Executive in Residence
Associate Professor, Management and International Business

Edcuation:
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University
Program for Management Development (PMD), Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration
MA, Washington University
BS, Ohio State University

Arrival at Loyola: 2000

Teaching Interests: management, international business, international trade and investment, international finance, global competitiveness, globalization and managing in emerging markets

Research Interests: global competitiveness, strategic alliances between African and US firms, regional trading blocks and regional integration and emerging market financial systems, impact of governmental policies on MNC's

Professionally Speaking: "Our students receive instruction from professionals who are both engaged in positions of responsibility within the global business community and committed to providing a relevant, innovative classroom experience."

Spotlight
Eighteen students in Loyola's evening MBA program are enjoying a unique opportunity this semester: they are taking Professor Michael Porter's "Global Competitiveness" course, offered in collaboration with Porter's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School. Loyola is one of five U.S. and 58 international universities offering the course.

“This exposes Loyola students to the premier expert in strategy and global competitiveness,” say Unger. “They receive the benefits of Porter’s course taught by both Porter and me in a face-to-face environment with input and interaction from fellow students.”

The course explores the determinants of competitiveness and successful economic development viewed from a bottom-up, microeconomic perspective and includes case studies and other written materials, faculty and student websites and complete video coverage of Porter’s lectures for all sessions.

“The emphasis of the course is on the business firm,” says Unger. “Each week we dissect different case studies that analyze the sophistication and productivity of a particular firm, the vitality of its cluster and the quality of the business environment in which competition takes place.”

With more than 25 years working in over 30 developing countries, Unger brings extensive experience in international trade, finance, investment, global competitiveness and macro-economic reform. It is this real-world application of the subject matter at hand that conveys an added sense of relevance and creative problem-solving to the classroom.

“My goal is to teach students how to apply the course work to their own professional environments,” he says. “Students come to class seeking more than knowledge; they are seeking solutions to help them do their jobs better.”