Mays Impacts

More than 20 veterans will get the chance to attend the weeklong Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV), which starts Saturday at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School.

The EBV offers training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities resulting from their service to our country. The EBV at Texas A&M is a significant collaboration between the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship (CNVE) and the Center for Executive Development at Mays.

“We have the opportunity to change lives for men and women who have given so much to us through their service to our country,” says Richard Lester, clinical associate professor and executive director of the CNVE. “It is a great honor and privilege that all of us share who become associated with the EBV program.”

The cost is about $5,000 per participant, but thanks to the generous support of corporate sponsors and private individuals, the veterans are allowed to attend the entire program — including tuition, travel and accommodations — at no cost. (To help support this program at Texas A&M, visit the Texas A&M Foundation website.)

The week’s schedule starts Saturday (July 28) with an orientation meeting and an opening reception. Workshops and guest speakers will be Sunday (July 29) through Friday (Aug. 3). On Saturday (Aug. 4), the participants will hear from an alumni panel, give their final venture pitches and participate in a closing reception.

New this year at Texas A&M’s program will be the recognition of a Distinguished EBV Alumnus.

This year’s participants hail from around Texas, George, Louisiana and Florida.

ABOUT THE EBV CONSORTIUM

The EBV Consortium was formed in 2008 as a national educational initiative designed to help veterans with disabilities to make the transition to self-employment, develop professional networks and ultimately start and grow sustainable businesses. In addition to Texas A&M, the EBV Consortium is composed of the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, the College of Business at The Florida State University, the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, the College of Business at the University of Connecticut, the E. J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University and the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To find out more about the EBV at Texas A&M, visit ebv.tamu.edu or contact CNVE Assistant Director Ashley Crane at (979) 845-4882 or acrane@mays.tamu.edu.

About 180 people soaked up tips for tackling long-term business strategy and strengthened ties with their fellow attendees during Mays Business School’s 2012 Summer Learning Seminar.

During the daylong free event, “Tackling 100-year Decisions: A Fresh Look at Business Strategy” current Mays students and graduates enhanced their knowledge and networked with one another while reconnecting with Texas A&M and Mays.

Jason Cook, vice president of Marketing & Communications at Texas A&M, spoke about the university’s move to the SEC and marketing efforts to “claim the state of Texas.” (view more photos)

“We pride ourselves in developing lifelong learners,” explained Mary Lea McAnally, associate dean for graduate programs at Mays. She said the program was designed to keep academic conversations going — particularly during the summer months. “As I see all the information we are receiving today, I am reminded of a quote that says education is not so much the filling of a bucket as it is the lighting of a fire. Today is designed to give you some fuel to burn. Take what you’ve learned today and become the spark.”

The seminar sessions examined the historic implications of Texas A&M University’s move to the SEC, analyzed innovative corporate strategy, investigated the importance of internal marketing and shared practical tactics for sustainable growth.

SEC switch all about Texas A&M

Keynote presenter Jason Cook, vice president of Marketing & Communications at Texas A&M, spelled out the steps in Texas A&M’s switch to the SEC. He described some of the remaining steps to “claim the state of Texas,” such as billboard ads across the state and TV spots that highlight the academics of the universities in the conference. He said the impact of the move to a new conference was confirmed when the revelation of the new football uniforms was a national news story instead of just a local one.

“Texas A&M has always been an SEC school in terms of traditions and values, we’ve just been stuck in the wrong conference,” Cook said. “Now we’re on a good path with a new athletic director who knows the SEC and has been an athletic director there for seven years. The first thing he said is that it’s about student athletes and the fact that students can get a degree that they otherwise might not get. He sees athletics as a great marketing tool for the university.”

Cook said Texas A&M’s licensing income has increased more than 27 percent in the first six months of marketing SEC-licensed items, and that he anticipates income in the first year to surpass $3.2 million — topping $3 million for the first time.

Mindset matters

Michael Hitt, University Distinguished Professor of Management at Mays and Joe B. Foster ’56 Chair in Business Leadership, said the examples he cited could translate easily from the business world into an individual’s role as a leader. He urged the audience to stay innovative and keep a strategic mindset to remain competitive.

Attendees soaked up tips for tackling long-term business strategy from experts such as University Distinguished Professor of Management Michael Hitt. (view more photos)

He said a strategic and entrepreneurial leader exhibits:

• Vision
• Continuous development of capabilities
• Innovation
• Building and sustaining a competitive advantage

“You have to have entrepreneurial alertness, and see opportunities others don’t,” he said. “Teams beat better teams because they see weaknesses in their opponents. You have to always be watching for your opening.”

Marketing within also essential

Paul Busch, professor of marketing at Mays and Regents Professor, called internal marketing — also known as employee relations — “the missing link in strategy implementation.”

“Use internal marketing to improve external marketing,” he concluded after several interactive exercises. “Recognize the cost effectiveness of internal marketing, and treat employees as customers.”

Leaders from Evolve Performance Group closed out the program with the advice that “employee satisfaction and employment engagement is paramount to a company’s success.”

AnnMarie Broussard ’12, a recent graduate of Mays, said she attended the seminar to keep her skills fresh and to visit again with Paul Busch, with whom she had worked for more than two years. “It was great to see him in action.”

David Levin ’13, an accounting undergraduate, said he found the information helpful, as well. “It was really good to see all the implications of strategic decisions, within and outside of companies. I enjoyed how the day progressed.”

Michael Hitt, a University Distinguished Professor in Management, was ranked the most influential scholar in his field in an article, “Scholarly Impact Revisited”, in the journal Academy of Management Perspectives. The article, published in May 2012, quantified and ranked the scholarly influence of management professors on audiences inside and outside their fields.

Hitt

To compile this list, the authors ranked 384 of the most highly cited management scholars of the past three decades based on both their number of academic journal citations and the web references to their work on nonacademic sites — those that do not end in .edu — indexed by the Google search engine. Hitt was ranked #1 as the most influential scholar in the world in management, based on the combined scores.

Other Mays management faculty members who were also included in the rankings were Murray Barrick, Luis Gomez-Mejia, Duane Ireland, Ricky Griffin, Michael Wesson and Lorraine Eden.

Hitt holds the Joe B. Foster Chair in Business Leadership at Texas A&M’s Mays Business School. He has won numerous awards and has served on the editorial review boards of multiple journals. He is a former editor of the Academy of Management Journal and a former co-editor of the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.

A 2010 article in Times Higher Education listed Hitt among the top scholars in economics, finance and management. He is a member of the Academy of Management Journals’ Hall of Fame and former president of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society.

Jerry Strawser, Hitt’s dean at Mays Business School, calls him “truly a one-of-a-kind scholar. … The numerous awards and accolades he has received reflect the fact that his research findings direct the work of other scholars and course of future study in the academic profession. In addition, he studies relevant issues that affect the business world and impact economic development. In short, his research affects both the academic and business worlds and is used both in the classroom and in the boardroom.”

To celebrate the success of Mays Business School and help ensure lasting excellence, Craig C. Brown and Galen Brown committed $1.5 million to create the Craig and Galen Brown Foundation Scholars Program.

The funds will be used to recruit outstanding students — particularly National Merit Scholars — to the Business Honors program at Mays.

Craig C. Brown

Craig C. Brown is involved in international business with his company, Bray International, Inc., and has fond memories of the education he received at Mays Business School. It is his goal and the Brown Foundation’s goal to attract students who can make a difference in the lives of others with these scholarship dollars. The intent of the scholarship program is to recruit eight to 10 students each year to Mays.

The Craig and Galen Brown Foundation established a similar program at Texas A&M more than 20 years ago that provides scholarships to students with outstanding moral character, work ethic and exceptional scholastic and leadership abilities. These students recognize the importance and value of being personally involved in the world through their community, school, charity and other public and private organizations.

“Mays Dean Jerry Strawser has done a fantastic job since taking over in 2001 by putting together a faculty and student body that is outstanding,” Craig Brown said. “Everyone recognizes that Mays Business School has gained international and national recognition, the Business Honors program is first class and the particular emphasis on entrepreneurship within Mays Business School has gained a foothold and is an earmark of the character of Aggies.

He said the Brown Foundation “is trying to do our small part to help Dr. Strawser and Mays Business School reach its goal of being the most outstanding Business Honors program in the United States.”

“The Brown Foundation has been synonymous with students, excellence, and Texas A&M University,” said Mays Dean Jerry Strawser. “Their focus on outstanding moral character, work ethic and scholastic and leadership abilities is completely aligned with that of our Business Honors program. We are so appreciative of their generosity and commitment to our school and our students.”

About Mays Business School

Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School educates more than 5,000 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing and supply chain management. Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools in the country for its undergraduate and MBA programs, and for faculty research. The mission of Mays Business School is creating knowledge and developing ethical leaders for a global society.