Impulses, a Culinary EMBA, and Immigration Figures – Boston News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Boston business schools this week.
How God Influences Your Grocery Bill – Questrom School of Business Blog
BU Questrom Professor of Marketing Didem Kurt recently co-authored new research with the University of Pittsburgh’s J. Jeffrey Inman and Harvard’s Francesca Gino that explored links between “grocery sales data and rates of religious adherence in thousands of counties across the country.”
According to the study, “religion and religious messages were linked to lower spending.”
People who were reminded of God’s presence were less likely than another control group to spend money on “impulse purchases such as magazines and gum,” an effect that the researchers note “persisted whether or not an individual described themselves as religious.”
Kurt explains, “We attribute this result to the notion that thinking about God reminds people of commonly shared values—such as frugality—even if they don’t believe in God. Managers may want to consider proximity to houses of worship when choosing a retail location. They need to be cognizant of the effect of religious cues and reminders on consumer spending.”
You can read the full article here and check out the complete paper on Science Direct.
A Full-Course Meal – Sawyer Business School Blog
The Sawyer Business School Blog recently profiled David Lanci, EMBA ’02, who after many years as a chef, shifted into the food services industry and founded NexDine, which offers “catering and dining services to corporations, schools, colleges, and senior living facilities around the country.”
Lanci told the Sawyer blog that his Suffolk EMBA “gave [him] the confidence to go out and start this company. One thing I really learned from my EMBA is to take a holistic view of everything and never have a singular view. It’s not just about what’s on the plate.”
NexDine founder David Lanci, EMBA ’02
Lanci continues:
“I realized that how you communicate with the people in the group has a dramatic impact on the outcome. I realized it wasn’t just out of sheer will you could get something done. You had to collaborate, and that was the aha moment for me.”
He concludes, “Food is almost the easy part. It’s just as challenging—if not more so—to manage people, manage clients, manage budgets. And in our industry, we’re not making widgets. We can’t do everything the same way for every client. Every location is different. People’s appetites are different.”
You can read the full interview with Lanci here.
Undocumented Immigrant Population Roughly Double Current Estimate – MIT Sloan Newsroom
According to new research from MIT Sloan’s Mohammad Fazel-Zarandi and Yale’s Edward Kaplan and Jonathan Feinstein, “the number of undocumented immigrants living in the country is about 22.1 million, nearly twice the most prominent current estimate of 11.3 million.”
Fazel-Zarandi explains, “It’s likely that undocumented immigrants are more difficult to locate and survey than other foreign-born residents and if contacted, they may be inclined to misreport their country of origin, citizenship, and number of household residents, fearing the legal consequences of revealing their status.”
He continues:
“A common argument in favor of a tougher immigration policy is that people who have entered the country illegally elevate levels of violent criminal activity.”
“Whatever the extent of criminality that is assessed, it’s clear that crime statistics be thought of in relation to a substantially larger population of undocumented immigrants. This lessens the risk in per capita terms. What’s acceptable for a population of 11 million is unlikely to be sufficient for a population of 22 million.”
You can read the full article here.
MIT Hackathon Yields Planned Parenthood for Substance Abuse – Boston News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Boston business schools this week.
Planned Parenthood for Substance Abuse Idea Wins MIT Enterprise Management Lab Hackathon – MIT Sloan Newsroom
MIT Sloan’s 2018 Enterprise Management Lab hackathon recently came and went. This year’s winning concept applied Planned Parenthood’s business model to substance abuse in an attempt to creatively address the ongoing American opioid crisis.
The idea extended substance treatment to include support for friends and family and offer “a one-stop shop for information” to “government entities, nonprofits, hospitals, and rehab clinics.” Kyle R. Chapman, MBA ’19, and member of the winning team, writes:
“We knew a lot of people would try to solve the problem by going upstream. A smart pillbox might address part of the opioid crisis, but the problem is that’s only attacking one point of a really systemic problem.”
Learn more about this year’s hackathon winner here.
Trending Topics in Marketing and Media – Sawyer Business Blog
Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University recently recapped its recent Bridging the Gap seminar, which offered a platform for Boston marketing and media pros to highlight a number of key industry issues for students, including the impact of data privacy on digital advertising; voice-activated devices; and strategies for building brands in the modern era.
Ereni Markos, associate professor of marketing and co-organizer of the event, writes:
“It’s especially important for all of us in the Marketing Department to bring real-world expertise to the Suffolk community and, in turn, for us to share our thinking from the classroom and working with students. Networking is crucial for students to build their professional network early on in their careers.”
You can read more about the seminar here.
Lessons from Tim Ryan ’88 of PwC – Babson Blog
Babson College recently hosted a guest lecture from Senior Partner and Chairman of PwC US Tim Ryan ‘88, who used his talk to highlight three key bits of advice that touched upon respect, reputation, and recognition. He also spoke extensively with the Babson blog after his appearance about what diversity and inclusion means to him.
“If we don’t truly understand one another, we’ll never be the most inclusive workplace in the world. Outside of family, work is where we spend the most amount of our time. It was a catalytic moment, after over a decade of investing in programs, trainings, studies, and testing, when we realized that the baseline of talking and communicating was missed.”
Read more from Babson’s talk with Tim Ryan here.
