Basic types of MBA programs

Two year MBA

programs normally take place over two academic years (i.e. approximately 18 months of term time), in the Northern Hemisphere beginning in late August/September of year one and continuing until May of year two, with a three to four month summer break in between years one and two. Students enter with a reasonable amount of prior real-world work experience and take classes during weekdays like other university students.

Accelerated MBA

programs are a variation of the two year programs. They involve a higher course load with more intense class and examination schedules. They usually have less "down time" during the program and between semesters. For example, there is no three to four month summer break, and between semesters there might be seven to ten days off rather than three to five weeks vacation.

Part-time MBA

programs normally hold classes on weekday evenings, after normal working hours. Part-time programs normally last three years or more. The students in these programs typically consist of working professionals, who take a light course load for a longer period of time until the graduation requirements are met.

Executive MBA (EMBA)

programs developed to meet the educational needs of managers and executives, allowing students to earn an MBA or another business-related graduate degree in two years or less while working full time. Participants come from every type and size of organization – profit, nonprofit, government — representing a variety of industries. EMBA students typically have a higher level of work experience, often 10 years or more, compared to other MBA students. In response to the increasing number of EMBA programs offered, The Executive MBA Council was formed in 1981 to advance executive education.

Distance Learning MBA programs hold classes off-campus. These programs can be offered in a number of different formats: correspondence courses by postal mail or email, non-interactive broadcast video, pre-recorded video, live teleconference or videoconfrence, offline or online computer courses. Many respectable schools offer these programs; however, so do many diploma mills. Potential students should check the school's accreditation before undertaking distance learning coursework.

Dual MBA programs combine MBA degree with others (such as an MS or a J.D, etc) to let students cut costs (dual programs usually cost less than pursuing 2 degrees separately), save time on education and to tailor the business education courses to their needs. Some business schools offer programs in which students can earn both a bachelor's degree in business administration and an MBA in four or five years.

Admissions criteria

Most programs base admission on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), significant work experience, academic transcripts, essays, references or letters of recommendation and personal interviews. Schools are also interested in extracurricular activities, community service activities and how the student can improve the diversity and contribute to the student body as a whole.

Most schools are first concerned with whether or not the applicant can handle the quantity of course work. The GMAT(the quantitative score) and academic transcripts help determine this. Once the school determines that the student can succeed academically, they examine the remainder of the application to evaluate the applicant's experience and leadership abilities.

History Of Master of Business Administration

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is amasters's degree in business administration,which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States , emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out scientific approaches to management. The MBA degree has since achieved worldwide recognition.

Background

The Tuck School of Business, part of Dartmouth College, was the first graduate school of management in the United States. Founded in 1900, it was the first institution conferring advanced degrees (masters) in the commercial sciences, specifically, a Master of Science in Commerce degree, the forebearer of the modern MBA degree.In 1908 the Graduate School of Business Administration (GSBA) at Harvard University was established; it offered the world's first MBA program, with a faculty of 15 plus 33 regular students and 47 special students.The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business first offered working professionals the Executive MBA (EMBA) program in 1940, and this type of program is offered by most business schools today.In 1950 the first MBA degrees were awarded outside the United States by the University of Western Ontario in Canada followed in 1951 with the degree awarded by the University of Pretoria in South Africa The Institute of Business Administration,Karachi in Pakistan was established in 1955 as the first Asian business school by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1957, INSEAD became the first European business school to offer an MBA program.The MBA degree has been adopted by universities worldwide, and has been adopted and adapted by both developed and developing countries.

Accreditation

Business schools or MBA programs may be accredited by external bodies which provide students and employers with an independent view of their quality, and indicate that the school's educational curriculum meets specific quality standards. The three major accrediting bodies in the United States are Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which accredits research universities, the Association to Advance Collegiate Business and Programs (ACBSP), which accredits junior colleges and teaching colleges, and the International Assembly for Collegiate BusinessEducation (IACBE), all of which also accredit schools outside the US. The AACSB and the ACBSP are recognized accrediting agencies for business schools in the United States by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). MBA programs with specializations for students pursuing careers in healthcare management also eligible for accreditation by the Commision on the Accredition of Healthcare Management Education(CAHME).In the United States, a college or university must be accredited as a whole before it is eligible to have its MBA program accredited. Accrediting bodies that accredit institutions as a whole include the Council For Higher Education Accereditation (CHEA): Middle States Association of colleges and Schools (MSA), New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASCSC), North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), Northwest Commision on Colleges And Universities (NWCCU), Southrn Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).Accreditation agencies outside the United States include the Association of MBAs (AMBA), a UK based organization that accredits MBA, DBA and MBM programs worldwide; the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa; theEuropean Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) for mostly European and Asian schools; and the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA) in Europe.

History Of Administration (business)

In bussiness, administration consists of the performance or management of business operations and thus the making or implementing of major decisions. Administration can be defined as the universal process of organizing people and resources efficiently so as to direct activities toward common goals and objectives.

The word is derived from the Middle English word administracioun, which is in turn derived from the French administration, itself derived from the Latin administratio — a compounding of ad ("to") and ministratio ("give service").

Administrator can serve as the title of the general manager or company secratory who reports to a corporat board of directors. This title is archaic, but, in many enterprises, this function, together with its associated Finance, Personnel and managment information systems services, is what is intended when the term "the administration" is used.In some organizatioanl analyses,management is viewed as a subset of administration, specifically associated with the technical and mundane elements within an organization's operation. It stands distinct from executive or strategic work.In other organizational analyses, administration can refer to thebureaucratic or operatioanlperformance of mundane office tasks, usually internally oriented and reactive rather than proactive.The Wharton School of theUniversity of pennsylvania, the first Business School in the US, was founded in 1881. In France existed the Business School Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Paris since 1819.

Administrative functions

Administrators, broadly speaking, engage in a common set of functions to meet the organization's goals. These "functions" of the administrator were described byHenri FayolPlanning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and who should do it. It maps the path from where the organization is to where it wants to be. The planning function involves establishing goals and arranging them in logical order. Administrators engage in both short-range and long-range planning.Organizing involves identifying responsibilities to be performed, grouping responsibilities into departments or divisions, and specifying organizational relationships. The purpose is to achieve coordinated effort among all the elements in the organization. Organizing must take into account delegation of authority and responsibility and span of control within supervisory units.Staffing means filling job positions with the right people at the right time. It involves determining staffing needs, writing job descriptions, recruiting and screening people to fill the positions.Directing is leading people in a manner that achieves the goals of the organization. This involves proper allocation of resources and providing an effective support system. Directing requires exceptional interpersonal skills and the ability to motivate people. One of the crucial issues in directing is to find the correct balance between emphasis on staff needs and emphasis on economic production.Controlling is the function that evaluates quality in all areas and detects potential or actual deviations from the organization's plan. This ensures high-quality performance and satisfactory results while maintaining an orderly and problem-free environment. Controlling includes information management, measurement of performance, and institution of corrective actions.Budgeting, exempted from the list above, incorporates most of the administrative functions, beginning with the implementation of a budget plan through the application of budget controls.

The Administration Lays Out a Small Business Plan

Turning its attention from the troubles of Wall Street banks to bolstering the fortunes of Main Street businesses, the Obama Administration announced on Mar. 16 a three pronged package intended to help small businesses. The program includes a $730 million chunk from the recently passed economic stimulus plan to reduce lending fees while increasing government guarantees on a portion of Small Business Administration loans up to 90%. It also seeks to increase bank liquidity by injecting $15 billion into banks to thaw the credit market and boost lending to small businesses.

Under the plan, the government hopes to jump-start credit markets for small business by offering to purchase securities pooled from the Small Business Administration's Community Development Loan Program. Other measures in the plan include new reporting requirements for banks on lending to small business, extending the loss carryback provision for small businesses to up to five years.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that the lending reporting requirements will require the 21 largest banks receiving federal bailout money to report how much small lending they do on a monthly basis. "We need every bank in the country to do everything in their power to provide the credit that small businesses need to operate, expand, and add jobs," Geithner said. "You need to make the extra effort to make sure that good loans are getting to creditworthy small businesses in order to serve the larger public good of moving this nation towards recovery. And given the role many banks played in causing this crisis, you bear a special responsibility for helping America get out of it."

Business this week

Tim Geithner unveiled long-awaited proposals to deal with toxic assets. The American treasury secretary’s plan mixes a little private capital with a lot of public money to buy possibly as much as $1 trillion of the bad assets, which Mr Geithner hopes will “get the securities markets…working again”. Five private funds will be approved by the Treasury to manage the programme. Firms in the running, such as BlackRock and PIMCO, gave the plan a welcome. Stockmarkets had their best day in months.Mr Geithner then testified to Congress along with Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and asked for powers to seize failing financial companies, similar to those that exist for taking control of banks. They said the lack of such authority to “unwind an institution of the size and complexity” of American International Group had forced the government to prop up the distressed insurer by taking an 80% stake. In a busy week, Mr Geithner went on to propose a broad overhaul of the regulations governing large hedge funds, private-equity firms and derivatives markets.

Suncor and sands

Suncor Energy, a big producer in Canada’s tar-sands industry, agreed to buy Petro-Canada, a rival, for C$19.3 billion ($15.8 billion). More consolidation is expected among companies with resources in Alberta’s tar sands, which hold the world’s second-biggest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia. The decline in oil prices over the past year has led to the postponement of some projects.India’s Tata Motors officially launched the Nano. Millions of Indians are expected to enter a lottery to place orders for the car, which is the world’s cheapest at 100,000 rupees (around $2,000), though delivery charges and extras, such as air conditioning, push the price up. A European model is expected in 2011, and Tata hopes eventually to sell a version of the Nano in America, with stricter pollution controls and safety features.Daimler sold a 9.1% stake worth €2 billion ($2.6 billion) to a sovereign-wealth investment fund in Abu Dhabi. Aabar Investments becomes the largest shareholder in the German carmaker.

Asia feels the pain

The World Trade Organisation predicted that global trade volumes would drop by 9% this year, the biggest decline since the second world war. Exports from developed countries are forecast to fall by 10%, and those from developing countries, which are more trade-dependent, by up to 3%.Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ and Morgan Stanley decided to merge their Japanese securities units, creating one of Japan’s biggest brokers. MUFJ bought a 21% stake in the American bank last October. Japanese authorities have endorsed legislation that, from June, will make it easier for the country’s banks to compete on the same terms as American and European firms.The governor of China’s central bank called for a new world reserve currency to replace the dollar, which he suggested could be issued by the IMF. Zhou Xiaochuan said there was a need to reset “the obsolescent unipolar world economic order”. Other emerging-market economies are also calling for change; Russia is proposing a motion on a currency at the G20 meeting in London on April 2nd.The IMF announced a reform of its lending procedures, including the introduction of a new flexible credit line (FCL) for countries with “very strong fundamentals”. The fund hopes that by streamlining loan conditions, countries will tap the FCL to strengthen their economies.Moody’s downgraded its AAA credit-rating for GE, which the conglomerate had held since 1967, because of concerns over its credit-card and property businesses. GE was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s earlier this month, but by only one notch. Moody’s cut its rating by two notches.

Lots of AIGgro all round

Following the fuss over bonuses at AIG, ING made a “moral appeal” to around 1,200 employees to return their bonuses. The Dutch bank said the plan was voluntary. And Société Générale withdrew plans to award discounted stock options to four directors following a political outcry in France. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, also condemned a €3.2m ($4.3m) pay-off made to the departing boss of Valeo, a struggling car-parts supplier.Wal-Mart paid out $933.6m in bonuses to 1m of its workers. The retailer has not had to ask for government assistance.French workers held the boss of their factory hostage as they sought to renegotiate redundancy packages. It is the second time a boss has been held hostage in France recently over lay-offs. Others have merely been pelted with eggs.

Business in Asia.........The next Great Wall

Buy local” campaigns raise protectionist barriers in Asia

POLITICIANS in Europe and America have been especially vocal about the dangers of protectionism in recent months. Even so, many Asian firms feel that barriers are gradually rising against them. Tighter environmental laws, “place of origin” rules and other new regulations are being introduced in America and Europe, they complain. The costs of complying with these regulations make Asian rice, furniture and toys less competitive. As Asian exports continue to collapse, the region is responding in kind.This week Vietnam increased import tariffs on dairy products, after raising duties on paper last month. India has upped tariffs on some types of steel. Malaysia’s prime minister has issued a plea on his website to “buy local products in large quantities”. The Indonesian government will introduce regulations this month to penalise 4m officials if they do not buy locally produced food, drinks, shoes, clothes, music and films. New rules which favour local steelmakers are also likely to cut Indonesian steel imports to 1.5m tonnes this year, down from 9m tonnes in 2008. Such measures are not protectionist, the Indonesian trade minister claims, but are merely “branding campaigns”Perhaps the loudest anti-protectionist calls in the region have come from China. Hours before Hillary Clinton’s visit last month, Zhong Shan, the vice-minister of commerce, said that China “strongly opposes protectionism” and gave warning that it could make the financial crisis worse. Just as America watered down the buy-local clause in its own financial bail-out package, China quietly removed one from its own industry-support bill a few weeks ago. This had instructed “governments of different levels to give priority to home-grown light-industry products”.But the mere mention of the clause seems to have been enough to make local governments comply. Although Beijing publicly continues to rally against protectionism, China’s provinces are busily erecting internal barriers.Farmers in the city of Hangzhou now get a 13% subsidy if they buy Hangzhou-made refrigerators, televisions, mobile phones and washing machines. Officials in the provinces of Henan and Hubei must give priority to local suppliers of buses, cars, farming equipment, software and medicines. In the province of Anhui, publicly funded infrastructure projects must use Anhui-made steel, concrete, doors and windows, glass, wiring and electrical equipment. Appliance-makers and two carmakers based in the province, Chery and Jianghuai Automobile, must buy locally made steel. In return, state-owned businesses, taxi operators and government officials will buy their cars. From next month, power plants will also have to buy locally mined coal.Similarly, in Changchun, capital of the north-eastern province of Jilin, inspection fees for new vehicles made by First Auto Works (FAW), a local carmaker, are being waived, giving the company a price advantage over rivals. Government officials have been told to consider FAW vehicles first; farmers will get a 10% discount on locally made tractors. At least 50% of the equipment for officially sanctioned “large projects” must be bought locally, too.Such policies carry risks, especially in Asia. In Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia exports account for more than 50% of the economy, and for more than one-third in Indonesia and China. Retaliatory barriers would hit these countries hard—hence the politicians’ public claims that they remain deeply opposed to protectionism. Yet halting its rise in Asia, as elsewhere, will be difficult. Most of the recent policy changes and buy-local pronouncements can be fudged under existing trade agreements. Politicians everywhere are torn between what they say in public about the evils of trade barriers—and the desire to protect special interests, taxes or votes at home.

Small Business Administration to outline recovery effort

WASHINGTON - The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be the focus of discussion for the U.S. Small Business Administration's March Web chat.SBA Associate Administrator for Capital Access Eric Zarnikow will help small business owners get answers to their questions about what the Recovery Act means for the nation's small businesses. The Recovery Act is a national effort to grow the U.S. economy by stimulating job creation, freeing credit markets, and investing in small business.The act contains a package of loan fee reductions, higher guarantees, new SBA programs, secondary market incentives, and enhancements to current SBA programs that will help unlock credit markets and begin economic recovery for the nation's small business sector.Participants can join the live web chat March 19 from 1 - 2 p.m. ET by going online to , and clicking the "Online Business Chat" icon. Web chat participants may post questions for Zarnikow before the March 19 chat by and posting their questions online.
SOURCE: U.S. Small Business Administration