Faculty Auction As an MBA student, I participated in the yearly Eller MBA Faculty Auction. Sponsored by the MBA Student Association, MBA faculty members put together events (i.e. steak and cigars, pre-season baseball games) for groups of students to bid on with proceeds given to charity. In all there were 10 different options offered that each [...]
As a part of the core curriculum, first year MBA students participated in a 10 day trip to Brazil this past December. I was able toparticipate and visit many major companies in Brazil while learning about their business models and continuing growth strategies. Some made sense and applied some of the basic business concepts that [...]
Classes for the first semester of the Eller MBA are preset. Second semester provides a little more leeway as this is the first opportunity for students to pick electives. Since I am focusing in finance, I have the opportunity to select a new course elective in my choice of study. To give some background, all [...]
Homecoming is a time for alumni to visit their alma mater and a time of celebration for a university. Here at the Eller MBA, we just finished celebrating homecoming. To complement the University tailgate and football game, the Eller MBA organized an alumni golf tournament. The tournament was hosted by the MBA Student Association with [...]
Faculty Auction
As an MBA student, I participated in the yearly Eller MBA Faculty Auction. Sponsored by the MBA Student Association, MBA faculty members put together events (i.e. steak and cigars, pre-season baseball games) for groups of students to bid on with proceeds given to charity. In all there were 10 different options offered that each raised hundreds of dollars. The event was hosted by our MBA Student Association Director of Professional Development who was once a cruise ship director. It took place in a popular local bar with complimentary pizza, billiards, and special drinks that sent 50% of all revenue towards Casa De Los Niños, a local children’s shelter. Over 50 Eller MBA students from the full-time and part-time programs were present to enjoy the evening and to support the charitable event.
While the night certainly had a spirit of benevolence, students were very interested in winning their selected auction choices. My interests were in the night of salsa dancing hosted by Professor Sue Brown and an evening of poker with professor Price Fishback. While competition was stiff, I was part of both winning bids, spending maybe more than I had planned (but hey…it is for charity!).
I am excited to salsa dance and play poker with great friends and faculty members. Though, what is more important, is being part of a program that has staff who are willing to give their time, energy, and money to benefit charity and foster relationships with students. In the end the event raised approximately $4,000, the highest of any previous MBA faculty auction at Eller. I can’t thank my fellow MBA classmates enough! It was an amazing evening and I am proud of my colleagues for spending so much money for such a good cause! bids, spending maybe more than I had planned (but hey…it is for charity!).
Overview of the Faculty Bids
The MBA faculty created many great events intended to draw out the giving spirit of the MBA cohorts. The largest event involved a bidding war for 16 spots in a poker tournament with Dr. Price Fishback. Nannon Roosa, the consulting project director, put together an event to fly in an F-16 simulator at the local air force base. For those that like to be active, there were two golf events with Drs. Ken Smith and Aleks Ellis.
Among the many other events auctioned off were go-carts and mini golf, salsa dancing and dinner, and a major league spring training game with box seats.
Not to be outdone, the MBA and Eller College Deans put together their own respective fine foods experience. MBA Dean Dan Bens will host tequila tasting while the Eller Dean, Len Jessup with Drs. Barry Goldman and Paul Melendez, put together a dinner of steak & cigars, including a limousine for the night. In all, there were opportunities for many different activities and certainly something of interest to almost any bidder. Well done, faculty!
As a part of the core curriculum, first year MBA students participated in a 10 day trip to Brazil this past December. I was able toparticipate and visit many major companies in Brazil while learning about their business models and continuing growth strategies. Some made sense and applied some of the basic business concepts that we have learned over the last semester while several had very unique ways of doing business based on the culture and political context of Brazil. Being present in the country allowed my classmates and I to question and learn about their business philosophies and the growth strategies moving forward.
Here are a few interesting examples of unique business in Brazil:
Itau:
The county’s largest bank, Itau, currently is holding tens of billions of dollars in self-imposed required reserves above the actual reserve requirement of 20% (US standard is 10% above 70 million in consumer savings). Immediately I thought that those billions of guarding themselves from potential calamity. Case in point; banks in Brazil are not suffering like US banks in the current market. They carry high liquidity and are still very profitably despite the global economic slowdown of the past couple of years.dollars would be more profitably used in to give more mortgages and access to capital in a country where it is hard to come by a proper mortgage or qualify for personal consumer credit cards. As we learned about the context of banking in Brazil it started to make sense why the bank carries such a high reserve. The legal system takes years to resolve any non-felony offenses making it impossible for the system to enforce contracts as well as 5000% inflation as recently as 1993. These two major factors have made the financial sector incredibly risk adverse. To me it appeared that the bank was missing out on many investment opportunities, they are actually
OI:
OI is the largest telecom company in Brazil. They feature full brand integration between their cellular, landline, and broadband services. This is unique to Brazil. These three segments are separated into different brand names (under the same company) industry wide. This allows a special advantage to OI. As OI knows its competitive advantage, it transformed the market by pushing for changes in regulations to allow all phones to be unlocked per carrier allowing customers to switch carriers freely with the same device. While this reduces the switching costs for consumers (generally a bad thing), there is an opportunity for more consumers to join OI as they are the lowest price carrier. Additionally, OI has the ability to cross market as all of its services are under the OI brand. To maximize exposure, OI is a telecom business that functions as Redbull does in the energy drink sector. While I would not know what a Redbull tastes like (I much prefer juice and water to energy drinks), I do know the brand it sells due to its extremely aggressive and unique marketing (sponsoring extreme sports, quirky advertising, branding multiple professional sports teams with the name “Redbull”). OI knows it has a strong brand and that it is more creative than its competitors. Now the only question remains, what happens when its competitors integrate brands (which they are 3-5 years away from completing), and when they find their own unique marketing mix. Regardless, OI is taking advantage of a stale market and is innovating. It will be interesting to see their continued success.
Azul Brazilian airlines:
Azul is a Brazilian airline founded in 2008. The majority of its top executives are former executives from United States airline companies. They are leveraging their experience in the US to be very successful in Brazil. Currently, Azul has a 10% market-share providing travel services to a niche market. They fly only domestic flights and are centralized around the non-major flight hubs. Instead of routing all flights through a couple of major hubs, they are expanding to smaller cities. Instead of routing all flights through a couple of major hubs, they are expanding to smaller cities. They are able to do this more efficiently than their competitors as they made investments in smaller turbo-propeller planes instead of jets. While it is common for major competitors to fly at 60-70% capacity, Azul maintains flights at close to 90% of plane capacity. They also believe there is an untapped market in smaller Brazilian cities which is where expansion is currently centered. While top executives admit their competitors are smart and will figure out their advantage, it will take time for them to catch up leaving a healthy window to continue reaping good profits and a growing market-share.
Visiting these corporations (among others) provided me and the entire first year cohort the ability to think outside of the American business perspective to analyze business form a more global perspective. A central idea that was stressed was to think of global business in the context of where the business is taking place (outside the United States) and the history and culture of business locations. Itau is successful because it has learned from its past, OI is leveraging marketing and convenience, while Azul has taken advantage of niche market’s through more appropriate investments in capital (smaller planes). This trip provided invaluable experience and context for global business to all first year MBA students and I believe is a unique advantage to the Eller MBA.
Classes for the first semester of the Eller MBA are preset. Second semester provides a little more leeway as this is the first opportunity for students to pick electives. Since I am focusing in finance, I have the opportunity to select a new course elective in my choice of study. To give some background, all first year students take managerial finance in the fall and in the spring. In addition to these finance classes I have chosen “Fundamental Valuation Modeling”. This will utilize the principles of the two foundation finance classes to perform in depth valuations of corporations primarily through the medium of case studies. This skill set will be relied upon both in any future finance classes as well as my future career in corporation finance.
This is the first taste of the extreme flexibility I have had in the program at Eller. While I have a focus in finance, I have the opportunity to have a double focus or pick and choose the classes I need from a variety of specializations to better tailor my education to my future career goals. To learn from experience, I suggest while planning for your education, it is important to not only have a topic of interest but to plan what skills you will need for the career you are entering. This will allow you to pick classes from within your focus, or from other departments if needed, to maximize the educational value of your time in business school. (Another helpful method is to look up the electives offered through Eller on the University of Arizona website to see the class that are available).
For the extra industrious students, spring semester we are able to take as many classes as we like (though only one is recommended due to time constraints). This opportunity can give you a head start in your respective focus. I am currently contemplating “marketing research”. This, while titled a marketing class, is for any student that is interested in collecting, analyzing, and utilizing data for decision making. Though I am not focusing in marketing, this could prove to be useful skills in the future.
The preset schedule of classes can seem tedious and outside your individual desired educational emphasis, but they have provided me with a solid foundation of business knowledge. This will allow me to have a broad knowledge base and provide context for my elective courses. While I appreciate the first year set up, I am excited for a semester of electives and to tailor my courses to my future goals.
To those interested in finance, Eller offers many different specializations. One that stands out is fixed income. While this is not generally the first thought for finance MBA’s, this is a great way to set yourself apart from the crowded MBA field. Despite this, my personal emphasis remains corporate finance.
Outside of the finance world, Eller excels in Entrepreneurship and MIS. Both of these programs are nationally recognized and offer a lot of variation depending on your experience and career goals. Regardless of your experience or interest, Eller offers a solid base of business knowledge and then opens the door to specialize your education to fit your needs and goals.
Homecoming is a time for alumni to visit their alma mater and a time of celebration for a university. Here at the Eller MBA, we just finished celebrating homecoming. To complement the University tailgate and football game, the Eller MBA organized an alumni golf tournament. The tournament was hosted by the MBA Student Association with the goal of raising money for the organization.
This was not only an opportunity to raise funds and have a great time playing golf at a beautiful golf course; it was an excellent opportunity to network with Eller alumni.
The event took place this past Friday around mid-day. I arrived at the beautiful Arizona National Golf Course and set out to play golf with fellow students, faculty, and distinguished alumni. My team was comprised of myself, a fellow student, as well as two alumni. As the tournament was set up as a scramble, there was not a high degree of competition between team members or between teams, rather it was designed as a time to enjoy the course and support the Eller MBA program.
From a professional stand point, I was able to network with many alumni, especially with the alumni with whom I was teamed. To speak to the quality of Eller Alumni, I was partnered with a trust director who manages over five hundred million dollars for a local organization. It was a pleasure to be able to learn more about the type of work he did as well as receive advice on networking and entering the world of business and finance. While each alumnus offers unique experience and perspective, there were many notable businessmen from different parts of the country that chose to participate and golf with current MBA students.
In hindsight, I was very happy to be able to participate in this event. While my prior golfing experience totaled a couple of visits to the driving range before the tournament, I was able to have fun and enjoy the time on the course. Going into the tournament I had not considered the excellent opportunity to network with faculty and alumni, but the overwhelming takeaway from the event was the professional networking offered by the Eller College and the golf tournament. While I was able to support a great cause and enjoyed golfing at the Arizona National Golf Club, what I remember from the tournament is the opportunity to meet and speak with distinguished alumni and the feeling of pride in the quality of the Eller alumni network.
