Alianza, a company that offers reduced telephone rates to Mexican residents by routing calls through the Internet, was named winner of the 2005 Business Plan Competition. Brian Beutler, CEO of Alianza, and Scott Bell, CTO of Alianza, accepted the $50,000 award of cash and in-kind services at the BPC finals April 1.

The Marriott School’s MPA program gets another stamp of approval after completing its reaccreditation process last year. Of the national MPA programs eligible for participation in peer review, only 54 percent have been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration.

Everybody knows a few "employee superstars" who are so good at their jobs they get "poached," or lured away -- often with a pay increase -- to a different company or industry. But less familiar is a practice called "talent raiding," a human resources technique that most managers don't want to admit they actually use.

Brigham Young University's business and law schools are among the top 50 in the United States, reports U.S. News & World Report in its "America's Best Graduate Schools" issue, on sale Monday, April 4. Three other BYU graduate programs are in the top 100 in their categories, with additional specialties also ranked.

Utah Valley residents will have the chance to hear from Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. when he addresses the Brigham Young University community Thursday, March 31, during the Rollins Center for eBusiness' second winter semester eBusiness Day. Gov. Huntsman will speak on economic development in the community and the role of e-business.

The players are on the board and the territories are outlined. In what may seem like a massive game of “Risk,” today’s top companies must develop business strategies, anticipate what competitors will do and decide when and how to act. In such an environment, it’s no wonder that about 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies have employees dedicated to competitive intelligence.

Marriott School students, faculty and administrators are challenged to race the stairs for the BYU Annual Fund. The event will take place in the Tanner Building on March 26 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. “Last year was a great success and we were able to raise some money for a great cause,” says James Clark, second-year MBA student and graduate student council president. “This year is looking to be even better than last year.” On your mark: Runners will climb the atrium stairs to the fourth floor move to the east stairwell and finish climbing to the seventh floor.

The Brigham Young University Center for Economic Self-Reliance, the Romney Institute of Public Management and the Rollins eBusiness Center will host the 2005 Economic Self-Reliance Conference, "Building Economically Self-Reliant Families," Thursday and Friday, March 10-11, in the Wilkinson Student Center.

The BYU Marriott School Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy named Dr. Paul D. McKinnon the 2005 William G. Dyer Distinguished Alumnus. The Dyer award is presented annually to an alumnus who makes a significant contribution in the field of organizational behavior. McKinnon, senior vice president for human resources at Dell Inc., addressed BYU faculty, students, alumni and guests at the annual Organizational Behavior/Human Resources Recognition Banquet Feb.

Teaching ten-year-olds how to balance a checkbook and live within a budget may seem like a futile task — especially when money management befuddles many adults. But Marriott School graduate students have seen success teaching basic finance to fifth-grade students throughout Utah County. This semester, teams of Marriott students implemented a personal finance curriculum in seven fifth-grade classrooms at Mapleton Elementary, Sunset View Elementary, and Hobble Creek Elementary.

Help is on the way for small businesses struggling to meet stringent requirements initiated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations — at the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission — launched a project this month to help small businesses comply with financial reporting regulations.

The Marriott School of Management jumped 26 spots in the 2005 Financial Times rankings of the top 100 global MBA programs. The London-based paper ranked Brigham Young University’s Marriott School 49th overall. The school was also listed among the top ten North American schools for the highest percentage salary increase.

The auditing section of the American Accounting Association named Associate Dean W. Steve Albrecht Outstanding Auditing Educator for 2005. He was selected from auditing professors across the country for the prestigious award. “The [selection] committee was particularly impressed with the way Professor Albrecht’s research on fraud detection and prevention has been incorporated into his teaching,” says Linda McDaniel, president of the American Accounting Association auditing section.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education awarded the Marriott School’s alumni magazine a Gold Medal of Excellence Award at a recent district conference in San Francisco. The Marriott Alumni Magazine was honored with the top award in the “Outstanding Communications: Illustration” category.

Christmas is a season of giving — and buying. And whether consumers are shopping online or in malls, three Marriott School professors are keeping a scrupulous eye on purchasing trends. While a new report suggests that online shopping in November 2004 is up 27 percent from the same period last year, the professors say it still accounts for only two percent of all general merchandise sales.

A Marriott School graduate team recently placed first and an undergraduate team placed second at the national 2004 Deloitte Tax Case Study Competition. The graduate team edged out other top accounting schools including the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Utah State University. For the eighth time in the thirteen-year history of the competition, both Marriott School teams placed among the top three in the graduate and undergraduate division — an unparalleled accomplishment. The winning graduate team this year consists of the same team members who won first place as undergraduates last year.

When Darrell Hill created a web site for one of his ISYS classes last year, he didn’t anticipate the high number of hits and emails it would generate. His site — which examined the economic value of knowledge — attracted attention from high-profile companies, identifying a topic of concern for many organizations worldwide.

Students from Brigham Young University’s Association of College Entrepreneurs capitalized on their training and zeal to win the most first-place awards of any university at the National Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization Conference Nov. 4–6 in Chicago. The BYU chapter brought home the coveted Best Chapter Award and four other “best of” awards — taking first in five of 14 categories.

A team of four Marriott School undergraduate business students took first place at the inaugural Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) Case Competition at Ohio State University Nov. 3–5. The BYU team competed with students from universities in Hong Kong, Denmark, Ireland, Mexico and the United States to take top honors at the competition sponsored by the Fisher School of Business at Ohio State University and in part by the U.S. Department of Education.

BYU management and law students have teamed to produce their first interdisciplinary journal. The new International Law and Management Review combines legal and business interests, giving students in both areas opportunities to participate on the journal’s editorial board. “Very few models of this interdisciplinary student publishing have ever been done,” says James Backman, a law school professor and review adviser.