Baylor’s Executive MBA provides academic research to Spire Research & Consulting in Vietnam

May 13, 2009 - PRLog -- Beginning in 2009, Dr. Gary Carini, Baylor University’s Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and EMBA graduate professor, changed his EMBA curriculum requiring students to provide pro bono research to local Vietnamese companies.  Dr. Gary Carini stated, “Based on the mission of Baylor University, we wanted to see if we could be of help to companies in Vietnam.  

We asked several Vietnam companies last fall if they wanted our EMBA students to conduct research for them that would culminate in a face-to-face presentation in April 2009.  We had an overwhelmingly positive response from several companies.  From January through April 2009, in conjunction with our Global Strategic Management course, our research projects were based upon the needs of the companies, and our students analyzed the company’s issues, and developed corresponding detailed recommendations.”

In particular, Baylor University Austin Executive MBA Graduate students John Maupin, Jay Proffitt, Brian Reinhardt, Julie Rogers and David Wallace began conferring with Spire Research and Consulting, located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in January 2009.  Spire Research and Consulting provides Asia-Pacific market research and consulting to Global Fortune 500 companies.  

The Baylor graduate students researched the Western aging population, focusing on Baby Boomers, and examined Asia’s Silver population over their final spring semester.  In late April 2009, Dr. Carini and the Baylor graduate students flew to Ho Chi Minh City and presented their findings to the Spire team headed by Ms Do Thi Kim Linh, Vietnam Country Manager. “We very much enjoyed the presentations by the Baylor EMBA groups. They were very well executed with very comprehensive information. The discussions and exchanges of ideas after the presentations were fascinating and allowed us to see things from different angles, both from the Western and Asian perspectives,” commented Ms Linh.  “The Baylor EMBA teams comprise experts in marketing and business development.  Having the opportunity to exchange ideas with such qualified people has been beneficial to Spire Research and Consulting."

Dr. Gary Carini said, “The response from the companies was incredible.  All the students found this to be an invaluable experience and noted how it prepared them for international business in a way that extends far beyond the classroom.”

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About Baylor University – Hankamer School of Business

Baylor's MBA Program is one that enhances the practice of business, melding intellectual capacity with personal integrity, innovation with social responsibility and action-oriented leadership with accountability.

Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business holds to a visionary standard of excellence whereby integrity stands shoulder to shoulder with analytic and strategic strengths to build leaders, not simply careers. In addition to state-of-the-art skill development in the functional areas of business - accounting, finance, marketing, management information systems, management, economics and others - students develop ethics skills that yield credibility and true leadership potential in today's organizations.


About Spire Research and Consulting

Spire Research and Consulting is Asia's leading strategic market intelligence consultancy.  Spire's competitive advantage lies in its ability to deliver to its clients actionable intelligence on the external business environment in support of their strategic decision-making in marketing and business development.  Spire's clients include over 20 Fortune 500 organizations as well as Government agencies in ten countries. For more information, visit us at www.spireresearch.com.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Jay Proffitt

Email: jay_proffitt@baylor.edu
Phone: 1-512-689-2404