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Saginaw Valley State University

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Saginaw Valley State University
Saginaw Valley State U.
 7400 Bay Road
University Center, MI, 48710
United States
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Demographic Information

Number of full-time MBA students (2011): 

24

Number of part-time MBA students (2011): 

15

Total duration of full-time MBA program: 

24 months

MBA faculty (Fall 2010): 

54

Females as percent of student body: 

36%
Who Are the Students? See what percentage of the 2010-2011 graduating class came to this MBA program from the private sector, the non-profit sector and government jobs
 
Private Sector (80%)
 
Non-profit (10%)
 
Government (10%)


Description of MBA Program: 

The MBA students at SVSU are required to take a course in which over half of the material consists of active learning of ethical issues. A number of our faculty are publishing articles in the area of social, ethical, and environmental issues. The university runs a Green initiative web site. The College of Business and Management conducts courses in sustainable business and is continuing this effort in future course work. Student organizations raise funds for charity and engage in competitions with other universities to raise the most funds. Course projects focuses on sustainable business are a part of the classes. A number of energy initiatives such as hybrid batteries, solar roof shingles, solar panels and other new firms are moving to the area. SVSU students are working at these firms and working as interns in some of the startups in this area.



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

The university sponsors a number of Green Cardinal programs and maintains a web site devoted to energy issues. The Green Cardinal sponsors movie nights which show free movies on topics of conservation and course projects on recycling. The Cardinal Green house has red wiggler worms which eat trash and generate worm tea which is a wonderful fertilizer. Since 2008, the worms have recycled 15,175 pounds of food waste.

 

The new health sciences building has the larges aquathermal heating and cooling system in the state. Our water retention ponds are used to regulate the water levels. Students have engaged in competitions with other universities to raise funds and this year won the competition.

 

Students who are part of leadership groups must contribute 50 hours of community service as a part of their group membership.

Academic Department

Course Name: Global Business
Instructor: Jill Wetmore, Said Elfakhani

This is an introductory course in the strategic management of organizations from a global perspective.

The course focuses on development of an analytical framework to evaluate countries a firm wishes to

enter, products offered and form of entry.

Normally this course is taken early in the core portion of the MBA Program. Students are asked to

take the perspective of the decision maker at the corporate strategic level, and not from specific

business functions are disciplines, e.g., marketing, finance, and operations.

Course Name: Social Responsibility and Ethics in Business
Instructor: C Surender Reddy

An examination of social, ethical, ecological and thechilogical issues that affect business activity and the effect of business decisions on society. Emphasis is on understaniding how business organizations can respond responsibly and ethically to social forces.

Course Name: Social Responsibility and Ethics in Business
Instructor: C Surender Reddy

An examination of social, ethical, ecological and thechilogical issues that affect business activity and the effect of business decisions on society. Emphasis is on understaniding how business organizations can respond responsibly and ethically to social forces.

Type of Offering

Executive Speaker Series
Date: October, 2009

The College of Business and Management sponsor at least three and possibly more Executive speakers. The first speaker was David Gamaz who manages a health care organization for low income individuals.

The second speaker was George Hamilton. He spoke on a variety of products that Dow Chemical was developing that would save energy.

The third speaker in April 2010 was Clarence Rivette who discussed opportunities for international business with Viet Nam.

The fall speaker in October 2010 was Joseph Perkins of Nexteer Automotive who spoke of the internationalization of products and how products needed to be modified for different markets due to the resouces available or not available in the market.

TOMs Shoes
Date: April, 2010

The president of TOMs shoes was invited to speak at SVSU in March 2010. The shoe company is noted for donating a pair of shoes to someone in an underdeveloped nation each time a pair of shoes is sold in the US. The students have taken the process further and conducted TOMs shoes barefoot days.

The Green Cardinal Initiative
Business School Housing? No
Contact Name: Brian Thomas
Contact Email: bjthoma1@svsu.edu

The Green Cardinal Initiative is a group of students, faculty, and staff at Saginaw Valley State University who are interested in creating a more sustainable future. The website allows students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members to sign up to be a Green Cardinal and to join in the conversation. Based on funding from the Allen Foundation, SVSU’s WIRED grant from the Department of Labor, and the SVSU Foundation we are working on several projects including recycling waste from our Dining Services into organic fertilizer, creating sustainable hydroponics systems for inner city urban areas, developing renewable options for fossil fuels, Vermiponics, and raising environmental awareness on campus and throughout Mid-Michigan.

Delta Sigma Pi

Members of the co-educational business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi are involved in sponsoring community events such as the Midland Special Olympics, and Relay for Life.

a Study of the environmental issues associated with the Dominican Reputlic-Central American Free Trade Agreement
Author(s): Sam Sarkar

The Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) with the United States was passed on July 28, 2005. The main goal of DR-CAFTA is to create a free trade zone for economic development. The Agreement is highly controversial with many contentious issues including concern about the environment, which is the focus of this study. The concern is that the environmental objectives are expected to be subservient to trade and other economic incentives which will lead to further deterioration of the environment in countries where the environmental standards are already low. The effects on the U.S. environment are expected to be minimal. However, it is feared that the U.S. manufacturing facilities may relocate to Central American countries to take advantage of low wages and low environmental requirements, which may result in loss of jobs and capital investment in the U.S. However, overall DR-CAFTA is expected to be beneficial in many ways, including an increase in trade and economic growth in all participating countries.

Journal Title: International Business and Economics Research Journal Volume: 8 Edition: 1 Page Numbers: 113-118
Does Atypical Work Help the Jobless? Evidence from a CAEAS/CPA Cohort Analysis
Author(s): John T Addison; Christopher J. Surfield

Atypical employment, such as temporary, on-call and contract work, has been found disproportionately to attract the jobless. But there is no consensus in the literature as to the labour market consequences of such job choice by unemployed individuals. Using data from the Current Population Survey, we investigate the implications of the initial job-finding strategies pursued by the jobless for their short- and medium-term employment stability. At first sight, it appears that taking an offer of regular employment provides the greatest degree of employment continuity for the jobless. However, closer inspection indicates that the jobless who take up atypical employment are not only more likely to be employed 1 month and 1 year later than those who continue to search, but also to enjoy employment continuity that is not less favourable than that offered by regular, open-ended employment.

Journal Title: Applied Economics Volume: 41 Edition: 7 Page Numbers: 1077-1087
Failure to Launch: The Kyoto Protocol and Sustainable Strategic Management
Author(s): Rebecca Griffin; George Puia

Despite an unquestioned worldwide green movement, business progress toward environmental sustainability has been relatively slow. The relative speed of greening may result from a lack of a dominant design or set of agreed upon standards. Some scholars argue that in uncertain technology markets, industry needs government initiatives such as the Kyoto protocol to accelerate its development. Governments failed to ratify the treaty quickly, weakening its effectiveness. This research presents that environmental treaty ratification takes place in a complex environment of cultural, political, and economic forces. This makes environmental sustainability more complex and suggests that markets rather than governments will be the driving force in sustainability standards.

Journal Title: the International Journal of Sustainable Strategic Management Volume: 1 Edition: 4 Page Numbers: 360-375
The sustainability-diversification dilemma
Author(s): George Puia

Diversification poses a strategic management dilemma. Paths to sustainability require firms to develop new products and technologies and to adjust their networks of suppliers and customers; sustainability requires diversification. To become fully sustainable, firms need to diversify in ways unrelated to their core knowledge of technology and markets. Financial markets tend to discount shares of firms that diversify. The current literature does not distinguish sustainability related diversification (SRD) from other motives for diversification. This paper, after reviewing the related literature, proposes some testable propositions that could lead to the development of a mid-range theory of sustainability-related diversification.

Journal Title: the International Journal of Sustainable Strategic Management Volume: 1 Edition: 4 Page Numbers: 389-404