Cornell FinTech Disruption, Crowd-Funding Wisdom, and More – New York News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from New York City business schools this week.
Fintech is Disrupting the Disruptors, and We’re Ready For It – Johnson School of Management Blog
S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management MBA candidate Arjun Devgan, ’18, highlighted how FinTech inventions such as cryptocurrencies, peer-to-peer lending, and smart insurance have begun to disrupt a post-PayPal landscape, which at one point disrupted traditional banking.
Devgan writes about two Cornell Tech intensives designed to “equip students to solve business problems in this age of digital transformation:” the digital marketing intensive and the fintech intensive.
“With my background in payments and remittances, the fintech intensive program offered me a launchpad to dive deep into the world of financial technology. Classes such as the Fintech Practicum, Business Models, Cryptocurrencies, and a Field Project with one of Citi Ventures’ portfolio companies offer a great combination of basic theoretical concepts and real-world experiential learning.”
Learn more about Johnson’s FinTech and Digital Marketing Intensives here.
Want People to Fund your Kickstarter Project? Sell Them on Your Reputation First – Binghamton School of Management Blog
Binghamton School of Management associate professor Ali Alper Yayla presented a new paper at the 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, which found that potential Kickstarter backers are more concerned about a producer’s “ethical characteristics than their actual ability to make and deliver the product.” Professor Yayla writes:
“We found that people worry more about the seller’s honesty than whether the seller actually has the ability and knowledge to finish and deliver on the product. People don’t want sellers to just take their money and run. Crowdfunding is interesting because you’re literally buying something that isn’t finished from a person who has never made it before. There are no product reviews, and there are no seller reviews.”
Read more about Yayla’s research here.
Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook’s Mess? – Forbes
In Len Sherman’s recent Forbes article “Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook’s Mess?”, the Columbia Business School executive in residence and adjunct professor noted the company’s seemingly astounding naivety of how much information was secretly (or not so secretly) being scrubbed for use by third party companies like Cambridge Analytica.
“It’s been hard to fathom how a company reputed to be run by one of the world’s most brilliant digirati, could have been so naïve in not recognizing the risks in giving outside developers broad access to Facebook’s user data, so lax in failing to ensure that rogue data in malevolent hands was destroyed before it could be weaponized, and so reluctant to advise users that their personal information was (and still is) floating around cyberspace. In short, what was Mark Zuckerberg thinking?”
Sherman theorizes that part of the issue is Zuckerberg’s sincere overconfidence that technology and innovation can only be used for a greater good, rather than being possibly manipulated by less-than-ideal forces. This, Sherman continues, was all done despite a litany of data that proved Facebook’s nefarious actors and less-than-strict partnerships were actively making the platform less safe year by year.
Click here to see the rest of Sherman’s work with Forbes.
Zicklin MBA Ranking Jumps in US News, and More – New York City News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from New York City business schools this week.
U.S. News & World Report Names Baruch College Among Nation’s 2019 Best Graduate Schools – Zicklin News
The Baruch College Zicklin School of Business knocked it out of the park in the recently revealed U.S. News & World Report “2019 Best Graduate Schools” list. The full-time MBA ranked 55th nationwide (moving up two spots from the previous year), 29th nationwide among public institutions, first among public institutions in both NYC and New York state, 3rd in NYC overall, and 5th in New York State overall.
The business school’s part-time MBA also ranked 56th nationwide (a 22-spot jump from last year’s list), 34th nationwide among public institutions, first among public institutions in both NYC and New York state, 3rd in NYC overall, and 3rd in New York state overall. Willem Kooyker, Dean of the Zicklin School of Business Dr. H. Fenwick Huss, Ph.D., said in a release:
“Graduates of the Zicklin School of Business lead major businesses around the globe. Our student success is based on an ever-evolving curriculum that today includes data science and analytics, machine learning and cybersecurity along with experiential learning opportunities for real-world problem solving and strategic planning.”
Read more about Zicklin’s showing in the US News & World Report rankings here.
Living Abroad Leads to a Clearer Sense of Self – Columbia Business School Blog
Social scientists from Columbia Business School, Rice, and UNC universities have recently published new research in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes that finds how “living abroad increases “self-concept clarity.”
The findings came after the group surveyed roughly 2,000 “participants from online panels and United States and international MBA programs” that had, at one point, studied abroad.
Entitled “The Shortest Path to Oneself Leads Around the World: Living Abroad Increases Self-Concept Clarity,” the study reveals that “living abroad triggers self-discerning reflections in which people grapple with the different cultural values and norms of their home and host cultures. These reflections are helpful in discovering which values and norms define who people are and which simply reflect their cultural upbringing.”
You can check out the rest of the study here.
Goldman Sachs Executive Recounts Journey to Success in Finance – Gabelli Connect
Goldman Sachs President and Co-Chief Operating Officer Harvey M. Schwartz used his recent Fordham Wall Street Council talk as an opportunity to discuss his unlikely journey from a post-high school gym employee to Wall Street innovator as he stands on the precipice of retirement.
“Innovation is present in financial services. I think that if you have an interest in solving complex problems for clients or specific areas of markets, there is a unique way to participate. The takeaway should be that if you work hard, people will invest in you.”
Glean more wisdom from Schwartz’s talk here.
