Percept Research Presents ‘Leveraging Stakeholder Data for Decisions’ at 2017 EMBA Council Conference

Dr. Joyce Kurpiers and Brian Mahoney of the Percept Research team attended the Executive MBA Council 2017 annual conference in Seattle, Washington from October 22-25. The conference theme of Exploring the Next Frontier focused on important trends and approaches that are transforming how the workforce of the future is being educated.

The conference included sessions such as “Deepening Student Engagement on International Residency Trips,” “How to Create Futurists as An Outcome of Your Program,” “The Value of Formative Leadership Instruction in Executive Education,” and “Going the Distance with Working Professionals and Alumni” among others.

We wanted to share some of the interesting insights we heard at the conference:

• Elmer Almachar (Northwestern Kellogg) suggested that lower cost programs may be “more audacious and experimental” than conservative higher cost programs and may lead the way on innovative approaches by necessity.
• Great quote by Tami Fassinger (Vanderbilt Owen): “We want a good test [like GMAT] if we are going to be in an arranged marriage with our students for 20-22 months.”
• Sylvia Haas (UCLA Anderson) shared strategies that her school leverages in mixing daytime students with EMBA students to foster collaboration and networking among these cohorts.
• Mike Alexander (Texas A&M Mays) provided key approaches for encouraging organizational effectiveness using ‘appreciative inquiry,’ such as choosing an affirmative topic or changing to one, and maintaining focus on root causes of success by studying what is ‘right’ instead of what is ‘wrong.’ Mr. Alexander observed that positive relationships and expressions create a ripple effect leading to increased value.
• Generations research from Jennifer Deal, Ph.D. (Center for Creative Leadership), noted that Millennials’ attitudes toward work are similar to those of previous generations. The difference is that Millennials may be more vocal with their attitudes than previous generations, which can conflict with expectations for how young people should express themselves.
• Marcel Austen-Marten (CEIBS) recommended leveraging EMBAC Program Survey data and Percept’s EMBA Student Entry and EMBA Student Exit Survey data in mapping and understanding touchpoints along the ‘customer decision journey.’

Do you have other meeting insights that you would like to share in the article comments section below?

University of Pennsylvania Wharton and Xavier attendees enjoying the MoPOP event

Time to Talk Research!

Executive MBA Toolkit Session

Dr. Kurpiers (Percept Research) co-presented a session called “Future of the EMBA: What the data says” with Tami Fassinger (Vanderbilt University) during the EMBA Toolkit, a one-day program held before conference sessions begin. Toolkit attendees learned the must-knows of the Executive MBA industry, including admissions, marketing, program delivery, budgeting, student expectations, and more from industry veterans.

Joyce Kurpiers (Percept) enjoying a Toolkit presentation with Tami Fassinger (Vanderbilt)

Leveraging Stakeholder Data for Evidence-based Decisions

The Center for Research hosted a concurrent session titled “Our World In Numbers: Leveraging Data,” presented by Elmer Almachar, (Northwestern University), Tami Fassinger (Vanderbilt University), and Brian Mahoney (Percept Research).

This session provided a structure for using data by briefly illustrating data analytics in action, in other words, “how to interpret and tell a story from the information you have.” Ten-year EMBA trends were highlighted from data captured in the council’s annual Membership Program Survey and Percept Research’s MBA Student Entry Survey and MBA Student Exit Survey how participating council members can leverage relevant data from different analytical perspectives .

Brian Mahoney (Percept Research) shares good news about female recruitment

The Executive MBA Council’s Center for Research team engages Percept Research to conduct the Membership Program Survey, which is a global benchmarking study of executive MBA programs. Approximately 88% of the programs in the council membership completed the 2017 Membership Program Survey. 

About the Executive MBA Council and Percept Research

Percept Research serves as the research partner to the Executive MBA Council, which serves to network, educate, inform the industry. The Center for Research directs the research initiatives of the council and is represented by Elmer Almachar (Northwestern University), George Bobinski (Binghamton University), Tami Fassinger (Vanderbilt University), and Louise Kapustka (University of Washington). 

Brian Mahoney (Percept) admiring the 'unique' tie of Paul Velasco (Ohio State)

Percept Research is a leading higher education consultancy serving over 250 business schools worldwide. Percept Research provides market research and consulting to higher education institutions and associations to assist with industry benchmarking, new program development, brand positioning, student lifecycle assessment, and messaging strategy.

Percept Research also offers custom higher education market research and consulting engagements to provide guidance to business school leaders in areas such as increasing operational efficiency and containing costs, improving recruiting and retention, and developing new degree programs.

Please check out more photos from the conference on the Percept Research Facebook page (and ‘like’ our page!). We would love to hear about your experience at the annual conference.

Looking to access the presentations provided at the conference?

This article on our social support platform provides information on how to access these presentations.