Big 3 with Dean H. Rao Unnava: February 2024

Dean H. Rao Unnava's February 2024 edition of the Big 3 features:

1. New Lifelong Learning and Community Platform
   Eos is an interactive space where UC Davis Graduate School of Management alumni and students can share thought leadership commentary, contribute to discussions, and gain different perspectives from each other and our faculty. Learn more >
    
2. MBAs Team Up with Sacramento Kings on Mentoring
   At the tip-off of National Mentorship Month in January, we partnered with the Sacramento Kings on their Fastbreak Mentoring Program, a new opportunity for UC Davis MBAs to put their values-based leadership skills into play. MBA student Jack Schaufler blogs about his experience mentoring local college students. Read blog/view video >
    
3. Does It Really Matter Who Delivers Your Online Orders?
   Online retailers like Amazon and JD.com in China have invested billions on their own fleets of vehicles, planes and even drones to ensure smooth deliveries. Is it worth it? Marketing Professor Prasad Naik took a deep dive into the data to find out. Read more > 

Transcript

A new lifelong learning and community platform.

MBAs team up with Sacramento Kings on mentoring.

Does it matter who delivers your online order?

Welcome to the February 2024 edition of the Big 3 video newsletter.

Launch of eos: a lifelong learning community

We are excited about the recent launch of eos.

What is eos you might ask? Derived from the Greek word for dawn, eos represents the beginning of a new era in professional development. An era in which our alumni and students will always be prepared for what's next on their professional horizon.

Eos offers a range of opportunities and features in three primary areas–content, community, and certifications.

The platform features both original and curated content, including free access to our entire catalog of online MBA course videos.

Students and alumni can also stay on top of the latest developments in business with timely commentary by our faculty and industry experts, as well as curated content from other high-quality business sources and invited perspectives from alumni experts.

The platform includes several features to foster a vibrant community. These include affinity groups, event posts, an exclusive job board, and dynamic newsfeed.

For those who want to learn new skills, our premium subscribers can access over 1,000 high-demand courses and certificates offered by our online partner, 2U/edX.

More exciting features are in the works, including a mobile app and AI-driven, personalized content recommendations.

The power of eos will continue to grow as our community grows, making it a go-to destination for connecting and boosting professional development.

King's Fastbreak Mentoring Program

As part of National Mentorship Month in January, we kicked off a new opportunity for our MBA students to put their values-based leadership skills into play.

As the exclusive higher education partner of the Sacramento Kings NBA team, the Graduate School of Management teamed up with the Kings’ Fastbreak Mentoring Program to pair our MBAs as mentors for local college students.

For our MBA students, this community service extends from our unique Collaborative Leadership Program that instills four principles– inspires others to achieve, helps others to succeed, builds trust and positive energy, and be humble and be willing to learn from others.

The Fastbreak Mentoring Program is supported by two additional Kings partners– Mentor California, provided training on being a mentor and Improve Your Tomorrow helped match mentees with our MBA mentors.

The Kings brought together MBA mentors and mentees for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Kings’ Golden One Center, talks by Kings and NBC sports speakers, and suites at Kings games.

The Graduate School of Management teams spoke on career readiness and educational pathways. Our MBA students are thrilled with this new and fun way of helping college students think about their futures and maybe convince them to pursue a graduate business degree at UC Davis.

Does It Really Matter Who Delivers Your Online Orders?

When an Amazon truck pulls up and delivers your package, do you feel better about your purchase? Does it really matter who delivers your online orders?

Some retailers contract with companies like UPS, FedEx, or DoorDash to handle delivery. Other retailers like Amazon have invested heavily in their own fleet of trucks, planes, and even drones to ensure everything goes smoothly for their customers.

The last mile of delivery leg has become the first priority for these businesses.

Marketing Professor Prasad Naik and colleagues in China recently took a deep dive into how company-owned delivery affects customer satisfaction, trust, and sales.

Professor Naik and his co-authors looked at 10 years of data from JD, a major online retailer in China. This included over 250,000 customer transactions across 400 cities and about 50 product categories.

They found that trust plays a big part in how much people buy, especially for things like groceries that can spoil quickly. This trust leads to customers spending more each month, buying things more often, and buying more things each time.

Prasad's research shows JD increased revenues 11.9% because of this change to their business model. That's a testament to the value of delivering products to customers’ homes through their own logistics.

The study will soon be published in the Journal of Marketing.

Thank you for watching this month's Big 3.