Last week’s Wall Street Journal included a very interesting article about the growth and decline of M.B.A.’s and Master’s degree Business programs within Europe and the United States. According to the studies done by GMAC , (the Graduate Management Admissions Council) the percentage of students attending graduate school for their Masters is directly tied to the economy.  The European economy is struggling at the moment; due to this, the percentage of unemployed people in Europe has risen. This along with the variety of specialized programs that are being offered have caused a major influx in applications for Europe’s one year M.B.A. programs. Online M.B.A. programs also saw an increase in applications this year.    On the other hand in the United States the economy is in better shape than that of Europe’s economy. This has caused our unemployment rate to drop; which is the reason for the lowest percentage of full-time M.B.A. applicants in four years. There...

Simone Biles August 8, 2016 Olympics Watching this year's Rio Olympics I couldn't  help but connect how MSB industry driven graduate programs relates to the Olympics (or any other global business venture).  1) M.S. in Business Leadership -  Athletes, or employees have to work together as a cohesive team.  Business is a team sport and tomorrow's  leaders are effective team players.  Learn how to inspire teams and generate results in this leadership focused, MBA alternative program. 2) M.S. in Finance - This year's Olympic games cost $4.56 billion dollars to host! Although a huge amount, it was actually less than the London and Beijing Olympics.  Behind the scenes corporate finance, accounting and investment management professionals were critical to support this huge money venture. 3) M.S. in Marketing and Communications Management - The Rio Olympics  involved thousands of marketing professionals.  Think of all the advertising, licen...

Stimulating Conversations on Managing Risk:   You Can’t Afford Not To Michele Braun, Director Institute for Managing Risk Thinking about risk?   You know it is a good idea, but who has the time?   CFOs, nonprofit executives, risk managers, business leaders, insurance and technology thinkers, financial managers, and students of many disciplines learned how essential it is to make the time!   Last month, they gathered at the Institute for Managing Risk at the Manhattanville School of Business for stimulating discussions on risk.   Most importantly, they joined together to talk about how an organization can think about risk and practical steps to be ready for expected and unexpected risks.   In two events, participants joined no-holds-barred discussions on preparing for risk, identifying risk, managing and mitigating risks, as well as preparedness for those risks that are harder to foresee. On June 7, risk professionals with year...

Thinking about Risk: Taking or Avoiding Risks is a C-Suite Imperative! “…risk is a reality and you have to think about how to position the organization to take advantage of the opportunities,” says Peter Zaffino, CEO of Marsh, LLC, on the front page of The Wall Street Journal’s May 31, 2016, “C-Suite Strategies” section.   Mr. Zaffino is also quoted as saying that “Risk isn’t a negative.”   While taking risks can absolutely be a positive—a business imperative, actually—it can also be a negative.   Most importantly, risk should be considered strategically and tactically, and absolutely in the context of the enterprise taking the risks. The International Standards Organization’s treatise on risk management defines risk as the “effect of uncertainty on objectives,” specifying that an “effect is a deviation from the expected” and that an effect can be positive or negative. [ ISO 31000:2009 ]   Positive or negative … the positive outcomes from risk taking...

You think risk management is not important?   Think again and join the conversation ! The 2016 proxy statement from IBM includes a full page discussion on corporate governance.   Roughly a third of that page is devoted to the topic of risk management.   To quote a few key lines:   “At IBM, we believe that innovation and leadership are impossible without taking risks.   We also recognize that imprudent acceptance of risk or the failure to appropriate identify and mitigate risks could be destructive to stockholder value.”   This is music to my ears!   At the Manhattanville School of Business, we live by this “tag line”:   Managing risk for organizational growth and sustainability.   You can’t afford not to. IBM’s statement raises three important points that are near and dear for me.   First, there is no success without risk.   I could go even further to say that there’s really nothing—and I really mean nothing—with...