UCLA Anderson School of Management has launched a new Entertainment and Media Management Institute, to expand and enhance its long-standing Entertainment Media Program. The new Institute in Los Angeles will bring together industry pros, MBA students and faculty researchers to exchange and embrace new ideas for managing and thriving in the face of transforming entertainment and media business models.
The UCLA Anderson has had a focused entertainment-oriented program for some 27 years, boasting more than 800 alumni who work for entertainment and media organizations – many of them in key decision-making positions. With the growth of the entertainment industry and the impact of technology, globalization and deregulation on both content and distribution, UCLA Anderson plans to serve as a key center of influence in this important global arena.
"Every sector in these industries is undergoing change at an ever-accelerating pace and in such complex and intricate ways," said Gigi Johnson, exec director of the Entertainment and Media Management Institute and a 1988 MBA alumna of UCLA Anderson. "Our mission is to bring together interested constituencies to find ways to best manage and make decisions in the face of greater uncertainty."
Dr. Dominique Hanssens, a marketing expert who holds the Bud Knapp chair in management at UCLA Anderson, will serve as faculty director of the new institute. Hanssens is a leading international authority on marketing strategy and the effectiveness of marketing efforts. He is researching marketing spending effectiveness in entertainment companies, including expenditures associated with marketing films.
"We needed a larger footprint for our various researchers to work in and to encompass our interactions with the entertainment business communities," said Hanssens. "We now can expand our research in a number of key areas related to entertainment and media, and in doing so, will help firms develop new and transformational ways of doing business."
Following are some projects, programs and activities that the new Entertainment and Media Management Institute will pursue:
* Launch a new two-year research project, "Media 2010," to identify and understand the many possible "futures" of the media and entertainment businesses. More importantly, for these different futures, the project will examine the drivers – or the "levers" that sectors and companies might push – to influence those futures.
* Develop two new programs with UCLA Executive Education: Global Entertainment Management Program, a five-day intensive course slated for August 2005 for international media managers; and Branded Entertainment Marketing, a three-day course on cutting edge marketing techniques for entertainment and media executives.
* Create a new Industry Fellows Program at UCLA Anderson, enabling current or emeriti CEOs and division presidents to share their industry experiences, lead seminars at the school, mentor students and work with faculty on research projects.
* Build upon UCLA Anderson's suite of graduate-level entertainment- related courses, as well as expand its diverse extracurricular programs.
* Increase the number and diversity of industry-focused events with students, faculty and industry executives and partner with various industry groups to support entertainment-related conferences and forums.
* Increase the size and number of research grants that seed faculty and doctoral student projects in many realms of management science in relation to entertainment and media.
* Increase the opportunities for the scores of UCLA Anderson MBA students involved in entertainment and the student-run Entertainment Management Association, including management field study projects and a broad array of internships and jobs.
* Expand the new Summer Institute for undergraduate students interested in exploring and understanding the changing film, television and other media industries. First offered in July 2004, the Summer Institute is four-week intensive introductory program addressing management challenges in the entertainment and media industries.
According to Johnson, one of the first major industry events that the institute will support is the Billboard 2004 Digital Entertainment Conference & Awards, which will be held at UCLA Nov. 4-5, 2004 (
www.digitalentertainmentawards.com/ ). The institute will also support the ITA in its Re-inventing Television Summit, which will be held on Sept. 29-30, 2004, on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California (
www.itvalliance.org/RTS81904.htm ).
UCLA Anderson School of Management faculty and Ph.D. students are involved a number of pertinent research areas and projects associated with entertainment and media. From competitive release theories for forecasting box office to supply chain management in the entertainment industry to environmental sustainability issues in film and television companies, UCLA Anderson researchers are at the forefront of important business and management issues that will affect and shape the industry. Established in 1935, UCLA Anderson provides management education to more than 1,500 students enrolled in full-time, part-time and executive MBA programs, doctoral programs and executive education and management development programs.
