Global Business Center News 

Some enterprising students, equipped with scholarships, business contacts and a faculty-inspired challenge, orchestrated the Marriott School of Management’s first foreign business excursion to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

On a recent Marriott School of Management field study trip to Ghana, BYU MPA students teamed with a charity powering rural schools with merry-go-rounds to help alleviate poverty. Empower Playgrounds, which installs playground equipment that converts kid’s energy into real energy, asked BYU MPA students to use their management skills to better place their electricity-generating merry-go-rounds, which are used to power rechargeable lanterns the children can use to study at night.

Brigham Young University Academic Vice President John Tanner announced the appointment of Gary C. Cornia as the new dean of the Marriott School of Management. Cornia, the Stewart Grow Professor of Public Management, has been serving as director of the school’s George Romney Institute of Public Management since 2004.

The Kay and Yvonne Whitmore Global Management Center at Brigham Young University presented 14 MBA candidates with Eccles Scholarships for outstanding achievement in international business. Each Eccles Scholar will receive $10,000 to defray the cost of tuition and international experiences during their enrollment. “This year’s Eccles Scholars carry on the fine tradition of outstanding MBA students who are interested in careers in international business,” says Lee Radebaugh, director of the Whitmore Global Management Center.

Prepared to revolutionize the snow-gear industry by providing warmth on demand, Klymit was named winner of Brigham Young University’s 2008 Business Plan Competition — taking the grand prize of $50,000 in cash and in-kind services. Since the beginning of the competition in October, Klymit distinguished itself from 45 other business plans.

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, March 31. Other BYU graduate programs and specialties rank in the top 100 in their categories. The Marriott School of Management is ranked 29th, tying its highest ranking ever from U.S. News, while the J. Reuben Clark Law School is ranked 46th.

Six students from Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management won second place and $2,000 at the 11th annual FedEx Freight International Graduate Logistics Case Competition in Fayetteville, Ark. It was BYU’s first time at the invitational event, sponsored by FedEx Freight in alliance with the Supply Chain Management Research Center at the University of Arkansas’s Sam M. Walton College of Business.

Field trips have taken on new meaning for eight MBA students who traveled to Switzerland this fall as part of the MBA International Human Resource Management class. Throughout the week-long trip, students met with global business executives from companies including Nestlé, Cisco Systems and Dow Chemical, to learn how each develops global leaders.

In recognition for the integration of social issues in research and teaching, The Aspen Institute's Center for Business Education presented the 2007 Faculty Pioneer Award in External Impact to Marriott School Professor Warner Woodworth. “Dr. Woodworth works to transform management schools into institutions that integrate various business models to improve society,” says the institute.

After spending a continuous 24 hours developing an international business strategy, an undergraduate team of management students from Brigham Young University placed first at the Center for International Business Education and Research Case Challenge — the BYU team beat students from other top international business programs including Università Bocconi in Italy, Instituto Tecnológico Autónoma de México in Mexico and Audencia Ecole de Management in France.

The Wall Street Journal ranked Brigham Young University’s Master of Business Administration Program first in the nation among regional schools in the paper’s 2007 report of top business programs, up from third in 2006 and sixth in 2005. The Marriott School was also ranked No. 2 among the best schools for hiring graduates with strong ethical standards behind Dartmouth College.

The planned addition to the N. Eldon Tanner Building is officially underway after ground was broken on the campus of Brigham Young University April 25. The groundbreaking ceremony was conducted by President Cecil O. Samuelson, with Elder W. Rolfe Kerr of the Seventy and Commissioner of Church Education, presiding over activities.

One might not expect an American Catholic priest living in the slums of Bangkok and BYU students to have much in common. But Father Joe Maier, founder of the Human Development Foundation, and seven students enrolled in the Marriott School field studies program found common ground as they worked together to better the lives of Thai children.

For the second time in three years, a team of Brigham Young University students took first place at the Center for International Business Education and Research Case Challenge Nov. 1–3 at The Ohio State University. Teams from 12 universities, some as far away as New Zealand, took part in the annual competition, where undergraduate business students presented their solutions for a given business case to a panel of judges.

The Marriott School of Management will host its 11th Annual BYU Management Conference June 29 – July 1, 2006. This traditional event will feature internationally and nationally renowned speakers such as Jon M. Huntsman, Sr., Chairman, Huntsman Corporation; Kim Smith, Vice President, Goldman Sachs & Co.; Bruce Reece, President and CEO, Bonneville International Corporation; and Elder Ben B. Banks, Emeritus General Authority and Director of Hosting, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded BYU a four-year grant worth $1.4 million to continue its work as a Center for International Business Education and Research. The grant allows BYU to work with other CIBER schools across the nation to improve international business and language courses. Brooke Derr, director of the Marriott School’s Global Management Center, spent last summer drafting the proposal with help from center staffers and Associate Professor Kristie Seawright. According to Derr, some of the key factors in winning the grant include an extensive offering of business language courses, BYU’s geographic location and several proposed programs.

KAM Accelerometer, Inc., a company touting an electronic personal fitness device that measures expended kinetic energy, walked away — make that ran away — with first place at Brigham Young University’s annual Business Plan Competition. A panel of business and venture capital professionals awarded KAM $50,000 in cash and in-kind services for the March 31 victory.

More than $100,000 in cash and business services are up for grabs Friday as judges pick the most promising new enterprises at Brigham Young University’s Business Plan Competition. The final event, where one of three final teams will walk away with the grand prize valued at $50,000, will take place at 2 p.m. in room 140 of BYU’s Joseph Smith Building.

Officials from BYU’s Marriott School of Management announce the naming of the Global Management Center for former Eastman Kodak Company CEO. The late Kay Whitmore, who worked for Kodak for 36 years and led the company for three, was known for his business acumen and integrity. He was supported in his rise to CEO by his wife of 48 years, Yvonne.

The Marriott School of Management jumped four spots in the 2006 Financial Times rankings of the top 100 global MBA programs. The London-based paper ranked Brigham Young University’s Marriott School in the top 50 for the second consecutive year. The school, which ranked 45th overall and 27th in the United States, was also listed among the top ten programs for accountancy and the highest percentage salary increase of North American schools.