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"Traveling with my classmates was a great bonding experience,” says Kelly Gilliam, a first-year student in the Full-Time MBA program. “It gave us the opportunity to discuss the differences in business and culture we had learned about at the end of each day. We realized that we learned from each person we met with, more than we could in a typical classroom setting.” In addition to almost daily meetings with top companies, students were able to tour Santiago and go horseback riding along the foothills of the San Andres Mountains. Learn more about the Eller MBA global perspective. The University of Arizona Formalizes Collaboration with University of Guadalajara
The University of Arizona recently formalized a collaboration with the Universidad de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest university, comprising six campuses in the Guadalajara area. The partnership was coordinated by the UA’s Office of Western Hemispheric Programs, created by UA president Robert Shelton in the fall of 2007. “I am excited about this new collaboration and its potential to address worldwide challenges such as computer industry contamination," said Francisco Marmolejo, Western Hemispheric Programs director. "Guadalajara is Mexico’s ‘Silicon Valley’ and it faces the same challenges of contamination the computer industry in the United States is trying to solve." The UA-Universidad de Guadalajara collaboration is one example of the Office of Western Hemispheric Program’s purpose, he said. The office was established to foster relations in Mexico, Latin America, and Canada in which student/faculty exchange, the design of research projects, development of areas of mutual interest, and programs of study are made possible through collaborative agreements — including tuition reciprocation among peer educational institutions. Learn about Eller MBA study abroad opportunities. MBA Entrepreneurship: Going Green
The concept behind GreenSun Energy, which announced an angel investment this summer, is simple: help commercial businesses go solar and stabilize energy costs without upfront capital expense. “Our goal is to make solar energy financially feasible for companies and organizations here in Arizona — to help bring solar energy to Arizona in a big way,” explains company director of marketing Mikel Chertudi. Chertudi and his colleagues — Kate O’Toole, Dan Tarico, and Jake Stephens — are all 2007 graduates of the MBA program. “We entered the McGuire Entrepreneurship Program with the intent of taking our concept for GreenSun as far as possible,” Chertudi says. “We all wanted GreenSun to be an option for full-time employment after graduation. In late fall of 2006, we realized that we had something — that we going to try to make it work. Our advisors, mentors, and friends here at Eller encouraged us to go for it, and at that point we stopped looking for other jobs.” Chertudi says that they were interested in finding a sustainable solution to a complex business problem, but there was another factor at play: “Our mutual interest in renewable energy drove us to figure out how to remove the barrier to adoption for solar energy.” Learn more about the Eller MBA entrepreneurial experience. Raytheon President Louise Francesconi Shares Insights with Entrepreneurship Students
Changing corporate culture isn’t a safe bet, and it isn’t as simple as issuing a memo. But Louise Francesconi — president of Raytheon Missile Systems — already knows that, because she’s done it. This fall Francesconi spent an evening with students in the McGuire Entrepreneurship Program on topics including the need to take risks on innovation and the importance of knowing your own strengths in building a successful career. Francesconi has led Raytheon’s Missile Systems division since 1996. In this role, she set up a department charged with developing technology that will eventually replace the company’s current products. “We want to own the technology that will make our current missiles obsolete,” she told the students. “The stock market is driven by growth, and that can come at the top line or the bottom line. We don’t want to cut our way to growth, we want to grow our way to growth.” When she started at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Francesconi says the odds were stacked against her — she was the youngest person to fill the role, she didn’t have a technical background, and she was working in a male-dominated industry. These odds didn’t slow her momentum. “I’m not ambitious, I’m competitive,” she said. “The biggest thing I’ve done here is create an environment where people can learn and take risks.” Learn more about experiential learning as part of the Eller MBA. Eller Professor's Research on Maquiladoras Featured in The Economist
This fall, McClelland Professor of Accounting Leslie Eldenburg’s research into maquiladoras — or offshore production in Mexico — was featured in The Economist. The full paper appeared in the summer issue of the Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance. Maquiladora manufacturing is the result of a 1965 production arrangement by the U.S. and Mexico which allows U.S. firms to take advantage of low labor costs in Mexico. On the surface, these reduced labor costs seem like a bottom-line boon to American firms, but Eldenburg’s paper reveals that might not be the case. “People forget transaction costs, which can be hard to identify and quantify,” explains Eldenburg. Poor infrastructure, workforce problems including high turnover, long lines and red tape at the border, and lack of suppliers in Mexico contribute to the erosion of labor savings. But since these transaction costs are difficult to measure, Eldenburg and her co-authors Francisco Roman (Texas Tech University) and Jenny Teruya (University of Hawaii) compared performance of a sample of firms using maquiladora production against a sample of similar firms not using maquiladoras to generate their results. Learn more about relevant research by Eller MBA faculty. Kirk Vidinghoff : MBA '04
As a senior analyst at Shamrock Foods Co., Kirk Vidinghoff is working to help the company achieve their long-term vision by thinking strategically and creatively. Kirk interned with the company during his first and second-year internship, helping to launch its new ‘Delivering Satisfaction’ identity campaign. Working with the company's advertising agency, he coordinated getting all those chefs onto all those trucks, as well as the many other elements of an identity rollout, from new uniforms to letterhead. Today, Kirk plays a key role in the recently created corporate headquarters, looking for ways for Shamrock Foods, the seventh-largest national food distributor, to gain even more market share. Shortly after being hired at Shamrock, Kirk developed a feasibility analysis, and based on the data his analyses helped provide, Shamrock Foods purchased 45 acres on Albuquerque's west side to build a warehouse and distribution center. Kirk has now turned his attention to aiding in the implementation of Six Sigma, as well as ways to increase profits. He's also looking at opportunities for further expansion, since the template from the Albuquerque property purchase is now in place. Prior to entering the Eller MBA program, Kirk worked for Arthur Andersen in the business outsourcing division for such clients as General Motors. Learn more about the Eller MBA alumni community. By Nicole Akporiaye : MBA '09
The past winter marked the end of my first semester of the Full-Time Eller MBA program. The end of the fall semester was marked by the Intel Case Competition that built upon our Business Intelligence Quotient (BIQ) groups and now the spring semester will build upon that professional experience as the first-year MBAs take on field projects. My field project involves assessing the economic profile of a street car that will be implemented here in Tucson. Other students have field projects with clients such as Honeywell, Accenture, and Aztec, a subsidiary of Emerson. A group of Full-Time and Evening MBA students made a ten-day trip to Argentina and Chile to visit large companies and factories in the region. Every person I spoke to was so satisfied from the journey, saying they learned more than they ever thought they could from the experience. Another expedition down south is planned as part of the first-year curriculum; we will be visiting Ford and Cemex in Hermosillo, Mexico. In fact, one of my classmates had the idea early in the fall semester and he has been able to arrange the entire trip, with the support of the Eller staff and faculty. One other exciting notable event has happened in the opening weeks of this semester: we held MBA Student Association elections. The students were able to run for positions, listen to candidates’ speeches, and participate in online voting. I was elected as the new president, and am looking forward to many leadership opportunities and challenges in this role.
See you next month with more updates on the life of an Eller MBA!
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The student body has also decided on another important cause. Over the next year, we will be raising funds for and building a house for Habitat for Humanity. This is the first large-scale community service venture for the program and student excitement is visible at every meeting. 
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