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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 1981)
ji v,-» /v. r*-r»->c- r \ vlo sa^xixvuss jo xa<\\iiT\vi e ■pvi^ - soldo* J0\_l*0 / *\I3VU.39e\I‘BlXI OOl*r\C*TJ*Sip» "We like to think our students leave A&M with a firm under standing of the total business picture." "We feel it's fundamental that a business school aligns itself as closely as possible with the busi ness community." "Essentially, we are a top school as we stand today — we just feel we can be one of the very best in the nation and that's what we're striving for." Executive Development to conduct 58th Management Seminar The Executive Development Programs office of the College of Business Administration will conduct the 58th Management Seminar March 29 - April 3 in the Rudder Center. The seminar includes sessions on styles of managerial leader ship, management of motivation to work, managing the mana ger's time, and management's role in dealing with emotional problems. Seminar participants will also conduct a computerized business simulation. About 60 executives from mid dle managerial levels are ex pected to attend. Sessions will be taught by Texas A&M business faculty members and experts from industry. A Candid Conversation with William V. Muse Dr. William V. Muse was named Dean of the College of Business Administration at Texas A&M University on July 1,1979. Prior to his appointment to Texas A&M, Muse was Dean of the College of Business Administration and Professor of Marketing at the University of Neb raska in Omaha from 1973 to 1979; and a Presidential Interchange Executive in HEWs Office of Education. He was also the first Dean of the new College of Business at Appalachian State University where he developed the curricula and organization for the College. Muse received his Ph.D. in business administration 1966 and his MBA in 1961 from the University of Arkansas and his B.S. degree in accounting from Northwestern State University in 1960. Dean Muse shared his views on the College of Business Administra tion at Texas A&M University with The Business early this spring. The following is a transcipt of that interview. The Editors THE BUSINESS: You received your Ph.D. and taught at the University of Arkansas, one of Texas A&M's Southwest Confer ence rivals. How does it feel to be a "bom again Aggie" now? MUSE: Great! I've got to admit that I had mixed feelings when I went to my first A&M-Arkansas football game, but by the time the game was over there was no question — I was an Aggie. THE BUSINESS: You've been dean of the College of Business Administration for nearly two years — what's your assessment of the business program at A&M? MUSE: I think we have an exceptional program here. Our faculty is widely recognized in academic circles and the student body is the most dedicated I've seen at any university. Our undergraduate program is one the top in the nation by anyone's standards, and our graduate programs are beginning to com pete with the best schools in the country. We're a good school, but we can be better — and that's our goal. THE BUSINESS: What's being done to achieve this goal? MUSE: Quite a few things — but first it's important to realize the three major areas of emphasis we have in our program. What I mean, of course, is our emphasis on teaching, research and public service. Naturally, quality teaching is a prime mission of the college— but one school's definition of quality, and therefore its emph asis, is not always the same as the next, so you end up having all sorts of variations as far as that goes. This sort of diversity is good in that it gives students the opportunity to select a school that best fits their needs — but it is important to realize that there are differences among business schools. Our undergraduate programs in business are designed to teach students all phases of business operations. In other words, we teach students to interpret, translate and implement new ideas into a market economy. Although undergraduate students concentrate in a specific functional area—accounting, finance, management, or marketing—we try to expose them all facets of business so they will be prepared to deal with changing economic and organizational situations. We like to think our students leave A&M with a firm understanding of the total business picture, and with a special understanding of one parti cular area. THE BUSINESS: What about graduate programs? MUSE: We're very excited about our graduate programs. We have recently completed a total revamping of our master of business administration degree program which should attract an even higher caliber of student than we do already. The new program, which is being initiated in Fall 1981, is a carefully sequenced and structured approach to advanced business edu cation. It's a 48-semester-hour degree plan that covers all the basic business disciplines. It's also highly integrated so that each successive semester builds on the material learned in pre vious semesters. The program emphasizes practical, real-life applications of course material, so that students are able to put what they've learned into practice in a realistic situation. THE BUSINESS: The MBA program sounds as if it's general in nature — what about students who wish to specialize in a particular area?. MUSE: Well, yes, the MBA is designed to be a general business degree — this is true with nearly any MBA program. Our purpose is to give men and women of any educational back ground the skills necessary to become effective managers of a very broad range of organizations. For students who wish to obtain an in-depth specialization in a particular area like accounting, business computing science, finance, management or marketing, we have a top-notch mas ter of science program. It's important to realize the distinction between the two programs — exactly which one is chosen will depend on the particular student's personal goals and under graduate preparation. THE BUSINESS: Earlier you mentioned the three-fold emph asis of the college. How do we stack up to other business schools as far as research goes? MUSE: As you probably know, Texas A&M is one of the na tion's leading research institutions. Research in business consti tutes a significant portion of this overall university emphasis. We've got some very innovative projects going on right now in several areas. THE BUSINESS: Such as? MUSE: Well, in management, for example, we have a group involved in applied research projects concerning the business/ government relationship — areas such as regulation, corporate governance and the like. In fact we're one of very few schools in the nation involved in this area right now. It's an area that is critically important to business these days. Of course, this is only one part of our overall research effort. Other faculty members are studying organizational effective ness, the impact of organized crime on business, the effects of various accounting standards on companies, changes occuring in financial institutions, marketing techniques, and just about any other area you can think of. The point is that research into the environment of business is important — we as a business school see that it's important, and even more so the business community sees that it's important. The business environment is constantly changing and execu tives simply don't have the time or the resources to explore all the ramifications of these changes. That's where a top-notch school of business comes in — we pursue important research projects and then pass our findings on to the private sector. THE BUSINESS: Are you saying that the business community supports this research? MUSE: Yes, we hope that industry is very supportive of our faculty's research projects both financially and in other ways. In other words, industry can support our research through fund ing, and also by providing detailed information concerning their operations and by allowing faculty members to be obser vers in their organizations. THE BUSINESS: That brings us to public service — the final part of your three-fold emphasis. Obviously, research and teaching are public services in a broad sense — what sort of specific service programs are in effect now? MUSE: Much of our emphasis in this area is handled by the Executive Development Programs office. That office serves as the continuing education arm of the college and conducts near ly 20 distinct seminars annually. For example, each year EDP offers the three-week Executive Development Course, seven week-long Management Seminars, several Financial Analysis seminars, a seminar on computers in small business, a seminar on labor relations in non-union firms, a conference on physical Gourmet coffees, teas and treats for your office needs and professional gift giving Mail order available or call (713) 846-4360 3609 Place, E. 29th St. Bryan, Texas 77801 Proud to be a part of BUSINESS WEEK '81 at Texas A&M University PRIORITEAS ■ BLENDS OF GIFT-GIVING Page 4 — The Business xioos jioi?-* zvxsxx o*uri o* ssajpp^ 04 Oil De-control: A Return to Free Trading By TOM SOLOMON President Reagan's move to lift controls on the price of domestic crude oil will allow U.S. oil companies to return to a realistic, market-determined sys tem for selling their products, says a Texas A&M University economist. Under the past regulatory en vironment the oil companies were held to a government- determined ceiling price far be low the existing market prices. This created an artificial, non competitive system, said Dr. S. Charles Maurice, head of the De partment of Economics at Texas A&M. Deregulation of crude oil will also strengthen the U.S. eco nomy — an economy based on free trade, said Dr. Gene Usel- ton, director of Texas A&M's Center for Education and Re search in Free Enterprise and Fi nance professor. If we pass any kind of law or regulation that prohibits or res tricts free trading, we diminish some of the gains from trading," Uselton said. The regulations on crude oil prices lifted by Reagan were Carter, who scheduled deregula tion to take effect Oct. 1, 1981. When Reagan took office he de cided to eliminate controls im mediately. Reagan's action to lift controls on crude old oil and oil products on Jan. 28 is expected to further boost drilling and pipeline activi ties. The average number of oil rigs operating in the United States this year will be 3,600, say ex perts at National Supply, a major provider of oil-field gear and ser vices. This would be almost 700 more than last year, reports U.S. News and World Report. Also as a direct result of crude oil decontrol, U.S. pipeline con struction is expected to rise 14 percent in 1981 to 10,610 miles, says Pipeline Industry, a trade journal. A lot of the incentive to drill and explore that comes from the increased oil company profits due to deregulation could be undermined by a heavy windfall profits tax, Maurice said. The windfall tax will allow government to collect up to 75 percent of the extra revenues that deregulation will bring to the oil companies, reducing the amount what was left of President Nix- / of profits the companies will be on's general wage and price con- able to put back into exploration trols, the rest of which were re moved a long time ago. What did stay under control was "old oil," oil from fields already in existence when the ori ginal controls went into effect. "New oil," oil from fields de veloped apart from and after already existing fields, was de controlled during the Nixon administration in order to not affect as severely exploration and drilling in new fields. The decision to decontrol old oil was first made by President and the development of new oil sources. The windfall tax is actually not a profits tax, Uselton said. It is really an excise tax on every bar rel of oil pumped out of the ground. The decontrol move will in crease production of oil in the United States, without itself rais ing the price of gasoline and heat ing oil, Maurice said. "There is no way an act in creasing the supply of a raw material can raise the price of the final product," Maurice said. "That's one of the fundamental rules of economics." Uselton agrees. "If you take away some of the obstructions to voluntary trading, people will engage in trading and they will produce more." The oil companies did raise the price of gasoline after the January deregulation order, but this was only to take advantage of the higher prices now allowed, Maurice said. Pump prices in Bryan-College Station had risen from $1.32 per gallon of unleaded gasoline on Jan. 1 to $1.40 per gallon on March 1 at some service stations. One ill effect of crude oil dereg ulation is that many small oil companies that came into exist ence under the regulated en vironment will not be able to sur vive in the newly competitive system. These companies, represent ing about 20 percent of the na tion's refined products, de pended on generous govern ment subsidies that they will no longer receive. At least a third of these companies are going out of business, a Jan. 12 Fortune maga zine article reports. However, the oil produced by these companies will not be lost, Maurice said. Bigger companies will buy them out or several of the smaller companies will band together to form a large com pany. Deregulation will be beneficial to the U.S. economy, Uselton said. "It will increase the amount of oil and gas available to us, and it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. "It can only have good con sequences in the long run." Insurance exec to address business students Mr. Oscar L. Newton, Jr., senior vice president of the American General Life Insurance Company, will address a group of Texas A&M business students today at 7 p.m. in Room 108 of the Harrington Education Center. The event, part of the sche duled BUSINESS WEEK '81 acti vities, is sponsored by the Texas A&M chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, the national accounting honor society. An energetic and captivating speaker, Newton received a standing ovation for his address during the 1980 "Career Fair" Undergraduate Awards Ban quet. Newton has had 30 years of insurance industry experience, with nearly 19 years at American General. He has addressed state and national conventions, trade associations, civic groups and chambers of commerce in more than 30 states and in seven fore ign countries. Although Newton's talk will be on a topic of general interest to business students, all interested persons are encouraged to attend. EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT | PR0GRAMS ' SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS The Executive Development Programs office of the College of Business Administration at Texas A&M University is pleased to announce the following schedule of upcoming programs. These programs meet a wide range of development and training needs and this information is provided to assist in the timely planning process for participation in the appropriate program. THIRTIETH ANNUAL EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT COURSE ...January 24 — February 12, 1982 MANAGEMENT SEMINARS #59...May 10 —15, 1981 / #60...September 6 — 11, 19)31 #61...October 4 —9, 1981 / #62...October 25 — 30, 1981 #63...November 8 — 13, 1^81 INDUSTRIAL SALES MANAGEMENT SEMINAR ...May 31 — June 5, 1981 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS FOR DECISIONMAKING #22...September 27 — October 1, 1981 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS FOR DECISIONMAKING IN SMALLER FIRMS ...May 3 —7, 1981 THE ABC’S OF SMALL BUSINESS COMPUTERS THIRD ANNUAL COMPUTERS IN BUSINESS CONFERENCE ...April 13 —15, 1981 LABOR RELATIONS IN NON-UNION COMPANIES ...April 21 —22, 1981 MANAGEMENT SEMINAR FOR EXECUTIVE SECRETARIES ...October 11 — 14, 1981 Executive Development Programs College of Business Administration Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843 (713) 845-4711 The Business — Page 9