leadership and change management studies, this case will be particularly useful to students with interests in entrepreneurship, leadership in tech startups, and succession planning. Case overview This case tells the story of a small business’ succession plan journey in two parts. Closed Loop is a small insurance software company that is transitioning from a founder-run startup to manager-run company. Case A follows the 55-year-old founder Alex Martin as he performs a measured succession planning analysis that eventually leads him to promote from within the company. Neevan Chattry is the 33-year-old head of business development who has been with the company for ten years and shows promise as a rising leader. Over the course of 18 months, Alex and Neevan embark on a structured preparation and handover process. The case ends in June 2015 with Neevan taking over as CEO and Alex stepping into the role of board chairperson. Case B picks up two years later when Neevan unexpectedly announces that he is resigning as CEO, leaving Closed Loop in a difficult position. In this case, Alex confronts the mistakes he made over the last three years, both during succession planning and Neevan’s tenure as CEO, as well as how digital disruption in the insurance industry affected the business strategy over this period. The case ends with Alex resuming the role of CEO to lead Closed Loop in a reinvention process. Students are left to analyse the decisions taken by the different leaders and how Closed Loop will fair in the future under Alex’s leadership. Expected learning outcomes Identify the key components of a strong succession plan, including a careful selection process, mentorship of the successor, communication of the change to internal and external stakeholders, and the withdrawal of the outgoing leader; explore the organisational transitions that companies naturally undergo as they grow and enter different phases of operation and the implications of that change for leadership; discuss the compatibility of different leadership traits, styles, and mindsets with the strategic objectives of the company at different points in time; and provide suggestions and recommendations to owners contemplating succession planning in their organisations. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Origin artisan coffee: growth challenges faced by a niche brand in South Africa

Learning outcomes Identify the advantages and disadvantages of being first-to-market with a new product in a new environment. Explain the differences between business-to-business (B2B) and B2C markets, how they are interconnected in the speciality consumer good category and the challenges of developing a balanced strategy for both. Assess the competitive positions of different market players within both B2B and B2C. Analyse the role of brand in a niche market and how brand perception influences consumer behaviour. Identify and assess the different strategies for growth in an evolving niche market. Case overview/synopsis Origin Coffee is an artisan coffee roaster in South Africa grappling with rising competition, evolving consumer tastes and brand management concerns. As an early entrant, Origin largely created the niche market for speciality coffee across the country as both a retail coffee shop and a wholesale supplier to independent shops and businesses. This case follows founder Joel Singer 15 years later, in August 2020, as he contemplates how to scale the business, which has cultivated a brand synonymous with quality and excellence. Repeated efforts to expand the Origin footprint have met with disappointment and the business is still operating exclusively from its original roastery-café in Cape Town. Yet, the customer perception is that Origin is an industry giant – an established player that has outgrown its plucky upstart status. Origin also faces an increasingly crowded competitive landscape of local artisan roasters and larger chains. The case showcases the power of entrepreneurial innovation to cultivate a new niche market, as well as the risks of playing in a market that is very narrow and immature. Students are left to determine what Origin’s place in the future of South African coffee can and should be. Complexity academic level This case is appropriate for students enrolled in postgraduate programmes such as Master of Business Administration and Executive Education programmes. Although the case learnings are transferrable, this case will be particularly useful to students with interests in entrepreneurship, B2B and B2C market strategies and niche market strategy. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Resistance to Blended Learning in Business and Public Administration Higher Education

Although resistance to technology is frequent in teaching, when it comes to resistance to Blended Learning (BL) in higher education, research is scarce and rare in literature, especially in the national. Currently, resistance to BL is a significant problem, although such technology has high rates of growth in several countries. The general objective of this research was to identify and analyze the main dimensions of resistance to BL in higher education in Business and Public Administration in Rio de Janeiro/Brazil, in São Paulo/Brazil, in Malaga/Spain and in the city of Porto/Portugal. After the bibliographic review of themes such as BL, Resistance to Technologies and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technologies (UTAUT), a theoretical structure tested explains the resistance to the BL method. Seven dimensions were used: Self-efficiency, IT Skills, Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Interactivity and Internal Communication, all directly influencing the Resistance construct. The results indicate that the proposed model had a good fit and that the Self-efficiency and IT Skills constructs had a negative influence on Resistance. The Expectancy dimension had a positive and extremely significant impact on the mitigation of resistance to BL adoption. The other dimensions do not form statistically significant, not conforming their influence on the mitigation of resistance to BL. In the comparison between the four universities researched, EAESP-FGV was the one that showed less resistance to BL adoption and Malaga/Spain was the one that showed more resistance to BL adoption.

Digital and Other Technologies in Turkish Public Administration and Business Administration Education: Literature, Historical Developments, Courses, and Challenges

Bilgi teknolojileri ve bilgi işlem dersleri, profesyonel eğitimin ve özellikle de Türkiye’de Kamu Yönetimi alanında lisans ve yüksek lisans programlarının vazgeçilmez bir parçası haline gelmiştir. Bu makalede, Türkiye’de Kamu Yönetimi programlarında, çeşitli dijital ve dijital olmayan teknolojilerin kullanımı ilgili literatür ile tarihsel ve güncel eğilimler, Bilgi İşlem, e-Devlet ile Yönetim Bilişim Sistemleri dersleri, uzaktan eğitim dersleri ve bunların zorlukları incelenmektedir. Türkiye’de Kamu Yönetimi ve İşletme eğitimi-öğretiminde teknoloji kullanımıyla ilgili literatür farklı yayın türlerine ve mekânlara dağınıktır. Türkiye’de Kamu Yönetimi eğitiminde teknoloji kullanımı ve teknolojiyle ilgili derslerin eğitimine dair literatür boşluklu ve zayıftır. Kamu Yönetimi eğitiminde e-Devlet, YBS, BİT ve teknoloji kullanımına dair literatür bu makalede özetlenmektedir. Türkiye’de İşletme ve diğer sosyal bilimlere göre Kamu Yönetimi teknoloji eğitiminde zayıf kalmaktadır. Teknolojiyi kullanmaya yönelik isteksizlik, teknolojiyi eğitim-öğretimde kullanım yönü güçlü öğretim üyelerinin Kamu Yönetimi alanında sayıca yetersizliği, teknoloji kullanımına dair literatürün satır aralarında kalması önemli sorun alanları arasındadır.

Investing in the Ugandan dairy sector

Learning outcomes Industry analysis and market attractiveness: Understand how to analyse an industry, using the dairy sector in Uganda as an example and what makes a market attractive for incumbents or future entrants. Value disciplines: Understand and apply the different value disciplines companies can choose from to achieve market-leading positions. Business integration: Understand some of the key benefits of vertical integration and when it may or may not make sense to integrate. Doing business in Africa: Understand the specific generic challenges of doing business in Africa, particularly in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Generalisability of frameworks: Realise that the same frameworks that are used to analyse large firms and mature markets can be applied to smaller firms in less developed markets. Case overview/synopsis The case is set in the early months of 2020, as Bernd Schanzenbächer, founder and managing partner of EBG Capital (a Swiss investment firm that manages a multimillion global portfolio of agricultural investments), and his team are deciding whether to invest in a dairy farm in Uganda. The opportunity looks quite interesting and the EBG Capital team believes there is a good fit between the farm owners’ needs, its management team’s objectives and EBG Capital’s strengths and interests. However, the dairy market in Uganda faces many challenges and, while the market-demand fundamentals appear promising, the team wonders if it is the right time to invest. The issue for EBG Capital is to understand what makes the Ugandan dairy industry so challenging and to determine how to fix or mitigate some of the industry’s most pressing problems – given that it will be the firm’s first investment in the country – as well as for deciding where it makes sense to play in the broad value chain (i.e. only in milk production or also in milk processing). Complexity academic level Masters in Business Administration and Executive Education courses. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

GrowBox: the reality of growth challenges for a social entrepreneur in Cape Town

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes of this paper is as follows: to strategically evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, threats and resulting opportunities that face an entrepreneurial startup. To apply the academic principle of competitiveness and evaluate the competitive advantage of the business and its competitors through the application of the Porter’s five forces model. To evaluate the contextual tensions that entrepreneurial ventures face, and how these affect the growth of a sustainable business. To develop the skills to create a target market analysis by using segmentation, targeting and positioning principles. To evaluate the best strategic actions to grow a business through the lens of sustainable entrepreneurship, by using principles such as the triple bottom line and people, opportunity, context and deal and framework. Case overview/synopsis The case look at business challenges faced by an entrepreneur, Renshia Manuel, the CEO of GrowBox, as she attempts to balance the profitability and social impact of her venture in Cape Town, South Africa. GrowBox sells customisable self-contained wooden boxes equipped with all materials to grow a variety of vegetables and herbs for consumers. Large volumes of boxes are often purchased by corporate clients who donated these to lower-income communities as part of their social responsibility projects. Additional landscaping and food-scaping services make up another revenue stream of the business. The case study documents the conception of GrowBox in 2016 and the growth of the business in the first four years of operation. The theft of equipment, and difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff due to the volatile social climate of where the business was situated, have put the business under great financial pressure and reduced the efficiency of business processes. The case highlights a number of the harsh realities of sustainable entrepreneurship where both profitability and social impact are vitally important to ensure business sustainability. The case dilemma involves the choices faced by Renshia at the beginning of 2020 regarding the future, sustainable growth of the business. Complexity academic level The target audience for this teaching case is primarily business students at a postgraduate level, particularly those studying in the fields of sustainable entrepreneurship and social development, as well as marketing in emerging markets. This teaching case is intended to be used as a case study in postgraduate business programmes such as postgraduate diplomas in management, specialist Masters programmes such as those focussed on entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship or social development, as well as those studying a Master of Business Administration or related executive education programme. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Forecast of Changes in Business Administration Driven by Digitalization

This paper on hand deals with a research gap, since there were no sources on the topic of changes in business administration studies induced by Industry 4.0 until the year 2018. For this reason, a document analysis was used to examine essential studies from the years 2010 to 2016. This was followed by twenty interviews with experts from universities and companies. Furthermore, a total of 71 people took part in a subsequent online survey. With digitization, the requirements for business administration graduates are also changing from technical competence to methodological and digital competence. Digitization has an impact on all areas, politics, society and the economy. The higher education sector is not unaffected by this either, because universities are forerunners in the transfer of knowledge. For this reason, there is a need to reform and at the same time strengthen the education system. Educational institutions should focus on effective learning and relevant learning content. Thus, the present research deals with the changes at university (especially business studies) and company level induced by Industry 4.0, focusing on the demands on business economists coupled with the entrepreneurial changes of tomorrow. Using the mixed-method approach, a qualitative and a quantitative research approach was carried out. This was based on a three-step sequential research approach: 1) document analysis, 2) expert interviews and 3) online surveys. As a result, the majority of the experts that have participated in the survey confirmed a strong impact of digitalization on the working environment. This change of the workplace requires an adaption by the employees as well as a revision of academic curriculars. Traditional education in business administration is not obsolete, however, requires a stronger link with topics of information technologies. Business administration in higher education must be subject to the following changes: 1) adaptation of curricula with regard to current trends business analytics, blockchain, artificial intelligence, 2) adaptation of IT infrastructure and resources in knowledge transfer such as blogs, online lectures, etc. as well as 3) stronger cooperation between business, science and education.

Employability and skill gap among MBA graduates in India: a literature review

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to review scholarly research on employability and skill gap in the context of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) education in India. This paper provides an overview of the critical themes and identifies research gaps for future investigations.Design/methodology/approachPublished empirical studies were reviewed and thematically analysed using NVivo 11 Pro.FindingsIn addition to technical aptitudes and skills, organisations also seek other attributes that are associated with employability, such as communication, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, problem-solving skills and interpersonal skills. Communication is an important skill frequently cited in the literature. Additionally, themes related to reasons for skill gaps are identified.Practical implicationsSoft skills and non-technical aptitudes should be emphasised in MBA education. Furthermore, significant reforms in MBA education programmes should be implemented in India to make graduates industry-ready.Originality/valueSeveral studies have been carried out to verify the existence of and reasons for skill gaps amongst MBA graduates in India. Through integrative literature review, the issue of skill gap is discussed. Future research directions are also recommended in this paper.

Comparisons of Undergraduate Business Administration Education in Greater Bay Area, China

Business administration education plays an important part in supporting the development of business industry and ensuring the ongoing supply of qualifed human resources to meet the demanding industry requirements. However, the dramatic growth of the economy has not been accompanied by an adequate response from the education system. It is therefore, necessary to review the existing business administration programs. This paper will make a comparison of the current undergraduate programs in Business Administration in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the six dimensions: curriculum and instruction; strategic planning; administrative management; faculty; student achievements; and resources. Suggestions for the further development of Business Administration programs in the bay area will then be proposed.

Using Simulation Programs in Business Administration Education: An Example in Turkey

As well as the theoretical knowledge given to the students, they need to gain experience in the real world business environment. Simulation programs enable students to set up a virtual company and manage the company like a real business. Although there are many simulation programs in the world of education, in this study University of Tennessee program which prepared by faculty members is used. This course was a Capstone course for students to understand the strategic marketing process that is applicable to any organization about marketing their products or services. The focus group methodology was used for this study with 13 senior students. The feedback received by the students was collected and analyzed for the evaluation of the course content, the ease and the usefulness of the program. This study, according to observations and students’ feedbacks confirmed that simulation programs enable students transforming theoretical knowledge into practices.

Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Toward a Contextual Understanding of Compensation of Information Technology Professionals Within and Across Geographies

This study provides new insights on compensation and human resources practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) and how they differ from those of domestic companies. The authors focus on cross-geography differences in compensation for IT professionals and take a closer look at returns on master of business administration (MBA) education and information technology (IT) experience. They analyze data on more than 20,000 IT professionals across the United States and India and compare practices of United States–based MNCs and India-based firms for IT professionals in India and of United States–based MNCs for IT professionals in the United States and India. The study finds that MNCs source IT talent from emerging markets because of the lower cost of IT professionals in these markets, coupled with the availability of a large pool of technically qualified professionals. For IT professionals in India, results indicate that United States–based MNCs pay a premium (compared with India firms) for each year of IT experience. By contrast, India firms pay a premium (compared with United States–based MNCs) for IT professionals in India with an MBA. Interestingly, whereas United States–based MNCs do not pay a premium for MBA education in India, they do pay a premium for MBA education in the United States. The findings are informative for IT professionals to decide whether to pursue an MBA or invest in gaining firm-specific experience. The results also provide indirect evidence that MNCs apply a portfolio approach to optimize their profits by using knowledge workers in various locations based on their skills and costs.