Cornell Study Reveals Curious Fashion Findings, and More – New York News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from New York business schools this week, including curious new findings from a recent Cornell study.
How Disclosing Sponsored Content Affects Consumer Trust in Bloggers – Johnson Business Feed
Cornell University SC Johnson Graduate School of Management Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations Sunita Sah, along with Georgetown’s Prashant Malaviya and Debora Thompson, recently co-authored new research that examines how “consumers react to disclosures of sponsorship from fashion bloggers.”
In a recent release from the Johnson Business Feed, professor Sah writes, “In contrast to much of the previous research on conflict of interest disclosures, we found that in the context-rich setting of online blogs, conflict of interest disclosures have the unanticipated consequence of increasing, rather than decreasing, consumer trust in the blogger and their expertise.”
Sah explains how the blogosphere could more effectively handle disclosures:
“If the purpose is to protect consumers by assuming they will make the necessary adjustments to the advice they receive, it’s crucial that we consider the impact of processing by readers and thoroughly understand any unintended consequences that may occur. We may just have to think harder for solutions other than disclosure to manage conflicts of interest.”
You can find more about the Cornell study here.
Round-the-Clock Work Emails Impact Health, Relationships – Lehigh College of Business and Economics Blog
New research co-authored by Lehigh University College of Business and Economics Associate Professor of Management Liuba Belkin, Virginia Tech’s William Becker, Colorado State’s Samantha A. Conroy, and Virginia Tech doctoral student Sarah Tuskey finds that “personal relationships and home life suffer for those tied to their work emails round-the-clock.”
According to the Lehigh College of Business and Economics Blog, the study is the first to “test the relationship between organizational expectations to monitor work-related electronic communication during non-work hours and the health and relationship satisfaction of employees and their significant others.”
Belkin notes that round-the-clock work emails are “an insidious stressor that not only increase employee anxiety, decrease their relationship satisfaction and have detrimental effects on employee health, but also that they negatively affect partner (significant other) health and marital satisfaction perceptions.”
Belkin recommends that organizations “set off-hour email windows and limit use of electronic communications outside of those windows or set up email schedules when various employees are available to respond.”
The researchers presented “Killing Me Softly: Electronic Communications Monitoring and Employee and Spouse Well-Being” at the Academy of Management annual meeting in Chicago earlier this month and is due for publication in the Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings.
You can read the full article here.
Professor Applies Principles of Operations Management to New Areas – Rutgers Business News
The Rutgers Business School recently published a profile of Supply Chain Management Department Chair and Associate Professor Lian Qi, whose research “goes beyond the traditional supply chain domain [to explore] new and relevant [topics] related to areas of high impact.”
According to the profile, highlighted in a recent release from Rutgers Business News, Professor Qi’s research “seeks to apply operations management principles and techniques to resolve customer service issues in … healthcare service and the service operations for electric vehicles.”
In the piece, Professor Qi explains why he opted to pursue a career in academia:
“My father is a professor who has inspired my various interests since I was a child. The second reason is that after I worked as a supply chain management consultant at SAP, I wanted to study more theoretical concepts in this area. I also love to work with students. This makes me feel that I can really help many people not just help a department within a company.”
YOu can read the full interview of Qi here.
Crypto Regulation, Military Experience in Business School, and More – New York News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from New York business schools this week.
Crypto Market Raises $13 Billion Since 2014, Amid Zero Regulation – Columbia Business School News
Columbia Business School’s Thomas Bourveau recently co-authored research, which analyzed 776 initial coin offerings (ICOs) shared between April 2014 to May 2018 to reveal a number of key insights into regulating the decentralized platforms that comprise the current cryptocurrency market, as well as the “value of disclosure in this fast-growing global unregulated market.”
According to the article, the market offers “virtually zero protection for investors since issuers are not required to register with any securities market authority.” Moreover, issuers are “not required to provide periodic financial or non-financial disclosures.” Crypto market participants prefer “self-regulation” and decentralization to securities regulation, although it’s unlikely that the “ICO market will remain completely unregulated for much longer.”
The research, which was co-authored by LBS’s Emmanuel De George, the University of Utah’s Atif Ellahie and Daniele Macciocchi, highlights characteristics of successful ICOs, which includes “disclosure of the source code; provision of genuinely informative white papers; substantial social media activity; disclosure of vesting periods for founders’ tokens; and issue of tokens that are well rated by crypto-market information intermediaries.”
You can read the full article here and the full working paper here.
Applying Military Experience To a Sustainability Challenge – Johnson Business School Feed
Johnson Association of Veterans VP of Community Relations Jason Buselli (MBA ’19) recently wrote about his experience using technology to solve “security problems of the Afghan National Police” to his semester working on the KAZNET mobile crowdsourcing platform in Kenya as part of Johnson’s Sustainable Global Enterprise (SGE) immersion.
According to Buselli, KAZNET was “developed by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and funded through a USAID grant to help alleviate data asymmetry within the livestock value chain in Kenya.” Data asymmetry contributes to exploitation of small holder farmers by traders and brokers.
The platform uses “contributions from mobile users to collect, synthesize, and distribute livestock market prices.”
Buselli writes of his semester in Kenya:
“I have gained invaluable exposure to work in emerging markets, in-field consumer research, value discovery/development, market sizing, tech platform monetization, financial modeling, and implementation strategy development. I am confident that I can apply the business skills I gained through the SGE immersion to my internship [at Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies] this summer.
You can read the full article here.
Summer Camp Introduces Students to World of Business – Rutgers Business School Blog
Rutgers Business School recently held its fifth annual Summer Camp, which hosted ninety high school students at its Livingston campus, over the course of seven days.
Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Finance and Economics Ron Richter says, “The camp allows high school students to experience business and college life in a manner that allows them to make informed decisions about the next chapter in their lives.”
Yvonne Tang, a camper who took part in this year’s session, writes, “The Rutgers Business School summer camp opened my eyes to the world of adulthood and professionalism. Regardless of whether my peers decided they were interested in business, the most important part was that by the end of the week, we learned what business really meant. This learning experience is a must for anyone who thinks they’ll be interested in business.”
You can read the full article here.
What Exactly is the “Target Effect”? NYU Stern Prof Looks Deeper – New York News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from New York business schools this week.
Why It’s So Hard To Buy “Just One Thing” At Target – Refinery29
Speaking with Refinery29 writer Cait Munro, New York University’s Stern School of Business marketing professor Tom Meyvis elaborated why consumers have such a strong impulse to buy more things than they intended when shopping at a big-box store.
“Stores have an idea about the path [shoppers take],” he says in an interview. “Walmart was once famous for doing things like putting like Band-Aids next to fishing hooks and things like that. Something you don’t naturally associate, but once you see them there, it makes sense. So when people come in for something in one category, you can cross-sell, you can sell them something that compliments in the next product category by making sure they’re right next to each other.”
“Meyvis also notes that stores like Target have extensive data on which products customers typically buy together, and they’ll often employ those numbers to decide what should go where within the store’s layout. Some are obvious, like placing flip flops next to sunscreen, while others are so subtle that you might not even notice what’s going on when you pick up hot sauce and Pepto Bismol in the same motion.”
You can read more of Munro’s piece with Refinery29 here.
A Masters in Governmental Accounting? Five Reasons It’s Time to Make the Investment – Rutgers Business School Blog
Offered completely online, the Rutgers Business School Master of Accountancy in Governmental Accounting program may be perfect for working professionals “in the field of public financial management or transition to the public sector from private industry.” The school outlines five the biggest reasons why you may need to consider it, too:
- Opportunities – Projections indicates that there will be governmental vacancies galore due to the fact that “nearly a third of the government workforce will qualify for retirement.”
- More than just numbers – The interdisciplinary degree combines “public policy, public administration, ethics, government accounting, and auditing.”
- Quality instruction – Instructors include former New Jersey State Auditor Rick Fair and Dean Michael Mead, senior research manager at the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.
- Valuable connections – Rutgers “works hard to build connections with local, state and federal employers who can provide job opportunities and advancement to students and graduates.”
- Uniquely accessible – The online program means “you can benefit from the quality of instruction and the Rutgers connections … no matter where you are.”
You can read more about the RBS program here.
5G mobile Communication in China: From Imitator to Innovator – Johnson Business Feed
Baohong Li, an Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Management at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and visiting scholar at the Emerging Marketing Institute, recently wrote a piece for the Cornell Johnson Businessfeed, in which they discussed China’s incredibly rapid mobile technology advancement and the future of 5G connectivity.
Specifically, Li laid out five reasons why China has an vastly important role in the implementation of 5G, including:
- Institutional innovation and reform
- Strategic planning and policy innovation
- Imitating innovation and gaining advantage
- Encouraging patent and international standardization
- Creating co-opetition innovation ecosystem
Click here for a more in-depth review of Li’s work.
Paid Maternity Leave Increasing, and More – New York News
Pack up the pool gear and beach towels: let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from New York business schools this week.
Father’s Day Data: Columbia Business School Research Demonstrates Popularity of Paid Paternity Leave – Columbia Business Blog
How has the culture of paid maternity leave been changing recently? New research from the Columbia Business School explores the topic, which has increased for 12 percent of private-sector workers in the U.S. There is still no current federal law requiring the implementation of paid maternity leave, leaving the U.S. with the precarious title as the only “industrialized” country in the world without a federally-mandated law. Individual states, however, can implement the policy, which has been increasing since the early 2000s.
Earlier this year, New York became the fourth state in the U.S. to create policy regarding paid maternity leave, alongside New Jersey, Rhode Island, and California, which implemented the law back in 2004. According to the article, “California’s paid family leave produced a 46-percent increase in fathers taking time off to bond with newborn and newly-adopted children.”
CBS professor Ann Bartel writes, “This study should help inform the conversation around paid leave, because research shows it is fundamentally a family issue – appealing to both mothers and fathers. At its core, paid family leave is a ‘dad’ issue as much as it is a ‘mom’ issue. As Father’s Day approaches, our research demonstrates that fathers will greatly utilize paid family leave if it is offered, and their employers are supportive of them taking that important time away from the job.”
You can read more about “Paid Family Leave, Fathers’ Leave‐Taking, and Leave‐Sharing in Dual‐Earner Households,” which was published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, here.
How Social Media’s Powerful ‘Silent Majority’ Moves Bitcoin Prices – Stevens Institute of Technology Blog
Stevens Institute of Technology School of Business professor Feng Mai recently led an investigation to understand how social media public sentiment can significantly manipulate the value of bitcoin.
Professor Mai’s research, which was published in the Journal of Management Information Systems, encompassed scholars from Ivey, Dickinson, and the University of Cincinnati, all of whom “collected and analyzed two years’ worth of forum posts on the world’s most popular public bitcoin forum, Bitcointalk.”
The team found that “periods of increasingly positive social media commentary do in fact influence the rising price of Bitcoin significantly.” Mai writes, “We wanted to know who is affecting the price: a vocal minority, who may be biased, or the quieter majority, who do not seem to have a reason to be untruthful, or both.”
According to the article, “the “silent majority” — infrequent Twitter and Bitcointalk users who took the time to comment on the cryptocurrency’s prospects — moved prices more, as much as ten times more, when they posted positive comments.”
Mai writes, “This was a big finding, and it does seem to prove that people are trusting the silent majority much more, perhaps because they do not seem to have an agenda.”
Check out the full Stevens’ article here.
Johnson Women MBAs Boast Record-Breaking Attendance at Forté Conference – Johnson School of Management Business Feed
As we recently highlighted, Cornell’s S.C. Johnson School of Management reported that 49 Cornell students attended this year’s FortéMBA Women’s Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia—29 from the two-year MBA program, seven from the one-year program, and 13 from the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program.
The Forté Conference brings “together admitted, enrolling, and current women MBAs from Forté sponsor business schools to explore career paths, meet recruiters and mentors, and hear from today’s most influential businesswomen.”
This year’s conference featured keynote speaker Joanna Lipman, veteran journalist, chief content officer of Gannet, editor-in-chief of USA Today, and author of That’s What She Said, who spoke on “gender bias in the workplace and provided tips for how women can leverage their value.”
In addition to a Power Pitch session and a number of workshopsand panels on “on communications strategies, interviewing, design thinking, sustainable and socially responsible careers, LinkedIn, and the future of feminism, among others,” the conference also included talks from Accenture North American CEO Julie Sweet and State Street EVP and Deputy Global Chief Investment Officer Lori Heinel.
Anne Latham, Two-Year MBA ’20, writes of her experience:
“The Forte Leadership Conference was an incredible few days. I walked away feeling fortunate to have met so many of my incredible female classmates! The Dialogue with Leadership session, moderated by Dean Erika James, featuring Lori Heinel and Julie Sweet, was a particular favorite of mine, due to their incredibly engaging and thought provoking remarks. I hope we all continue to live by Julie’s advice: ‘If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough!’”
You can read the full article from Cornell here.
Cornell Johnson Women Turn Out in Droves at Forté Conference
Each year, the Forté Foundation hosts the two-day MBA Women’s Leadership Conference. This year’s event was held in Atlanta at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, and a record number of women MBA students from Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Business attended. Not only did Johnson have its most impressive conference showing to date, but it also had the second-highest number of representatives in attendance.
Forty-nine MBA students, representing a broad cross-section of Johnson’s three residential MBA programs, attended this year’s Forté conference:
- 29 from the two-year MBA program (Ithaca)
- 7 from the one-year MBA program (Ithaca)
- 13 from the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program (NYC)
“I loved meeting Forté Fellows and conference attendees from other schools. It made the network seem smaller, less intimidating, and very empowering. Just imagine what we can all accomplish together,” said Cassiope Sydoriak (Two-Year MBA ’20).
Inside the Forté Conference
The annual Forté conference offers attendees an opportunity to explore career paths they may not have considered, hear from influential businesswomen, and meet recruiters and potential mentors.
This year’s highlights included an opening keynote from Joanna Lipman, the chief content officer at Gannet, editor-in-chief of USA Today, and author of That’s What She Said. Lipman offered actionable tips on how women can leverage their value and overcome obstacles related to the gender gap.
Other highlights from this year’s conference:
- Dialogue with Leadership: This dialogue included a panel discussion with Emory Goizueta Dean Erika James; Acceture CEO Julie Sweet; and State Street EVP and Deputy Global CIO Lori Heinel . Together, they used the panel as an opportunity to unpack their careers and offer leadership advice.
- Forté Power Pitch Competition: This capstone event allowed four newly-graduated MBA women to present their innovative business ideas to a distinguished panel of judges.
- Workshops and Panels: Multiple workshops and panels were held throughout the two-day event, which covered topics such as communications strategies, interviewing, design thinking, and the future of feminism.
To learn more about the Forté conference and get reflections from Cornell Johnson’s women MBA students, read the full article here.
Rutgers Supply Chain Analytics Student Spends Summer at Amazon, and More – New York News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from New York business schools this week.
Beginning a Career in Supply Chain at Amazon – Rutgers Business School
Rutgers Business School exchange student Qiying Xu recently had an opportunity to put her supply chain management theory and Lean Six Sigma course work to use as part of an entry-level management position she will pursue at one of Amazon’s new fulfillment centers.
Xu writes that the Rutgers specialty master’s program in supply chain analytics gave her “the picture of the whole supply chain. The data analytics skills she’s accrued have almost single-handedly “changed the course of [her] career.”
You can read the full article on Xu’s work here.
Bridging the Gap Between Politics and Renewables – Johnson Business Feed
In a new op-ed with his alma mater, recent Johnson SOM graduate Mark DesMeules, MBA ’18, wrote about the role his school played in his career pivot from politics.
“I came to Johnson to accomplish what is colloquially known in the MBA world as a ‘career pivot.’ Prior to joining the Johnson community, I worked in politics in the nation’s capital—Washington DC. After gaining nearly five years of advocacy experience through my work with start-ups, non-profits, and Fortune 500s on intellectual property and technology policy issues, I decided to shift my career trajectory toward an industry I had always been passionate about: renewable energy.”
DesMeules writes that he was immediately sold on Johnson because of the school’s “robust academic and extracurricular offerings on sustainability and renewable energy.”
He elaborates, “At Johnson, I had the chance to explore the intersection of energy, sustainability, and business, all while becoming comfortable with ambiguity and complex business problems.”
“My Johnson colleagues, peers, and professors helped me learn, grow, and successfully pivot from the world of policy to the renewable energy industry. I am excited for the future and look forward to continuing to grow in the next chapter of my career.”
You can read the full op-ed from DesMeules here.
Governor Phil Murphy Selects Stevens to Announce New STEM Initiatives – Stevens Institute of Technology Blog
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy recently visited Stevens Institute of Technology School of Business’ ABS Engineering Center to announce “two new STEM initiatives to retain highly-trained, technology-savvy college graduates in the state.”
The first is a “loan forgiveness program,” which will see “anyone who has worked in a STEM-related job in New Jersey for at least four years receive $2,000 per year, in years 5,6,7,8 at the same job, for a total benefit of $8,000. Employers and the state would split the covered amount 50/50.”
The second is an internship program for high school and college students in STEM fields, which reimburses “participating employers 50 percent of intern wages, up to $1,500 per student.”
Murphy said, “Stevens is one of the premier places where tomorrow’s leaders in innovation are learning the skills they will need to be successful and to change our world. If we are to grow the innovation economy again, we cannot lose our college graduates after graduation. I want them to stay here, in New Jersey, to be part of our economic future.”
Check out the full article here.