The Sustainability Consortium Member Summit

This week, I have been traveling with my internship through Kellogg's as a Sustainability Intern and am attending the Inaugural Sustainability Consortium Member Summit and Corporate Advisory Council (CAC) Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Yesterday was the CAC Meeting and we got a glimpse into how some retailers are implementing Sustainability plans using the TSC Tools (Dossiers, Category Sustainability Profiles, and Key Performance Indicators). We heard in detail from Walmart and Tesco on their programs and progress. Today we are having break out sessions during the Member Summit on a range of different topics from social responsibility, innovation, geographic dimensions of sustainability, and technology. I've already learned so much about the Sustainability Consortium and the value of collaboration on such an important issue that impacts the whole world. To learn more about TSC and their work, visit their website here: http://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/.

As for me, I'm loving the Valley of the Sun, and I am excited that I will get to return again next week for the MBA Women International Leadership Conference and Career Fair. Ciao for now!

- Tammy :o)

Where in the world were Walton MBAs this summer?

Our class was asked by our MBA Program Director to put together a display case to represent our class. We decided to showcase our summer internship and study abroad experiences by compiling objects and tokens that represent the companies and countries we dedicated our time to. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out and think that it looks great!

Below is a list of the summer internships and study abroad programs our class participated in:

Countries:

Belize

Cambodia

China

Germany

Ghana

India

South Africa

Sri Lanka

Thailand

United Kingdom

Companies:

ACCA

Cameron

City of Fayetteville

City of Houston

Conoco Phillips

Dannon

Elkhart Products Corporation

Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce

FedEx

Grassroots India

Henkel

Kellogg Company

Kraft Foods

Land O'Lakes

Massmart

Mr. Price Group

Northwestern Mutual

P&G

Reckitt Benckiser

Retail Solutions

Room to Read

Saatchi & Saatchi X

The Schwan Food Company

The Sustainability Consortium

Tracfone

Tyson Foods

Walmart

Where do you want to spend your summer?

- Tammy :o)

MBA Poster Competition

As a part of our summer internship credit in the full-time MBA program, students build and design posters supporting their presentations. Then after the presentation competition, employers attending the career fair last week were invited to join the full-time MBA students at a networking event where we displayed our posters and woo'ed the employers with our elevator pitches about our internship experiences. During the competition, each guest was given two bells that they could allocate however they like to the thirty or so of us seeking the honor of "Best Poster." Employers from Conoco, Unilever, Dillard's, Walmart, ConAgra, Nielsen, Cameron, J.B. Hunt, Tyson, and many more showed up to listen to us singing for a our supper. I had a really great time, and I was really impressed with all of my classmates. I am pleased to share that I tied with Adam Floyd for first place by earning 22 bells. Below is a picture of me and my poster at the competition and then a copy of my poster. I'm pretty proud of it. :o)

- Tammy :o)

School's Back in Session!

I can't believe we are already two weeks into class. Time sure does fly when you are having fun!

This semester, all of the full-time MBA students are taking Accounting, Management & Leadership, and Ethics as core classes on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Then the class has a choice of their concentration and elective courses in Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, and Entrepreneurship. For example, I have opted for the Marketing Track so I am in the "Shopper & Consumer Behavior" and "Marketing Research" courses offered on Tuesday and Thursday morning.

This schedule gives me the flexibility to continue my internship with Kellogg in the afternoons on Monday-Thursday and all day on Friday. As a part of our internships, the Career Center has organized a Presentation and Poster Competition allowing all of us an opportunity to hone our presentation skills and get some exposure to local employers. The first round was Friday and even though I wasn't selected to move on, I am grateful to have had the chance to participate and practice selling my internship experiences.

Yesterday, we received the Professional Development schedule for the semester and there are some exciting opportunities for the fall. The GSB will be offering Advanced Powerpoint, Advanced Excel - Macros & Programming, Six Sigma, and Negotiation. I plan on attending each of these since they will be immensely beneficial to the things that make MBAs valuable job candidates.

Well, I'm off to finish my reading for the coming week!

- Tammy :o)

Summer so far...

Wow! I simply cannot believe that it is almost August. We start classes back on the 20th of the upcoming month, and while I'm definitely excited to get started again, I can't help but start to reflect on my summer so far. If you've been following my blog, you've seen that I was able to travel to China for two weeks with the Walton College MBA program on a tour of the retail landscape. Visiting with Goodmark-Asia, Li & Fung, Walmart-China, P&G, Unilever, a Yantian Port Terminal, and ARC China, provided our tour group with a comprehensive retail tour from product conception and planning to manufacturing to store. I learned so much and gained invaluable insight in the retail industry and international business.

In addition to my study abroad, I've also been able to continue my graduate assistantship with Kellogg as a full-time Sales Analyst intern with the Ready-to-Eat-Cereal team supporting Walmart. Transitioning from part-time during the school year to full-time during the summer has really given me the opportunity to maximize my time and learning experiences at Kellogg. In addition to my responsibilities tracking sell-through of our merchandising events and other forms of consumption, I've been able to take on some special projects measuring incrementality, gauging non-compliance, evaluating attribution characteristics, and planning sustainability scorecards. For the snacks side's Cheez-It Friday launch of the "Shake-It to Make-It" mix, Kellogg even had Kirk Herbstreit come into the office and talk college football with the whole team and sign autographs. He even hinted that College Gameday *might* even make a stop in Fayetteville this year. :o)

As a part of our internship credit with the MBA program, students develop posters and presentations about our summer experiences and learning outcomes. All of the students compete before a panel of judges to summarize their internship and answer questions from the judges. Then all students will again share their posters at the networking competition held at the Alumni House. The winners of both the presentation competition and the poster networking session will then be announced and awarded trophies.

Unfortunately, our trip to the Heifer International Global Village through their Passport Program in Perryville, AR has been cancelled, but there is some hope that we will still get to participate with Heifer over Spring Break next spring. I have been able to do some traveling, however, with MBA Women International through my role as National Student Director. This past weekend, I was in Dallas with the organization at the Professional Chapter's Executive Board Leadership Retreat. I was able to learn so much about MBAWI and the way that the professional chapters operate. I took away a lot that I think we will be able to apply this year to the student chapters nationally, and even with our own chapter at the U of A. I'm so excited about the year ahead!

How is your summer going?

- Tammy :o)

Reflections on My Trip to China

After returning home, I had several assignments to complete reflecting on my time in China and the lessons I learned. I was tasked with writing five different reflection pieces, each on a different topic: 1) Major Reading Assignment and Report: 'Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory” by Peter Hessler, 2) Observations from My First Trip to China, 3) Overview of ARC China Visit, 4) Overview of Walmart China Visits, and 5) Overview of GoodMark-Asia and Li & Fung Visits. 

Some of the key lessons that I took away from our retail tour through China included the cultural and regional differences in China that impact the retail market, the supply chain shortcomings throughout China, the financial and consumer opportunities, and the macro retail trends in China and beyond.

Here is an excerpt of my favorite parts from Essay #4: Overview of Walmart China Visits on our time with Walmart China SVP & CFO Mario-Jose Medina: How to be Successful in International Business:

"Mr. Medina provided our group with a different approach to our learning experience at Walmart China and shared with us how to be a successful business person – especially in an increasingly global marketplace and at a multinational company. The first piece of advice that Mr. Medina offered us was to be tridimensional – a combination of head, heart, and gut. He described for us that life’s decisions are a journey of time, mistakes, and personal dilemmas, and even offered a formula for making mistakes: fail fast, often, and cheap.

The CFO also shared a new concept with us of the ‘VUCA’ world. The world is one of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. In order to succeed in this kind of world, we need to be professionals with Vision, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility. Finally, Mr. Medina recommended that we strive to be a combination of IQ (intelligence), EQ (emotional), and CQ (cultural) – in order to accomplish this, we must be open-minded and should attempt to work abroad and stretch ourselves by experiencing ‘culture shocks’ as often as possible. He closed with his adaptation to the popular Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones quote, 'You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet, the books you read, and the places you go.'"

As a part of our coursework, we were also assigned an online photo album with detailed explanations of the photos that depict some of the key lessons from our trip. Here is the link to my album: http://photobucket.com/uachina2012_tammy. I should probably warn you that there are more than 500 photos here, but for a smaller album of just the highlights with the 25 key lesson descriptions can be found via this link: http://s1076.photobucket.com/home/uachina2012/tag/Photo Essay Assignment. And if that is still too much for you, haha - here are only a few: 

- Tammy :o)

Home Sweet Home

I've finally made it home from my adventures abroad in China and started to get settled back into my summer internship at Kellogg and Director roles with MBA Women International. I had such an amazing time in China with my fellow travel mates from the UofA - it's definitely been hard to get adjusted back to daily life. I'm still absorbing all of the incredible lessons that I will forever take away from my brief visit to a very different far-away land, but I do know for sure that I want to seek out opportunities to live abroad as a young professional to further develop myself and career. In the meantime, I'm also still learning so much in my time at Kellogg. From developing my skills in Excel, Retail Link, and Access to beginning to really understand the tactical and strategic relationship of Kellogg as vendor and Walmart as buyer, every day I legitimately take away something new. During my spare time (haha), I'm also working with an incredibly talented group of ladies from MBA Women International. We have been drafting a membership and leadership survey to go out next week to further develop and support our initiatives for the year to bring new and improved benefits to our general membership and chapter affiliates. I'm really excited to see what we can accomplish as a team, and I will be sure to keep you updated on our progress as well. Until next time, I leave you with the link to meet my fellow National Student Leadership Team members and a few more photos from China. Enjoy!

http://www.mbawomen.org/national-student-leadership-team

- Tammy :o)

Paris of the East

It's Shanghai Noon! This will likely be my last post before I make it back to the states, but I wanted to show you some photos of my time here in Shanghai. We've been able to travel to the Jade Buddha Temple, Yu Garden, the Bund, and the tallest building in China - the Shanghai World Financial Building. We also got to visit with Unilever, Arc China, and Kantar Retail. Although I'm excited to start my journey back home tomorrow, I'm definitely going to miss the group I've gotten to travel with throughout China and I will remember my trip here fondly and always look for chances to come back. I'll share more about the whole trip when I have better access to Internet, but thanks for following my trip thus far!

- Tammy :o)

Beijing 北京

Nǐ hǎo! After leaving Hong Kong and heading to Shenzhen to visit the Walmart China headquarters and a distribution center, the group headed to China's capital city - Beijing. Tonight is our last night here before we get up early to travel to our final stop on our Chinese tour in Shanghai, but we've done a lot during our time here. We focused primarily on cultural excursions here and have seen Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the Temple of Heaven. I've learned so much in such a short time here about Chinese culture. I also have to admit, I have a newly heightened sense of respect for the international students in our program. Being unfamiliar with the language and facing daily challenges communicating with those around you is even more challenging than I could have imagined. Most of my time here, I have felt very dependent on other people - which is not in my nature! During our time at Walmart China, we had the opportunity to meet and speak with their CFO MJ Medina who talked with us about seeking out these experiences to stretch ourselves and overcome the pain of culture shocks, and I am so grateful to have been able to come to China and experience this firsthand. I feel that I have already grown so much in these two short weeks, and I am confident that it will only benefit me in the future. I would love to work for a multinational corporation and spend several years over seas in another country such as China to further develop myself as a business leader and professional - and I have this trip to thank for opening my eyes to these opportunities. Anyhow, enjoy some of my photos of Beijing sights below, and I'll try to check in one more time from Shanghai before I return stateside. Then I'll give you a full update on my trip when I get home. I've been taking lots of notes and pictures that I can't wait to share with you! Zài jiàn!

- Tammy :o)

HONG KONG!

I made it to Hong Kong tonight! After a long 15 hour flight from Chicago leaving yesterday at 1:30pm CST, we touched down at Hong Kong International Airport 5:55pm HKT. Shockingly, the flight didn't actually seem that long. I had made sure to download plenty of entertainment onto my new handy dandy iPad (the whole first season of 'Hart of Dixie'...) to keep me occupied. When I arrived, half of our group was already here as the undergrads spent a week in Zhuhai studying Chinese culture and met the grad students in Hong Kong. My roommate, Lily, is actually from China, and she has already proven to be a marvelous resource as she took me to dinner tonight and showed me the ropes. Tomorrow we have a free day in Hong Kong and then the next day we visit Li & Fung for our first business visit. So far, all is well, and I'm absolutely loving China. That's all for tonight, but I will keep you posted as the week goes on. For now, here's a photo of our view from our room. Ciao!

- Tammy :o)

End of Term 1

Well, the first semester has officially come to an end. It's definitely bittersweet as I worked harder this term than I ever have had to in school before, so it's definitely a relief to be able to say that I survived (with all A's at that!). Nonetheless, I'm sad that I won't be in class everyday with my classmates. Our class has gotten so close over the last few months, and I'm going to miss them over the summer. We did have an end of the year bash at my house after finals finished up, so we were all able to let our hair down and say our farewells before everyone went there separate ways this summer. My summer agenda includes the beginning of our Entrepreneurship course, interning full-time at Kellogg, and jetting off to China! I'll be sure to keep you posted as I go!

-  Tammy :o)

MBA Women International

Today I officially kicked off my term as the National Student Director for MBA Women International - formerly known as the National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA) and Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) before that. During my term, we will first be conducting a feasibility study to evaluate our recent name change and how best to serve our student chapters through membership dues, benefits, chapter governance, school partnership, and international expansion.

I'll also be serving this term as the Region Director for Region 2. My responsibilities will include reaching out to the student chapters in my region over the summer and finding ways to best serve our student organizations. I'm excited that as a member of the National Student Leadership Team I will also have the opportunity to attend the MBAWI Leadership Retreat and National Conference in Phoenix this October as well.

We held our first National Student Leadership Team conference call this morning to get acquainted with one another and start work on the project plans for our initiatives for the year. Our feasibility study is just our first project, and I'm so excited about working with the high caliber women on our leadership team this year.

Check out our website here to learn more about MBAWI: http://www.mbawomen.org/.

- Tammy :o)

Heifer International Global Passport Program

I'm so excited to learn that I have been accepted to participate this summer as a Walton MBA Student in the Heifer International Global Passport Experience where I will travel to Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas August 13-16, 2012. The Walton College sponsors funding for 15 students each summer, which covers the full program cost of $155 per student. From the Career Development Center's website, "the Global Passport Program is a half educational and half service-oriented 3 night experience where students will be exposed to a variety of activities and educational experiences, including educational workshops and team-building exercises that explore the causes and effects of hunger and poverty throughout the world. The program also consists of overnight stays in Heifer’s Global Village, providing participants a better understanding of the complications of hunger and poverty by living the lessons first-hand. Participants will sleep outdoors throughout the program and participate in various outdoor activities."

When Heather Sprandel came from the Career Development Center during orientation earlier this semester and mentioned the Global Passport Program, I immediately knew that I wanted to participate so I began working on my application right away! I'm ecstatic to learn that I have been selected, and I can't wait for August! This is going to be a really exciting summer for me! :o)

You can read more about the global village and Heifer International at their website here: http://www.heifer.org/visit/global-passport as well as the Walton College Program here: http://waltoncollege.uark.edu/career/passport.asp.

- Tammy :o)

Mock Interviews

One of the fantastic opportunities offered by the Career Development Center here in the Walton College is participation in Mock Interviews. Real employers volunteer to come to campus to help students improve their interviewing skills by conducting real face-to-face interviews. These experiences are incredibly valuable to identify strengths and weaknesses applicants have before they get to the actual interview for a job they really want. Practicing interviewing also makes the process much more familiar and helps you to be able to relax. This semester, I have been able to participate in mock interviews with Nielsen, AT&T via Skype, Saatchi & Saatchi X, and Consolidated Electrical Distributors. The Skype interview was a new experience, and one that I am definitely glad I practiced with now since it is becoming more and more popular with employers. In fact, I will probably try to practice with this format once or twice more.

As for feedback, generally, my overall feedback was very positive from all of the employers. Some of the tips that I received were:

- More relaxed and conversational
- More specific about career goals
- Let more personality show
- Strong resume; improve by
- Great experience and skills
- Practice more behavioral questions with the STAR method

While I have interviewed before, I learned a lot about my interviewing style, and by the time I got to the last one, I certainly began to feel more comfortable with the process. This program is just one of the many assets students have access to in the Walton College through the CDC, and I encourage everyone to take full advantage and get in some practice!

For more tips on interviewing and to watch for more mock interview opportunities, visit the Career Development Center's website here: http://waltoncollege.uark.edu/career/interviewing.asp.

- Tammy :o)

Study Abroad

I'm going to China! I recently found out that I have been awarded a scholarship from the Center for Retailing Excellence to make my study abroad program in China for 2 weeks this summer possible. Studying abroad is one of the amazing opportunities that students in the Walton MBA program have access to - Brazil, China, Greece, India, Japan, or anywhere else you can find a program and want to go! The GSB website has more details here to learn about the different programs: http://gsb.uark.edu/stab.asp. 

Specifically, the China program is designed for "MBA and MMBA students [to] investigate the economic, business, political, and cultural environment and trends in China and are introduced to the key issues in the Chinese/American economic and business relationship." During our two weeks abroad, we will have the chance to visit Wal-Mart, China and other multinational companies such as Li and Fung, Kantar Retail, Unilever and various organizations such as the US Embassy. In addition to the corporate visits and learning, we will also get to tour cultural sites such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Hangzhou Gardens, the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square and Mao's Memorial Hall. See our tentative and basic itinerary below:

Tentative Itinerary

May 20: Departure - USA

May 21: Arrival - Hong Kong

May 22: Shenzhen - Business Visits

May 23: Hong Kong - Business Meetings

May 24: Hong Kong - Free Day

May 25: Travel - Beijing

May 26-27: Beijing - Sightseeing

May 28: Beijing - Business Meetings

May 29: Travel - Shanghai

May 30: Shanghai - Cultural Visits

May 31-June 01: Shanghai - Business Visits

June 02: Shanghai - Free Day

June 03: Return - USA

I'm really excited about this opportunity to learn about a new culture and experience firsthand the realities of international business as it continues to become more and more prevalent in today's global economy. We have had a few chances to meet the other students traveling to China, and although I didn't previously know any of the students in my program, I have already formed fast friendships. I am particularly excited to be able to travel with Lily who happens to be the only other girl on the trip and also a student from China. I know that she will be a great travel companion and an invaluable resource to help me with the language and culture. I'll be sure to post my finalized itinerary and about the trip while I'm abroad and once I return. It's going to be incredible! :o)

- Tammy :o)

Graduate Assistantships

As a full-time MBA student, everyone in the entering class is considered for external graduate assistantships and summer internships with local companies. The Walton Career Development Center helps critique each student's resume and prepare it to be included in the packet sent to the companies willing to hire interns before the January semester even begins. Firms offering internships and assistantships this year included Kellogg, Kraft, Dannon, Tracfone, Walmart, Hershey's, Reckitt, Henkel, Land O'Lakes, and many more. Upon beginning the program shortly after orientation, the firms come to campus and conduct interviews of the students they select from the resume pool. Within a few weeks of beginning the program, many students have offers and begin their assistantships. Those offered graduate assistantships are granted a scholarship and monthly stipend. During the school year, external graduate assistants work 15 hours/week and then summer hours change depending upon the length of the internship. Each position is different depending upon the expectations of the company. 

I was fortunate to be offered in January an external graduate assistantship with Kellogg Company working on the Walmart Cereal Team as as Sales Analyst Intern. My tasks include creating Retail Link reports and pulling data, developing access and excel trackers, interpreting sales data and reports, and working on other various projects as assigned by the Cereal Team. I have also been recently assigned a new project to work with the Walmart sustainability initiative and develop a scorecard to measure Kellogg's performance. I've already learned so much from my short time at Kellogg, and I owe so much of that learning to my mentor, John Miller, a second year MBA student from Walton who was just recently hired on full-time at Kellogg. John has been such a valuable resource, and I am so grateful that he has the patience and has taken the time to help me find my role in this assistantship. I still have a lot left to learn, and I am really excited to see where my new sustainability project will take me, but my internship has already lent me so very much. It has been an incredible opportunity, and I look forward to learning even more during my time through next May!

You can read more about assistantships and internships on the GSB website here: http://gsb.uark.edu/ga.asp.

- Tammy :o)