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OBS News

Business School MBA Program Offers Various Finance Courses in Winter Quarter

The students of the Olivet Business School MBA Program welcomed 2022 by preparing to have fun with numbers.  

2022 Winter Quarter kicked off with several MBA students enrolling for courses focused on finance, including Finance II and Financial Statement Analysis and Reporting. 

While the Finance II course is geared towards teaching students how to apply quantitative analysis to financial problems encountered by organizations, including issues related to financing and investment. The Financial Statement Analysis and Reporting course aims to help students learn financial statement analysis as a tool to translate business strategies, investment policies, and financings into concrete figures. 

“Understanding the language of finance and business performance is critical to be successful in any business,” said Surojit (Jacob) Chatterjee, Esq., Dean of Olivet Business School. “Both the courses have been designed to equip students with an intuitive knowledge of key financial principles and statements and enable them to understand the key financial levers that drive financial performance. The students will discover how and why finance is concerned with cash flow versus profits and why that matters to any business and budget.”

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OBS News

OBS Enhances Learning Outcomes with New Approach for Operations Management Course

Olivet Business School (OBS) has recently revamped the Operations Management course under the MBA program. The new curriculum would help students adapt to the new realities affecting the business world after the pandemic.

Professors have been working closely with the department and students to modify the Operations Management course. It was identified that the course should be designed to challenge students’ critical thinking and imagination. Even though the underlying principles in Operations Management remain largely the same over the last decade, real-life business scenarios often demand practitioners to adapt to the fast-changing post-pandemic environment.

“We are aiming to calibrate our classes into our ‘Smart Engaging Interactivity Initiative’, meaning students would be required to attain a higher level of independent thinking,” said OBS Acting Dean Dr. Diana Yoo.

She added that the initiative would bridge the gap between the academic dimension and the hands-on field experience. The Operations Management course will look to implement the new changes and launch next quarter. Surveys and observations will be planned to evaluate the efficacy of the course’s new enhancements.

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OBS News

Olivet MBA Students Explore Online Used Cars Market in Applied Research Class

Olivet MBA Students Explore Online Used Cars Market in Applied Research Class

Led by Professor Albert Lee, a team of three MBA students created a business proposal for a used car bidding website. The business model features live bidding and live streaming from the seller, which allows interested buyers and the seller to connect seamlessly on a platform at the same time. While this practice is rarely seen in the used car market, the team believes that it has a huge potential to succeed based on their research.

“Prof. Lee has guided us step by step to sort out the fragmented ideas into a complete business proposal,” said Caroline Zhang, a participating team member. “I enjoy the experience where everyone in the group may contribute her unique talent to the project.”

“The project cannot be achieved by one person,” shared Janice Liu, another team member. “I am glad that we could form a team to continue exploring this model and its ideas.”

“At the beginning of this project, none of us knew much about cars. We even doubted whether our idea of used car bidding would work. But through the course, we received more insight into the car sale market. That really helped us clear up any concerns regarding feasibility. We gradually gained the confidence to put a new idea into reality. The class is really challenging, but it is very rewarding and practical,” said Josephine Foo, a fellow team member and student in the course.

The team will continue developing its project in the new quarter and set off to promote the new business in the near future.

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Spotlight

OBS Applied Business Research Class Incubates Startup Ideas

MBA students at Olivet Business School started the Summer quarter with a meaningful project in their Applied Business Research class. The class requires students to brainstorm a real startup idea in groups, conduct in-depth research and analysis, then pitch it to the entire class at the end of the course.

One area that students are specifically interested in is the disintermediation of the service industry. It is now affecting finance, real estate, technology, media, and healthcare as a broad trend. This trend creates the opportunity to identify new business models that would automate intermediary services in legacy businesses. Students are divided into four groups to brainstorm and do an initial review of diverse startup ideas.

Students are very engaged and excited by the potential of developing a promising new venture, going beyond learning a methodology to evaluate ideas.

Prof. Albert Lee commented, “…with a few inspirational observations of new trends, students are motivated and sufficiently capable of developing attractive business ventures. The hope is at least one group will have something substantive at the end of the course and a seed of a great venture will continue to grow.”  

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OBS News

OBS Manhattan Introduces New Elective Course on Strategic Analysis of Financial Statements

Olivet Business School Manhattan Campus will introduce a new elective course “Financial Statement Analysis and Reporting” by Professor Albert Lee. The course aims to teach business practitioners to use financial statements and cash flow analysis as a systematic tool for business decision-making. Financial statement analysis helps to translate business strategies, investment policies and financings into concrete figures.

This is a critical exercise when considering acquisitions as a way to achieve inorganic growth; measuring business impact of new marketing/operational strategies; measuring risk-adjusted returns (and therefore financial viability) of various business propositions; measuring impact of external financings; and using financial strategies (acquisition, divestitures, leveraged capitalization) to generate cash flow or launch a new business.

“Financial analysis is not just about crunching numbers and creating balance sheets. But it is the fundamental language of doing business. Instead of approaching financial statements as only fulfilling administrative and legal reporting requirements, using them as a tool to understand strategic impact to business models should be exciting for all practitioners,” said Lee.

OBS encourages students who have interests in entrepreneurship and strategic management to register for the course. Real life cases of private businesses on sale, real estate financing and publicly traded corporations will be examined throughout the course.

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OBS News

Manhattan Business School Introduces Winter 2021 Courses

The Manhattan New York Olivet Business School campus will be introducing three courses, ECON600 Macroeconomics in the Global Economy, LEAD700 Leadership and MGMT800 Business Capstone Project, for the Winter 2021 quarter.

Macroeconomics in the Global Economy is designed to introduce classic macroeconomic issues such as growth, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, exchange rates, technological progress, and budget deficits. The course will provide a unified framework to address these issues and to study the impact of different policies, such as monetary and fiscal policies, on the aggregate behavior of individuals. These analytical tools will be used to understand the recent experience of the United States and other countries and to address how current policy initiatives affect their macroeconomic performance.

“Macroeconomics is a field full of open-ended questions, tough measurement challenges and vulnerabilities to biased ideological misuse by politicians and policy makers. Nevertheless, macroeconomics addresses some of the most important questions facing governments, global banks, multinational industries and academics. The course will provide a solid introduction to interested students,” said MBA student Lee.

The course will run for 11 weeks, covering Production, Labor Market, Consumption, Investments and Growth in the first half; then Money, IS-LM Model, AS-AD Model, Business Cycle, Price and Wage and Monetary Policy in the second half.

“The Leadership course is critical for professional development as it teaches the students the skills they need to lead effectively, including the skills needed to persuade and influence people – especially those over whom they may have little direct authority,” said Dean Jacob Chatterjee, Esq., LL.M. “The course helps the students to understand the role of a leader in the field and, the tasks involved, and what it takes to be a good leader.”

The upcoming capstone course is the fourth time adjunct professor Sebastian Keita has received the blessing to accompany MBA students towards the finish line.

Keita describes his experience. “It is a true privilege to be able to witness our students completing their program. It allows me to understand the bigger vision of OBS first hand. I believe a Business School vision has been increasingly shaped by the student’s proactive character after graduation. The students need a final positive springboard. I hope, as a School, we create the necessary spirit for that to happen,” said Keita.

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OBS News

Olivet Business School Launches New Website

Olivet School of Business (OBS) launched its newest website design, which reflects the new Ph.D in Business Administration degree along with other insightful content about its programs.

The new website reorganizes its content to clearly present information on internship opportunities and other locations which offers business courses.

“I am very thankful to launch the new OBS website. It provides a fresh image of our college and reflects the new developments from this year,” said OBS Associate Dean Diana Yoo.

The new catchphrase of OBS is “Unleash Your Potential at Olivet Business School – PURPOSE-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP.”

These uncertain and rapidly changing times call for leaders who are prepared to catalyze global business and social transformation. Through Olivet’s dedicated approach to teaching and learning, you will connect with your purpose, master business tools and concepts, and gain the holistic leadership skills you need to make an impact and flourish in the unknown.

Olivet Business School takes a modern, simplistic approach to design characteristics that create the image of innovation and creativity. OBS set up new brand guidelines with new fonts such as the main typeface Montserrat family and color palette systems of deep blue, rich red, and off white along with.

You can check out the new OBS website design by visiting: https://obs.olivetuniversity.edu

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OBS News

Applied Business Research and Finance Classes: Finding Opportunity in Adversity

Adjunct professor Sebastian Keita of Olivet Business School and Professor Jacob Chatterjee, Esq. shared their experience about holding online classes on Applied Business Research and Finance respectively over the summer, amid the pandemic.

Applied Business Research is one of Keita’s specialties, and in fact, the first class Keita has ever given at Olivet. Keita said, “Applied Business Research is the opportunity to make students think, be critical, and have fun. Many professors forget that research is supposed to be enjoyable. I hope to transfer those sentiments to my students.”

As for the class on Finance, Chatterjee, who is also the Dean of the business school, tried to take an alternative approach to teach the subject most students find challenging.

“Traditionally, finance is not a popular subject. My own experience has led me to believe that the subject’s technicalities are less important than the big picture offered by the professor. Understanding the core concepts of accounting and financial statement analysis, principles of finance, investments, corporate finance, and business evaluations is important but what is more important is developing quantitative and problem-solving skills that will help students see the complex financial decisions through a local, regional, and global lens and help them learn to appreciate and resolve them,” Chatterjee said.

Overall, Dean Chatterjee reflected that the Summer Quarter was a success. “I am delighted that we have been able to keep the classes running smoothly during this troubled time. It shows our resolve as a college community to make our students better prepared to cope with adversity,” he said.

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OBS News

MBA Leadership Course Offers Christian Perspectives on Workplace Management

The Olivet Business School in Manhattan, New York, welcomed its current students enrolled in the MBA programs for the new quarter.

Two featured courses, “Operations Management” and “Human Resource Management”, are being offered this quarter. The rapid changes and shifting structures in learning environments have altered how management is approached in modern times. Though the courses will be exploring new collaborative software technologies and strategies used in the field, the focus is still based on human and social aspects of organization.

“Operation management is a difficult subject to approach by any business professor as it represents the quintessential fracture between the conventional concepts found in books and the necessary imagination to pursue business in this ever-evolving world,” said Professor Sebastian Keita.

“I encourage my students to be open to the importance of using their imagination for operation management. It will permit them to bridge that gap between the books and the evolving world,” Keita added.

Speaking on the subject of human resources management, Dean of Olivet Business School Jacob Chatterjee pointed out that the most important asset in any successful company or enterprise is its employees.

“Human resource management is a much-misunderstood subject. It is not just about good intentions and whistling in the dark or avoiding unionization. The objective of the class is to teach students to have a strategic approach in the corporate managerial setting. Such training will yield to a more motivated workforce, allowing for a more competitive advantage overall,” Chatterjee said.

The Olivet School of Business New York Extension site offers selected courses for its MBA program while providing Entrepreneurial internships and Ministry internship opportunities at its 3 floor Manhattan building. For more information, visit https://obs.olivetuniversity.edu

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OBS News

Olivet’s Manhattan Business School Covers Management in Evolving World

Students of Olivet Business School in San Francisco have gained Christian perspectives on workplace management through the Leadership course this quarter.

Dr. Rachel Zabaneh, who has a Ph.D. in Leadership, teaches this course. She has shared with students her valuable experience working in various Christian organizations. Not only students learn about and develop valuable skills, including communications and management, but also they build up the self-confidence required as inspirational leaders.

“I hope to teach students how to combine our faith with our practical work through this course to practice leadership, as the Bible told us that if you want to be a leader you need to serve others. Only by doing so, you can love people with the love of God and transform lives,” said Dr. Zabaneh.