Mba

When Anita Leahy set out to put her MBA degree from USC to work in the music industry, she was not exactly overwhelmed with offers. "Rejection wouldn't be the right word. Non-response is more like it," she lamented. "In the entertainment business, they don't care if you have an MBA. It's not an entree into anything." But Leahy, part of a growing number of MBA recipients searching for opportunities outside the traditional corporate finance, consulting and marketing functions, is not discouraged.

UCLA's controversial plan to end state funding for the main MBA program at its management school and instead support it with tuition and donations has hit a significant roadblock that will at least delay the proposal. A powerful committee of the UC system's faculty senate recently voted to suspend its review of the Anderson School of Management's plan and raised questions about the proposal's budget, its effect on educational quality and affordability for students, and possible undue influence by donors.

On March 3, stories in the Business Section dealt with the difficulty that firms in such diverse industries as wine-making, farm machinery and economic forecasting were having in adapting to declining market opportunities. By coincidence, the same issue featured columnist Earl Cheit's observation that the luster of the MBA degree is bound to diminish in the next few years. Thus, the question is raised as to what strategies management schools should pursue to meet the probable decline in the market for their students.

UCLA faculty leaders on Thursday narrowly approved a controversial plan to wean the campus' signature MBA program off state funding and have it survive on tuition and donations. The move was viewed by many around UC as a possible turning point in how California's public universities should respond to years of state budget cuts. Some said the proposed change at the Anderson School of Management's full-time MBA program may start a trend, particularly among business and law schools that are able to charge high fees and have wealthy alumni to help support them.

In "In Terms of Quality, Some MBA Schools Succeed Only to a Degree" (July 10), Judy B. Rosener leads the reader to believe that MBA students have access to full-time faculty members only at the top "five-star" MBA programs. She states that most courses offered by other programs are taught by part-time lecturers or working professionals. This is certainly not the case at Loyola Marymount University. This fall, 91% of our MBA courses will be taught by doctorally qualified full-time faculty members.

Regarding "Makeover for MBA Programs," James Flanigan, June 26: Teaching business principles and "preparing leaders" require learning from those who do it or have done it. This relevancy factor is simply part of the fast-paced global economy. Relevancy requires that the MBA-level instructor be a true practitioner-scholar who has been there and done that -- run or been a key part of a global business and has an advanced degree. MBA students coming into most programs arrive with an average of three to 10 years of business experience.

The Money Make-Over for the Gottliebs ["Ambitious Couple Are Comfortable but Restless," Dec. 15] was typical of a financial planner, spending so much time with the figures and forgetting common sense. MBAs can commonly be attained through night schools or executive programs that are held on weekends, such as those at UC Irvine or Pepperdine. Jamey could retain his present job while earning his MBA. Seems like a no-brainer to me; that's the type of decision-making process taught in MBA courses.

Bernheimer is at his brilliant best when he asks the basic question: Who should be the director of the Philharmonic--a world-famous conductor-composer-performer or an autocrat who doesn't even hold an MBA degree ("Previn Wanted to Run the Philharmonic--So Does Fleischmann," April 26)? If anyone is to go, it should be Fleischmann. CHARLOTTE GEORGI Culver City

Re "What Does It Profit a Man to Gain an MBA?" Commentary, Nov. 18: Thomas Lindsay's argument seems to be that if we teach our MBAs more ethics in business school they will behave themselves. Would he apply that same logic to a wave of rapes, child molestations or carjackings? In those cases, most people would want swift justice for the current offenders and stiffer laws to deter future criminals. Only after both of those were in place would they try to fix the moral fiber of potential offenders.

"A Diversifying Area Economy" [James Flanigan, Aug. 13] was amusing, especially the statement "Already, employers are crying out for workers who can do assembly-line work, not to mention workers with special skills, even as hundreds of thousands labor at menial jobs for low pay." Since I was laid off from Raytheon/Hughes I have earned an MBA and an MCSE. Still no job. Maybe today's job fair will turn something up. Got any leads? ROBERT M. LASKO Alta Loma

UCLA faculty leaders are scheduled to decide Thursday whether the Anderson School of Management should end all reliance on state funding for its flagship master's degree program and instead rely on tuition and donations. Supporters of the much-debated proposal for the full-time MBA program say it is a necessary reaction to declining state revenues. They contend that it will give administrators more flexibility, encourage more private donations and redirect about $8 million a year mostly in state funds to other campus divisions that are less able to gain financial independence.

The gig: Flood, 46, is chief executive of the nonprofit Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, which last year distributed 39 million pounds of free food to more than 900 charity agency sites in the county. Immigrant stock: Flood's parents emigrated from Ireland to Los Angeles in 1959 in search of better economic opportunities. "They had a family friend here who raved about what a great place this was," Flood said.

Dear Karen: I'm starting on an MBA to improve my business skills. Is this a deductible expense for my company? Answer: Education expenses can be deducted as a business expense if the purpose of the education is to maintain or improve a skill required by your business, said Barbara Rosenbaum, executive vice president at Gumbiner Savett Inc. in Santa Monica.

The Community Book Center, a longtime fixture on Bayou Road in the city's Esplanade Ridge neighborhood, was one of the numerous small-business casualties of Hurricane Katrina. The storm ravaged the venture that Vera Warren-Williams had nurtured for 25 years, where she sold African American novels, school reading texts, gifts and artwork.

Like any ambitious entrepreneur, Amy Lee has created a global marketing plan, approved the product manufacturing specifications and memorized a business pitch to venture capitalists. "I'm nervous, but I think I can get people to invest," said the president and founder of Friends Forever Bracelet Inc., a jewelry retailer that plans a big Internet advertising campaign in China.

The compensation of recent business school graduates from Harvard, Dartmouth and Stanford rose at least 9.5% from a year earlier, fueled by increased hiring at investment banks and consulting firms, according to college officials. The average compensation of June graduates of Harvard Business School's master of business administration program increased 11% to $174,580, spokesman Jim Aisner said. For MBAs from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, the average totaled $149,913, up 9.

I am dazzled by Supervisor (Roger R.) Stanton's idea of selling the Orange County airport. This kind of thinking is what has happened to American industry, namely the idiotic MBA teachings of "go for the quick profit and let tomorrow take care of itself." Stanton's suggestion is much like the Stephen King short story about the surgeon who ends up on a sterile, uninhabited island and survives by eating bits and pieces of himself (for a while). L.H. COLEMAN, Westminster

Guild Wineries & Distilleries has moved quickly to replace Gerard Pasterick as president and chief executive by naming its chief financial officer, Chris P. Kalabokes, to succeed him. Pasterick, 47, abruptly resigned on June 10 to pursue other interests in the beverage market, he said, and left with praise both from Chairman Kenneth B. Seibert and his 40-year-old successor. Both credited Pasterick with returning the winery to profitability during his three years at the top.

Regarding "Makeover for MBA Programs," James Flanigan, June 26: Teaching business principles and "preparing leaders" require learning from those who do it or have done it. This relevancy factor is simply part of the fast-paced global economy. Relevancy requires that the MBA-level instructor be a true practitioner-scholar who has been there and done that -- run or been a key part of a global business and has an advanced degree. MBA students coming into most programs arrive with an average of three to 10 years of business experience.

Suddenly, it seems, the teaching of business needs to learn a lesson. Business schools are in a crisis as applications for masters of business administration degrees are down 20% to 30% at most major universities. Faculties and administrators at 300 business schools nationwide are trying to change their curricula, alter their approaches and lift their enrollments.