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FROM Owen Press Releases: So-Called ‘Apology Laws’ Lead to More Malpractice Lawsuits |
The report provides the most detailed look yet at the impact of apology legislation on such claims. The researchers are Larry Van Horn, associate professor of management, law and health policy, and executive director of health affairs at the Owen School; W. Kip Viscusi, University Distinguished Professor of Law, Economics and Management; and Benjamin McMichael, PhD’15, JD’15, assistant professor of law at the University of Alabama. Their paper, “‘Sorry’ Is Never Enough,” appears in the Stanford Law Review. Reducing malpractice litigation has become a target of policymakers seeking to address the rising cost of health care. Put together, malpractice and defensive medicine—the practice of making treatment decisions to reduce the likelihood of getting sued—costs the United States billions of dollars per year. One way policymakers have tried to achieve a reduction in malpractice litigation is by passing laws that encourage physicians to apologize to patients for treatment mistakes. These laws make apologies inadmissible in court, so doctors don’t have to worry that their apologies may be used against them if a patient decides to sue anyway. “The idea is simply that if providers could just say they’re sorry, that’s what patients really want They really don’t care about punishing the doctor in a financial context; they care about having them express remorse,” says Van Horn. “But what we find is that no, people sue for money. ‘Sorry’ is not enough.” Using proprietary data from a major malpractice insurer, the researchers were able to analyze malpractice claims for about 90 percent of U.S. providers in a single specialty composed of surgeons and nonsurgeons—about 9,000 providers. Overall, about 4 percent of these physicians experienced a malpractice claim during the course of eight years. About two-thirds of all claims went to court. For surgeons, they found, apology laws made no difference in either the number of claims or the share of those claims that ended up in court. For nonsurgeons, however, apology laws had a dramatic effect. While the overall number of claims was unchanged in states with apology laws, those claims were 46 percent more likely to result in a lawsuit. The researchers say that’s probably because surgical errors are usually more obvious than nonsurgical ones: For example, a patient will know that a sponge left inside the body is a surgical mistake, but probably will not have the expertise to know whether his worsening illness is due to bad luck or an overlooked symptom. That is, unless the doctor apologizes for it. “The laws do protect providers from having their apology introduced in court as evidence that they were at fault, but apologies also alert injured patients to the physicians’ errors and the possibility of making a successful claim,” Viscusi explains. Even more dramatic was the change in payouts from successful lawsuits. Again, surgeons didn’t see a great difference, but nonsurgeons did. In states with apology laws, the payouts to patients of nonsurgeons more than doubled compared to states without apology laws. The researchers note that in some health systems that provide training to their providers on when and how to apologize, lawsuits and payouts are, in fact, lower. Additionally, the laws themselves could be improved: Currently, most only protect physicians for expressions of sympathy, not an explanation of what went wrong. However, recent scholarship on apology best practices suggests that victims are more satisfied by apologies that do include an explanation. The post So-Called ‘Apology Laws’ Lead to More Malpractice Lawsuits appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Why Some Rules Are Meant to Be Broken |
A new study by Vanderbilt professors is one of the first to approach the problem from the other direction. “What we wanted to know was whether there was something about the rules themselves that makes an organization more or less likely to violate them,” says Rangaraj Ramanujam, the Richard M. and Betty Ruth Miller Professor of Healthcare Management at the Owen School. The paper, “The Effects of Rule Complexity on Organizational Noncompliance and Remediation: Evidence from Restaurant Health Inspections,” has just been published in the Journal of Management. Ramanujam’s co-authors are Bruce Cooil, the Dean Samuel B. Richmond and Evelyn R. Richmond Professor of Management at the Owen School, and University of Virginia professor David Lehman. Lehman is the first author. Rangaraj Ramanujam The researchers theorized that complexity could make rules harder to follow. They defined “complexity” in two ways: by the number of components a rule had, or the number of connections it had to other rules. They then hypothesized that rules with both features—many components and many connections—would be especially vulnerable. Furthermore, they proposed that complexity not only would make a rule harder to follow, but it also would make violations harder to fix. Using an unusually detailed data set that tracked 1,011 restaurant inspections of 289 restaurants in Santa Monica, California, the researchers were able to observe more than 80,000 instances of rule compliance and noncompliance, including repeated violations, during the course of three years. Perhaps unsurprising, they found that complicated rules were violated more often, and the combination of the two types exacerbated the problem further. “The interaction is super-additive,” Cooil says. “You don’t just add the individual effects of components and connections together. It actually makes things even worse.” They then looked at the impact of complexity on remediation. The first thing they found was that a rule that had been broken before was more likely to be broken again. But the pattern was different. To their surprise, the researchers found that the number of components actually raised the likelihood of remediation, even though it made a rule easier to violate in the first place. That wasn’t the case when complexity was due to connections; as expected, the number of connections lowered the odds of remediation. Even more surprising, they found that while the presence of both forms of complexity made a rule much harder to follow, they were not that much harder to remediate. Essentially, the combination had an unexpected braking effect. Those violations were still harder to fix than average, but they weren’t as hard to fix as the researchers expected. The researchers say their findings suggest that encouraging compliance may require a more holistic look at how organizations engage with the rules they’re given. “The takeaway here is that the way rules are designed matters, too, and they should be a subject of study in their own right,” Ramanujam says. The post Why Some Rules Are Meant to Be Broken appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Life After the Big 4 |
Emily O’Dell, Director of Admissions of the MAcc Program Most Vanderbilt Master of Accountancy (MAcc) students enter one of the Big 4 firms after they graduate. However, few people end up staying at the Big 4 for their entire careers. “A lot of people leave because the exit opportunities after Big 4 really are endless. You have been trained extensively, you have worked for different clients of different sizes, different locations, and different industries. So you’ve seen a really broad range of business experiences,” said Emily O’Dell, Director of the Vanderbilt MAcc Programs. Below, three alumni — Amelia Emmert (MAcc’08), Geoff Smith (MAcc’10), and Mike Kuhn (MAcc’10) — discuss why they moved on from the Big 4 and what careers they’re pursuing now. 1. Time Most Big 4 accountants who want to leave do so when they reach manager position, since their career trajectory and earning potential really grows after getting that promotion. Between technical skills such as reading financial reports and soft skills such as working with clients, after the first 5-6 years these professionals have gained the experience they need to pursue new opportunities. “What’s great about the Big 4 is that early in your career, you learn a lot, and you stand before too long. You can leave as a senior in the Big 4 very easily for any number of different analyst roles or internal audit roles,” said Smith, who left EY for I3 Verticals. “There’s a standard of quality that’s demanded at a big firm where the deliverables you provide the client have to be top notch, and you’re working with some of the smartest people in the industry — having that level of expectations for myself coming to this company has certainly helped,” added Kuhn, who worked at KPMG for eight years before becoming the Project Manager at Compass Group. 2. Job opportunities People who reach the manager position at the Big 4 are contacted constantly with diverse job opportunities. “Whenever you leave the Big 4, you consistently have a steady stream of offers trying to lure you away. And they’re there on LinkedIn. (Recruiters) are always basically targeting any Big 4 seniors or above with all kinds of (opportunities),” Smith said. “At the manager level, the quality of the jobs that were out there for me — at least that I had the opportunity to apply for — did take a pretty good step forward.” This opportunity of being a Controller at I3 Verticals was more appealing to him than staying at the Big 4 for several reasons. “It’s definitely more of a regular job versus the Big 4, which was very seasonal. (At my new job,) we’re building a company, and it’s very tangible. We’ve seen it grow and thrive, and… it’s definitely a lot more high stakes but (you get) a lot more tangible fruits from your labor.” 3. Personality Not all Big 4 employees plan to do accounting long-term. Kuhn wanted to pursue something that had more variety in the tasks. “I just wanted to do something different. And I spent eight years working in compliance or consulting, and I just wanted to really explore at something else,” he said. “(Now) I work on a wide variety of projects, and I’m not necessarily stuffed into one role — I’m getting good variety and learning about lots of different areas of the firm.” Emmert also decided that the Big 4 career was not meant for her. “When I was at senior manager, I was evaluating whether careers in Big 4 was the right thing for my personality and my family and I spoke with partners about how to make that fit in there. I looked at different options, different career tracks, but ultimately decided that in Nashville, there were not very many paths available.” When a job opportunity at Healthstream opened up, Emmert left EY to become Director of Revenue Operations and Financial Reporting at the technology company. 4. Priorities and Life Changes Some people do not see themselves becoming partners for the firm, which is the highest position they can reach during their time at the Big 4. Partners have a lot of responsibility, which can take time away from family. This was one of the top reasons why Emmert decided to look at different career opportunities. “The lifestyle of audit partners is kind of dealing with fire drills all the time and how different clients demand different needs periodically or constantly, depending on your workload,” she said. “I had 18-month-old twins and that (lifestyle) wasn’t what I wanted for myself and for my family, having to have work take priority a lot of the time.” Emmert left to work at Healthstream after almost nine years at EY. She says she’s very happy at her new job and that it aligns well with her new priorities. “It was much more of a balance. I have a lot of opportunities to make positive change in the organization. It’s a rather small company, which has been great too, because I have been able to make my mark… (and) raise my family.” The post Life After the Big 4 appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: How to Become a Marketing Manager After Earning an MBA |
Amanda Fend Marketing management is a diverse field that encompasses many possible roles and industries. While some MBA graduates do seek work in more specialized areas such as brand management or product management, marketing management has a lot to offer when it comes to exploring new industries and capabilities. For those wondering how to become a marketing manager, we talked to Amanda Fend, Senior Associate Director of the Career Management Center, to find out what marketing management is and how the role can differ depending on whether you work at an agency or a company. What is marketing management? Most MBAs start off in a generalist marketing manager role right after graduation. After gaining experience, they may later choose to enter a more specialized role such as social media management. Many different businesses of all kinds need support in marketing strategy, so marketing manager jobs can be found in various industries and agencies. “It could be in hospitality, it could be in music, it could be in sports, it can be in manufacturing,” Fend said. A marketing manager’s day-to-day tasks vary depending on a variety of factors, including what industry they work in, what employer or client they work for, and what specializations they have (if any). The one common thread is the “management” aspect, since marketing managers oversee the entire process of creating and implementing a marketing strategy. Specific duties might include developing a promotional strategy for a service or product, researching the marketplace, creating deliverables such as email copy, and managing relationships with outside agencies, just to name a few. “You’re taking part in developing the strategy for that business, or that product, or whatever it is,” Fend said. “(You’re) understanding the marketplace, understanding any changes, looking at data all the time — like customer data and sales data — incorporating that into the strategy, updating the strategy as needed, and then executing that.” What does a marketing manager do at an agency? As a marketing manager in an agency, you will get the opportunity to quickly gain a lot of experience in different areas of marketing by overseeing various projects from different clients. The exposure to different clients, industries, and aspects of marketing can be very beneficial for MBAs who want to explore the field. “There’s a lot of value in going to an agency because it’s kind of like consulting. I hear a lot of MBAs say, ‘I want consulting because I don’t really know what I want to do when I (graduate),’” Fend said. Working with different types of clients will help you build portfolio marketing skills and make you a versatile marketer. You will experience different industries through your client work and develop valuable client relationship skills. “(Your clients) can be in anything: hospitality, music, sports, manufacturing… you’ll adapt to whatever,” Fend said. Later, you can leverage those skills to switch over to the corporate side or specialize in one industry. What does a marketing manager do at a company? Depending on the size of the company, marketing managers in a company may work across multiple products and divisions or focus on just one. Regardless, you’ll still be managing people and executing marketing strategies while gaining experience in different areas of marketing. Because of this more focused approach, the corporate environment tends to be less fast-paced than being at an agency with a diverse range of clients. Most companies want marketing managers to gain exposure to different aspects of marketing before they specialize in one area. This is why most MBAs start in a generalist marketing manager job in the company, then move into a specialist role after gaining a few years of experience. “(Companies) are going to be really conscientious of you getting a lot of different experiences while developing you as a manager… (They) identify gaps in (your) résumé, experience, and skill set, and fill them,” Fend said. The post How to Become a Marketing Manager After Earning an MBA appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Where Are They Now? Catching Up with the Master of Marketing Class of 2017 |
Vanderbilt’s Master of Marketing program equips students from all academic and professional backgrounds to succeed in a diverse array of marketing careers, from brand management to communications. We spoke with three graduates from the Class of 2017 to see how their careers have progressed over the last two years since graduating from the inaugural program. Terranicia Holmes, Sr. Digital Communications Planner, Events at Gartner Terranicia Holmes When Holmes entered Bowdoin College, she never expected to pursue a career in marketing. Originally a pre-med student, she was driven by her passion for social issues to pursue an academic career. However, during her senior year, her desire for a more action-oriented role led Holmes to pivot once again. On the advice of her mentor, Owen alum Amy Jorgensen Conlee (MBA’77), Holmes enrolled in a summer business program where she discovered her interest in marketing. After spending two years as a Marketing Communications Manager at the YWCA of Greater Atlanta, Holmes decided to supplement her work experience with an advanced marketing degree. “The Master of Marketing was an opportunity for me to go from being self taught to actually getting a formalized (marketing) education and learning a little bit more that I wouldn’t be able to teach myself during my job,” Holmes said. After graduating from Vanderbilt, Holmes landed a job at Thomson Reuters as a Sales Development Associate, where she gained a better understanding of the convergence of marketing and sales. After working there for nearly a year, Holmes transitioned to a more traditional marketing role at Gartner as a Senior Digital Communications Planner working across their global conferences. Through her job, Holmes has had the opportunity to travel all over the world, from Barcelona to Brazil, and collaborate on a global scale. “There’s an opportunity to really work across the globe, (and) you kind of learn how to manage those dynamics,” Holmes said. “The most exciting thing about my job… is the chance to interact and work with people from different backgrounds.” Holmes credits her Vanderbilt experience with giving her the confidence and skills to take charge of her career in marketing. “I left (the Master of Marketing) feeling like a true marketer, in the sense that I had both a little bit of work experience, and then I was able to combine that with an educational experience and… I can take that knowledge with me anywhere I go,” Holmes said. Jonathan Martz, Product Experience and Marketing Lead at Nashville Entrepreneur Center Jonathan Martz Originally an aspiring history teacher, Martz became heavily involved with VandyRadio as an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University. His passion for the music industry eventually led him to a career in marketing. “I (asked myself), what do I want to do with music?’ and took some classes, did some research, and landed on marketing,” Martz explained. After graduating from Vanderbilt, he began interning at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) to build up his marketing experience. “While I was interning, I realized I was learning a lot of the technical skills of marketing but wasn’t really getting the big picture (of) marketing strategy…” Martz said. “Also, looking at the bigger picture of my whole career, up into more senior marketing positions, I needed a stronger marketing background.” Martz decided to return to Vanderbilt to get his Master of Marketing degree and continued working part-time at the EC while in school. “It’s super helpful that I worked part-time,” Martz said. “Everything I learned in school, I could then apply to the real world at the same time.” After graduating from the Master of Marketing program, Martz continued to work at the EC as an independent contractor while also pursuing freelance marketing projects. In April 2018, he transitioned to a full-time role at the EC as a Product Experience and Marketing Lead, leveraging digital marketing and event promotion to support the EC’s mission of empowering local entrepreneurs. “The EC plays a really vital role in the city,” Martz said. “It’s really cool getting to see someone start from the very beginning and grow their business, and then make a substantial impact on the whole city.” Victoria Conlon, Associate Brand Manager at The Kraft Heinz Company Victoria Conlon After graduating from the University of Alabama in just three years with a 4.0 GPA and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, Victoria Conlon began looking for Master of Marketing programs to kickstart her career. “I definitely wanted to do a one-year program that would help me dive deeper into specific areas of marketing, whereas my undergrad degree was more of a broad business and marketing background,” Conlon said. Conlon joined the inaugural Master of Marketing class at Vanderbilt, drawn to the school’s strong business reputation and its comprehensive MBA-level marketing curriculum. “I think it’s great to learn from people who have actually been in the industry, to talk to MBAs (and) professors who have been at marketing agencies (and) are in different areas of marketing,” Conlon explained. Leveraging the strong quantitative skills she developed at Vanderbilt, Conlon began her marketing career as a Marketing Analytics & Insights Professional Intern in Disney’s Parks and Resorts division, working cross-functionally with the Marketing Strategy Team to analyze key metrics to boost revenue and park attendance. “I got to see the different elements of marketing that I wanted to target,” Conlon said. “One of the areas that stood out to me was marketing strategy, and I knew that I always wanted to lean back towards the CPG space.” True to her word, after completing her Disney internship, Conlon began working in the CPG space as a Senior Marketing Analyst at Kraft Heinz. Conlon was soon promoted to her current role as Associate Brand Manager at Kraft Heinz, where she leverages her B2B marketing skills to make an everyday impact in consumers’ lives. “The Career Center (emphasizes) making connections and learning from people’s experiences… and that’s how I ended up at Kraft Heinz through the networking process (and) personal connections,” Conlon said. “But also having a marketing background, having the (Master of Marketing) degree and then doing the internship at Disney really helped cue me up for success in the brand path.” The post Where Are They Now? Catching Up with the Master of Marketing Class of 2017 appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Managing with Strategic Intent |
Vanderbilt Executive Education offers Managing with Strategic Intent: a 3-day program offered regularly on Vanderbilt’s campus. Through a combination of case studies, discussion, lecture and reflection, you’ll improve your ability to manage employees and achieve strategically driven results. https://youtu.be/4C5P0uBG8WA The post Managing with Strategic Intent appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: The Keys to Persuasive Speaking |
Vanderbilt Executive Education offers Persuasive and Influential Speaking: a 2-day program offered regularly on Vanderbilt’s campus. Through a combination of discussion, lecture, practice and reflection, you’ll improve your ability to persuade your stakeholders and influence your employees to positive action. https://youtu.be/nfvmaeHxYwQ The post The Keys to Persuasive Speaking appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Healthcare Management Jobs: What You Need to Know |
A physician who oversees several clinics, a communications director who manages hospital PR, and a finance manager who works at a pharmaceutical company are all vastly different roles. Despite their apparent differences, however, all these positions qualify as healthcare management jobs. “There’s just tons of different jobs that can be classified as healthcare management,” confirmed Burch Wood, Director of Health Care Programs at Vanderbilt Business. To help dispel some of the confusion, we talked with Wood and Emily Anderson, Senior Director of the Career Management Center, to learn more about the types of healthcare management opportunities available and what skills it takes to succeed in those roles. Types of Healthcare Management Jobs Burch Wood Healthcare management jobs can be sorted into two broad categories: clinical and non-clinical. The first category, clinical, encompasses doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and anyone else who works directly with patients. These clinicians work in many environments, including hospitals, physician offices, clinics, home health organizations, and more. “They have an entire management structure in and of themselves,” Wood said. Anyone who doesn’t help treat patients falls into the non-clinical category. This may include everyone from an administrator working in hospital management to a marketing manager at a major biotech company. “The non-clinical administration side is typically managing the pieces of the business,” Wood explained. Because of the emphasis on patient care, clinicians — especially doctors — tend to be the most influential people in the healthcare industry. “The decision makers have come up through the clinical side of things. You have to learn how to understand what’s going on from the clinician’s point of view because they’re the central core of healthcare, and then everything revolves around (them) like a donut,” Anderson said. Earning a Healthcare Management Job Most clinicians start at the bottom and work their way up into leadership roles as they gain experience. For example, someone might start out as a floor nurse, then work their way to shift lead, then the director of a unit or floor, then night supervisor, then perhaps even the Director of Nursing or Chief Nursing Officer. When clinicians reach these management roles, some seek out additional education such as the Master of Management in Health Care program to help them gain leadership skills not covered in their clinical education. Some non-clinical administrators also take this approach, starting work in healthcare straight out of college and earning enough experience until they achieve a management role. Others decide to switch into the industry later and may use an advanced degree such as an MBA to help make the transition. “You’ve got sort of work your way up. It’s an industry where you often start at the bottom,” Wood said. “Even when you go in with an MBA, you sometimes start not (quite) all the way the bottom and then work your way up.” “(This industry) also rewards work,” he added. “Most healthcare companies are pretty good about rewarding people, they see who are doing well (and then promote them).” Skills for Succeeding in Healthcare Management Jobs Emily Anderson Whether people are aiming for a clinical or non-clinical leadership, industry knowledge is absolutely essential to success. This is especially true for healthcare career switchers, who are trying to break into the industry. “It’s one of those areas where you’ve got to be you’ve got be interested in the business of health care. It’s a big, broad, complex industry that touches everybody at some point,” Anderson said. Those aspiring to healthcare management roles must also determine what part of the industry they want to be in. Many clinicians figure this out ahead of time, but non-clinicians have more flexibility, especially on the corporate side. “You get a lot of people who liked one particular space and say, ‘I’m a hospitals guy, I love hospitals, I have good friends who are physicians,’” Wood said. For those seeking non-clinical roles, they must also choose a function to pursue along specific industry areas like biotech or hospitals. “People say, ‘I want to be in healthcare,’ but you do need to think about what functional role you want to have,” Anderson said. “(In corporations) it’s largely along a functional line, so it’s either finance marketing, operations, or consulting. Then there’s some programs that are a bit more cross functional, where you would you would have roles in different business functions, like a leadership development rotational program.” Whatever role they prefer, healthcare managers must also be passionate about their work. No matter what management roles they have, healthcare can sometimes be a frustrating industry to work in — but one that also offers a lot of opportunities to create change and make a difference. “It’s for people who are not afraid of working in an industry where the answers are not all known. They’re going to be part of hopefully making the industry better,” Anderson said. For more information about what kinds of jobs MBAs get in healthcare, check out this article. The post Healthcare Management Jobs: What You Need to Know appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Accelerator Immersions Brochure |
The post Accelerator Immersions Brochure appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation Supports Veterans Through a $100,000 Endowment at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management |
To continue its long-running support of veterans, the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation pledged a $100,000 endowment to Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management to help the brave men and women who have served our nation pursue a graduate degree from the elite institution. This is the first endowed scholarship created by the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation for veterans working toward their Master of Business Administration (MBA). Once the scholarship is fully endowed, it will help support veteran scholars completing the two-year MBA program in perpetuity. The endowment not only helps further Cracker Barrel and the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation’s mission to support military families and veterans, but also furthers Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management’s goal to become a premier destination for veterans’ management education by deepening financial aid and expanding its programmatic offerings. “For many years, we have enthusiastically recruited veterans and active members of the United States Armed Forces to Owen because of the extraordinary leadership and perspective they add to our community,” said M. Eric Johnson, Ralph Owen Dean and Bruce D. Henderson Professor of Strategy. “Now we seek to enhance their Owen experience through scholarships and programming that meets their unique skills and needs.” This endowment is part of eight grants the Foundation recently awarded to support a range of military-related programs and charities. Through these grants, the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation is providing financial support to Operation Homefront, A Soldier’s Journey Home, Armed Services YMCA, Fisher House Foundation, Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Alive Hospice (for its support of military veterans), The Legion Fund (Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee) and USO at Ft. Campbell. In 2019, the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation contributed over $325,000 in grant funding and scholarships, including over $100,000 to support America’s military and their families. “At Cracker Barrel, we have always believed in supporting the next generation of leaders as evident by our Employee Scholarship Program, which has awarded scholarships to hundreds of deserving employees and their children since 1996,” said Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation Executive Director Sloane Lucas. “To extend that in support of America’s military families and be able to give back to those who have given so much to us through their service for our country is truly an honor.” Since 1969, Pleasing People has been Cracker Barrel’s mission. It drives the company’s passion for helping people in the neighborhoods where it does business. The company’s main philanthropic focus is supporting members of America’s armed forces and their families. Cracker Barrel and the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation have long supported military-focused nonprofits and charitable initiatives. By directing most of its giving to this area, Cracker Barrel believes it can make a real, lasting difference in people’s lives. During the last 26 years, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation has supported many nonprofits and charitable programs, in addition to its annual scholarship program. To learn more, visit crackerbarrel.com/giving. About Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation is a nonprofit corporation created by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store in 1993. The Foundation has awarded millions of dollars in grants to support numerous nonprofits and charitable programs. It also supports an annual Employee Scholarship Program, which recognizes and rewards the accomplishments of Cracker Barrel employees and their children who excel in their studies and serve their communities. Media Contact:Media Relations615-235-4135media.relations@crackerbarrel.com The post Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Foundation Supports Veterans Through a $100,000 Endowment at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Students Kickoff Recruiting Season at the 2019 National Black MBA® Association Conference |
The National Black MBA® Association (NBMBAA) hosted its first career conference in 1979, and the event has been a mainstay of MBA recruiting ever since. While the NBMBAA is primarily dedicated to supporting black professionals in the business world, the conference is open to attendees of all backgrounds, and Vanderbilt Business coordinates a trip for a large group of students every fall. At the conference, students learn about companies and sponsors, network with recruiters, and even interview for internships and jobs on the ground. This year’s conference was held from September 24 to 28 in Houston, TX and three of Owen’s attendees — Sally Schachat (MMARK’20), Sambit Kar (MBA’21), and Rachel Wozniak (MBA’21) — share their thoughts on the experience below in their own words. Sally Schachat (MMARK’20) Sally Schachat When my career counselor suggested I consider attending the National Black MBA Conference, I felt overwhelmed yet excited by the opportunity. Preparing seemed like a daunting task, especially so early in the school year. However, after attending the first National Black Boot Camp meeting put on by the Career Management Center, I knew that I was up for the challenge. The bootcamp helped me prepare in more ways than just perfecting my résumé. Past attendees shared their tips for approaching companies, explained the layout, and prepared us for the crowds of people. I told myself that if I could take the NYC subway at rush hour, I should be able to weave through crowds of MBA students. I was expecting the stampede scene in Lion King, but in reality, the conference was much more humane and navigable. Thanks to the Bootcamp, I identified the companies I wanted to speak to in advance. I researched the industries, conducted company research, and spoke to alumni. As a Master of Marketing student, I was worried I would not be received as positively as MBA candidates. Leading up to the event I was especially uneasy since I didn’t have any interviews scheduled ahead of time. However, it’s so important to remember everyone is on a different path and is targeting different companies. Even without an interview secured ahead of time, I was able to secure interviews at the conference. For me, the biggest value is in the contacts and connections I made while at the fair. Full-time marketing roles often don’t recruit until Q3, but now I have individual connections with recruiters at some of the top firms I am interested in. When spring rolls around, I am confident now that I have laid the foundation for my full-time recruiting. You truly never know what can come out of the National Black Conference! —Sally Schachat Sambit Kar (MBA’21) Sambit Kar Being an international student, I was unfamiliar with career conferences prior to Owen. During the International Summer Business Program, the Career Management Center briefed me about the various conferences, especially National Black. This early awareness helped me plan out my studies through the first two months and brought urgency and thoroughness to my preparation for the conference. My preparations for the conference centered around identifying companies that sponsor international students, selecting ones I would be interested in working with, and prioritizing my conversations with these companies. I refined my résumé, elevator pitch, and strategy by attending the National Black Bootcamp and seeking help from second years and the Career Management Center. Stepping into the conference hall, the size of the event struck me. It was huge and full of promise as I went about executing my plan. Over the course of two exhausting days, the Career Management Center was very supportive by constantly boosting my morale and replenishing my energy with food and caffeine. I was able to secure interviews with two multinational firms while also being invited to the evening event with my dream company. The standout incident for me was when one of my friends got an interview with Apple. The whole Owen cohort mobilized to help him prepare by sharing SWOT and company analysis and practicing mock interviews when time permitted to help him be successful. I will never forget the camaraderie shared in that moment. The conference is a great way to experience firsthand what happens when you submit your résumé online for a job posting. Recruiters today perform one of the most challenging jobs. They are constantly being inundated with profiles that look similar. The conference was a fantastic opportunity for me to differentiate myself in a crowd. —Sambit Kar Rachel Wozniak (MBA’21) Rachel Wozniack “It feels like Black Friday.” This was the warning that I was given before traveling to Houston for the NBMBAA Conference to begin recruiting for my summer internship in Brand Management. Fortunately, I avoided the initial rush to the 30-second “speed dating” atmosphere of the convention center floor because of my preparation, guided by the Career Management Center (CMC) and second-year classmates. The CMC hosted weekly “National Black Bootcamp” sessions that gave advice on everything from when to apply to the postings to how to perfect your pitch. Additionally, I was able to speak to MBA students who had attended the event and had gotten internship offers from the conference. With this wealth of resources and knowledge, I took their advice to get ahead of the game and apply to the job postings on the NBMBAA website weeks before the actual event. When the conference finally came, I arrived an hour before doors even opened with two back-to-back interviews and by the time I was finally on the floor, the morning rush had already died down. I wouldn’t have had such a successful experience had it not been for the resources and support from Owen before, during, and after the conference. I anticipated the conference to be two days of stress and fatigue, but I also knew that the event was imperative in recruiting for marketing internships. However, with the confidence of a couple interview slots under my belt before even boarding the plane, I was able to actually enjoy the energy and drive emanating from recruiters and students. As many times as I practiced my brand pitch and prepped interview answers before the event, my true take away is that the recruiters and interviewers are also just people. They are looking to make a genuine connection and to see how your personality would match the company culture — don’t let the pressure of the event affect the way that you communicate your own innate brand! —Rachel Wozniak The post Students Kickoff Recruiting Season at the 2019 National Black MBA® Association Conference appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Statement on Offensive Blog Post |
Yesterday, we posted a blog about student experiences at the National Black MBA Association Conference that compared the highly attended conference to the annual retail event Black Friday. Regardless of the intention, this was an offensive comparison and totally inappropriate. At Vanderbilt, our goal is to foster a safe, diverse and inclusive community that is welcoming to everyone. Yesterday’s blog post runs absolutely counter to that goal, and we offer our sincerest apologies to everyone affected, especially the Black community. Effective immediately, we are overhauling our editorial processes to ensure a more appropriate evaluation of all content on multiple levels before anything is published on our website, social media, or any other Owen Graduate School of Management channel. The post Statement on Offensive Blog Post appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: 2019 MBA Employment Report |
The post 2019 MBA Employment Report appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Hallie Sue Cho Brings Startup Experience to Studying Product Development |
Hallie Sue Cho “Doing a PhD was always the plan, because I wanted to go into academia,” says Hallie Sue Cho, who recently joined the Owen Graduate School of Management as an assistant professor of operations management. Cho began her time in academia by earning a bachelor’s and then a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cho had already applied to Ph.D. programs and been accepted when a unique opportunity presented itself. She’d been working on a social enterprise startup with a fellow engineering master’s student, developing an autoclave for sterilizing that could be used in rural healthcare clinics. After they’d already committed to further schooling — Cho to a Ph.D. program and her cofounder to medical school — they received funding to make their idea a reality. Cho had to decide whether to defer her Ph.D. or let the team move forward without her. “I figured, hey, I want to study technology commercialization and new product development. I’ve done the new product development, and now we have this chance — somebody gave us money to commercialize that. I thought it would be interesting for me to have that experience,” she recalled. Cho and her cofounder decided to defer further schooling for a year and work on putting together a team that could continue commercializing the product. While the experience didn’t make her reconsider her decision to go into academia instead of industry, it did give her unique insights into the product development and commercialization process. “It gave me a lot of invaluable experience as to interacting with people whose perception of technology is very different from me,” she said. Cho drew on this experience, as well as her background in mechanical engineering, while she worked on her dissertation at INSEAD. She worked on translating text-based reviews of cars into a numerical value that could be analyzed. “The broader question that I was interested in was being able to extract how people were perceiving qualities of complex products… But you don’t actually fully understand all the technology that goes behind (the car) to properly assess it.” “The larger research interest, which kind of ties into my engineering background, is looking at new product development,” she continued. “How do people come up with interesting ideas? How do you execute that into a product? How do you then market it? And how well does it do in the marketplace?” For her future research projects, Cho is also looking at different facets of how consumers perceive products. One area that she’s researching is how users interact with AI systems such as Siri and online chatbots. Because interfacing with these AI systems is still so unfamiliar, it can keep people from properly understanding how useful the systems can be. Cho is also looking at how people follow — or rather, don’t follow — directions from GPS while driving. Many people believe that they know better than the GPS and take the “shortcut,” only to burn more time and gas in the long run. “Why do people not follow directions? Because they think they know better, like they think that the technology is incompetent? Or is it because it takes away their agency?” she said. While Cho has only been at Owen for a few short months, she looks forward to teaching the Business Analytics class, continuing her research, and helping to improve real-world product development down the line. “You have to be able to effectively communicate the quality of the product, and that’s really difficult for the product designer or the firm or the manufacturer when they don’t know what the consumers want or how they’re evaluating it. So I’m trying to bridge that gap,” she said. The post Hallie Sue Cho Brings Startup Experience to Studying Product Development appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: What is Product Management? Top 5 Skills for Success |
Product managers sit between the software engineering and marketing teams, helping to keep both divisions on the same page and shepherding products from conception to launch (and beyond). The product manager career path is versatile, offering the opportunity to work anywhere from a scrappy startup to a large global tech company. MBA graduates typically enter product management roles as Product Manager, Associate Product Manager, or Senior Associate Product Manager. Candidates with previous industry experience can pursue specialized functions. For example, people with a background in software development might want to pursue a Technical Product Manager role, a more advanced position. While it’s still an area of growth, more and more MBA graduates are pursuing careers in product management as tech companies recognize the value of having well-rounded product managers trained in skills beyond software coding. Specific responsibilities do vary from company to company, but there are five foundational capabilities every aspiring project manager should master: Balanced Vision Amanda Fend Product managers are a tech company’s quarterbacks, guiding their teams from a product’s conception to its launch by using roadmaps that outline business strategies and objectives. “Your role is to take the information from the marketplace and from customers and translate that to the engineering team… and then translate that back to the product that’s going out to people,” explained Amanda Fend, Senior Associate Director at the Career Management Center (CMC). It’s important for product managers to be able to develop strategies that account for both the company’s overarching mission and the intended impact on end users. “I would describe (product management) as balancing the company’s strategies and visions with the customer experience, so making sure that we’re giving the customer a best-in-class experience (while) also driving the strategies and initiatives of the business,” said Sarah Goodyear (MBA’16), Senior Product Manager at Asurion. Breadth Sarah Goodyear Product manager jobs involve regular cross-functional collaboration with engineers, marketers, salespeople, and employees in various other departments to ensure the success of a product from all business angles. This cross-functional work often appeals to MBA graduates, since the business school curriculum also offers students exposure to many different areas of business. (Product management) is a good position for people that are interested in a lot of different parts of a business,” Goodyear explained. “They might not be totally focused on HOP (Human and Organizational Performance) or on Marketing and Strategy. They like all aspects of a business.” Commitment to Customers At the end of the day, product managers have the satisfaction of knowing that their work impacts the lives of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of end users. As such, the ability to effectively integrate user needs into a product’s overall vision and roadmap is critical to determining the success of a product. “The most rewarding part (of product management) is getting to actually talk with customers and focus groups, and listening to how they are reacting to the products and services that our teams are building and then using their feedback to make changes that will ultimately make the product better,” Goodyear said. Technical Fluency Product managers straddle a fine line between the technical and business worlds. Some companies have strict technical requirements for their product managers, while others do not. “I don’t think you have to have serious technical skills before you (begin work), although I think it’s important, and probably becoming more important that you have some experience with data analytics and coding,” Fend explained. Regardless of a company’s technical requirements, the ability to communicate well with engineers and technical staff is paramount. “Communication is big,” Goodyear explained. “(A key component is) being able to talk to a lot of different people at the company, so talking to a developer and understanding what issues they’re having, and being able to communicate that to someone who might be a VP of our products.” Flexibility Working in the tech space requires constant innovation. Product managers must be comfortable with navigating ambiguous situations and learning from failure to develop products that meet changing user needs and industry trends. “Another piece of (product management) is just not being afraid to try things,” Goodyear said. “A lot of what we do is test and learn, so we’ll test small changes to a product based on what we hear our customers saying, or an industry trend. A lot of times it’s not perfect before we test it, but we do want to get some initial feedback on how it impacts our customers. I think just being okay with ambiguity, the fact that a test might not always turn out 100 percent how I expected it to (is) just part of the role.” For more information on landing a product manager job, check out our recruiting timeline for Chris Morrow (MBA’18), a Senior Product Senior Product Manager – Technical at Amazon. The post What is Product Management? Top 5 Skills for Success appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Ransomware and data breaches linked to uptick in fatal heart attacks |
The post Ransomware and data breaches linked to uptick in fatal heart attacks appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: How Summer Grant Recipient Teddy Dinker (MBA’20) is Launching “TripAdvisor for Vacation Rentals” |
Most MBAs use the summer between their first and second years to intern at a company in the hopes of earning a full-time offer — but not every student wants a traditional corporate job. For MBAs interested in a more entrepreneurial path, Vanderbilt Business offers the chance to compete for the Summer Grants. Each year, up to three first-year MBA student entrepreneurs are awarded $15k to launch their business during the summer instead of taking an internship. This year, one student received the grant: Teddy Dinker (MBA’20). We caught up with Dinker to learn more about his entrepreneurial background, his initial startup idea, and how the grant helped him further develop his company. His Background Teddy Dinker Dinker was set on being an entrepreneur even before he entered the MBA program. Working summers in his dad’s company — which personalized financial card products for banks and credit unions — helped him learn the ins and outs of running a business. “I feel like once you kind of get a taste of (entrepreneurship), it’s hard to do anything else. I like the idea of… building a culture, building an identity. I think I have a much easier time doing that than I do fitting into something else or coming to work in a cubicle from nine to five,” he said. After working in sales for a bit, Dinker decided to go back to school to develop a deeper understanding of the technical parts of a business, such as finance and operations, for his entrepreneurial career. During his first year of the MBA program, he gained a lot of knowledge from not only his classes but also discussions with professors like Jon Lehman and chats with alumni. “If you want to get mentorship, if you want to find experts on what you’re trying to do, you can get them here or through the alumni network,” Dinker said. “I feel like I’ve gotten more out of the (Vanderbilt Business) experience than what I paid so it’s always good.” His Big Idea Dinker’s idea for his grant proposal started with his friend, who managed several vacation rentals in Nashville. The concept, called Hostmost, is like a TripAdvisor for vacation rentals and alternative lodgings such as Airbnb. Travelers can use the platform to book tours, activities, experiences, and restaurants while vacation rental managers use it to offer deals and increase brand awareness. To test their idea, Dinker and his friend launched a dummy website to see whether guests would use it to figure out things to do in Nashville and leave positive comments in their reviews on his friend’s listings. There was positive data for both, which encouraged Dinker and his friend to reach out to other Airbnb groups nearby. After realizing that there was broad interest in the idea across the market, Dinker went to Michael Bryant, the Director of the Vanderbilt Business Center for Entrepreneurship. “I said, ‘Hey, look, this is this is where we are. We have a user base. We can understand where we want to go with the revenue model,’” Dinker said. Working with Bryant, he refined his grant proposal and got it approved by Dean Eric Johnson. Dinker used the grant money to work on the idea during the summer and into his second year, focusing on companies that manage from 50 to 100 vacation rentals. The grant helped cover legal fees, the process of setting up an LLC, and the operating agreement. It also helped Dinker hire a professional design team to build out a real website. Looking forward, Dinker is excited about launching the Hostmost website later this month and plans to make a big partnership announcement with the Nashville Area Short Term Rental Association soon. “We’re trying to go after a channel that we feel hasn’t really been explored yet,” Dinker said. “I think we’ve gotten to that point where we feel like we have enough momentum. (The grant) has been immensely helpful.” The post How Summer Grant Recipient Teddy Dinker (MBA’20) is Launching “TripAdvisor for Vacation Rentals” appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
FROM Owen Press Releases: Vanderbilt MBA Class of 2019 Sets New Record for Compensation |
Class of 2019 graduates from the full-time MBA program at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management reported average base salary earnings of $118,888, representing an increase of 7% over the previous year’s figure. Combined with an average signing/starting bonus of $25,642, this salary means that the class of 2019 is the highest compensated class of MBAs in Owen’s history. Consulting was the most common job function, with 31% of graduates accepting a consulting role. Other popular functions included finance (25%), marketing (15%), general management (14%), operations management (5%), and human resources (4%). Consulting was also the most popular industry, with 27% of graduates accepting jobs at consulting firms, followed by healthcare (19%), technology (18%), and financial services (15%). “The CMC Staff are very appreciative to work with a fantastic group of recruiting partners who provide a wide range of opportunities for our students,” said Emily Anderson, Director of the Career Management Center. Three months post-graduation, 97% of graduates had received at least one offer and 95% had accepted. Of the 2019 graduates who accepted jobs in the U.S., 41% accepted jobs in the South, while others moved to the West (15%), the Southwest (15%), the Northeast (12%) and Midwest (12%), and the Mid-Atlantic (3%). Two percent of the MBA Class of 2019 accepted jobs outside the U.S. For the eighth year in a row, 100% of first-year MBA students seeking summer internships received an offer. Members of the Class of 2020 spent 10 to 12 weeks immersing themselves in a variety of different industries, including financial services (22%), healthcare (15%), consulting (12%), and consumer products (12%). All told, 165 companies hired members of the Classes of 2019 and 2020. Anderson recognizes Owen alumni for their help throughout the recruiting process. “We continue to be grateful to the dedicated Owen alumni for encouraging and fostering recruiting relationships, as well as providing mentorship and guidance to current students,” she said. “We look forward to continuing these wonderful relationships.” A summary of this year’s MBA employment and internship report may be viewed here. Want to see your compensation reach these levels? Apply to the MBA program here. The post Vanderbilt MBA Class of 2019 Sets New Record for Compensation appeared first on Vanderbilt Business School. |
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