Helping Local Companies Expand International
Business
The Center for Economic Growth (CEG), the University�s School of Business,
the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and Niagara Mohawk Power
Corporation on Jan. 22 launched ExportNY, a program aimed at helping local
small-to-medium-sized companies expand their international business. In
a news conference at the Alumni House the program was kicked off, with
details provided about its purpose and development, and names of the participating
companies were announced.
ExportNY is a year-long course that will consist of monthly lectures,
one-on-one counseling and market and product-specific research. Funded
by Niagara Mohawk and ESDC, it will provide 10 local executives with the
intensive international marketing expertise and training necessary to sell
globally and grow locally.
"ExportNY is an innovative international strategy created to help
small and medium size enterprises compete and grow in the challenging global
marketplace," said Paolo Palombo, deputy commissioner of the international
division of the ESDC.
W. Christian Buss, associate professor of marketing and one of the principal
players in the development of the project, said participants in the courses
will learn three basic things: who to sell to, how to get paid and how
to deliver the product to a foreign country.
"By September, participants will have completed an international
business expansion plan, and, by May, they will have set up distributor
contacts," said Buss. "After completing the program, each company
will be self-sufficient in building a long-term international presence."
"ExportNY promises to be an exciting and rewarding experience for
companies that are interested in increasing the amount of business they
conduct in other countries," said Marilyn Higgins, director of economic
development for Niagara Mohawk. "This is the first program of its
kind offered by a utility in New York State. Our hope is that it will be
a regular part of the many services offered to help improve business opportunities
for companies across our Upstate New York service territory."
ExportNY was created through a partnership of the CEG, the Chief Executives
Network for Manufacturing, the Global Business Network, the Capital Region
World Trade Center, New York�s Small Business Development Center and Albany�s
School of Business. Local manufacturers and the business schools of the
College of Saint Rose, Siena College, Union College and RPI were also involved
in the development of the program.
"CEG�s goal is to help our clients in traditional and innovative
ways," said Kevin O�Connor, president of CEG. "ExportNY responds
to our manufacturers by combining both. We are very excited about the ExportNY
training program and what it will mean for regional firms. Capital region
businesses are world-class, and ExportNY will provide them with the expertise
they need to compete on a global basis."
Debra Russell, CEG�s international trade specialist, added that "this
partnership will create jobs and continue the economic growth of New York�s
Capital Region."
ExportNY is a statewide program with sites in Syracuse and Buffalo as
well as Albany. CEG and a team of local manufacturers specifically designed
the Albany ExportNY curriculum to meet the needs of Capital Region companies.
"The University at Albany is proud to participate in this extraordinary
effort," said President Hitchcock. "The potential economic benefits
to the region are tremendous when the educational and business communities
work together as partners."
To be eligible to participate in the program, companies must have more
than 10 full-time employees, sales between $2 million and $50 million and
a product or service classified as exportable by the U.S. Department of
Commerce Foreign Service.
The CEG is a private, not-for-profit, member-driven economic development
and consulting organization, with a mission to develop and market New York�s
Capital Region as a prime business location and to provide management and
technical assistance to existing business.
University Providing More Flexibility for
Working Professionals
by Greta Petry
The average student Dale Shook sees every other weekend is 34 years
old. He or she wants a hands-on education in an accredited program that
will update the skills needed to compete in a global marketplace. Typically,
this person is motivated, highly qualified, and very short of time.
Seeking focused courses that answer specific business needs, 22 to 24
new adult learners a year are entering the University�s Saratoga Weekend
MBA program.
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University professor of management, Cecelia Falbe,
instructs an MBA class at the Wayside Inn conference center, just outside
of Saratoga Springs.
"These are professionals who are traveling much of the time or
who have job and family responsibilities. They don�t have time to come
to campus during the week," said Shook, director of the program and
a marketing professor in the School of Business. "This is the direction
in which everyone is going. You have to go to the students when they are
time-poor, not make them come to you."
At one time students between the ages of 18 and 22 were the key target
population for higher education. Today, however, the new majority in higher
education is fast becoming the adult part-time learner, who is looking
for convenient classes given at flexible hours. According to U.S. Department
of Education statistics, this year Americans 25 and older will account
for five of every 11 college students. Significantly, the number of learners
who are 35 and older will exceed those who are 18 and 19. And by the year
2010, enrollment will grow from current levels of 15 million students to
20 million.
The University is preparing for future changes in higher education by
addressing this issue.
"Interest has been expressed in our offering undergraduate and
graduate courses throughout the state, �� said Jo Ann Weatherwax, who is
working for the Office of the President to explore how the University can
meet the needs of the non-traditional learner. "People are coming
up to our faculty members and deans and saying, �What can you do for us?�"
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Glenn Harding, John Daley, Bill Hewes, Frank Pecoraro,
B.S.'97, Nicole Richards, and, partially hidden, Lisa Schroeder and Joanne
DiStefano.
The Weekend MBA program is just one example of how to reach the non-traditional
learner. The flexibility of the weekend approach appeals to many adults
whose weeks may be packed with work, commuting, taking their children to
lessons and sports, and running a home. Accelerated programs also resonate
with this population, which is interested in saving time and money.
"I have looked at programs throughout the nation which are more
flexible in their approach," said Weatherwax. She pointed out that
other options include one-day, two-day and full-week intensive courses
for professionals. The Graduate School of Public Affairs is currently offering
some one- and two-day intensive courses.
"We have paid a lot more attention to the important things that
people want. They want a hands-on education," said Shook, who added
that this pool is of such quality that three of his weekend MBA students
already have Ph.D.�s in other disciplines. One is a medical doctor.
Of 38 students enrolled, 16 are women. Eight students are from the General
Electric Company. "We are also getting managers and executives from
small- to medium-sized fairly high-tech companies, companies of the future
from Clifton Park north. Roughly 60 percent of the students have their
education financed through their companies.
"The next market is made up of people who are investing in their
education themselves and who are looking for a career change," Shook
said.
Updating skills is a must for growing companies that want to compete
in a global economy. "We�re not only theory, we�re also application,
and we focus on skills," Shook said.
Classes are held from 3 to 7 p.m. on Friday and all day Saturday, every
other weekend. Students take one course at a time (one, two, or three credits)
until they have finished the 47-credit program. Classes are offered at
the Wayside Inn conference center, five miles from downtown Saratoga Springs.
The program takes 21 months to complete, and is accredited by the American
Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. Linda Krzykowski, who is in
charge of the Evening MBA program, is developing a concentration for the
evening program. Shook said this concentration will eventually be used
in the weekend MBA program, which began in September of 1996. He added
that faculty in the School of Business have been "wonderful,"
about offering to teach in the program. Weatherwax said, "The faculty
are very willing and pleased to teach in this program."
"It makes a huge difference when you have a program like this that
is nationally known and accredited as opposed to one that is not,"
said Shook. "If the person is going outside the region to work, that
name - University at Albany - carries, and it has cachet. There is a great
deal of respect for what the University at Albany stands for. Being a major
nationally-recognized university makes a difference in how well we draw
applicants."
The Weekend Saratoga MBA is a contract program which is run through
the Southern Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce in Clifton Park and the
Adirondack Regional Chambers of Commerce of Glens Falls.
"Flexibility and level of service are what the students demand.
If we don�t do it, somebody else will. We can be standoffish about this,
but as the numbers of more traditional students dwindle, we have to make
some substantial adjustments," Shook said.
As evidence of the way this program fits into an already complicated
life, Shook noted that one woman in the Weekend MBA program just gave birth
two weeks ago. "This weekend program is something she can deal with,"
he said.
Weatherwax concluded, "The adult learner shops around and looks
for the convenience that fits his or her lifestyle. No longer are they
necessarily going to accept the way we have things structured."
CTG Links Past, Present, and Future
to Create Practical Guidelines for Using Electronic Records
By Meghan Kiernan
Every year New Yorkers claim that this year is the worst winter ever.
Snow and ice storms get bigger, longer and more treacherous. So, how can
anyone tell when the biggest snowfall occurred or when hail was the largest?
It turns out that a record is kept of every snowfall for every day for
every year. These recordings are used when meteorologists analyze current
and previous snowstorms and when the Farmer�s Almanac, which predicts each
year�s winter forecast, is published. All bits of such weather information
are electronically recorded for archiving and forecasting purposes, although
they are not always utilized by anyone other than weather specialists.
There are, however, a number of other uses for the information which
rarely ever come to fruition because of accessibility issues. That is why
the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) is pursuing a project, through
a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission
(NHPRC), which will investigate secondary uses of electronic records and
therefore creating a gateway to the past.
Awarded over $350,000 from the NHPRC, CTG will research a multitude
of secondary uses for archived electronic records. In a two-year project
proposal, CTG and the New York State Archives and Records Administration
propose to continue and expand their existing partnership with NHPRC to
develop a set of practical guidelines to support and promote secondary
uses of electronic records.
Through a combination of best practices and project-based research,
the proposed project will address record-keeping requirements in the context
of the broad spectrum of historical and other secondary uses. The project
is designed to produce robust records management processes and models to
ensure that the data maintained by government agencies will be available
and useable for the widest variety of contemporary and future public needs.
While the primary use of records in government is to support and document
specific business processes, responsible records managers must also ensure
that these records are available for other important uses: to support business
processes in other agencies; to give the public access to needed information;
to support the scientific analyses that are used to evaluate programs,
inform policy-making, or plan facilities; and, finally, to serve as a legal
and historical record of government decisions and operations.
From creation to the historical archive, these uses can be facilitated
by technologies such as the Internet that make it easy to share information,
and data warehousing and data mining, whose timely syntheses of process
data can translate traditional historical analysis into a strategically
useful day-to-day planning tool. The historical record is essential to
these secondary uses, the totality of which often rivals in importance
and impact the primary business use of the information.
The proposed project will address critical electronic records research
issues. It will explore methods for ensuring long-term access to electronic
records of outstanding social, cultural, and informational value for secondary
research. It will investigate the use of innovative and emerging technologies
for accomplishing this goal. The project will directly address the cost
and benefits of preserving and making available electronic records of social
and cultural significance.
The project will also explore the use of innovative resource-sharing
approaches and emerging technologies to reduce the cost of preservation,
access, and use. Most importantly, this it will conduct applied research
that will yield practical tools with wide applicability across both public
and private sector organizations. It will involve a critical partnership
between records creators, a leading archival institution, and an award
winning research institute known for applying academic knowledge to practical
problems and generating implementable solutions.
The "Gateways to the Past, Present, and Future: Practical Guidelines
to Secondary Uses of Electronic Records" project will produce the
following deliverables:
� a best practices report on public sector efforts including policies,
management strategies, technology tools, and resource sharing models to
support and promote secondary uses of electronic records;
� a research report on incentives and barriers associated with supporting
and promoting secondary use of electronic records;
� a cost-benefit framework for assessing the value of alternative models
of maintenance and access for secondary uses; and
� practical guidelines and strategies for building maintenance, preservation,
and access for secondary uses into both the design of new systems and the
functionality of operational ones.
