Sunday, August 12, 2007

Masters of Business Administration (MBA)

MBA stands for Masters of Business Administration, and is a post graduate degree in business communication. It is also one of the most sought after degrees in the world because of its value to people in business and administration. An MBA degree can benefit those in positions in business and management, especially those in executive and managerial positions. An MBA degree from a leading institution in the US has great value throughout the world and thus there are thousands of students from various countries who come to the US for the sole purpose of pursuing an MBA degree even though their own country may offer several MBA programs.
An MBA Program offers a range of benefits for the successful applicant, including:
Business Knowledge: The MBA program and business schools give you valuable knowledge about business and all its related aspects. You learn about business strategies and concepts, not just on paper, but the training and internship required in an MBA course, teaches you how to use these skills in practical life and in day to day business operations.
Leadership Abilities: An MBA degree involves rigorous training, assignments, reports, presentations, and group projects, all of which give you the necessary abilities to handle real-life business situations. This helps to set you apart from those who do not have such expertise and can make you a leader in your chosen field.
Networking: The alliances that you form with your classmates and the network that you create is deemed as one of the most important and valuable things that an MBA program can give you. MBA graduates have often felt that the associations formed during the MBA course are resources that are invaluable and can be drawn upon for years after the MBA degree has been achieved.
Anyone thinking of applying for an MBA program could benefit greatly from learning more about the program beforehand, and finding out what an MBA is all about as well as what MBA institutions are looking for in applicants. This site aims to teach you about various aspects of the MBA program, enabling you to make a more informed choice and to be more prepared for what to expect.
General MBA Resources Provided On UNH MBA:


What is an MBA offers detailed information on what an MBA actually is, what the benefits of an MBA are, and also discusses the popularity if MBAs programs within the Unites States.

MBA career opportunities discusses how an MBA can hugely benefit your career, and also offers details on the some of the career types that are well suited to those with an MBA under their belts.

The value of an MBA offers details on the skills that can be acquired through an MBA program, how these skills and this qualification can improve your career prospects, and the financial value of having an MBA.

What makes a good MBA candidate provides information on what MBA institutions and programs are looking for in an MBA applicant, and offers advice on applications and interviews for the MBA program.

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) provides tips and information on this test, detailing how it is assessed, the format of the test, and the scoring structure of the GMAT.

GMAT study and test taking strategies provides a selection of invaluable study tips and strategies designed to help those taking or intending to take the GMAT, and could help to improve your chances of success.

How to choose the best MBA program for you provides details on selecting the program that will best meet your needs. This covers considerations ranging from your expectations and physical circumstances to your finances and your lifestyle.

MBA FAQ covers a selection of commonly asked questions about the MBA program and process, enabling you to find out some basic details about MBAs at a glance.
MBA Programs:

MBA Programs offers information on some of the different types of MBA programs available today, and discusses the methods of study used to take MBA courses. You can study for a wide range of MBA programs these days, from the general MBA to a choice of MBA programs with a specialist focus, such as marketing, finance, accounting, technology, leadership, and many other areas in which you can specialize.
UNH MBA School Profiles - Find An MBA Program:

University of Phoenix
Upper Iowa University Online
Capella University
Regis University Online MBA Program
Cardean University
Baker College Online
Kaplan University
Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University
American InterContinental University Online / AIU Online

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Types of investment
The term "investment" is used differently in economics and in finance. Economists refer to a real investment (such as a machine or a house), while financial economists refer to a financial asset, such as money that is put into a bank or the market, which may then be used to buy a real asset.

Business Management
The investment decision (also known as capital budgeting) is one of the fundamental decisions of business management: managers determine the assets that the business enterprise obtains. These assets may be physical (such as buildings or machinery), intangible (such as patents, software, goodwill), or financial (see below). The manager must assess whether the net present value of the investment to the enterprise is positive; the net present value is calculated using the enterprise's marginal cost of capital.

Economics
In economics, investment is the production per unit time of goods which are not consumed but are to be used for future production. Examples include tangibles (such as building a railroad or factory) and intangibles (such as a year of schooling or on-the-job training). In measures of national income and output, gross investment I is also a component of Gross domestic product (GDP), given in the formula GDP = C + I + G + NX. I is divided into non-residential investment (such as factories) and residential investment (new houses). "Net" investment deducts depreciation from gross investment. It is the value of the net increase in the capital stock per year.
Investment, as production over a period of time ("per year"), is not
capital. The time dimension of investment makes it a flow. By contrast, capital is a stock, that is, an accumulation measurable at a point in time (say December 31st).
Investment is often modeled as a function of income and interest rates, given by the relation I = f(Y, r). An increase in income encourages higher investment, whereas a higher interest rate may discourage investment as it becomes more costly to borrow money. Even if a firm chooses to use its own funds in an investment, the interest rate represents an
opportunity cost of investing those funds rather than loaning them out for interest.

Finance
In finance, investment is buying securities or other monetary or paper (financial) assets in the money markets or capital markets, or in fairly liquid real assets, such as gold, real estate, or collectibles. Valuation is the method for assessing whether a potential investment is worth its price.
Types of financial investments include shares, other
equity investment, and bonds (including bonds denominated in foreign currencies). These financial assets are then expected to provide income or positive future cash flows, and may increase or decrease in value giving the investor capital gains or losses.
Trades in
contingent claims or derivative securities do not necessarily have future positive expected cash flows, and so are not considered assets, or strictly speaking, securities or investments. Nevertheless, since their cash flows are closely related to (or derived from) those of specific securities, they are often studied as or treated as investments.
Investments are often made indirectly through
intermediaries, such as banks, mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, collective investment schemes, and investment clubs. Though their legal and procedural details differ, an intermediary generally makes an investment using money from many individuals, each of whom receives a claim on the intermediary.

Personal finance
Within personal finance, money used to purchase shares, put in a collective investment scheme or used to buy any asset where there is an element of capital risk is deemed an investment. Saving within personal finance refers to money put aside, normally on a regular basis. This distinction is important, as investment risk can cause a capital loss when an investment is realized, unlike saving(s) where the more limited risk is cash devaluing due to inflation.
In many instances the terms saving and investment are used interchangeably, which confuses this distinction. For example many
deposit accounts are labeled as investment accounts by banks for marketing purposes. Whether an asset is a saving(s) or an investment depends on where the money is invested: if it is cash then it is savings, if its value can fluctuate then it is investment.

Real estate
In real estate, investment is money used to purchase property for the sole purpose of holding or leasing for income and where there is an element of capital risk. Unlike other economic or financial investment, real estate is purchased. The seller is also called a Vendor and normally the purchaser is called a Buyer.

Residential Real Estate
The most common form of real estate investment as it includes the property purchased as peoples houses. In many cases the Buyer does not have the full purchase price for a property and must engage a lender such as a Bank, Finance company or Private Lender. Different countries have their individual normal lending levels, but usually they will fall into the range of 70-90% of the purchase price. Against other types of real estate, residential real estate is the least risky.

Commercial Real Estate
Commercial real estate is the owning of a small building or large warehouse a company rents from so that it can conduct its business. Due to the higher risk of Commercial real estate, lending rates of banks and other lenders are lower and often fall in the range of 50-70%.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Moneyyyy
Economics offers various definitions for money, though it is now commonly defined as any good or token that functions as a medium of exchange that is socially and legally accepted in payment for goods and services and in settlement of debts. Money also serves as a standard of value for measuring the relative worth of different goods and services. Some authors explicitly require money to be a standard of deferred payment.[1] In common usage, money refers more specifically to currency, particularly the many circulating currencies with legal tender status conferred by a national state; deposit accounts denominated in such currencies are also considered part of the money supply, although these characteristics are historically comparatively recent. Money may also serve as a means of rationing access to scarce resources and as a quantitative measure that provides a common standard for the comparison and valuation of quality as well as quantity, such as in the valuation of real estate or artistic works.The use of money provides an easier alternative to barter, which is considered in a modern, complex economy to be inefficient because it requires a coincidence of wants between traders, and an agreement that these needs are of equal value, before a transaction can occur. The efficiency gains through the use of money are thought to encourage trade and the division of labour, in turn increasing productivity and wealth.Social Evolution of Money:Money is an invention of the human mind. The creation of money is made possible because human beings have the capacity to accord value to symbols. Money is a symbol that represents the value of goods and services. The acceptance of any object as money – be it wampum, a gold coin, a paper currency note or a digital bank account balance – involves the consent of both the individual user and the community. Thus, all money has a psychological and a social as well as an economic dimension. As human consciousness has evolved, the nature and function of money has evolved too. While a history of money may trace the origin and usage of different forms of money at different times and in different parts of the world, an evolutionary perspective on money traces the social and psychological changes in human attitude and collective behavior that made possible this historical development.CreditCredit is often loosely referred to as money. Money is used to buy goods and services, whereas credit buys goods and services on the promise to pay with money in the future.This distinction between money and credit causes much confusion in discussions of monetary theory. In lay terms, and when convenient in academic discussion, credit and money are frequently used interchangeably. For example, bank deposits are generally included in summations of the national broad money supply. However, any detailed study of monetary theory needs to recognize the proper distinction between money and credit.Bank notes are a form of credit. Gold-backed bills are likewise also a debt of the bank, a promise to pay in gold.Federal Reserve notes, which are used as money in the United States, are difficult to describe in terms of credit or debt or money. Federal Reserve notes are not a promise to pay in gold, and the notes are irredeemable by the issuer. The Federal Reserve's notes are perhaps viewed best as a political promise to devalue (inflate) at a certain targeted rate.Since Federal Reserve notes are used in the United States as the most common medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value, they are considered money by the majority of the population. To measure this kind of credit money, various forms of credit are counted together and listed as M1 or M2. M3 was the most common measure of monetary aggregrates (or money supply), but the publication of M3 was discontinued by the RBA in March, 2006.