Global Innovation - The Paul Merage School of Business - University ...

“
Iwanttoexpressmy
thanks to the UC Irvine
MBA team for the
thoroughness, diligence
and insight they brought
to AMO’s Market Research
project. The MBA program
leaders assembled an
outstanding team for us,
with relevant experience
in the healthcare industry
and solid leadership skills.
This program represents a
true win-win for the local
business community.
”
Jim Mazzo
Chairman & CEO, Advanced Medical Optics
Developing an inventory model
and recommending supply
strategies to increase inventory
turns and maintain high levels of
customer service.
Emile Pilafidis, PhD, lecturer and
part of the team that spearheads
the program, calls the practicum
experience a win-win for everyone
involved. “This is true experiential
learning,” he says. “We like to call
it ‘sticky’ learning because it stays
with the students. They come away
with significant lessons beyond
what they get in the classroom.”
Pilafidis says the projects achieve
ahighlevelofcooperationfrom companies, since the sponsors are
at the senior management level.
The success is apparent in the
program’s reputation for excellence.
“We’re getting more
inquiries from companies, and
we’re excited to enter new and
emerging business sectors, such
as surfwear and new forms of
entertainment,” says Husain.
INNOVATION
INTERNET USE TODAY
Teaching a Top Dog
New Tricks by John Gregory
Five Full-Time MBA students of the Merage School’s course on Internet
Marketing presented their findings on social networking to Microsoft’s
Corporate Research department in April at Mountain View, California. The
presentation was the third annual Microsoft project conducted by student
teams of the marketing course taught by Professor Alladi Venkatesh.
The students conducted an online
“
survey of more than 1,000 undergrad- ...high quality and
uates from universities across the
country. Results and analysis were very professional. It
presented to Microsoft officials on communicated the
such social networking issues as:
key findings and
What social networking sites do
young consumers use and how insights succinctly
often?
and lucidly... [We]
What devices do they use to access
these sites?
are so fortunate to
What activities do they engage in, have such a fruitful
how frequently, and what activities
collaboration.
”
do they avoid?
What are young consumers’ attitudes and concerns about privacy?
How is online social networking evolving?
What are the contexts of social networking and other online
communications use?
Microsoft officials told Venkatesh that the presentation was “high quality
and very professional. It communicated the key findings and insights succinctly
and lucidly… [We] are so fortunate to have such a fruitful
collaboration.”
The student team consisted of Kendra Hammer (group leader), Martina
Albers, Laurie Lipsky, Karyn Chen and Sarah Marren.
9
Merage | 2008 – 2009