FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Sam M.
Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas has expanded its
international footprint by partnering with Tongji University in Shanghai, China,
to launch an executive Master of Business Administration program.
An agreement
between the two schools was signed on Wednesday, May 23, at Tongji University.
The MBA, which begins in January 2008, will focus exclusively on retailing,
consumer products and logistics and cover everything from shopping behavior to
transportation infrastructure to law and ethics.
“The vision of
the executive MBA program is to help Fortune 500 companies remove their
greatest barrier of growth in the world’s most important marketplace:
development of leadership talent in China,” said Walton College Dean Dan
Worrell. “We believe that our educational expertise combined with that of Tongji
University creates a world-class program that will help students succeed in
this global marketplace.”
Walton College
representatives present at the signing with Tongji University included:
Worrell; Bill Curington, senior associate dean for academic programs and research;
David Hyatt, senior assistant dean for finance and administration; Don Bland,
senior managing director of outreach; Joe Ziegler, director of international programs
and chair of the economics department; Vernon Richardson, professor and the Ralph
L. McQueen Chair in Accounting; Theres Stiefer, director of the Center for
Management and Executive Education; and Matt Waller, professor of marketing and
logistics and holder of the Oren Harris Chair in Logistics.
American-based
business people were also present, including Jim Rice, vice president of Tyson
Foods Inc., and representatives from Procter & Gamble and from Wal-Mart
Stores Inc.
Waller will lead
the executive MBA program for the first three years. He said, “American
companies are now flocking to China not to produce things; they are already
doing that. They are now flocking there because there are 1.3 billion
consumers.
“One
distinguishing feature of this MBA program is that U.S.-based consumer products
companies, logistics service providers and several other companies doing
business in China have agreed to place their associates in the program,” Waller
said. Students will include expatriates and Chinese nationals working for U.S.
companies.
The 16-month program will meet nine times in Shanghai
and twice at the University of Arkansas, where students will visit Wal-Mart
headquarters to meet with senior executives and tour the home office, stores
and distribution centers. While in Arkansas, students will also hear
presentations from supplier executives as well as participate in lectures by Walton
College professors. In addition, some of the courses will be taught online. The
entire program will be conducted in English. For all of the Shanghai meetings,
the students will arrive on Friday and leave on Monday, so there will be
virtually no interruption to their current job responsibilities.
The executive
MBA program will have a capstone project that requires participants to identify
$250,000 in cost reduction or profit increase for their company. The project
must be documented and approved by an executive sponsor at their respective
companies. The lead faculty will periodically provide direct feedback about the
project to the executive sponsor as well as to the student. The cost of the
program is $50,000 per student with a capacity of 30 students for each 16-month
program. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Tyson Foods Inc., Procter & Gamble,
Kimberly-Clark, A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, and Accenture are among the companies
who have agreed to send students for the initial cohort next January.
Waller will
reside in China to lead the first two cohorts of the program. He has conducted
extensive research on global supply chain management, is learning Mandarin and
is involved with several international businesses.
Additionally,
there will be several industry-leading guest lecturers throughout the MBA course,
including, but not limited to: Mike Duke, vice chairman of Wal-Mart; Gary
Maxwell, senior vice president, Wal-Mart International; Wan-Ling Martello, chief
financial officer of Wal-Mart International; Andy Jett, vice president of
Procter & Gamble; Jeff Schomburger, Procter & Gamble team president;
Andy Murray, global chief executive officer of Saatchi & Saatchi X; Wade
Miquelon, CFO of Tyson Foods; Rick Greubel, group vice president of Tyson Foods
International; and Josef C. Mueller, executive partner of Retail Industry Lead,
Greater China, Accenture. Maxwell is chair of the Executive MBA External
Advisory Board.