Harvard Panel Advocates Education to Industry Needs

The Harvard Business School Association of Boston recently held a panel with industry stakeholders to discuss the need to include more experiential curriculum in education at all all levels including private, k-12, and post-secondary levels. The focus is more on technical and technology training for skilled positions at the middle level. There are a number of benefits for such programs.

First, it is important to understand that not everyone needs a Ph.D to succeed. Higher education has been focused on theoretical understands and research that furthers the intellectual capacity of the nation. Even though this great it does come with a cost when the masses are being trained for something they do not necessarily need.

An economy is much like a business. If you don't have the right skill in the company you will need to either train existing workers, hire new ones, or outsource. American companies are finding themselves outsourcing work and hiring workers from overseas because they don't have enough home grown talent in the right places.

A huge percentage of jobs are in the middle income levels but require specific technology, STEM, and industry knowledge to compete. This is where schools can do a better job at preparing students to take on these jobs at a higher level than other nations. Focusing efforts on the middle helps ensure that people are finding gainful employment while still receiving a solid education.

It also helps the nation continue to adjust higher education to the needs of the economy. There has been some criticism that higher education is not really preparing people for jobs that they can actually take. Focusing more closely on industry needs ensures that education stays relevant and people are finding employment.

Improving the intellectual and human capital of the nation is an important affair. There is a balance between creating knowledge and applying that knowledge. Some will be researchers that expand intellectual capacity while others will be users of that knowledge. Universities that infuse a little more industry knowledge into their curriculum will find it to be relevant and practical. Starting people at a younger age learning the right kind of skills can make an impact throughout their educational paths.

Eating for Higher Grades! The Link Between Food and Intelligence

Don't feel guilty eating for grades! Spend a little time thinking about your food before you crack open your book. What goes into our body determines how we feel and think. Those who eat lower quality food can score around 8 points lower on an IQ scale than those who eat higher quality food (Summ, 2012). In this case, you are what you eat!

Oily fish foods, tomatoes, lean meats, whole grains, vegetables, blueberrys, liver, spinach, bananas, nuts and  tea improve your brain function, memory and focus. The very same foods that encourage a healthy body weight also seem to encourage better brain functioning while protecting against cognitive diseases.

Why eat healthy foods? Beyond simple health it is beneficial for your test taking, memory and recall. By providing the right nutrients the brain can obtain enough oxygen and other materials it needs to  keep neurons firing to collect, store, and recall information.

Another benefit of eating for intelligence is that foods like vegetables, berries and tea can actually protect your cells through the removal of free radicals. These high antioxidant foods are working in the background to clean up any toxic mess that could lead to diseases later.

You might be tempted to jump for the chips and candy when your hungry. Think about your tests and schooling and how food can actually help you get a higher grade. By eating the right foods a day or so before you have a big exam and while you are studying is likely to help you store and recall important facts and figures when you need it. Eat away...just eat right!

Stumm, S. (2012) You are what you eat? The association between food and cognitive ability. Educational Journal, 143.

Improving Performance by Market Segmentation

Companies will decide whether or not they want to focus on market segementation or try and create a broad based approach that nets as many customers as possible. Organizational performance is often dependent on the strategic approach the company takes. Effectiveness and productivity concerns revolve around 1.) links between segmentation, performance and measurement and 2.) productivity gains from full segmentation implementation (Dibb & Simkin, 2009).

It can be hard to determine whether higher performance can be realized simply by focusing on a specific segment. The right kind of measurements will need to be developed that ensure improvements are realized. This requires a level of research and analysis to pull off and understand the market and potential segments.

Let us assume for a minute that 60% of your customers make purchases for $15 but 40% make purchases around the $45 dollar range. Further analysis shows that the lucrative $45 purchase price customers have some similarities in characteristics that can be defined into a segment. Pushing to gain more of those customers can pay a company higher returns on investments.

Not only will the marketing approach need to change but the very way the business conducts its daily operations will need to change to make it happen. Everything the company promotes and offers should adjust towards its most lucrative customer base. As the company becomes aware and successful in this approach they should be able to reap more of the financial rewards.

Segmentation should be considered carefully. Sometimes the market is too small and at other times the company has a value proposition such as cost effective manufacturing but can switch its operations to follow broad trends. Each company is unique and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities of each company should be reviewed to determine whether or not segmentation will work for them. 

Dibb, S. & Simkin, L. (2009). Editorial: bridging the segmentation theory/practice divide. Journal of Marketing Management, 25 (3/4).

Three Things Everyone Who Wants to Start a Small Business Should Know

You have about to launch a new business venture and are so excited that your palms are sweaty and your throat is dry. For the past few months you have thought about all the things you could do and finally settled on that IDEA that will transform your life. Anyone who is going to start a business should think deeply about and research operations, financials, and their market.

1. Operations: You will need to know the flow of your business and how you are going to create value. Your operations should take into account all of your materials, processes, and outputs. Understanding the products you have and how they will be produced is the core of your business.

2. Financials: The financials include items like your sunk investment, taxes, costs, revenue, and projections. Start with how much it will cost you in supplies and equipment to start your business, think through your daily operating costs, and understand your potential revenues and tax liabilities.

3. Market: Without a market you don't have a business. Define your customer and how you are going to reach them. For some businesses it could be people in the neighborhood while for others it could be those interested in a specific aspect of your business. All of your marketing efforts and products/services will be geared toward this market.

Staying Focused on Your Education

Education is important for your life and the lives of your children. You will naturally set the standards for what has value and what wont have value in your life. Education is only one thing out of many. Some will choose immediate gratification to buy the things they want while others will delay that gratification for more knowledge. If you are going to spend money on an education then it is beneficial to stay focused to maximize your return.

What and and where you spend your money says a lot about you in the same way as where you spend your time. If you are crunched over your video game for 6 hours a day or out fixing your car every moment you can afford then you are obviously very interested in games or your car. The same can be said of your education.

Those students who make it through have persistence because they have the willpower to stay at it day-after-day and year after year until they get to the end. Those who want a degree but couldn't care less about the education will focus on the degree and grade while completely neglecting the higher responsibility of learning.

Staying focused means spending your time and effort on learning instead of wandering into other activities. Each person is different in this respect. Some are capable of balancing their time and energy while others do not have this ability. If you are having a hard time with distractions then cut them out completely so they are no longer pulling on your attention strings.

Getting ahead in life is not easy and does sometimes require sacrifice. There are things that will come easy and there are things that take more time. If you have the right skills and your research and writing come easy then you obviously don't need all the time someone who doesn't have these skills will need. Be honest with yourself, stay focused, and be diligent with your efforts.

How the Department of Education's "College Scorecard" Will Change the Market

College comparison can change the market. The Department of Education's College Scorecard will make an impact on the market simply by the way in which data is presented and offered. Informational is powerful because it becomes a way we think about the world through impacting our mental structures and models. College Scorecard will not only change the way we think about college but also which get the best advertising through the site.

Let us first cover the idea of mental structures and models.  The ways we think about the world are socially constructed so a large website that contains lots of interesting data will naturally change the way we think about higher education. By relaying information by cost, graduation rate and wages we begin to view these things as most important. Right or wrong it will not make a difference.

No doubt they are important but those universities that rely heavily on subsidies, endowments, taxpayer dollars, and legacies are likely to rank higher. Land grant universities and those with taxpayer dollars will come out with the best rates. If given a choice of one school or another you might just chose that ranks the best. Who wouldn't want to go to a prestigious land grant university?

Costs are skewed based on whether someone is in or outside a state. For example, if I attend an out of state school I could be paying a much larger rate when compared to in-state students. Most public universities are going to have a higher local rate based simply on that cost. The information only applies to local candidates and isn't a true reflection of all the costs.

It is also possible that elitist schools that are highly selective and restrictive to those with all the right financial and social connections will rank the best in terms of graduation rates and employment income. It is the same process with public high schools and how the neighborhood demographics influence school success rates. Those without the right backgrounds will be pushed into lower quality schools with lower graduation rates.

The website is beneficial but it should be seen with a grain of salt as no data can perfectly capture and reflect what is going on in the market. The data gives a hint at what is happening but won't truly show the whole situation without additional research. Most of us are not going to do that research so we will take what the site says at face value. When it impacts hiring decisions and college placement we may have a future problem leaving out those who appreciate the word "opportunity" the most.

The Life of the Online College Student

The online college student's life is very different than your traditional 18-20 year old fresh faced traditional student that has significant financial and parental support to achieve their goals. The online student is generally older and has lots of responsibilities that include managing a house and taking care of their children. Sometimes they can be stretched thin but show a resilience others students don't.

Despite their tough circumstances they made the choice to go back to school and succeed. They are taking steps to to improve their competitive position. Whether one is a successful MBA student with a solid career or a single mother starting out in life the online degree is one of the only available options that is reasonable.

Where traditional students are heading out with a weekend backpacking trip with their friends the online student is spending his/her weekend taking care of the other life responsibilities. Despite these challenges they continue to attend school day after day reading, writing, posting and engaging. They are the true champions of higher education.

Higher education is about broadening one's mind and learning new skills that can make one competitive on the market. It shouldn't be confided to a certain type of person from a particular background. Those who have to manage life and go to school have a higher degree of motivation than those who have all the support they need. The life of the online college is student is simply just-life.