Working From Home, Maximizing Profits, and More – Chicago News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
Are You a Different Person at Work Than at Home? Compartmentalizing Like This Can Lead to Unethical Decisions – Kellogg Insights
Northwestern Kellogg Assistant Professor of Marketing Maferima Touré-Tillery and the University of the Sciences’ Alysson Light coauthored new research, which finds that “people who perceive their personalities as constant across their roles are more likely to behave ethically than those who think of themselves differently in each role.”
Touré-Tillery explains, “If I tend to think about myself the same way from one identity to the next, then if I do something that’s going to make me feel bad about myself, it’s likely that I’ll feel bad about myself across all of my identities.”
She adds, “Every unethical thing amplifies that sense of being a bad person. By having them merge their work and personal lives, you are helping them merge their identities as parent and worker—so they might behave more morally across the board.”
You can read the full Kellogg Insights article here.
Should Public Companies Do More Than Maximize Profits? – Chicago Booth
At a recent panel discussion hosted by Chicago Booth’s Rustandy and Stigler Centers, BlackRock Co-founder Sue Wagner and Booth’s Luigi Zingales and Marianne Bertrand dissected BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s letter to his fellow CEOs, imploring them to engage more deeply with social issues as part of their long-term strategies.
Moderator Robert H. Gertner explains, “We have seen greater discussion, both within and outside of academia, about the role of corporations. It has come from consumers, from employees, from the government, from academics, and from investors. Perhaps this letter from Larry Fink may go down as a sort of cornerstone of this discussion.”
You can read the full exchange between all the panelists here.
Tech Leader Shares His Views On Innovation, Autonomous Vehicles, and Purpose – Gies School of Business News
The University of Illinois Gies College of Business recently hosted Mobileye ASIC Department Project Manager and Founding Engineer Mois Navon, who discussed how his company’s purpose has driven their success.
The Israeli-based Mobileye is “one of the leaders in driver assistance technology and autonomous vehicle research.” According to the article, “the demonstrated ability of [Mobileye’s] products to help prevent accidents led insurance companies to give discounts to people who used them. People were getting into fewer accidents, and the accidents they did get into were less severe.”
Navon explains Mobileye’s purpose within the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, which means “fixing the world.”
“I think that technology is that driving force for fixing the world—even though new technologies can engender difficult transitions. I think humanity is ultimately driven by purpose. We’re here to fix ourselves. We’re here to fix the world. And I hope you’ll join me.”
You can read more about the company and Navon’s speech at Gies here.
Business School Experts on the Glass Ceiling, and More – Chicago News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
Here’s a Better Way to Schedule Surgeries – Kellogg Insight
Northwestern Kellogg Associate Professor of Operations Chaithanya Bandi and McCombs’ Diwakar Gupta recently published new research that focuses on how hospital administrators can optimize operating room schedules “while still satisfying surgeon needs.”
According to the article, “the researchers developed an innovative algorithm to improve OR operations, minimizing the number of ORs hospitals had to keep open, while still honoring surgeon requests,” which can drive savings of anywhere from 10-25 percent in OR costs and “lead to lower healthcare costs and thus lower insurance premiums.”
Bandi explains, “In healthcare settings, these kinds of savings don’t translate immediately to consumers. But better utilization of OR capacity helps the hospital see more patients in a shorter period of time, with lower rejections or delays for surgery requests.”
Bandi hopes to apply an “algorithm similar to the OR-optimization model to help data centers improve project efficiency. “Projects like these can take hours to run and incur very large energy costs. By some estimates, as much as 12% of the world’s total energy goes toward these projects.”
You can read more from Kellogg Insight here.
The Glass Ceiling: Three Reasons Why it Still Exists and is Hurting the Economy – Chicago Booth News
In a new working paper entitled “The Glass Ceiling,” Chicago Booth Professor Marianne Bertrand outlines three factors “why the glass ceiling persists in excluding women from top-paying jobs.”
- Women with college degrees often choose to work in fields that offer lower incomes.
- Psychological differences between men and women could account for up to 10 percent of the pay gap.
- The demands for child care, housework and other life chores outside of work fall more heavily on women than on men.
She explains, “In a world where talent is distributed equally among women and men, an economy that does not fully tap into the leadership skills offered by women is necessarily inefficient. Talent is left on the table when women are not placed in leadership positions, and the economy suffers.”
Chicago Booth Professor Marianne Bertrand
You can read more from Chicago Booth News here and check out “The Glass Ceiling” here.
‘We All Lose’ in Trade War, Says Gies Business Professor – Gies College of Business News
The University of Illinois Gies College of Business blog spoke with Professor of Finance Don Fullerton to understand the potential long-term ramifications of recent trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
The U.S. recently announced 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods [like] industrial machinery parts, food seasonings, and network routers, while China countered with tariffs on $60 billion worth of American meat, chemicals, and clothes, which are set to increase to 10-25 percent by the end of the year.
“There’s going to be significant costs to bear. A lot of economists were arguing strongly against a trade war because in the long run we all lose. We’ll end up paying more for all kinds of goods. We’ll pay more for domestically-produced goods because we don’t get to buy the cheap imports anymore. And the goods we do import, we’ll pay more for because of the tariffs.”
You can read the Gies College of Business News here.
Supreme Court Ideology, Deniability, and More – Chicago News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
Supreme Court Justices Become Less Impartial and More Ideological When Casting the Swing Vote – Kellogg Insights
In a new paper coauthored by Northwestern Kellogg Associate Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences Jörg Spenkuch and Emory University’s Tom S. Clark and B. Pablo Montagnes, the trio found that “the effect of a justice’s ideology on how he or she votes essentially doubles when the vote is pivotal.”
Spenkuch explains, “”Our idea of a good judge is that of an impartial umpire. But justices in some cases disregard the role of the umpire in favor of that of the politician.”
“During confirmation hearings, no justice ever admits that they’re interested in making policy. There is a nontrivial number of cases that would be decided differently if justices did not vote strategically. It draws into doubt the notion of the Supreme Court as an institution where litigants come to get justice.”
You can read more about the trio’s research here.
Sidestepping the Pitfalls of Overconfidence with Plausible Deniability – Mendoza Ideas & News
In Notre Dame University Mendoza College of Business postdoctoral Research and Teaching Associate Nathan Meikle’s forthcoming Journal of Personality and Social Psychology paper, he illuminates how people in positions of power—politicians, business leaders—can successfully toe the line between confidence and arrogance.
According to the article, “expressing confidence non-verbally through making eye contact, gesturing, adopting an expansive posture or speaking in a strong voice allows people to enjoy the social benefits of expressing confidence while simultaneously reducing the risk they’ll be punished for overconfidence.”
The key is to leverage plausible deniability — “the ability to deny responsibility due to a lack of concrete evidence.”
Meikle explains, “The plausible deniability hypothesis explains why overconfidence sometimes, but not always, is punished. For example, verifiably overconfident claims, void of plausible deniability, will face consequences. However, there are a number of ways people can create plausible deniability.”
“Future claims necessarily enjoy some degree of plausible deniability because they cannot be proven wrong in the moment,” Meikle continues. “Thus, individuals boasting about future events would be expected to enjoy the benefits of expressing confidence while simultaneously sidestepping the potential costs. However, even if overconfident claims are eventually proven false, people can still create plausible deniability by undermining the messenger, such as calling it ‘fake news.’”
“One strategy is to make audacious claims about future events. President Trump frequently makes bold claims, such as he alone can bring coal mining jobs back to West Virginia,” Meikle explains / Photo via DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images
You can read the full article from Mendoza Ideas & News here. “Is Overconfidence a Social Liability? The Effect of Verbal Versus Nonverbal Expressions of Confidence” is also available here.
Hurricane Victims Face Long, Uncertain Road to Recovery – Gies College of Business Blog
U. Illinois Gies College of Business Professor of Finance Tatyana Deryugina, who studies the financial impacts of natural disasters on families, explains that “even after the floodwaters recede … families displaced by Hurricane Florence will face months and months of financial hardship.”
Deryugina explains, “If you have kids, there’s the school closures—so parents might have to figure out what to do with their children in the meantime. Even if your workplace is open, you may not be able to go back and work. Building materials will be expensive in the short-term. A lot of people rebuilding causes supply issues.”
“Even if you rebuild, and it looks nice and new, people are going to remember this event. Not only are you going to face building and repair costs, but now your home is worth less than it was before”
She adds, “What we’re seeing with Florence is rivers overflowing, which is worse than just having the floodwater accumulate from the heavy rain because that’s going to be longer-lasting.”
“New Orleans was below sea level, so the flooding just persisted. The longer areas stay uninhabitable, the more people are going to leave and just not return. If you’re somewhere for a couple months, it becomes much easier to stay there.”
You can read the full article here.
The Best MBA Internships: Midwest
The Midwest is a great place to live. Not only is it among the friendliest places in the U.S., but it’s home to some top-rated MBA programs including the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business.
So, with all these great schools in the area, the question is, where should you look for your MBA internship in the Midwest?
Below, we’ve highlighted 14 of the best MBA internships spread out over the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Minneapolis.
When it comes to the Midwest, Chicago is the foregone epicenter. And there’s no doubt that it’s a great city for internships with many top companies. Chicago is home to nearly 40 Fortune 500 companies while also being considered the financial and cultural hub of the area.
So, where should you look for an internship in Chicago? There are many options:
- McKinsey & Company: McKinsey is known for recruiting from a variety of Midwest schools, including Chicago Booth, Northwestern Kellogg, Indiana University Kelley, and Carnegie Mellon Tepper. In fact, last year McKinsey & Co hired 48 employees from Booth. This accounts for nearly 10 percent of the 2017 Booth MBA class.
- United Airlines: United Airlines is headquartered in Chicago, IL and has a wide variety of MBA internship opportunities available in the city. There are opportunities in marketing, financial planning and analysis, HR, legal, corporate and government affairs, and more.
- Google: For an internship with Google in the Midwest, then Chicago is where you need to be. The Google internship program has openings for students interested in business strategy, finance, hardware, people operations, product management, and more.
As the largest city in Wisconsin and the fifth largest city in the Midwest, Milwaukee is another great location for MBA internships. The city is known for manufacturing and service companies and is home to six Fortune 500 companies. In particular, the city is known for having a large number of financial service firms and health care opportunities.
In terms of internships in the city, you should keep your eye on these companies:
- U.S. Bank: An internship at U.S. Bank is a great choice if you’re looking for the opportunity to work for the fifth largest bank in the U.S. There are opportunities to intern in distributed database administration, fund services, product management, private capital management, lending services, and more.
- Northwestern Mutual: Headquartered in the city, Northwestern Mutual is home to many MBA-level internships. Students can intern in public investments, analytics, strategic sourcing, and more.
- SC Johnson: In Racine, WI, just outside of Milwaukee, MBA students can find an internship opportunity at SC Johnson. There are openings in marketing, finance, sales, research and development, manufacturing, and IT. It’s an ideal company for those interested in a career in manufacturing.
Cleveland, Ohio home to manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and biomedical companies. Many top-rated companies call the city home including NACCO Industries, Sherwin-Williams, Applied Industrial Technologies, and KeyCorp. NASA also maintains a facility in Cleveland.
For internship opportunities in the area, look to:
- Eaton: The Eaton MBA internship program is ideal for global MBA students who are interested in the energy industry. Eaton is a $20.4 billion company with 95,000 employees around the world with MBA internships in supply chain management, human resources, and more.
- Nestle: Located in Solon, OH, just outside of Cleveland, Nestlé has an MBA internship program for students interested in marketing or brand management. Internships get the opportunity to work with the company’s global portfolio of more than 2,000 leading brands.
- KeyCorp: Headquartered in Cleveland, KeyCorp is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies with more than $134.5 billion in assets. Every year, they high MBA summer associates in investment banking
St. Louis is the cultural and economic epicenter of Missouri. As the 19th largest city in the U.S., it is considered a major economical center for service, manufacturing, trade, and tourism. The metro area is home to many major corporations including Anheuser-Busch, Boeing Defense, Energizer, Panera, Enterprise, Edward Jones, and Purina. In fact, nine Fortune 500 companies call the city home.
Top MBA internships in St. Louis include:
- Monsanto: The beleaguered Monsanto was recently acquired by Bayer to strengthen its agricultural division. The MBA internship is designed for individuals interested in digital strategy and innovation.
- Emerson: The U.S. MBA leadership program at Emerson is designed for students interested in marketing, operations, supply chain, strategy, HR, financial, or business development. Each year, the company interviews more than 400 MBA candidates to fill their roles.
- Ameren Corp: As a leader in energy, the Ameren MBA internship is ideal for candidates interested in providing new solutions to tomorrow’s energy needs. MBAs interested in environmental policy and sustainability are preferred.
Minneapolis is the larger of the Twin Cities and the 16th largest metro area in the U.S. Recognized as a global city, the economy is known for business, medicine, sports, manufacturing, and research. Five Fortune 500 companies call Minneapolis their home including Target, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial, and Thrivent Financial.
The best MBA internships in the area include:
- Target: The Target Arrows Leadership Development Program is designed for MBA students interested in being a part of Target’s global supply chain and logistics. It’s ideal for individuals interested in operations.
- S. Bank: Headquartered in the city, U.S. Bank is home to a ten-week competitive internship for students interested in retail payment solutions, enterprise strategy, lending services, performance engineering, and more. Here’s an example of the ad for a product management intern.
Better Advice, Getting Kids To Stop Drinking Soda, and More – Chicago
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
A New Way to Persuade Kids to Drink More Water and Less Soda – Kellogg Insight
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business recently published an article that surveyed a number of strategies that Associate Professor of Marketing Michal Maimaran and his colleagues pursued in collaboration with UNICEF to encourage children to drink more water and less soda.
Maimaran, Stanford’s Szu-chi Huang, BU Questrom’s Daniella Kupor, and the University of Amsterdam’s Andrea Weihrauch attempted to link “water consumption with different goals that kids might want to achieve” by designing four “Drink Water” posters, each with a distinct message: “Be Healthy,” “Learn Faster,” “Make Friends,” and no message.
According to the research, the only poster that spurred bottled-water sales was “Be Healthy,” which Maimaran believes is likely due to the fact that “kids are persuaded by messages that rely on a natural association between the action and goal, such as between being healthy and water.”
You can read more about the research here.
Capitalizing On Sleep-Wake Cycle Can Drastically Increase Digital Ad Profits From Social Media – Mendoza Ideas & News
Recent research from the Notre Dame University Mendoza College of Business shows that “digital content platforms can increase traffic to their websites from social media and boost digital ad profits simply by aligning their posting schedules with target audiences’ sleep-wake cycles, or circadian rhythms.”
Vamsi Kanuri, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Mendoza explains in his new research that, “Consumers engage more with posts containing high-arousal negative information, including anger, stress, anxiety or fear, in the morning than in the afternoon or evening. They engage more with ‘boosted’ (paid to advertise) posts and those requiring higher cognitive processing, such as op-eds or scientific material, in the afternoon.”
“Scheduling Content on Social Media: Theory, Evidence and Application” is due for publication in the Journal of Marketing soon. You can also find more on the research from Mendoza Ideas & News here.
Why is it Better to Give Advice Than Receive It? – Chicago Booth News
Chicago Booth Professor Ayelet Fishbach
A new study from and Penn’s Lauren Eskries-Winkler and Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology and famed writer Angela Duckworth found that people tend to “benefit more from giving advice than receiving it.”
According to the study, which was recently discussed in the Chicago Booth News, “the very act of giving the advice makes the giver feel powerful and confident. When people lack motivation, receiving advice may actually be harmful … because it undermines feelings of competence.”
The authors note, “In the process of giving advice, advisers may form specific intentions and lay out concrete plans of action—both of which increase motivation and achievement.”
“We hope our findings, which illuminate the motivational power of giving, do just that: goad scientists and practitioners to consider the ways in which struggling individuals benefit from giving.”
“In Giving We Receive: A Counterintuitive Approach to Motivating Behavior” is due for publication in Psychological Science.
You can read the full article from the Chicago Booth News here.
Forté Foundation Now Accepting Applications for MBALaunch
Calling all women considering an MBA but unsure about how to navigate the competitive admissions process: The Forté Foundation’s 2019 MBALaunch program was made for you. This 10-month program offers female MBA candidates a powerful support network and road map for applying to top-tier business schools for the MBA Class of 2022.
Applications for the next season of Forté MBALaunch, slated to begin in January 2019, are open now.
What Is MBALaunch?
MBALaunch is a unique program designed to help exceptional female candidates excel in the high-stakes MBA application process. Beginning each year in January, the program includes a range of in-person and virtual events geared toward helping participants assemble their strongest possible applications. These include networking events, monthly webinars, and in-person peer group sessions offered in 11 host cities. In addition, the program is accessible via video chat.
Candidates accepted into the MBALaunch program can expect to:
- Cultivate a strong network filled with hundreds of women with similar goals;
- Gain intensive GMAT test prep that, on average, helps improve scores by 100 points;
- Receive help building a winning application;
- Hone interviewing skills with guidance from admissions consultants and business school representatives, and
- Get immediate feedback on their resumes, admissions essays, and more.
Who Can Take Part in MBALaunch?
The MBALaunch program is open to women looking to apply to any of the more than four dozen Forté member business schools in fall 2019 (for enrollment in fall 2020). Forté seeks candidates with a strong academic record and two to seven years of post-undergraduate work experience.
To take part, candidates must be able to travel to a host city (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, or Washington DC) for a one-day kick-off event. Then, candidates dedicate 10 months to the online and in-person program. After the kick-off event, candidates unable to participate in person can take part via Skype or Google Hangouts.
There is a $25 non-refundable application fee. Admitted applicants then pay a $550 program fee to take part.
Additional application eligibility information is available here.
Application Deadlines
The first MBALaunch applications deadline is October 8, 2018, with subsequent deadlines on October 15 and 22.
