Painting Ocean Cliffs-New Horizons

At times I like to paint. Maybe becoming a better painter sometime. I view it as a way to understand and connect with the world. This one is of cliffs. It is impressionist by nature so it is not designed to be exact. However, it is designed to express a mood. In this case those times when the wind is blowing softly, everything is fresh, and new things are on the horizons.

The Online MBA will be “The Degree”

The holder of the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) is a highly educated practitioner that can take on nearly any position within the company by applying their advanced knowledge. As jobs become more complex from one decade to the next, they naturally require more knowledge and education to meet new challenges. Professionals seeking to obtain advanced knowledge have few options under traditional models and view online education as “the degree” that suits their needs.

One of the primary reasons why online MBAs became so popular is because of their flexibility in allowing progressive individuals to go back to school and update their knowledge (Roe, Toma & Yallapragada, 2015). Under traditional models, students who are employed are unlikely to go back leaving a skill deficit in the market.

There were those who were skeptical of online education and continued to be so today. Their arguments have lost value and schools have adopted such practices because they are cost effective without hampering educational quality. The popularity of the degree continues to grow based on demand.

No doubt the world is becoming more complex, and people will need to go back to school to obtain the skills necessary to be successful in the market. Jobs that are leaning more toward the high-technology or knowledge fields require the type of personality that continues to seek new knowledge. Those who don’t will be left behind by those who did.

Online education allows hungry professionals the access they need to update their skills and compete in the market. The world is changing, and skills are fluid as the job market continuously shifts. Easy access and the ability to jump in and out of school when needed without significant loss can help the development of human capital in the country. Providing the right kind of education for the knowledge needed now works no matter what the medium.

Roe, C., Toma, A. & Yallapragada, R. (2015). Innovation in business education: developing a high quality online MBA. American Journal of Business Education, 8 (2).

Painting: Desert Pillars

Life is more simple than we think it is. Sometimes paintings can help us find that simplicity.

Hiring College Graduates for Price Tag or Ability?

What is in the value of the degree beyond the big price tag? According to a study of potential employers, the reputation of the college is of critical importance in the initial phases of a hiring process but becomes less important later in the interview process (Osoian, Nistor, & Zaharie, 2010). The quality of the degree rests on its brand recognition and first recall when selecting candidates.

Consider an organization that receives 30 to 50 resumes for a single job posting. The recognition of the degree and the school it was conferred will be part of the first cut. If the name of the school has poor recall recognition in the hiring manager's mind, it will unlikely get past the first cut. Good people are left behind because employers have a degree bias.

There is a difference between brand recognition and quality of learning. If a person attends an elite school, pays twice the amount of money, and earns a lower quality degree than a state school they will still be first in line for the opportunity. The minimum qualifications and perceived value of the degree count in making one stand out.

After the top candidates are called for interviews their work skills, communication abilities, prior experience, presentation, and other factors make a greater impression. The hiring manager will look at the overall background and "right fit" of the individual to the organization. If the overall interview goes well, the perceived value of the degree counts less.

There is a lesson for hiring managers and schools. It is important not to side step great candidates only because they didn't come from a wealthy background. Schools should learn to raise their market quality and brand image when they can. The reputation of the school may do more than the actual learning that has taken place. Once the candidate has made their way to the interview, then other factors like knowledge become important.

Osoian, C., Nistor, R. & Zaharie, M. (2010). Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the employers' view upon quality of education. Proceedings of the European Conference on Research Methods for Business & Management Studies, p. 409-414 (Conference).

Customer Perception and Customer Value

Value is subjective to the beholder but follows segmented consumer demographics where value can be targeted. Each demographic within the market finds a different value based on options and price. Knowing who your target market is can make a big difference on how to create value that attracts more customers.

Trends are moving away from cost-based strategies to customer-oriented value strategies to raise market competitiveness (Tetteh, 2015). Cost is only one aspect of that perceived value. Consumers consider design, brand, functionality, quality, and many more different options in creating a perception of total product value.

Cost is what the consumer is willing to give up to obtain a certain product. Therefore raising the value also leads to greater product equity that ends with higher priced sales. People don't want to give up their hard earned money unless they find that product more to their liking than many of the alternative products on the market.

Raising value doesn't need to cost a lot. Sometimes it can require something as simple as re-branding the same product and marketing it somewhere else while it could be more complex like redesigning the next version with more focus on key customer needs.  There is a wide range of ways to raise value that also includes warranties, add-on services, bundles, etc.

Different demographic groups will have different needs. Knowing the details of the demographic group such as education, interests, lifestyle, age, income, and so forth will provide an opportunity to ensure the product meets the needs of customers. The more connected a person is to the customer the more successful they are in understanding how value is perceived and measured in that group.

Tetteh, V. (2015). Value-based strategies for business marketing. Research Starters Business.

Research as a Important Function of Universities

Universities are centers of knowledge and have a hallowed place that reminds people of chalkboards, Einstein looking professors, sun spotted hallways, and rows of dust covered books. It is a place where people sit for hours, if not days and years, to ponder how things work. One can almost imagine Newton sitting under the tree and getting clunked by an apple. Research is still an important function of universities and is an outward facing sign of internal activities.

This doesn't mean that universities are ONLY about research as they have a primary responsibility to teach students. Research helps in teaching by expanding knowledge but also by keeping curriculum relevant. It is part of the Boyer's model of scholarship that encourages the discovery of new knowledge and the integration of that knowledge into teaching for student learning advancement. Research comes with a cost and a benefit.

Research takes time, money and resources from other university activities. Where professors might otherwise engage in the  immediate needs of the university they are spending their time in longer-term research projects. The type of research often depends on the interest of the professor but is generally focused on their content areas. Something as simple as a literature review or as grandiose as a full-scale experiment can both add value in the long term but will come with a cost.

The type of research should push for advancement or understanding of the professor's field. At times this research might focus on the better knowledge depth of the professor who then publishes his/her work in a journal and incorporates it into their classroom. At other times it may seek to create something new and contribute to the entire field. Without sharing and integrating that knowledge with the world and with their students many of the benefits are lost.

This brings us back to our original idea of research being an important function of universities. That research must either be used for public consumption or integration into student knowledge. Successful research programs don't need to have an expensive laboratory but do need to highlight creative works to the public through journal publications, outward facing websites, blogs, publications, and news media outlets. They will then need to continually update their courses to integrate their research to create brand value.

Why Does Innovation Take so Long?

Innovation is the process of developing something new that has not been developed before. It may either be something unique or it could be a recombination of different elements to find new interpretations. Sometimes these innovations come from incremental increases while at other times it could completely transform the market.

At the least innovation moves through four steps. I term these steps 1.) Knowledge Integration, 2.) Ideation and Conceptual Formation, 3.) Validity Testing 4.) Development for Consumption. Within each steps are many other steps. Products and good ideas don't appear out of no where and generally rest on a large backdrop of knowledge.

Researchers spend years blurry eyed trying to understand a particular phenomenon. They read, study, understand and integrate knowledge. At some point they have accumulated enough knowledge to develop a new idea but that requires a strong foundation of previous knowledge. It may be in their field of study or a related field.

That "Aha" moment eventually develops into a conceptual vision of the product that is tested. If it works well then it will be further refined for consumptions. The development process should consider the market needs of consumers in product design and development. Innovation takes a long time because information must be integrated and synthesized to come up with a new way of solving problems.