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JulyAugust2003

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Help Your Students Bridge the Gap Between the Classroom and Real World Financial Analysis The same tool used to train Analysts and Associates at leading financial firms is now available to business school students at a small fraction of the cost. Co-authored by a Wharton Professor and a team of Wall Street investment bankers, the DealMaven Knowledge Base is a self-paced, interactive, online version of a top-tier financial analyst training program. Users build a rigorous financial model from scratch in Excel alongside the tutorial Assumes very little prior knowledge, but users can skip ahead to advanced material Quizzes provide instant feedback Searchable index and robust glossary Entirely self-contained curriculum complements any business school course selection without the need for an additional instructor Designed to teach students to understand and dissect financial statements and perform valuation and transaction analyses, the program covers: Excel basics and best practices Comparable company valuation analysis Scenario analysis Integrated financial statement modeling Discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis Transaction analysis Capital structure decisions The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania will be among the institutions using the DealMaven Knowledge Base this fall. Educational institutions can provide their students with access to this unique resource at a discount of over 90%. Contact DealMaven to set up a demonstration account today. For additional information about the Knowledge Base and other DealMaven products, please email us at sales@dealmaven.com or call 1.212.944.6105 ext. 16. www.dealmaven.com/education Is There a Need for a Niche? The success of a few niche programs has caused other schools to wonder whether such a degree is right for them. What they will find, say these educators, is that the success of an indus- try-specific MBA program generally depends on three areas: regional resources, industry support, and potential market demand. Regional support is perhaps the most significant incentive for a business school to design an MBA for a particular indus- try. "Obviously, if a school wanted to start an MBA for the wine industry and it was located in Alaska, it would have a credibility issue," jokes Doreen. "On the other hand, an agri- cultural MBA in Iowa makes perfect sense. A school really Core business courses must always be a foundation. Otherwise, any specialized knowledge is of little use. needs to look around its own neighborhood to see what the need is and what kind of local support there is in terms of stu- dents, faculty, and industry resources. In Montreal, we have an incredible infrastructure of aerospace companies, and the International Air Transport Association and the International Civil Aviation Organization are also located here. That's unique and valuable, and it gives us strategic advantages over other places in the world." Even with Montreal as a hub for aerospace activity, how- ever, the International Aviation MBA might not have materi- alized without initial encouragement from the IATA. Likewise, Bordeaux Business School's resolve to pursue a Wine MBA was bolstered by the interest of its local chamber of commerce. As their examples show, an industry's primary professional associations can be important allies to a business school as it designs and promotes a niche program. The third factor, market demand, may be the most difficult to pin down, because the pool of potential students for an industry-specific MBA is often scattered around the globe, says Dartigues of Bordeaux. It takes a great deal of face-to- face contact with industry professionals to draw any conclu- sions, from determining whether a targeted degree is war- ranted to deciding what courses it should comprise. 26 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2003

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