Association-Sponsored Higher Education for Business: Perceptions of First-Year Students

Association-sponsored learning programs comprise a significant but largely unknown sector of higher education. In North America, for example, almost 500 associations are involved in the education! certification process. This paper begins the process of discovering why individuals enroll in such programmes, rejecting the many other vocationally oriented opportunities available to them. Using data from first-year students enrolled with the Canadian Institute of Management, it was found that the majority were drawn to the Institute through personal business contacts. As well, although other alternatives were investigated, the Institute's reputation, level of difficulty, the perceived "practical" nature of the courses and programme length attracted most students. As to perceptions of “utility," the Institute's learning programme was ranked just below a university degree in management and somewhat higher than a degree in a "non- management" discipline.Les programmes d'enseignement parrainés par des associations dites profession-nelles constituent une partie importante mais mal connue de l'enseignement supérieur. En Amérique du Nord, par exemple, près de 500 associations participent à l'octroi de diplômes et de brevets professionnels. Le présent travail cherche à découvrir les raisons pour lesquelles les individus s'inscrivent à ces programmes et rejettent les innombrables autres possibilités de formation disponibles. L'étude des données concernant les étudiants de première année inscrits à l'Institut canadien de gestion permit de découvrir que la majorité de ces étudiants avaient été attirés à l'Institut par des contacts personnels et professionnels. De plus, après que les étudiants eurent envisagé les autres formations disponibles, c'est la réputation de l'Institut, le niveau de difficulté de l'enseignement offert, l'aspect «pratique» des cours et la durée du programme qui contribuèrent à attirer bon nombre d'entre eux. Quant à 1'« utilité » du programme, les étudiants l'ont jugée légèrement inférieure à celle d'un diplôme universitaire de gestion et légèrement supérieure à celle d'un autre diplôme obtenu dans une matière non reliée à la gestion

Estimating the Long-term Contributions of Small Buisness Marketing Expenditures

While small business owners and managers typically recognize the long-term benefits of many types of capital expenditures, the potential long-term benefits of marketing expenditures are frequently overlooked. This situation is true even though expenditures on marketing frequently yield sales revenue to firms over several periods. This paper introduces and examines three relatively low-cost approaches that small business owners may use as aids in estimating the aggregate value of marketing expenditures

The utilization of an infrared imaging system as a cooling slot blockage detector in the inspection of a transpiration cooled nozzle

A comprehensive examination of the 8 foot temperature tunnel's transpiration cooled nozzle was completed using an infrared imaging radiometer to locate regions of cooling flow irregularities caused by obstruction of three or more adjacent cooling slots. Restrictions in the cooling flow were found and cataloged. Blockages found were due primarily to the presence of residual phosphoric acid being discharged from some of the cooling slots. This acid was used during construction of the nozzle components and was to have been purged prior to its delivery to the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). In addition, a radial displacement of one selection of discs located in the spool piece was inspected and cataloged for future reference. There did not seem to be a serious restriction of flow in this defect, but evidence from the infrared images indicated reduced slot activity within the gouge. The radiometer survey uncovered regions where closer inspection is recommended but did not cover the entire surface area of the three nozzle subsections due to equipment limitations. A list of areas with suspected problems is included in Appendix A

Report on the State of Available Data for the Study of International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment

This report, prepared for the Committee on Economic Statistics of the American Economic Association, examines the state of available data for the study of international trade and foreign direct investment. Data on values of imports and exports of goods are of high quality and coverage, but price data suffer from insufficient detail. It would be desirable to have more data measuring value-added in trade as well as prices of comparable domestic and imported inputs. Value data for imports and exports of services are too aggregated and valuations are questionable, while price data for service exports and imports are almost non-existent. Foreign direct investment data are of high quality but quality has suffered from budget cuts. Data on trade in intellectual property are fragmentary. The intangibility of the trade makes measurement difficult, but budget cuts have added to the difficulties. Modest funding increases would result in data more useful for research and policy analysis.

Types of Product Innovations and Small Business Performance in Hostile and Benign Environments

The relationship between innovation and performance has been widely studied. In addition, many studies have examined moderating effects of types of competitive environments on this relationship. However, little work has been done to examine how specific types of product innovation strategies are related to performance in hostile and benign environments. Using results from a survey of a sample of small businesses, this paper used regression analysis to examine how degree of change in new product offerings and number of new product lines were related to satisfaction with financial performance. While neither type of innovation was related to satisfaction with performance in benign environments, the number of new lines developed was positively related to satisfaction with financial performance in hostile environments. The results from this sample indicate that the strategy of innovation through development of more new product lines may be preferable to developing dramatic innovations for small businesses in a hostile external environment

An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Degree Program in Electronic Commerce

This paper describes an innovative curriculum for an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree program in electronic commerce. Faculty from the disciplines of computer information systems, computer science, operations management, marketing and graphic design collaborated in devising a curriculum that focuses on the business of electronic commerce while providing a solid base of information technology skills. The program includes an integrated junior year experience that gives students business and technical skills in a team-taught environment. During the senior year, students concentrate on technology infrastructure, business processes, or market analysis and development. This paper not only presents a blueprint for an undergraduate curriculum, but also provides a model for faculty cooperation across academic disciplines