Beyond Grey Pinstripes

     

University of Arkansas

All Participating Schools

     
University of Arkansas
U. of Arkansas (Walton)
 310 Willard J. Walker Hall
Fayetteville, AR, 72703
United States
View A School Profile: Compare to Another School

Demographic Information

Number of full-time MBA students (2011): 

32

Number of part-time MBA students (2011): 

52

Total duration of full-time MBA program: 

16 months

MBA faculty (Fall 2010): 

103

Females as percent of student body: 

18%
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 (85%)
 
Non-profit (4%)
 
Government (11%)


Description of MBA Program: 

The MBA programs at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas prepare our students to meet the challenges of social and environmental mainstream business issues by providing students with a rigorous business core curriculum in all the relevant functional disciplines. Students gain a multi-disciplinary understanding of key social and environmental issues through these classes. Instructors make use of business cases and current events to illustrate the importance of these critical issues. We take a more holistic approach in our strategic management, capstone and ethics classes which address these issues more directly. Once again, faculty rely on case studies and class discussions of current events to enhance students’ understanding of key social and environmental issues. For students wanting a more in-depth background in these areas, we are flexible in encouraging students to select courses from disciplines both within and outside the business school to develop a custom career track in business sustainability.



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

The University of Arkansas is a leader in campus sustainability efforts, in large part due to its commitment and dedicated resources to reduce its environmental impact and neutralize its carbon footprint. The university works to lessen its environmental impact by:

  • education of students and citizens about environmental stewardship and sustainability;
  • research to develop knowledge and technologies that facilitate sustainability and improved environmental stewardship;
  • committing to become a carbon neutral institution as soon as it is practical;
  • committing to become a zero-waste institution as soon as it is practical; and
  • serving as an exemplar of environmental stewardship for our community, Arkansas, and the world.


The University of Arkansas Sustainability Council, comprising faculty, staff, students and representatives from the Fayetteville community, seeks to support the University of Arkansas environmental stewardship mission. They do this through coordination of ideas, information and resources among the university’s student body, academic departments and administrative units to develop and execute projects, using seven categories - or pillars - to guide their work


The Seven Pillars Working Groups are:

  1. Academics & Research
  2. Energy
  3. Water Resources
  4. Food, Agriculture & Forestry
  5. Land Use & Development
  6. Pollution Prevention & Waste Minimization
  7. Social & Community

 

Academic Department

Course Name: Careers, Vocation and Calling
Instructor: Judith Neal

This course explores the relationship between careers, vocation, and calling. The words “vocation” and “calling” have traditionally been used in a religious sense, such as being called to be in the ministry, or to be called to be a pastor of a church. In the past 10 years or so, more and more people are seeing their work in corporate and in non-profit settings as their vocation and calling. The course will examine the different mind-sets of being focused just on career, versus the mind-set that your work is a vocation and calling.

Students participate in a values clarification exercise that helps them to see which values are core to who they are and which values they would like to integrate more into life and work. Students learn about research that has been conducted on the role of faith and spirituality in career development and have the opportunity to explore what role, if any, faith and spirituality have played in work life.

Course Name: Cross Sector Collaboration for Sustainability
Instructor: David Hyatt

This course explores interaction between two sectors of society—for-profit business organizations and nonprofit organizations (NPOs) with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation to address social and environmental problems. We will investigate the forces that bring about and influence these interactions from practical and theoretical perspectives. The course will examine the increasing adoption of cross-sector collaboration for creating mutual value, such as by creating markets and environmental stability. Understanding the diversity of perspectives and purposes held by organizations across the sectors, we will explore risks, challenges, and issues inherent in collaboration, including power imbalance, creating trust, and accountability, under these circumstances. Cases and readings aim to develop an appreciation of how managers bring organizational strategies and capabilities to bear on these issues. We will consider perspectives of business and NPO managers.

Course Name: Financial Markets and Valuation
Instructor: Tomas Jandik

The course utilizes a case titled Acid Rain: The Southern Co. by Forest Reinhardt. This case describes an electric utility's exploration of the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act and it's impact on the company's profitability.

Course Name: Innovation and Creativity
Instructor: Alan Ellstrand

The course devotes significant time to sustainability and cultural/ethnic diversity as a driver for innovation. The course uses two focused cases: Harvard Business Review—Nidumolu, Prahalad and Rangaswami—“Why Sustainability is Now the Key Driver of Innovation”

Harvard Business Review —Lovins, Lovins and Hawken—“A Road Map for Natural Capitalism”

Course Name: Shopper, Buyer, and Consumer Behavior
Instructor: Jeff Murray

Sustainability and social responsibility as a focus of ethnography research are used to illustrate consumer behavior in this course. Course Goals:

• Explain the importance of using multiple perspectives to analyze shopper, buyer, and consumer behavior.

• Recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective in its application to shopper, buyer, and consumer behavior.

• Identify the most appropriate perspective for interpreting and solving a specific problem in shopper, buyer, and consumer behavior.

• Apply multiple perspectives in creative ways to:

o Interpret the complexity of cultural phenomena in the retail environment;

o Propose solutions to marketing problems as they relate to the retail environment;

o Construct innovative marketing strategies useful in the retail environment.

Texts Required:

1. Mind Wide Open (2004) by Steven Johnson

2. Blink (2005) by Malcolm Gladwell

3. Tipping Point (2002) by Malcolm Gladwell

4. Outliers (2008) by Malcolm Gladwell

Course Name: Strategic Management
Instructor: Vikas Anand

This course is required in both the full time and the part time MBA programs. As part of this course, students are exposed to how macrosocial changes in the environment (including globalization, technological innovation, and the limits of the natural environment) affect strategic decision making in the coming years. Students also learn the role that businesses play in the larger social arena, including the erosive forces of unfettered greed, and the importance or corporations in creating a truly sustainable economy. Cases used include a Walmart Sustainability case as well as the Starbucks-Conservation International Alliance case where Starbucks has invested in sustainable and environmental friendly cultivation practices in Columbia through their Conservation International Partnership.

Course Name: Sustainability in Business
Instructor: Terry Tremwell

The concept of the class is quite simple: sustainability must be cultural, financial, and environmental in character, AKA triple-play sustainability, or it is not truly sustainable. Culture is the ocean in which we swim; we are no more aware of it than fish are aware of water. We are not aware of it but it forms the basis of our decisions. Businesses must be financially profitable to exist; they must increase profits to expand the value they offer. The environment is finite and our actions frequently affect others. Engineers optimize, scientists observe and extrapolate, businesses create wealth, governments organize, and artists capture an idea and convey it; each of these can be beneficial or can be distorted to damage our common world.

Type of Offering

Social Activism in Business
Date: March, 2010

John Babbs, former business leader, now head of Sufi order. John shared the story of his own career from corporate lawyer, to social activist for human rights, to spiritual teacher in the Sufi order. He helped students to understand that work can often create defining moments where you understand what your truest and deepest values are, and he encouraged students to act from that place of deepest integrity.

Tyson and sustainability in food protein.
Date: April, 2010

Kevin Igli, VP; General Mills Sustainability Efforts Gene Kahn, VP Global Sustainability, Tyson, discuss company efforts in food and water management in emerging markets.

How Faith and Spirituality in Management Work to Reconcile the Growth of Human Well-being with Productivity and Profits
Date: April, 2010

"How Faith and Spirituality in Management Work to Reconcile the Growth of Human Well-being with Productivity and Profits'' presented by Dr. J.-Robert Ouimet. His organization has been integrating faith and spirituality in the workplace for 40 years. Dr. J.-Robert Ouimet is the Chairman of OCB Holding.

The Role of Logistics in Biofuels Markets
Date: January, 2011

Danny Aronson, Waterways Manager for Petrobras spoke on the environmental impact of biofuels and the biofuel market.

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage

Dr. Dan Esty, Yale University, was guest lecturer in Dr. Vikas Anand’s MBA class in March 2008, lecturing from his new book, Green to Gold. The lecture highlighted success stories of companies that had benefited from environmental initiatives, but also included corporate environmental initiatives that had failed. Successful initiatives require companies to follow environmental best practices like CEO commitment, environmental management systems, reporting and communication and the development of a "culture of concern."

Management for a Small Planet
Type: Video Series
Date: October, 2009

Dr. Judi Neal interviews Jean and W. Edward Stead, authors of the book Management for a Small Planet.

http://ice.waltoncollege.uark.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=37e05d0f5d6b4f5...

Ethics and Hamony in the Workplace
Date: November, 2010

Geshe Dorjee, a Tibetan monk, and an instructor at the University of Arkansas, spoke to the student group “Future Professionals for Faith and Spirituality” about the importance of ethics and harmony in the workplace. He described the role of compassion and inner peace in workplace relationships, and taught a brief meditation.

http://ice.waltoncollege.uark.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=78f4fcbb32774ac...

Leaving the Corporate Path - The Story of World Garden
Type: Video Series
Date: December, 2009

Judith Neal interviews Rick Boosey, caretaker of World Garden.

Right Livelihood
Date: April, 2010

Barbara Taylor, retired Vice Chancellor of Human Resources for the University of Arkansas and founder of the Morning Star Zen Center in Fayetteville. Barbara provided an overview of key principles of Buddhism, with a special focus on “Right Livelihood” and doing work that makes a positive difference in the world.

Fraud and White Collar Crime
Type: Video Series
Date: March, 2010

Diann Cattani, a member of the Forensic Investigative Accounting Group in Atlanta, Georgia, is interviewed by Judith Neal, Director of the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace. Diann discusses how she personally got interested in the field of fraud and white collar crime, and shares her faith and spiritual journey as she got involved in understanding fraud.

http://ice.waltoncollege.uark.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=167e4d34ebd641f...

http://ice.waltoncollege.uark.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=ddf7298eab9a480...

Ed Begley, Jr on Living and the Eco-Friendly Life
Date: October, 2009

Ed Begley, Jr. spoke on the ethics of living a socially and environmentally responsible life.

Center Piecing and Core Leadership Values
Date: February, 2010

Mel Toomey, CEO of Generative Leadership Group. Mel conducted a “Center Piecing Exercise” with the students that helped them to get greater clarity about their core values and sense of mission and how they would like to live those in their future jobs.

Tyson Foods - A Faith-Friendly Company
Date: February, 2010

John Tyson, Chairman of Tyson Foods. Mr. Tyson spoke about what it means to run a faith-friendly company, and the importance of having policies that let people express their faith or spiritual path, whatever it is. He also spoke about the way Tyson Foods has core values regarding sustainability, work-life balance, and feeding the hungry all over the world.

Purchasing power parity: what does GDP miss? What will the poor buy?
Date: February, 2010

Dr. Andy Horowitz, UA Economist, discusses the economics of poverty.

Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace with Judi Neal
Type: Webinar
Date: August, 2009

Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace is a newly emerging field of study and practice in the field of management and organizational change. It has been shown that organizations which are faith and spirituality friendly are more likely to have higher levels of job satisfaction, higher levels of customer service, greater innovation, and lower turnover and absenteeism. Dr. Neal will share research findings and also describe examples of organizational practices. This webinar will conclude with practical steps you can take if you want to implement a faith and spirituality in the workplace program, and with some suggested ways in which you can live your faith and spirituality in an integrated way in your work.

http://ice.waltoncollege.uark.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=ab331a079d6b4ab...

Wal-Mart and Sustainability
Date: April, 2010

Rand Waddoups Sr. Director of Sustainability, Wal-Mart, discusses Wal-Mart's sustainability initiatives and their environmental impact.

Sustainability and Internal Audit
Date: February, 2010

Dr. Gary Peters and Andi Romi, University of Arkansas, discuss new standards to reduce, reuse and recycle as applied to the accounting profession.

Diversity, Religion and EEOC Compliance
Date: October, 2009

The following presentation is intended to provide a general overview of certain aspects of the law regarding religion, diversity, and equal employment opportunity compliance. Proper application of the law depends on the facts and circumstances of each specific case. This presentation is not intended as legal advice. If you need legal advice concerning your rights under applicable law, you may wish to consult with an attorney. The University of Arkansas does not warrant or guarantee that this presentation is accurate or current.

http://ice.waltoncollege.uark.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=a0a654fded7b42f...

World Population Implications for Food Sustainability
Date: March, 2010

Dr. Marty Matlock discusses the expanding views of third world markets.

Doing Virtuous Business
Date: November, 2010

Featuring Theodore Malloch, Yale University Spiritual Capital Initiative; John Tyson, chairman, Tyson Foods Inc; Chip Pollard, president, John Brown University; David Roth, president, WorkMatters; Brooklyn Brock, an officer in Future Professionals for Faith and Spirituality.

Doing Virtuous Business spotlights more than a dozen inspirational business success stories, featuring unprecedented access to many of the most celebrated and influential entrepreneurs and chief executives throughout the world. Two of those leaders are from Northwest Arkansas: Tyson, who is a sponsor of the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace, and Don Soderquist, who is the retired CEO of Wal-Mart and founder of the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics at John Brown University.

http://ice.waltoncollege.uark.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=2d62ce5bad1a4ab...

Pages

Antecedents and Dimensions of Partnering Behavior in Logistics Outsourcing Relationships
Author(s): Rossiter-Hofer,Adriana

In order to be successful in today’s competitive environment, third-party logistics providers (3PLs) increasingly strive to develop close, mutually beneficial long-term relationships with customers. The current study identifies interorganizational conditions and firm-specific factors that influence a firm’s partnering behavior with its 3PL. A model of the antecedents and dimensions of partnering behavior is developed and tested with a diverse set of relationships between a focal 3PL and members of its customer base.

Journal Title: Journal of Business Logistics Volume: 30 Edition: 2 Page Numbers: 141-159
Automatic Online News Monitoring and Classification for Syndromic Surveillance
Author(s): Zhang,Yulei

Syndromic surveillance can play an important role in protecting the public's health against infectious diseases. Infectious disease outbreaks can have a devastating effect on society as well as the economy, and global awareness is therefore critical to protecting against major outbreaks. By monitoring online news sources and developing an accurate news classification system for syndromic surveillance, public health personnel can be apprised of outbreaks and potential outbreak situations. In this study, we have developed a framework for automatic online news monitoring and classification for syndromic surveillance. The framework is unique and none of the techniques adopted in this study have been previously used in the context of syndromic surveillance on infectious diseases. In recent classification experiments, we compared the performance of different feature subsets on different machine learning algorithms. The results showed that the combined feature subsets including Bag of Words, Noun Phrases, and Named Entities features outperformed the Bag of Words feature subsets. Furthermore, feature selection improved the performance of feature subsets in online news classification. The highest classification performance was achieved when using SVM upon the selected combination feature subset.

Journal Title: Decision Support Systems Volume: 47 Edition: 4 Page Numbers: 508-517
Bad Apples, Bad Cases, and Bad Barrels: Meta-Analytic Evidence About Sources of Unethical Decisions at Work
Author(s): Kish-Kephart,Jennifer

As corporate scandals proliferate, practitioners and researchers alike need a cumulative, quantitative understanding of the antecedents associated with unethical decisions in organizations. In this metaanalysis, the authors draw from over 30 years of research and multiple literatures to examine individual (“bad apple”), moral issue (“bad case”), and organizational environment (“bad barrel”) antecedents of unethical choice. Findings provide empirical support for several foundational theories and paint a clearer picture of relationships characterized by mixed results. Structural equation modeling revealed the complexity (multidetermined nature) of unethical choice, as well as a need for research that simultaneously examines different sets of antecedents. Moderator analyses unexpectedly uncovered better prediction of unethical behavior than of intention for several variables. This suggests a need to more strongly consider a new “ethical impulse” perspective in addition to the traditional “ethical calculus” perspective. Results serve as a data-based foundation and guide for future theoretical and empirical development in the domain of behavioral ethics.

Journal Title: Journal of Applied Psychology Volume: 95 Edition: 1 Page Numbers:
Disclosure Quality and the Mispricing of Accruals and Cash Flow
Author(s): Myers,Linda Ann

In this paper, we investigate the role that disclosure quality plays in the accurate valuation of accruals and cash flow. We predict that stock prices of firms with higher-quality disclosures more accurately reflect the persistence of accruals and cash flow. We test our predictions using analyst ratings of disclosure published in the annual Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) Corporate Information Committee Reports for the years 1982 through 1996. The results provide strong evidence of mispricing for the subset of firms with lower-quality disclosures and of a significant reduction in mispricing for the subset of firms with higher-quality disclosures. We confirm the results of our Mishkin tests using returns regressions that also control for investor sophistication, analyst following, and firm life cycle stage. Overall, our results demonstrate the mitigating effect that higher-quality disclosure has on mispricing.

Journal Title: Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance Volume: 24 Edition: 3 Page Numbers:
Disclosure Quality and the Mispricing of Accruals and Cash Flow
Author(s): Myers,James Nelson
Journal Title: Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance Volume: 24 Edition: 3 Page Numbers:
Fair Value Accounting and Gains from Asset Securitizations: A Convenient Earnings Management Tool with Compensation Side-Benefits
Author(s): Myers,Linda Ann

Accounting rules for valuing retained interest from securitizations require management to make assumptions concerning discount rates, default rates, and prepayment rates. These assumptions provide management with discretion to determine the “gain on sale” of the receivables. We investigate whether CEO compensation is less sensitive to securitization gains than to other earnings components in the presence of proxies for how independent (outsiders, females, fewer CEO-selected directors) and informed (financial expertise) directors are. Overall, out results do not suggest that better “monitoring” reduces earnings management or CEO pay-sensitivity to reported securitization gains. Our results suggest that CEOs are rewarded for the gains they report and boards do not intervene.

Journal Title: Journal of Accounting and Economics Volume: Edition: Page Numbers:
The Environmental Effects of Airline Carbon Emissions Taxation in the US
Author(s): Hofer,Christian

This study investigates how air traffic emissions taxes may impact total carbon emissions in the US. The magnitude of emissions savings in the US. domestic airline industry that would result from lower demand for air travel as taxes are levied and air fares increase is estimated. At the same time, the air-automobile substitution effect is considered and it is argued that some air travelers may divert to automobiles, thus increasing automobile carbon emissions. Both the analysis of the aggregate U.S. domestic airline industry and the study of a sample of US. domestic route markets indicate that potentially sizeable increases in automobile traffic and related emissions may substantially reduce the environmental benefits of air travel carbon emissions taxes. In some instances, total carbon emissions may even increase in short-haul markets. Sensitivity analyses are performed to demonstrate the robustness of these findings.

Journal Title: Transportation Research: Part D Volume: 15 Edition: 1 Page Numbers: 37-45
The Roles that Forecast Surprise and Forecast Error Play in Determining Management Forecast Precision
Author(s): Myers,Linda Ann

Studying the determinants of management forecast precision is important because a better understanding of the factors affecting management’s choice of forecast precision can provide investors and other users with cues about the characteristics of the information contained in the forecasts. In addition, as regulators assess the regulation of voluntary management disclosures, they need to better understand how managers choose among forecast precision disclosure alternatives. Using 16,872 management earnings forecasts collected from 1995 through 2004, we provide strong evidence that forecast precision is negatively associated with the magnitude of the forecast surprise and that this negative association is stronger when the forecast is bad news than when it is good news. We also find that forecast precision is negatively associated with the absolute magnitude of the forecast error which proxies for the forecast uncertainty that managers face when they issue forecasts, and that the negative association is stronger when forecast errors are negative. These results are consistent with greater liability concerns related to bad news forecasts and negative forecast errors, respectively. Our study provides educators and researchers with important insights into management’s choice of earnings forecast precision, which is a component of the voluntary disclosure process that is not well understood.

Journal Title: Accounting Horizons Volume: Edition: Page Numbers: