Master's Of Business Research Articles

Dubai mall: a multipurpose destination in the Middle East

Subject area Retail marketing management. Study level/applicability Undergraduate management; MA; Master's in Business Administration and Master's in Strategic Marketing programs. Case overview Opening of the “Dubai Mall” in November 2008 set a new benchmark in retail history. The mall is considered the largest in the world by space and 6th largest in the world in terms of gross leasable area. The Dubai Mall is the UAE's most ambitious retail launch to date. This case examines how in today's highly competitive retail environment, added-value retailing, experiential retailing, or retailtainment has become a major component of the retail strategy mix to establish a competitive advantage. The new phenomenon of “retailtainment” has caught the momentum worldwide and success of Dubai Mall is the live example of its strategic role in the retail mix. The case also highlights the importance of “good location” in the success of retail establishments, whilst examining primary retail location theories and there relation to the phenomenal success of Dubai Mall. Expected learning outcomes Through this case study students will be able to: understand the roles of “entertainment” and “location” in retail mix strategy; analyse the new trend of “retailtainment” and “quality location” in creating value-added services and gaining competitive advantage in global competitive retail environment; ascertain the importance and application of “retailtainment” and “strategic location” in the real world's successful example of “Dubai Mall”; and diagnose the role of these learnt concepts in the retailing strategies practiced by other retail establishments in their cities/country. Supplementary materials Teaching note.

Ownership mix of addiction treatment centres in the USA

The dominant presence of private Addiction Treatment Centres (ATCs) raises questions about how changes in ownership mix affect access to and quality of care. This paper examines the relationship between an ATC's ownership choice and the ownership mix in its market. Organisational and market characteristics are considered by using data from the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services, North American Industry Classification System, Internal Revenue Service's Business Master File, US Census Bureau Population Estimate Survey, Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data and Local Area Unemployment Statistics. We use linear probability models to link the facility's choice of ownership with the ownership status of its competitors. The results indicate that the value of being non-profit is higher in markets where many ATCs are non-profit and lower in markets where many are for-profit. The likelihood of a non-profit status appears to be more influenced by the presence of incumbent non-profits, rather than by high earnings or longevity.

ENTERPRISE EDUCATION POLICY FUTURE DIRECTIONS: EXPERIENCES AND SUGGESTIONS ON FAMILY BUSINESS EDUCATION

The aim of this policy paper is to describe the current role of academic family enterprise education in Finland. Family business centers and family business programmes have been started around the world to offer education for family entrepreneurs and next generation members. MBAs, master’s degrees in science, and other degrees are offered for key members of the family businesses. At the same time, we are having a debate on are entrepreneurs born or made? The role of entrepreneurship and enterprise education at university level is unclear, and many might believe that entrepreneurship does not even belong to the academic world. This policy paper presents the academic family enterprise programme offered in Finland, at the University of Jyvaskyla. Creating a full family business Master’s degree programme takes a long time to design and implement. Enterprise education policy needs resources to support planning and designing such programmes, because there exists a need to learn more about family entrepreneurship and family business management. Also, interdisciplinary collaboration helps family business education development. National and international visibility and collaboration between family entrepreneurs, family business associations, and universities is needed to achieve enterprise education policy goals. Family enterprise pedagogy does not exist, which creates a demand to activate the discussion on family enterprise education strategy for the future years.

Using Research Techniques to Teach Management of IT Concepts to Postgraduate Business Students

This paper examines the delivery of concepts related to the role of the information technology (IT) manager of an organisation and management of the organisation’s information technology department to Masters level students in a business faculty of an Australian University. Initially, the development of a course designed to teach concepts related to the management of information technology in the Masters of Business (Information Systems) program (and similar programs) offered by Victoria University in Australia is outlined. The lecturers adopt a ‘constructivist’ approach to delivering the course, encouraging students to relate the course material to their own view of the world. Two learning activities in particular are examined to demonstrate how research techniques can be used to teach such management concepts. A unique feature of the paper is that it reports on recent delivery of the course in a new environment where the university encourages learning in the workplace and community and the adoption of new strategies to achieve student success.

Mapping the structure of MBA (AMBA‐accredited) programmes in the UK and France

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to determine possible grouping of similar MBA programmes offered by 45 British and French business schools accredited by the Association of Master Business Administration (AMBA) as of January 2006.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses the statistical co‐plot method reported in a similar study of leading full time MBA programmes in the USA. The method is used to map/group the schools according to both core and elective units offered by the business schools.FindingsThe paper outlines the features of the six groups of MBA programmes found (Cluster 1: Manchester and Bath; Cluster 2: Warwick, Lancaster and London; Cluster 3: five top French business schools and Cranfield; Cluster 4: two French schools – Grenoble and Audiencia‐Nantes; Cluster 5: two French schools – ENPC‐EAP and IEP; Cluster 6: the remaining UK MBA programmes). The differentiating characteristics of core and option units offered by business schools in each cluster are described and discussed.Originality/valueThe study makes a contribution under the application area of international business education (specifically the design of MBA programmes), as well as in the area of statistical analysis by using co‐plot cluster analysis, an approach not used before when comparing UK and French Business schools to explore aspects of curriculum design.

Quality of business graduates in Vietnamese institutions: multiple perspectives

PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory and analytical study is to investigate some quality indicators of graduates in business master programmes in Vietnam and the perception gaps of graduate quality if any among the three primary participants in the educational process, e.g. graduate, faculty and employers.Design/methodology/approachThe exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and MANOVA are the two major statistical approaches used for scale purification and data analysis. The population for this study is composed of 460 graduate students and 195 faculty members from 7 main tertiary institutions across Vietnam and 153 employers in Hochiminh City.FindingsThe findings from the study indicate that there are 19 variables which represent the graduate quality in business master programmes in Vietnam. Of the 19 variables, critical analysis, problem‐solving skills, and overall quality of work are the most important indicators. The findings also indicate that there is a significant difference of perception on graduate quality between the three groups surveyed. Research limitations/implications – As far as personal attributes are concerned, such indicators as willingness to learn, enthusiasm, and self‐motivation are rated differently. The similar views as well as the different ones on those variables might serve as points of reference for business schools and employers to update their curriculum and staff development programmes. Such multiple perspectives on graduate quality would also help to raise students' awareness of core skills and competencies needed for their future career.Practical implicationsThe research findings are most applicable to business training programmes. For other types of training programmes, further research is to be recommended.Originality/valueSo far, there has not been any empirical research that relates to this issue in Vietnamese case, a special case for the transition process. An investigation into the graduate quality indicators in Vietnam, therefore, is desirable.

Career orientations of business master's students as compared to social work students

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore career orientations of business master's degree seekers in comparison with social work degree pursuers in an effort to provide insight for educators and policy makers.Design/methodology/approachA web‐based survey of current master's students from two graduate schools at a large university provided 388 respondents who were employed full‐time while pursuing their degrees. Hypotheses were tested with hierarchical regression and MANOVA analysis.FindingsBusiness degree pursuers are more strongly influenced by the motive to achieve professional advancement than the motive to acquire knowledge. The findings indicate that careerism and educational motives for business master's students are related to recognition of job alternatives that are an improvement over the current job being held. Social workers' organizational mobility perceptions were influenced by careerism and a desire to gain knowledge, and less influenced by professional advancement motives. Interestingly, the results show that social work graduate students were more careerist than business degree pursuers.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this research focuses on the career orientations of business master's students in a comparison to social workers, a broader sample employing samples in other study fields would further expand the knowledge regarding the career orientations of graduate students.Practical implicationsPrevious research has mostly dealt with cost/benefit analyses of the value of master's level education. The findings in this research would help policy makers and graduate program educators in a better understanding of students, to assist in marketing, placement, and curriculum design.Originality/valueThe value of master's level education is under‐researched. Much of the existing information is anecdotal. This study deals with specific elements of educational motivation, career orientation, and human capital.

The "Bended Elbow" News, Kenora 1974: How a Small-Town Newspaper Promoted Colonization

By exploring the ways in which Kenora's daily newspaper spoke to the deep-seated, endemic, systemic anti-native racism woven into the fabric of Canadian society since its inception as a political entity in the nineteenth century, this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the nature of Canada's colonial imagination as expressed in the popular press. Kenora, after all, can lay claim to near complete Canadian ordinariness. While the images discussed in this article speak to a single newspaper's yearlong coverage, with special emphasis on a charged yet discrete incident, there are grounds to suggest that the Miner & News depictions of aboriginals typified (and typify) Canadian newspaper representations of natives since Confederation. To begin with, as noted, scholars have identified the mainstream press as a central instrument in structuring and naturalizing colonialism. In short, then, one may argue that the Miner & News, in addition to serving its business masters and the local reading audience with the news, also contributed to the Canadian imperialism by promoting racist notions about the alleged inferiority of aboriginal peoples. Further, that the images reflect the racialized image patterning common in other colonial societies, as noted, and that the press has been found to serve a key role in the promotion and affirmation of colonialism in such societies, again as noted, shows that the Bended Elbow narrative qua news story also very much served to add yet another brick in the wall of the Canadian colonial project. The research presented and discussed here, albeit limited temporally and by geography, also fits neatly within historical molds of press treatment of natives in Canada, though more work needs to be done.

Experiences in Building and Using Decision-Support Systems in Postgraduate University Courses

Introduction The concept of Decision Support Systems (DSS) has been around since the late 1960s (Power, 2003) and in recent years these systems have become increasingly important in business. As would be expected, a great deal has been written about Decision Support Systems--a Google search in February 2007 revealed over 242,000,000 pages of information, and a great deal of support material is also available. Unfortunately, for our purposes not much of this material is particularly useful. Our interest is in introducing the basic concepts of Decision Support Systems in two postgraduate subjects that are part of business Masters' programs at Victoria University in Melbourne. These are not subjects about Decision Support Systems, but Information Systems subjects that introduce, amongst other things, concepts of decision support. Many of our students are general business students who have little background in computing or information systems. What we need is thus a 'light' treatment of this topic, preferably with some concrete examples that the students can view, manipulate and customise. In this paper we will relate our experiences in building and using such simple Decision Support Systems. In the subject Executive and Mobile Computing we also introduce the concept of an Executive Information System (EIS), which Power (2003) notes evolved from relational database products and model-driven Decision Support Systems. In the subject Small Business Internet and Information Systems we introduce the DSS within the framework of investigating only such systems that are suitable for and affordable to small business. We make use of a simple programming language, available within Microsoft Office to do this. Although there are many teaching resources available for Decision Support Systems (such as, Holsapple and Whinston (2005), Power and Kaparthi (2002) and Monash University (2005)), for our subjects we have encountered three significant problems in sourcing suitable DSS examples: 1) Difficulty in learning to use the DSS--many of the available systems are too complex for our students to learn and use successfully within the short time that we have available. This is, of course, counter-intuitive to the notion that DSS are meant to be easy for managers to use. 2) Inability to examine the logic of the system: a) A business that uses a DSS will want this to be transparent in its operation, but in teaching about DSS we want the students to be able to see and understand how the system operates. It is difficult to understand what is going on unless you can understand the logic behind decisions recommended by the system. b) Need to customise--we would like students to be able not just to see how the system works, but to be able to alter assumptions, to customise it, to make changes and to observe their affect. 3) Cost--with a small budget available to support the purchase of software for teaching purposes we need a system that is free, or at least inexpensive. The way we have attempted to solve these problems is to build our own simple systems for use by the students. To do this we have made use of Microsoft Office (especially Excel), Visual Basic (VB) and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). In the future we will probably make use also of the facilities available in VB.Net. Although others have reported on use of VBA and Excel for building decision support systems by students (Palocsay & Markham, 2002; Ragsdale, 2001), most of these are typically working with students majoring in some form of computing rather than with general business students. The remainder of this paper will describe how we have attempted to solve this problem with our students, and discuss some of the consequences. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Decision Support Systems Based on a Spreadsheet The goal of Executive and Mobile Computing is, as its name suggests, simply to examine how business executives can benefit from the use of computing (and especially mobile computing) technologies. …

INTEGRATING BUSINESS ACUMEN WITH IT SKILLS IN THE SAME COURSE: A CASE STUDY WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR INCREASING IS PROGRAM ENROLLMENTS

IS program enrollments have been significantly decreasing in the last 3 years nationwide. This paper presents a case study to address this important issue by integrating business acumen with IT skills in course design. Students in the integrated course express greater satisfaction with this course compared to other non-integrated courses. We found that students master business skills more readily, and enjoy them more, when they are integrated with technical skills. Furthermore, we have evidence that they are better positioned in the job market. Both of these factors may help explain the increased enrollments of our IS program. In addition, students develop business analysis and technical design skills which are difficult to outsource.

Social Capital and the Growth of the Nonprofit Sector*

Objectives. This article examines the extent to which nonprofit organizational foundings are determined by various forms of social capital. Our hypothesis is that, controlling for other relevant social, political, and economic factors, communities with higher levels of social capital should experience more extensive growth in their nonprofit sectors.Methods. Using data derived from the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey and the IRS “charitable organization” Business Master Files, we test our hypothesis using a negative binomial event count regression on nonprofit organization foundings in 284 U.S. counties in the year 2001.Results. We find that two core dimensions of social capital—political engagement and “bridging” social ties—have a significant impact on county‐level nonprofit foundings. Surprisingly, a key element of social capital in the literature, the level of interpersonal trust, does not lead to an increase in foundings of new not‐for‐profit organizations.Conclusions. This study provides further evidence of the strength of political engagement and bridging ties for the vitality of the community. It also shows that the different dimensions of social capital do not manifest a uniform effect on nonprofit sector growth. These results further demonstrate that the growth of a community's not‐for‐profit sector is dependent on a mix of ecological and environmental factors, especially preexisting organizational density, median household income, unemployment, and levels of governmental spending. Overall, social capital can usefully be seen as another key “environmental” factor in explanations of organizational foundings.

ORGANIZATIONS AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT Conference Paper Abstracts.

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings includes abstracts of all papers and symposia presented at the annual conference, plus 6-page abridged versions of the “Best Papers” accepted for inclusion in the program (approximately 10%). Papers published in the Proceedings are abridged because presenting papers at their full length could preclude subsequent journal publication. Please contact the author(s) directly for the full papers. ArticlesORGANIZATIONS AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT Conference Paper Abstracts.Published Online:13 Dec 2017https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2003.13792382AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail AbstractThis section presents conference paper abstracts on organizations and the natural environment. One article integrates perspectives from the stakeholder influence literature and the ecologically sustainable organizations literature to propose and empirically test hypotheses regarding the types of strategies that organizational stakeholders adopt to influence different types of sustainability practices of individual firms in the Canadian forest products industry. From a focus on how identity is discursively constructed, the appearance of a socially responsible identity is examined. Organizations in an environmentally-aware sector of industry appear to serve the two masters of business and environment. Another paper reports on an ethnographic study of the Landcare movement in Australia as an example of an inter-organizational domain formed around the aim of sustainable natural resource management. Landcare has developed varied relationships between groups and networks, elements of the agricultural industry sector, government and academic advisors and researchers and corporate sponsors. Another paper offers an analysis of public participation in Multistakeholder Collaborative Processes on water management that is ongoing in Montreal, Quebec.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 2003, No. 1 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 13 December 2017 Published in print 1 August 2003 InformationCopyright of Academy of Management Journal is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.KeywordsASSOCIATIONS, institutions, etc.SUSTAINABLE developmentRESOURCE managementSOCIAL responsibility of businessNATURAL resources -- ManagementDownload PDF

Mestrado modalidade profissional: em busca da identidade

Este artigo pretende identificar e analisar elementos importantes no debate acerca da identidade dos programas de Mestrado Modalidade Profissional em Administração (MPA) no Brasil. A partir de uma perspectiva geral sobre os tipos de demanda mobilizados pelos programas de formação gerencial mais difundidos no Brasil (pós-graduação lato sensu, ou Especialização, e stricto sensu, nas formas de Mestrado Acadêmico e Mestrado Modalidade Profissional), procura caracterizar as condições de resposta de cada um deles às perspectivas de tais demandas. Ao mesmo tempo, introduz nesse debate a noção de competência, considerando-a como um elemento-chave para a avaliação da efetividade desses programas. Finalmente, analisa as vantagens diferenciais dos MPAs face ao atual contexto de negócios e destaca a questão da noção de competência em tal processo. O artigo conclui identificando as razões que têm estimulado sua forte disseminação no espaço dos programas de formação gerencial.

Characterizing the Decision Process Leading to Enrollment in Master's Programs: Further Application of the Enrollment Process Model

ABSTRACT As part of an ongoing market research function, the administration at a private university's business school implemented a project to better understand the composition of its master's students. This research was an extension of a similar study conducted for the school's doctoral programs. Like the earlier study on doctoral students, a behavioral approach that employed a theoretical model of the decision process leading to enrollment was applied to master's students. This enrollment process model was utilized to guide the implementation of a survey that sampled the school's current students. Application of this model to questionnaire development procedures is also presented. Based on the information collected, the decision process leading to enrollment in the master's business programs was characterized. Quadrant analysis was applied to selected data derived from the enrollment process model in order to develop a two dimensional profile of students. In practice, this depiction provided insight to student perception of ideal versus actual program characteristics. The usefulness and applicability of the enrollment process model in achieving enrollment management objectives is also discussed.

The added value of MBA studies – graduates’ perceptions

The goal of Master Business Administration (MBA) programmes is to add value to its graduates and make them better managers. Reports on a study which provides a comprehensive evaluation for the impact of an MBA programme of a leading UK business school on the competencies, skills, self‐perception and careers of its graduates. The results demonstrate the value that these MBA studies generate for individuals and their employers. Based on responses of 344 graduates, now working managers, the output of the study clearly indicates the value they have gained from their MBA. This is seen in increased managerial skills, self‐confidence and several aspects of career development.

Digital directions: widening the educational net for information professionals

Facing changes to the funding base for higher education and threats of competition from outside the Library and Information Studies sector, staff in the Department of Information Management and Li- brary Studies at RMIT sought not sim-ply to redesign some of its core programs but also to reposition itself for participation in an increasingly commercial environment. It designed new programs in document man- agement at both graduate and under-graduate level. Embracing the fields of digital documents, workflow and knowledge management, two of these programs, the Graduate Diploma in Document Management and the Master of Business (Information Innovation), are delivered entirely on the World Wide Web. A third the Bachelor of Business (Document Management) is taught using both face-to-face and Intranet delivery methods. Major lessons learned from the exercise are that Web-based delivery is much more labour-inten- sive than traditional methods and that radical departures in curriculum development will inevitably result in cultural change and conflict.

THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A GIS‐BASED CONTAMINANT SOURCE INVENTORY OVER THE SPOKANE AQUIFER, SPOKANE COUNTY WASHINGTON1

ABSTRACT: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) statutes require identification of all potential sources of contamination within a wellhead protection area. All wells over Spokane County's aquifer are included in one wellhead protection zone called the Aquifer Sensitive Area (ASA).A GIS‐based Contaminant Source Inventory (CSI) was developed for the ASA. Datasets listing businesses and agencies within the ASA were imported into the GIS from state, county, city, and local agencies. These datasets were selected, joined, and sorted using GIS relational database capabilities into one ASA “business master file.” Map files were projected and transformed into common coordinates. Next, business sites within the master file were spatially related by address to the digital map files. Likely Critical Materials Users (CMU) were identified by sorting on selected standard Industrial Codes (SIC). Additional files of CMUs were imported into the Contaminant Source Inventory. GIS queries were performed to locate specific materials, quantities, and storage facilities, and to analyze CMU activity within selected buffer zones.This project demonstrated the usefulness of GIS technology in the development, management, maintenance, and analysis of vast quantities of data associated with a local wellhead protection pro. gram.

Recent trends in Business Masters degrees in the United Kingdom

The growth in numbers of Business Masters higher degrees in the United Kingdom is examined. Numbers are analysed by sex, by first destination in the home employment market and by whether the student is sponsored by his or her employer or not. Reasons for differences in trends in these several groups are considered, and their implications for the future development of the MBA market discussed.

Teaching with a Fictitious International Corporation

Abstract The top executives of major corporations are increasingly political and legal, as well as business, strategists and organizational managers. The modern large enterprise operates in many countries in a complex environment compounded of multiple economic, market, legal, and political factors. Training future executives for this environment is a significant educational challenge. This teaching note reports on our use of a fictitious international corporation for the training of both public and private managers in comparative governmental and legal processes in the context of a generic school of administration. The two-semester legal course required in the first year of the Master of Business and Public Management degree program is built partly around an original and comprehensive set of legal materials dealing with the formation and operation of a fictitious international firm. Legal processes and analysis are taught. Emphasis is placed on the managerial implications of antibribery, corporation, securities, antitrust, environmental, labor, and other types of laws. Attention is also paid to business-government relations, corporate governance, political strategy, and the social responsibility of business. The second-year required courses in business strategy and governmental processes (two semesters each) are built partly around a computer-assisted management simulation exercise that divides students into competing international corporations. The result during the two-year degree program is to expose the students to the simulated operation of an international firm that integrates the economic, market, legal, and political environments of managerial decision making. This approach facilitates a systematic comparison of different countries in which international corporations might operate. Lectures, readings, and case materials are designed to support this cross-nationally oriented examination of business, political, and legal strategies on a coordinated basis.

Masters of Business? Business Schools and Business Graduates in Britain and France.Richard Whitley , Alan Thomas , Jane Marceau

<i>Masters of Business? Business Schools and Business Graduates in Britain and France.</i>Richard Whitley , Alan Thomas , Jane Marceau