Beyond Grey Pinstripes

     

Pepperdine University (Graziadio)

All Participating Schools

     
Pepperdine University (Graziadio) 24255 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, CA, 90263
United States
View A School Profile: Compare to Another School

Demographic Information

Number of full-time MBA students (2011): 

169

Number of part-time MBA students (2011): 

445

Total duration of full-time MBA program: 

20 months

MBA faculty (Fall 2010): 

140


Description of MBA Program: 

The mission of the Graziadio School is to develop values-centered leaders and advance responsible business practice through education that is entrepreneurial in spirit, ethical in focus and global in orientation.  As a professional school growing out of the tradition of a Christian University, we seek to positively impact both society at large and the organizations and communities in which our students and graduates are members.  Therefore, we affirm a higher purpose for business practice than the exclusive pursuit of shareholder wealth. We believe that successful management seeks collective good along with individual profit and is anchored in core values such as integrity, stewardship, courage, and compassion.



How does the MBA program 'walk the talk' of social and environmental impact?: 

Pepperdine engages in responsible stewardship by undertaking practices that ensure the sustenance of our environment and natural resources. Careful consideration is paid to the  environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with any proposed activities.  Pepperdine has engaged in and created numerous other practices to minimize the impact on our environment and to instill an eco-minded awareness in students.  Some of these practices include: Center for Sustainability; Crowne Disposal (every single recyclable item disposed of at Pepperdine is recycled with an average diversion rate of 78% of the overall campus waste stream); Centrally controlled automation systems - computerized system that controls HVAC and lighting to reduce energy consumption; Water Reclamation program for irrigation; Rideshare programs; Shuttle services provide transportation on campus and into the local shopping areas; Freon recycling system; Following topographic slopes to reduce grading; native vegetation in landscapes; Net Impact (Greening Initiative). Educating and positively influencing our campus community is directly at the heart of our mission. Pepperdine hosts multiple groups, clubs, and events which give students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to engage in environmental stewardship. Social activities include:  PATH (People Assisting The Homeless) volunteer opportunities for faculty and staff; "Step Forward Day" with yearly around 1,400 participants providing 4,200 hours of community service at more than 45 different locations; Magill Symposium an event bringing together business faculty, leaders, and students to communicate the values of social and environmental responsibly as well as sound ethical practices in business. We are continually working to improve our environmental practices and remain steadfast in our focus on sustainability through communication, practice, and education.

Academic Department

Course Name: Acquiring Wealthn Power & Succes, Moral and Ethical
Instructor: Dennis Torres

This course examines how financial wealth, success and power can be

acquired and maintained through moral and ethical means. While definitions

of these terms will be explored, the course does not seek to define them for

the individual student, but rather to help the student develop the analytical

skills necessary to evaluate the choices and consequences that will ultimately

define his or her life experience. This is a seminar involving rigorous classroom

discussion and critical thinking exercises that analyze real life experiences of

both contemporary and historical figures and of the students themselves.

Course Name: Applied Data Analysis
Instructor: Joe Hahn, Samuel Seaman, Kenneth Ko

The course is designed to prepare students to succeed in this environment by providing a foundation in underlying theory, illustrating analytical methods via classroom examples, providing instruction on relevant software tools, and presenting opportunities to independently apply techniques learned from homework problems and cases. Examples and cases will deal with real world business problems, including those with qualitative and categorical data representing social, environmental and ethical measures. The teaching approach will include lectures along with tutorials and demonstrations in class with software add-ins for Microsoft Excel.

Course Name: Business Analysis Using Financial Statements
Instructor: Ronald Ford

This course examines the viability of the firm and its strategies within the framework of accounting rules and conventions. Methods of credit analysis, securities analysis, and performance analysis will be developed. Pro forma financial statements for investment decisions will be created using various forecasting techniques. These principles are applied, in conjunction with information from financial markets, to a variety of managerial decisions including firm valuation, credit scoring and bond ratings, distress prediction, and determining value-enhancing capital structures and financing choices. In class, each student was asked to pick one major corporate fraud and identify both what happened, how it occurred, and how the situation could have been detected with better corporate governance and ethical standards.

Course Name: Business to Business Marketing
Instructor: Derek Podobas

This course was designed for students who are interested in understanding the forces which drive the complex Business-to-Business environment. This is a hands-on, practical, fact-based marketing class with a focus on rapid, but accurate decision making processes. Students will work with actual cases, critically watch and listen to testimonials by successful business executives, and test their strategies and tactics by working with Excel based simulation models. A strong emphasis will be placed on understanding the value of socially and environmentally responsible business practices.

Course Name: Consumer Behavior
Instructor: Andrea Scott

Consumer behavior lies at the crossroads of the marketing, psychology, economics and anthropology disciplines. It attempts to understand the consumption activities of individuals as opposed to markets. The course will focus on consumer behavior although much of the theory we will cover applies to industrial settings. One class will be devoted to industrial consumer behavior and from time to time we will discuss the application of this discipline to business to business settings. We will be discussing environmental considerations and social impact within the context of marketing and consumer behavior.

Course Name: Cross-Cultural Management
Instructor: Ann Feyerherm, Magaret Phillips, Mark Allen

This course explores cultural influences on organizations and on the people

working within them. Emphasis is placed on learning how to “learn culture”

using methods for scanning the cultural assumptions of groups; bringing

personally held cultural assumptions to consciousness; gaining exposure

to the cultures of a variety of different regions, nations, and groups and

considering their organizational and managerial implications; and facilitating

communication and cooperation across cultures. Personal and managerial

skills are developed to enhance performance in multicultural environments

and on transpatriate assignment.

Course Name: Designing and Managing International Organization
Instructor: Andre S. Avramchuk

This course develops skills in critically evaluating an organization from

multiple theoretical perspectives and integrating the findings into a diagnosis

of the organization’s current situation. Emphasis is placed on using the results

of this well-grounded diagnosis to develop recommendations for change.

Implications of the cultural context(s) of the organization and its members

are explored. A comprehensive understanding of the scope and process of

organization change is developed.

Course Name: Doing Business in Emerging Markets
Instructor: Robert Coscarello

This course provides an introductory overview of international business

focusing on the major emerging market economies. Emphasis is on the important

factors that influence a company’s selection of the countries in which to market,

including the following topics: Globalization and international business;

Emerging market characteristics; Factors to be considered in selecting specific

countries, including economic, cultural, ethical, environmental, political, and

legal differences; Identification and evaluation of entry strategies, including

export, direct investment, collaborative, and distribution alternatives; and

analysis of human resources, corporate social responsibility, and other key

management issues. This course will focus on the practical aspects of doing

business in emerging markets. Emphasis will be on salient country-specific

factors that are important determinants for successfully launching products in

selected major emerging markets.

Course Name: Economic Concepts
Instructor: Paul Gift, Don Atwater, Shane Moshiri, Paul Olmsted

Economics is a social science and the study of economic concepts plays an important role in the development of leaders. The course has a strong emphasis on how market economies can affect the welfare of a society. It addresses the role of government in correcting potential failures in a market system including abuses of monopoly power and environmental externalities such as excessive pollution and under-funding of education. The course explores ethical dilemmas that people face in a capitalist society and offers guidelines to help values-centered leaders make the right choices in business.

Course Name: Education to Business: Creation of a Sustainability Audit
Instructor: Rhiannon Bailard

The course focuses on a company’s ongoing journey to institutionalize

sustainability. Students will identify challenges and provide resolution on how

to accurately yet equitably assess a sustainability program and share progress.

The course will emphasize the difficulty in defining a sustainability program

that is at once consistent with the core functions and mission of the institution

while also recognizing the need for progress on general sustainability indicators.

This course aims to ultimately provide an objective sustainability assessment

with metrics specifically tailored for the institution as well as a marketing

campaign. The paramount issues requiring resolution are (1) how to create

an objective self-assessment tool; (2) how to instill accountability without

penalizing the institution; and (3) how to advocate for and market successes

without “green-washing.”

Pages

Type of Offering

Annual Beach Battle
Date: September, 2009

Annual Beach Volleyball Event, all proceeds raised go to the charities C4C sponsors.  The event is held annually at the beginning of the school year.  Students, faculty and friends engage in friendly competition on the beach in Santa Monica.

C4C Toy Drive
Type: Fundraiser
Date: December, 2009

Challenge for Charity organized a toy drive to receive and distribute donations for the holiday season. Donations for the Children's Lifesaving Foundation

David Magarian Roundtable/Incubator Series
Date: January, 2010

David Magarian, Environmental Design and Consulting: A LEED Accredited Professional who focuses on the desing and implementation of renewable designs and energy, as well as environmental planning.

Presentation with Rick Woodbury, CEO & Founder of Commuter Cars
Date: October, 2009

Presentation with Rick Woodbury, CEO & Founder of Commuter Cars-- Rick Woodbury discusses launching a sustainable entrepreurial venture and the inspriation that lead to the development of this vehicle. His commuter car was inspired to reduce the consumption of gasoline (battery powered) and traffic congestion (vehicle is no wider than a motorcycle).

NAWMBA Monthly Lunch - Topic: Sustainable Busines
Date: September, 2009

National Association of Women MBAs hosts their monthly lunch with a discussion on sustainable business strategies.

Baylor Ethics Case Competition
Date: November, 2010

School sponsored four member team to travel to Waco to compete in the Baylor Ethics Case Competition. Preparation included an education on Social issues and applying strategies through the case mothod.

Values-Centered Leadership Lab Ethics/CSR Case Competition
Type: Competition
Date: November, 2009

Teams of full-time, fully-employed, and executive graduate business school candidates compete in this annual case competition tournament to test their MBA toolkit mettle through the lens of ethical, environmental, and social sustainability. Sequestered from computers, cell phones and text books, teams analyze a CSR-related business case and prepare presentations that address the issues and offer recommendations focusing on the needs of stakeholder constituents -- owners, shareholders, customers, employees, communities, and the environment. Judge panels comprised of alumni, faculty, and other business leaders critique the feasibility of the presentations, in terms of satisfying both the profit motive and the sustainability motive. One of the Graziadio School's most popular events, the Graziadio/VCLL Case Competition encourages students to engage the mission of the institution: to inspire the values-based business leaders of tomorrow. 

Graziadio Green Internship Fair
Type: Internship Fair
Date: March, 2011

Meet our values-centered leaders at the Graziadio Green Internship Fair. Our program features a diverse group of students pursuing MBA, M.S. Global Business, and International MBA degrees. We invite you to participate in the fair and build your talent pipeline through hiring Graziadio interns.

Annual Beach Battle
Type: Fundraiser
Date: September, 2010

Annual Beach Volleyball Event, all proceeds raised go to the charities C4C sponsors.  The event is held annually at the beginning of the school year.  Students, faculty and friends engage in friendly competition on the beach in Santa Monica.

Social Enterprise Week (SEW) Workshop with Sony Pictures
Date: March, 2010

This social-oriented workshop demonstrated principles and exercises implemented at Sony Pictures Entertainment that dramatically increased productivity and energy for employees.  Students learned leadership techniques to manage their own energy and to teach your employees new and healthierways of working. 

Values-Centered Leadership Lab Ethics/CSR Case Competition
Type: Competition
Date: November, 2010

Teams of full-time, fully-employed, and executive graduate business school candidates compete in this annual case competition tournament to test their MBA toolkit mettle through the lens of ethical, environmental, and social sustainability. Sequestered from computers, cell phones and text books, teams analyze a CSR-related business case and prepare presentations that address the issues and offer recommendations focusing on the needs of stakeholder constituents -- owners, shareholders, customers, employees, communities, and the environment. Judge panels comprised of alumni, faculty, and other business leaders critique the feasibility of the presentations, in terms of satisfying both the profit motive and the sustainability motive. One of the Graziadio School's most popular events, the Graziadio/VCLL Case Competition encourages students to engage the mission of the institution: to inspire the values-based business leaders of tomorrow. 

Magill Symposium
Date: March, 2011

The Theme for 2010 is "Magill Business Symposium 2011 - The SEER Model: Giving Back by Driving Growth" The Magill Symposium is committed to providing an open forum to discuss how businesses of today can create a more sustainable world tomorrow. This year's Magill Business Symposium is centered around Pepperdine University’s premier certificate program as it relates to social, ethical, and environmental responsibility (SEER). By using the SEER business model – which encompasses a quality product/service, financial strength, corporate social responsibility, and environmental stewardship -- businesses are able to drive growth and give back.

Social Enterprise Week
Date: March, 2011

Social Enterprise Week (SEW) brings together the nonprofit, private, and public sectors to describe best practices from across industries and around the globe. The hope is to inspire student club leaders to develop events effective in communicating the values of social and environmental responsibility as well as sound ethical practices in business within the disciplines of their clubs. The event also includes a case competition focused on similar topics of ethical, environmental, and social responsibility. 

Business Ethics & Leadership Principles
Date: June, 2010

Speaker: Charles E. Johnston, former Managing Principal of Towers Perrin’s Strategy & Organization practice; Founder and Managing Principal of the Charles E. Johnston Firm

Mr. Johnston will be sharing his expertise and lessons learned throughout his career via an interactive session on business ethics and leadership principles.

Baylor Ethics Case Competition
Type: Competition
Date: November, 2009

School sponsored four member team to travel to Waco to compete in the Baylor Ethics Case Competition. Preparation included an education on Social issues and applying strategies through the case mothod.

"Ethics in Action"
Date: August, 2010

Alumnus Mr. Jason Gradel, Director of Business Development, Citrix Systems spoke during our Orientation about the importance of Ethics throguhout his career. He highlighted how ethical decisions earlier in his career impacted opportunities later in his career.

Mr. John Edelston, President/CEO HealthPro Associates, Inc.highlighted how ethical decisions earlier in his career impacted opportunities later in his career.

Social Enterprise Week
Date: March, 2010

Social Enterprise Week (SEW) brings together the nonprofit, private, and public sectors to describe best practices from across industries and around the globe. The hope is to inspire student club leaders to develop events effective in communicating the values of social and environmental responsibility as well as sound ethical practices in business within the disciplines of their clubs. The event also includes a case competition focused on similar topics of ethical, environmental, and social responsibility. 

Socially Minded Entrepreneur- In conjunction with the Pepperdine Business Plan Competition
Type: Competition
Date: March, 2010

As a corollary to the annual Pepperdine Business Plan Competition, the VCLL awards a cash prize to the creator(s) of the business plan best encompassing ethical, environmental, and social considerations into their entrepreneurial venture. Distinct from the final-round rankings of the Business Plan Competition, the Socially-Minded Entrepreneur Award highlights business plans employing ethical, environmental, and social stakeholder value maximization as a key component of the day-to-day enterprise. Past award winning business plans have included healthy, environmentally-friendly fast-food ventures, clean-tech energy solutions, and corporate enterprise software encouraging healthy lifestyle choices. 

Entrepreneur's Journey: The Green Era – Challenges and Choices for New Entrepreneurs Today
Date: November, 2010

Moderator: Susanna Kass, MBA ’88, Executive Advisor, TPG Growth Energy Fund and Goldman Sachs Smart Grid; Nathalie Hoffman, Managing Member, California ; Renewable Energy, LLC; Praful Kulkarni, EMBA ’91, Founder, President and CEO, GKK Corp; Bill Vogel, CEO, Apparent Energy, Inc

Net Impact Patagonia Company Visit
Type: Career event
Date: November, 2010

Coordinated a career trek to the Patagonia headquarters in Ventura, CA to observe the sustainable, socially minded and ethical practices that permate throughout this company and drive success.

Pages

Building a collaboration capability for sustainability: How Gap Inc. is creating and leveraging a strategic asset
Author(s): Ann Feyerherm

Organizations are being challenged to find socially acceptable and ecologically proactive

Journal Title: Organizational Dynamics Volume: 39 Edition: 4 Page Numbers: 325-334
Corporate Social Responsibility and Earnings Reporting
Author(s): Maretno A. Harjoto

Despite increasing interests on corpurate social responsibility (CSR) activities among managers, the relationship between CSR and firm value through earnings reporting quality is still unclear. Absence of a strong positive effect of CSR on firm value has led researchers to believe that CSR is a result of a principal-agent issue between shareholders and managers. This study argues CSR represents a corporate culture that influences how a corporation reports its earnings. CSR influences earnings reporting instead ofearnings reporting drives CSR to delude shareholders. CSR induces better earnings reporting quality, therefore, CSR has an indirect but positive effect onfirm value

Journal Title: The Journal of Global Business Issues Volume: 13 Edition: 20 Page Numbers: pp. 1-19
Emotional intelligence development: leveraging individual characteristics
Author(s): Kevin S. Groves

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the separate and combined effects of three individual characteristics on training gains achieved in a leadership development program designed to enhance participants’ emotional intelligence (EI). The overall purpose was to test heretofore untested propositions advanced by various theorists concerning the impact of openness to experience (OE), self-efficacy (SE), and receptivity to feedback (RF) on training outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – This empirical study utilized a sample of 135 fully-employed business students in a treatment/control group research design. Findings – The findings suggest that leadership development professionals will likely derive differential EI training gains depending upon participants’ status across several variables. Receptivity to feedback was directly associated with EI training gains while the SE-RF and SE-OE interactions were predictors of EI training gains. Practical implications – The results hold implications for organizations that seek to enhance the EI of leaders both effectively and efficiently. The application of these findings to a range of leadership development practices and to training efforts that focus on other competencies are discussed. Research implications – The paper connects EI to one of the major challenges facing leaders and leadership development professionals in the future: managing change and offers recommendations regarding research on other factors that are likely to optimize results achieved through efforts to develop the EI of leaders. Originality/value – This is the first study to investigate the impact of these three individual characteristics on training gains achieved. The paper’s findings suggest that some individuals are better candidates for EI training and presents a method to identify them. Keywords Emotional intelligence, Training, Leadership development Paper type Research paper

Journal Title: Journal of Management Development Volume: 28 Edition: 2 Page Numbers: 150-174