13 PhD Students Graduate from Smith School

13 PhD Students Graduate from Smith School

The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business congratulates the 13 doctoral candidates who graduated with their PhDs on May 20, 2013. Smith’s PhD program was recently ranked 17th in the world by Financial Times (January 2013).

Abrar Al Hasan
Information Systems
Dissertation Title: Information Transparency and User Behavior in Emerging Online Marketplaces: Empirical Studies of Social Media and Open Innovation Markets

Seth Carnahan
Strategic Management
Dissertation Title: Employee Departure from Organizations: Three Empirical Essays Examining Causes and Consequences

Yu-Jen Chen
Marketing
Dissertation Title: Investigations of Factors that Affect Consumers’ Online Word of Mouth Behavior

Robert Felix
Accounting and Information Assurance
Dissertation Title: Financial Reporting: A Look at Different Settings

Brad Greenwood
Information Systems
Dissertation Title: Pokes, Prods, and Pushes: Information Availability and Decision Making in Ambiguous Environments

Qiang Li
Strategic Management
Dissertation Title: Antecedents and Consequences of Insiders’ Equity Share and Selling IPO: Three Essays

James Edward Matherly III
Marketing
Dissertation Title: Observer Interpretation of Signaling in Consumer Decision Making

Mahka Moeen
Strategic Management
Dissertation Title: Reconfiguration Strategies for Entrepreneurial Entry and Incubation of Nascent Industries

Ali Pilehvar
Operations Management/Management Science
Dissertation Title: Essays on Studying the Sellers and Buyers Challenges in Business-to-Business Auctions.

Yixin Qiu
Information Systems
Dissertation Title: Institutional Logics, Indie Software Developers and Platform Governance

Onur Tosun
Finance
Dissertation Title: Essays on Executive Compensation, Capital Structure and Corporate Governance

Shun Ye               
Information Systems
Dissertation Title: Reciprocity in Online Markets: Empirical Studies of Auction and Barter Markets

Dobin Yim
Information Systems
Dissertation Title: Online Networks and Pro-Social Behaviors: Empirical Studies of Charitable Donations and Environmental Sustainability

About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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!MEDIA ALERT: September 11, 2012 - Smith Experts Available to Comment on Latest Kodak Moves to Exit Bankruptcy

Media Alert: Sept. 10, 2012

Smith Experts Available to Comment on Latest Kodak
Moves to Exit Bankruptcy

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Faculty experts in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to discuss, and give historical perspective on, the recently announced Kodak-management changes and job cuts as the company maneuvers to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

The Smith School has an in-house facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content.

Kodak Misses its Moment

Hank Lucas, the Robert H. Smith Professor of Information systems, has written Searching for Survival: Lessons from Disruptive Technologies (Praeger, 2012). Contact him at 301-405-0100 or hlucas@rhsmith.umd.edu. 

Lucas’ book includes a chapter "Kodak Misses its Moment." He summarizes it here:

“Kodak is a tragic example of a company that had everything going for it, but was unable to cope when innovative digital technologies came along. Kodak’s demise was brought about not by a single event, but as with many disasters, a series of conditions and events brought the company down." These include:

Kodak’s own invention of the digital camera in 1975The firm’s inability to understand that others flooding the market with digital cameras, combined with the Internet, changed the process by which people captured and shared images The company’s rigid bureaucratic structure prevented it from responding quickly to threatsSenior management was unable to convince middle managers to move away from their analog, chemical and film mindsetManagement was distracted by foreign competition (e.g. Fuji) in film and a suit by Polaroid on instant photographyKodak exhibited a certain amount of arrogance thinking that it could control the pace at which consumers converted from film to digital photographyThe company wanted to protect its cash cow film business as long as possibleOver the years Kodak tried to diversify into unrelated fields and then pulled outOne hundred-plus years of success and a market share that at times exceeded 90 percent 'Kodak Should Have Folded Earlier'

Brent Goldfarb, associate professor of entrepreneurship and management, recently co-authored "Optimal Inertia: When Organizations Should Fail" in the journal Ecology and Strategy. He says Kodak is one such company that should have "failed," or closed down in an orderly fashion, instead of turning to bankruptcy. Contact him at 301-405-9672 or bgoldfarb@rhsmith.umd.edu.

Goldfarb's position, detailed in this Smith YouTube Channel video, is summarized here:

"Kodak was faced with a particularly difficult problem. The production of film is a very sensitive process, and for this reason Kodak was a rigid organization - small mistakes could have large consequences. This made the transition to digital costly. Ironically, Kodak was reasonably successful in their transition and quickly achieved a market leading position. The problem was that market leadership in a low-margin business is not a great prize. Kodak was not a victim of poor management, rather, the poor circumstance of being on the wrong side of creative destruction; its fate largely unavoidable.

Instead of trying to pursue the digital photography market, (Kodak) would have been better off slowly shutting down while profiting as much as possible from the dying film market. While this is a terrible outcome for Kodak stakeholders, particularly employees, history did not treat the company kindly anyway. They might have been better off trying to provide enough resources to the employees being displaced and to those managing the shrinking enterprise so as to ensure continuity and thereby extracting as much profit as possible from the market. They could then return what's left to the shareholders, whose dividends are increased further with the company not plowing money back into research and development."

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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Univ. of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and Maryland Bankers Association to Offer Program for Community Bank Board Members

Univ. of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and Maryland Bankers Association to Offer Program for Community Bank Board Members

College Park, Md. – December 7, 2010 – The Center for Financial Policy at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and the Maryland Bankers Association are partnering to deliver a Bank Director Training Program. Targeted to business leaders who serve on the boards of community banks in Maryland, the series of short courses will lead participants through new regulations in the wake of the financial crisis and leverage Smith’s world-class faculty and research from the Center for Financial Policy.

Courses will give board members the financial skills and understanding to work more effectively with their banks and better navigate complex decisions, even though many are not professionals in the industry. The program will be offered in six, four-hour modules, beginning in January 2011. The Smith School’s finance faculty, in conjunction with the Office of Executive Programs, will teach the courses at the school’s College Park, Md. campus, with one module to be held in June in conjunction with the Maryland Bankers Association annual meeting.

“As we’re emerging from the financial crisis, there is no better time for a formal program for community bank board members,” said Clifford Rossi, executive-in-residence at the Center for Financial Policy and academic director of the Board Director Training Program. “Having board directors who understand the new state and federal regulatory reforms is critical to the ongoing stability of the banking sector in Maryland.”

Rossi, a 25-year banking industry veteran, will teach the first course on credit risk management in January 2011. Rossi will bring his experience as chief risk officer, most recently with Citigroup, to give board members an overview of credit risks faced by banks, what to look for and how banks can better control these exposures. Subsequent courses will cover asset liability, deposit insurance, capital management, corporate governance and strategic planning.

“We are excited to be partnering with the Smith School on this program,” said Kathleen Murphy, president and CEO of the Maryland Bankers Association. “With more than 700 business leaders currently serving on the boards of Maryland’s community banks, this program will provide an ongoing resource with some of the premier educational financial faculty in the country. This will be a wonderful added benefit for our members.”

Launched in 2009, the Center for Financial Policy offers an unbiased source of expertise on complex policy issues related to financial institutions, financial markets and public companies through cutting-edge research, outreach and executive education. Center leaders interact with policymakers to provide impartial help in steering and influencing policy, and provide thought leadership to industry executives in the public and private sectors. The center also offers the Directors’ Institute, an intensive, three-day program for corporate board members held in April in Washington.

The Smith School is widely recognized as a world-leading source of business management education and research, consistently ranking among the world’s best for faculty research. It was recently ranked No. 15 in the United States for its executive MBA program and No. 1 in corporate strategy by the Financial Times.

About the Maryland Bankers Association
Founded in 1896, MBA’s member banks have more than 25,000 employees and hold
97 percent of the FDIC insured deposits in Maryland in more than 1,800 branch offices. MBA serves member banks and thrifts as a legislative and regulatory advocate at all levels of government, as the public relations voice for the industry, as a provider of professional education to members and a promoter of consumer financial education to adults and students.   

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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Univ. of Maryland’s Smith School of Business EMBA Program Ranks No. 15 in the U.S.

Univ. of Maryland’s Smith School of Business
EMBA Program Ranks No. 15 in the U.S.

Financial Times Executive Education Ranking Places Smith School No. 1 in Corporate Strategy Worldwide; No. 9 for Faculty Research, Entrepreneurship

College Park, Md. – October 25, 2010 – The executive MBA program at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is ranked No. 15 in the United States and No. 36 in world, according to the 2010 Financial Times executive education rankings published today. The influential rankings place the Smith School's EMBA No. 1 in the world for corporate strategy and No. 9 globally for entrepreneurship and for faculty research, an area of strength for which the school is consistently recognized as a leader.

“We are proud to be the No. 1 program in the world for corporate strategy – a recognition we’ve worked hard to achieve since starting our EMBA program less than 10 years ago,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “We are the highest ranked program in the Baltimore-Washington region, following a previous great ranking by the Wall Street Journal. This ranking is a testament to the strength of our faculty and the real-world leadership development and applied research they bring into the classroom. With our emphasis on action learning and entrepreneurial problem solving, our students emerge as leaders and innovators in their organizations.”

Smith’s EMBA program was ranked No. 22 in the world by the Wall Street Journal in September 2010, which also ranked Smith No. 15 for how well it imparts management skills to students and No. 16 according to alumni rating. In addition to the EMBA degree program, Smith’s top faculty share their expertise through the school’s several non-degree programs. Executives can take part in the recently launched miniMBA2.0 certificate program, which emphasizes practical skills development and professional networking for the increasingly technology- and analysis-focused business environment.

The Financial Times rankings are compiled from two questionnaires – one that focuses on business school and program information, the other that focuses on alumni achievement three years after graduation for the EMBA class of 2007. The corporate strategy and entrepreneurship program rankings are based on the alumni survey. The research ranking is calculated according to the number of faculty publications in 45 international academic and practitioner journals. Points are accrued by the business school at which the author is currently employed and the total is weighted for faculty size. 

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

View the original article here

University of Maryland Smith School of Business Faculty Named Top Scholar of Management

University of Maryland Smith School of Business Faculty
Named Top Scholar of Management

College Park, Md. – March 15, 2012 – Hui Liao, associate professor of management and organization at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, was honored with the 2012 Cummings Scholarly Achievement Award. The prestigious award is one of the highest professional honors in the field of organizational behavior, given annually by the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management to recognize outstanding early- to mid-career scholarly achievement.

Liao is a prolific researcher in the areas of organizational behavior, leadership and human resources. This is not the first time her work has been recognized – in 2010, she won the similar award “Scholarly Achievement Award” from the Academy of Management’s Human Resources Division, and in 2009 she was recognized with the “Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award” from the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

“Professor Liao has quickly become one of the top researchers in her field and a tremendous contributor to the strength of the management faculty at the Smith School,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “Our faculty are truly shaping the future of business with their research, which they translate to the classroom to help our students leave here to become leaders armed with the latest management knowledge.”

Liao’s work has appeared in the field’s top journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Organization Science, and Personnel Psychology. She has conducted field research with small businesses and multinational corporations in various cultural settings, including the United States, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Europe and the UAE.

Liao currently serves as an associate editor for Personnel Psychology, a top-tier journal in management and applied psychology. In addition to her research accomplishments, she has also been consistently recognized for her exemplary teaching by the Smith School.

Before joining the Smith School, Liao was on the faculties of the Rutgers University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her PhD with concentrations in organizational behavior and human resources from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, and her BA in international economics from the Renmin University of China.

About the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, executive MS, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

View the original article here

University of Maryland Smith School of Business MBA Program Ranked No. 24, No. 2 for Student Satisfaction, Teachers and Career Services

University of Maryland Smith School of Business MBA Program
Ranks Among Nation’s Best
No. 2 for Student Satisfaction, Teachers and Career Services

College Park, Md. – November 15, 2012 – The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business offers one of the best MBA programs in the nation and ranks No. 2 for the quality of its teachers, its career services and overall student satisfaction, according to a ranking published today by Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. The Smith School ranks No. 24 in the nation and No. 9 among public universities.

“We’re so pleased to see our commitment to our students and our investments in our programs recognized with this ranking,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “We have been focused on strengthening the learning experience for our students. We have some of the best researchers in the world who truly excel at translating their work in the classroom for our students. And we’ve made significant investments to transform our career services offerings to help our students develop as strong leaders.”

Students rated the Smith School “A+” across the board for career services offerings, the quality of teachers, leadership skills they acquired in the program and the caliber of their classmates.

The Smith School completed a multimillion-dollar revamp of its Office of Career Services in fall 2011, introducing a host of new student programs and a state-of-the-art physical space for interviews that have attracted many additional employers to campus. The office’s innovative offerings include a series of improvisation workshops led by a Broadway actor and soft-skills leadership training.

The MBA student experience is a top priority for the school, both in the classroom and through the six-credit, required Smith Experience program. Renowned researchers serve not only as top teachers, but as mentors and leaders for the experiential learning program’s consulting projects and global study trips.

The Bloomberg Businessweek rankings published November 15, 2012. The list appears every two years and is based on three main sources of data: a survey of MBA students, a survey of corporate recruiters, and an intellectual capital rating. The surveys are conducted online and ask students to rate their programs on teaching quality, career services, alumni network and recruiting efforts, among other things. The recruiter survey asks companies to rank top schools from which they recruit and hire MBAs. The intellectual capital score is determined by the number of faculty books published and articles published in the top 20 academic journals in the past five years. The magazine also evaluates programs on a range of statistical information submitted by the schools.

The complete rankings can be seen online. Additional information about the Smith School’s MBA program is available at http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/mba.

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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University of Maryland Smith School of Business Names Joyce E. A. Russell Vice Dean

University of Maryland Smith School of Business Names
Joyce E. A. Russell Vice Dean

College Park, Md. – July 9, 2012 – Joyce E. A. Russell was named Vice Dean for Programs at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Russell is a Ralph J. Tyser Distinguished Teaching Fellow at the Smith School and has been a major force in shaping the student experience at all levels. As vice dean, Russell’s duties include oversight of the school’s undergraduate, MBA, MS and executive programs, and the development of the school’s global, university and corporate partnerships. She assumes the role in July and succeeds Hugh Courtney, who was named dean of Northeastern University College of Business Administration.

“As vice dean, Joyce will be instrumental in championing Smith School initiatives,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “This role is critical to the operations of the school. Her leadership development and executive coaching expertise will be invaluable when working with students, faculty and staff.”

Russell is a Ralph J. Tyser Distinguished Teaching Fellow at the Smith School. Russell teaches courses at all levels – undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, and executive MBA. Since joining the faculty in 1998, she has consistently been honored for being one of the school’s outstanding teachers. She has also been selected three times for the Allen J. Krowe Award for Teaching Excellence given for outstanding teaching among tenured, tenure-track, and teaching professors.

Russell is the director of the Executive Coaching and Leadership Development Program for Smith’s EMBA program in College Park and China, and has chaired the Executive Coaching Conference held at the Smith School and attended by coaches from across the United States.

She also has more than 25 years of experience consulting with both private and public sector organizations in the areas of leadership development, negotiation tactics, executive coaching, and career development. Some of her clients have included: Lockheed Martin, Marriott, Department of Defense, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Institute of Health, SAIC, Frito-Lay, Quaker Oats, M&M Mars, ALCOA, Entergy, Yodlee, Black & Decker, Boeing Corporation, Hughes Communications, McCormick, Sprint/Nextel, Tennessee Valley Authority, State of Tennessee, Bell-South, L.M. Berry & Company, and Bryce Corporation.

Russell writes a weekly “Career Coach” column and answers reader questions in a monthly online chat for The Washington Post’s Capital Business newspaper.

Prior to joining the Smith School, Russell was a tenured full professor in the College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee. She has published more than 50 articles, books, or book chapters and has presented her research at national and regional conferences. She served as the associate editor for the Journal of Vocational Behavior, and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Resource Management Review, and Performance Improvement Quarterly.

She received her Ph.D and M.A. degrees in industrial and organizational psychology from the University of Akron, Ohio.

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

View the original article here

Congratulations Graduates of Smith Executive MBA Program, Cohort 12! [VIDEO]

Congratulations Graduates of Smith Executive MBA Program,
Cohort 12!

Thirty-eight students from the Robert H. Smith School of Business Executive MBA Cohort 12 gathered at the University of Maryland’s Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center on July 26, 2013, for a very special occasion: graduation ceremonies.

With family, friends, faculty, and staff on hand, the close-knit and supportive culture of our community was clearly on display as Vice Dean Joyce Russell acknowledged the sacrifice on the families and the milestone achievement of the graduates.

Greg Hanifee, assistant dean of executive programs, said, “We’re extremely proud of this group of executives, as they have pushed us to become better as a program, but they also have represented the Smith EMBA brand with incredible professionalism. I especially want to thank our outstanding faculty and staff (as the students have done today) for delivering on our promise of a leading EMBA degree.”

Two big highlights of the ceremony included a speech and a song from graduating students. Bob Smith – with help from Amadou Cisse’ – offered a “Top 12 Ways You Know You've Finished Your EMBA at the Robert H. Smith School of Business” list. Undoubtedly the most memorable part of the ceremony for the attendees was a song from Dionne Kimble-Walker. Words can’t do justice to these highlights – so watch them online via video captured from an audience member.

EMBA graduate Rebecca Winner offered some words of wisdom to prospective Executive MBA students: “The Smith Executive MBA program truly changed the way I think about myself, my career and the work I do. Immerse yourself in the experience and take advantage of all the opportunities it offers to grow and develop,” said Winner.

Already highly ranked by the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Businessweek, Smith’s EMBA program recently ranked 26th in The Economist's inaugural EMBA world rankings and 13th among U.S. programs.

Would you like to be wearing your own EMBA cap and gown in July 2015? You can start the process by attending an information session.

About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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Innovations in Teaching: Smith School Hosts 2013 IT Teaching Workshop [PHOTOS]

Innovations in Teaching:
Smith School Hosts 2013 IT Teaching Workshop

Information systems faculty from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business and such universities as Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Purdue, Georgia Tech and New York University gathered in Van Munching Hall for the 2013 IT Teaching Workshop.

The May 17 event started with introductory remarks from Ritu Agarwal, professor and Robert H. Smith Dean's Chair of Information Systems, and participants were welcomed by Dean G. "Anand" Anandalingam during lunch.

“Participants shared new teaching techniques, ideas, assignments and framework,” said Peng Huang, assistant professor in Smith’s Department of Decision, Operations and Technologies (DOIT).

Smith-DOIT Associate Professor Sunil Mithas presented his ADROIT (A: Add value or growth; D: Differentiate or increase WTP; R: Reduce Costs; O: optimize risk ; I: Innovate; T: Transform) framework to “articulate the role of IT in broader terms than just focus on the cost reduction role of IT.” Discussion further covered new simulations, games and cases for creating student engagement.

Hank Lucas, the Robert H. Smith Professor of Information Systems, shared insight from recent online course development and delivery activities. He referred to four types of course platforms using different technologies: synchronous, asynchronous, blended, and Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). “This year, I’ve done all of those.”

Regarding MOOC, Lucas this spring delivered "Surviving Disruptive Technologies" to several thousand students representing about 100 countries. He created the offering in conjunction with the education company Coursera as part of a free online course initiative to broaden access to top-level institutions.

Last fall, Lucas taught an asynchronous online course, “Strategic and Transformational IT,” to 24 Smith MBAs. Online video meetings created virtual class sessions complemented by short video lecture modules, case studies and other exercises for asynchronous viewings. “It’s an intense experience no less demanding of you than standing in the front of a classroom,” said Lucas, who is helping spearhead Smith’s forthcoming online MBA degree program.

Andrew Baer (’80), adjunct instructor for Smith's DOIT and former Comcast CIO, said Lucas’ work illustrates how universities can effectively adapt to student expectations. “The corporate world has moved toward improving the customer experience by figuring out how to offer lots of different ways for customer interaction. The Amazons, Googles and Apples of the world have conditioned this level of expectation,” he said. “To have a broad reach to prospective students, we have to create a broad offering of learning options across different technologies.”

Lucas’ and Baer’s comments were part of an “IT in Higher Education: Sustaining or Disruptive?” panel discussion with Deborah Lucas (’96), senior customer success director at Salesforce.com; Maryam Alavi, information strategy professor and vice dean for faculty and research at Emory University’s Gouizeta Business School; and Vasant Dhar, professor and director of the NYU Stern School of Business’ Center for Business Analytics.

Joe Bailey, research associate professor for DOIT, co-presented "IT Decision Games" among other presenters and subtopics. View the full agenda here.

“As information technology is increasingly vital to most enterprises, we are seeing new ways to teach and deliver content that’s driven by Internet and related technologies,” said Zhi-Long Chen, professor of operations management and DOIT chair, who delivered welcoming remarks on the eve of the workshop.

In staging the 2013 workshop, Smith and the University of Maryland follow previous hosts including the University of California Irvine, University of Michigan and Georgia Tech. NYU will host the 2014 workshop.

Hosting this year's workshop is a timely illustrator of Smith’s thought leadership, Chen added. “Not only are Smith’s DOIT information systems faculty among the world’s best IT researchers, they are also outstanding teachers."

About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

View the original article here

On Smith Business Close-Up: Housing and the Economy [VIDEO]

Smith Business Close-Up: Housing and the Economy

Thursday, May 16, 2013, 7:30 p.m.

The housing market is picking up steam, an indicator of an economic resurgence overall. What does this mean for buying and selling in Maryland? In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Cliff Rossi talks about housing and the economy.

Rossi is an Executive-in-Residence and Tyser Teaching Fellow at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Rossi had nearly 25 years’ experience in banking and government, having held senior executive roles in risk management at several of the largest financial services companies.

His most recent position was Managing Director and Chief Risk Officer for Citigroup’s Consumer Lending Group where he was responsible for overseeing the risk of a $300+B global portfolio of mortgage, home equity, student loans and auto loans with 700 employees under his direction. While there he was intimately involved in Citi’s TARP and stress test activities. He also served as Chief Credit Officer at Washington Mutual (WaMu) and as Managing Director and Chief Risk Officer at Countrywide Bank. Previous to these assignments, he held senior positions at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and worked for a number of years at the Treasury Department and Office of Thrift Supervision working on key policy issues affecting depositories.

Smith Business Close-Up is co-produced by the Robert H. Smith School of Business and Maryland Public Television. The television segment focuses on the latest thinking in business management, and features in-depth interviews with Smith School faculty and other members of the school’s community of business leaders.

Where to Watch
Smith Business Close-Up can be seen bi-weekly on Maryland Public Television's Your Business and Money. The program airs at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays and is repeated the following Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on public television stations throughout Maryland and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, including:

WMPB-TV (Ch. 67), Baltimore WMPT-TV (Ch. 22), DC metro/Annapolis WCPB-TV (Ch. 28), Salisbury WFPT-TV (Ch. 62), Frederick WWPB-TV (Ch. 31), Hagerstown WGPT-TV (Ch. 36), Oakland

View the original article here

Smith Announces Undergrad Dean's List

Dean's List 

The University awards Semester Academic Honors (Dean's List) to undergraduate students who complete, within any given semester (excluding winter and summer terms), 12 or more credits (excluding courses with grades of P and S) with a semester GPA of 3.500 or higher. This recognition is noted on the student's academic record.

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is proud to announce for the Spring 2013 semester that the following Smith School students were awarded Semester Academic Honors. These are students who were enrolled at the University of Maryland for Spring 2013 and met the honor's criteria listed above.

Congratulations!

View the original article here

Smith Business Close-Up: Conspicuous Branding [VIDEO]

Smith Business Close-Up: Conspicuous Branding

Thursday, July 11, 2013, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, July 14, 2013, 7:30 a.m.

If you got it, don’t flaunt it. That’s the conclusion Smith School researchers came to when they studied how people display the brands they use. According to the study, people flaunting the brands they use in a conspicuous manner – such as obnoxiously displaying a designer handbag label or wearing Gucci sunglass indoors – is a big turn-off for many consumers.

In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Amna Kirmani talks about the turn-offs of conspicuous brand use and what marketers can do about it.

Kirmani is a professor of marketing at the Smith School. She is also director of the school’s PhD program. Her research interests include consumers’ inferences of product quality from marketing signals, consumers’ use of persuasion knowledge, and branding. Her work has been published in top academic journals and has won several awards.

Smith Business Close-Up is co-produced by the Robert H. Smith School of Business and Maryland Public Television. The television segment focuses on the latest thinking in business management, and features in-depth interviews with Smith School faculty and other members of the school’s community of business leaders.

Where to Watch
Smith Business Close-Up can be seen bi-weekly on Maryland Public Television's Your Business and Money. The program airs at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays and is repeated the following Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on public television stations throughout Maryland and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, including:

WMPB-TV (Ch. 67), Baltimore WMPT-TV (Ch. 22), DC metro/Annapolis WCPB-TV (Ch. 28), Salisbury WFPT-TV (Ch. 62), Frederick WWPB-TV (Ch. 31), Hagerstown WGPT-TV (Ch. 36), Oakland

View the original article here

Smith Business Close-Up: Rethinking Telecommuting Policies [VIDEO]

Smith Business Close-Up: Rethinking Telecommuting Policies

Thursday, May 30, 2013, 7:30 p.m.

Rethinking Telecommuting Policies

Recently, Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, landed in the headlines for her telecommuting policy. Or rather, her reversal of the company’s previous liberal telecommuting policy, which has many employees working almost exclusively outside the office. But with stretched resources and growing commute times – particularly in this region – telecommuting is an attractive option for many.

In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Joyce Russell talks about the pros and cons of telecommuting.

Russell is Vice Dean of the Smith School and the Director of the Executive Coaching and Leadership Development Program at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. She is a licensed industrial and organizational psychologist and has more than 25 years of experience coaching executives and consulting on leadership and career management.

Smith Business Close-Up is co-produced by the Robert H. Smith School of Business and Maryland Public Television. The television segment focuses on the latest thinking in business management, and features in-depth interviews with Smith School faculty and other members of the school’s community of business leaders.

Where to Watch
Smith Business Close-Up can be seen bi-weekly on Maryland Public Television's Your Business and Money. The program airs at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays and is repeated the following Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on public television stations throughout Maryland and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, including:

WMPB-TV (Ch. 67), Baltimore WMPT-TV (Ch. 22), DC metro/Annapolis WCPB-TV (Ch. 28), Salisbury WFPT-TV (Ch. 62), Frederick WWPB-TV (Ch. 31), Hagerstown WGPT-TV (Ch. 36), Oakland

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Smith Finance Fellows Visit Federal Reserve, FDIC [PHOTOS]

Smith Finance Fellows Visit Federal Reserve, FDIC

Robert H. Smith School of Business finance faculty member Elinda F. Kiss recently took student groups to visit the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Federal Reserve buildings in Washington, D.C.

The trips consisted of University of Maryland undergraduate students enrolled in Kiss’s Banking and Private Wealth Management Fellows Program and Master of Science students from her Bank Management course.

Kiss noted that these trips gave the students an opportunity to interact with senior policy makers, as they met with Rich Brown, chief economist at the FDIC, and Janet Yellen, vice chair at the Federal Reserve, during the trips.

During the trip to the Federal Reserve, the students met Yellen in the boardroom where the Federal Open Market Committee meets, which meant one of the students was able to sit in Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s chair.

“Throughout the semester we had been learning about the role of the Federal Reserve in the regulation of banking institutions, as well as studying their balance sheet and monetary policy tools,” said Wendy Chen, a finance major who graduated in May. “I found Mrs. Yellen to be both an engaging and intelligent speaker who helped me see how some of the concepts we learned in class are applied to the FOMC meetings, such as setting the targeted federal funds rate and monitoring the balance sheet of the Fed.”

Chen’s comments about Yellen were echoed by Michelle Hill, a senior finance-accounting major, who also said she enjoyed getting an inside perspective of the Federal Reserve. “As an American, oftentimes I feel out of the loop with what the government and Federal Reserve Board of Governors are doing. It was a delight to get an inside perspective on the current issues. I now understand truly how hard it is to run the central bank. Many factors, some that most Americans do not consider at all, come to play when making banking decisions for our country.”

Pierce Kugler, a senior finance-accounting major, added: “Ms. Yellen discussed the current state of the economy and the Fed’s plans for improving the economy after the recession. She also gave us plenty of time to ask her questions regarding the Fed and her opinion regarding the crises in Europe. I enjoyed hearing an expert’s point of view on current financial topics, and the tools the Fed uses to manage the economy. “

In addition to Brown, the students on the FDIC trip met with Daniel Bean, an FDIC analyst, and an FDIC intern.

Brown gave a presentation to the students in which he discussed the financial crisis that began in 2007 and what the FDIC is doing to prevent future bank failures.

“The FDIC actually charges premiums to banks so that if they fail, the FDIC will have enough funds to cover the take over of the bank,” said Anastasia Adams, a senior finance-marketing major, who attended the FDIC trip. “Rich Brown also mentioned that the regulation and actions taken by the FDIC aim to prevent ‘too big to fail,’ which is also something discussed in Professor Kiss’s class. Through preventing too big to fail, the FDIC hopes to prevent another financial crisis.”

“I really liked how much of Rich Brown’s presentation actually related to the material we had been learning over the semester so we could actually comprehend the material aspects,” said Susan Ali, a senior finance-economics major.

Derek Zumstein, a finance major who graduated in May, said he enjoyed the opportunity to have lunch with Brown and ask additional questions.

“Overall, I liked the event, especially the time we got to ask Rich questions at lunch,” he said. “That smaller setting helped draw out some deeper questions than the Q&A period during Rich’s presentation.”

Ted McCauley, a finance major who graduated in May, summed up the experience: “The trip to the FDIC was a valuable insight into the inner workings of what fuels the decisions made in respect to our economy.”

Peter Haldis, MBA Candidate 2014

About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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Smith Students Attend Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting

Smith Students Attend Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting

University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business finance faculty members David Kass and Elinda F. Kiss and eight Smith undergraduates recently traveled to Omaha, Neb., to attend the annual shareholder meeting for Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate holding company chaired by Warren Buffett.

Kass, who writes a blog about Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, described the event as an “eye-opening” experience into the investment world for the students, while Kiss said it was a great opportunity for students to learn what a shareholders meetings is like.

Teresa Russell, a junior finance-information systems major and sustainability minor who attended the meeting, agreed with that assessment.

“The meeting itself was very informative and inspired me to learn more about the stock market and how to make smart investment decisions,” she said. “I also enjoyed getting to know the professors and the classmates who attended the trip on a more personal level.”

“The real benefit … comes from just being in that environment,” said Pavan Rangachar, a junior finance major who also attended the meeting. “Just being surrounded by intelligent people from the investments industry while listening to a legendary investor speak will teach interested students a lot.”

Rangachar said he and another student got in line for the meeting at 2 a.m., four-and-a-half hours before the doors were opened.

“We were third and fourth in line out of the entire conference of about 40,000 people,” he said. “The next five hours of waiting were just cold and bitter, but more people started to come, and it was just a period of time where you talk to a lot of other people who are interested in the same thing as you: investing.”

By getting in line that early, they were able to get seats for everyone close to the front of the room. Kiss said being able to sit so close was a highlight of the trip for the students.

Russell said she enjoyed Buffett’s sense-of-humor. “At the beginning of the meeting, after showing a few video clips, music was playing and Warren was dancing around to a Berkshire version of YMCA; I thought it was great that he doesn't take himself too seriously.”

The presentation also included a film featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger in which Buffett attempts to get a part in “Terminator 5,” Kass said.

Although they did not get a chance to meet with Buffett or Berkshire Hathaway’s Vice-Chairman Charlie Munger, the students were able to meet a few “hot shots” of the business world, Russell said.

While dining at Gorat’s, one of Buffett’s two favorite restaurants, the night before the annual meeting, they were seated adjacent to a table that included Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times and CNBC, Doug Kass, founder of hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management (no relation to Professor Kass), and Mario Gabelli, founder of GAMCO Investors, each of whom chatted and took photographs with the professors and students.

Kiss said the students were thrilled to get “up close and personal” with people they’ve heard about in the investment community.

“It was pretty impressive that he would even talk to us, so that alone was surreal in itself,” Rangachar said regarding meeting Gabelli.

He said he plans to return to Omaha each May to attend the annual meeting. “A friend of mine and I have started looking at booking plane and hotel tickets for next year, and we encourage anyone else who is interested to do the same,” he said.

“Overall, I'm glad that I attended the meeting because it refocused and motivated me to be more proactive about my business education both inside and outside the classroom,” Russell said.

Rangachar also had some advice for students who travel to the annual meeting in the future. “I would advise students with a business card to bring a few copies,” he said. “You will exchange plenty as you meet many investors who either run their own asset management firm or work for a large Wall Street firm. I personally met many other investors, some of whom who live in the DMV area, that looked for interns as well.”

Kass has closely studied Buffett since the early 1980s and is frequently interviewed in business publications as an expert on Buffett. This was the eighth time he has traveled to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, and the third time he has traveled with a group of students from Smith. He plans to continue the student trips in the future. He has also twice taken Smith MBA students to Omaha for private meetings with Buffett.

Kass’s notes about the meeting are posted on his blog.

Peter Haldis, MBA Candidate 2014, Office of Marketing Communications

About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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The Economist Ranks Smith EMBA program #26 (World) and #13 (US)

ONE business school emerges as the clear winner in The Economist’s first ranking of executive MBA programmes. The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University near Chicago has four programmes in the top ten. Number one is its joint programme with Schulich School of Business at York University, just across the border in Ontario, Canada. Programmes run in conjunction with Hong Kong UST and WHU in Germany also make the top ten, and Kellogg’s standalone EMBA is number eight.

Our ranking measures business schools on two broad criteria: personal development/educational experience and career development. Within these categories, we look at 27 criteria, including the quality and diversity of students, the quality of the faculty, the percentage of students who receive a promotion after they graduate and the average salary increase graduates can expect. The data are a mixture of student-reported figures, student ratings and data provided by the schools (see methodology).

Joint programmes seem to be a particular hit with students. Participants on the Kellogg-Schulich programme gave the highest marks for the quality of their classmates as well as for faculty and facilities. It also came top when alumni were asked the extent to which the programme helped them achieve their pre-MBA career goals. The joint MBA offered by Kellogg and the Hong University of Science of Technology, meanwhile, got the top rank for the overall quality of its students. Students who enrol on this programme are particularly high-powered, earning on average $261,000 with 15 years’ work experience.

It is interesting to note that a school’s joint EMBA will often rank higher than its standalone programme. Kellogg’s single-campus programme, although ranked a creditable eighth, lags behind those offered with partners. The UCLA-National University of Singapore joint EMBA, ranked third, fares better than the standalone programmes at UCLA (13th) or the NUS (43rd). The ESADE-Georgetown EMBA is 12th, whereas the one offered solely at Georgetown is 27th.

One reason for this is that joint programmes are generally more international. The UCLA-NUS EMBA, for example, insists that students take at least four one-week assignments overseas during the programme. Joint programmes also enrol more experienced students. Those on the UCLA-NUS programme will have, on average, three years’ more work experience and earn close to $40,000 more than the UCLA single-campus alternative.

American programmes dominate the ranking. Well over half the programmes on our list are based—solely or partly—in America. But two Spanish schools also perform well. This may come as a surprise, given the travails of that country’s economy. But students on these programmes are often not Spanish residents. The EMBA at IE Business School, ranked second, makes extensive use of distance learning, and face-to-face classes take place in Spain, China and Brazil, so it is not essential for students to be too near at hand. Its programme performs particularly well in the salary category, which is the most heavily weighted in the ranking. IE students reported that their basic salaries had risen by 52% by the time they graduated, from $101,569 to $154,281. Within two years they could expect their salaries to have increased by 125%, more than those of students at any other school. Career advancement is also a big selling point at neighbouring IESE, ranked fifth—88% of its students said that they had either been promoted or grown their company since graduation.

While EMBA students are recruited from around the world and come from a wide variety of industries—18 of the programmes surveyed comprised students from at least 11 different industry sectors—one criterion on which all schools fare badly is the percentage of women students in their classes. None of the schools on our list enrol more women than men. The highest ranked in this regard is Concordia in Canada where 41% of students are women. At IMD in Switzerland it is a desultory 12%. For a degree in which students are said to learn more from their classmates’ experiences than their lecturers’ pontifications, EMBA programmes fall woefully short in this regard. The Economist plans to run this ranking every two years. In this area, at least, we very much hope to report improvement.

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The Smith Report: August, 2013

The Smith Report is an audio podcast from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business that will help keep you informed about current news and events. The podcast is produced by Office of Marketing Communications.

Listen Now: Summer 2013

Smith MBAs take on a variety of challenging internships over the summer to build their skills and make professional connections.

Mary Herbst, MBA Candidate 2014, tells us about working as a Summer Executive Associate at MGM Resorts International in Las Vegas.

Steven Akotia, MBA Candidate 2014, tells us about working as a Corporate Finance Intern at Stanley Black & Decker in Maryland.

Lily Matusiak, MBA Candidate 2014, tells us about working as a Client Development Consulting Intern at Gallup Consulting in Chicago.

Katlin Hampton, MBA Candidate 2014, tells us about working as a graduate intern at Liberty Mutual in Boston.

Tom Fisher, MBA Candidate 2014, tells us about working as a financial analyst intern at Campbell's Soup in New Jersey.

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Three-Year Tuition Freeze for Smith MBAs

Three-Year Tuition Freeze for Smith MBAs

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Bucking a national trend, MBA tuition will not increase for a third consecutive year at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Annual tuition -- $38,475 in-state and $45,765 out-of-state -- holds steady entering 2013-2014 for about 850 returning full- and part-time MBA students at Smith. The school’s MBA program is ranked among the top in the nation, placing No. 24 in the most recent rankings by both Bloomberg Businessweek and the Financial Times.

Smith’s steady tuition pattern contrasts the scenario for full-time MBA programs nationwide, which have seen an average 33 percent tuition-and-fee climb from 2007-2012, according data published by AACSB International, the main body that accredits U.S. business schools.

"We committed to it," said Smith School Interim Dean Michael O. Ball. "Continuously improving the program, while keeping tuition from increasing, has been a major priority for us."

Smith has added an online degree option to its MBA program, and the program’s consistent high rankings are buoyed by respected faculty, ranked #7 for research among MBA programs worldwide by the Financial Times and #10 by the University of Texas at Dallas for research among business schools in North America. For more information, go to www.rhsmith.umd.edu/mba.

About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business Launches Online MBA Program

University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business Launches
Online MBA Program

College Park, Md. – June 17, 2013 – The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland will offer an online MBA program beginning in January 2014. Designed to accommodate working professionals, the flexible online program allows students to earn an MBA degree largely on their own time with minimal on-campus requirements. The program courses are taught by the same top faculty and adhere to the academic rigor of the Smith School’s other top MBA programs.

“This is a major step forward for the university and for business professionals who need flexible access to academic excellence,” said UMD President Wallace Loh. “The Smith School is combining a state-of-the-art online platform with the academic rigor that makes it a leader. University-wide we are exploring how best to use technology-based learning, and this is an excellent model.”

The Smith Online MBA is modeled after the school’s top-ranked and highly successful executive MBA program, but it is delivered primarily online. Students begin and end the program with structured, in-person residencies at the University of Maryland’s campus in College Park. The remainder of the program is completed online. Students can earn their MBA degree in 21 months.

The online MBA program offers a broad base of knowledge on a wide range of business concepts, such as entrepreneurship, managerial economics, information systems and global economic development to prepare students with a strong business background. Students select one of four specializations — accounting, information systems and analytics, finance or marketing – to focus on their own particular area of interest or they may choose the general track, which allows course selection in each of the areas.

Courses will include two “live,” approximately hour-long sessions per week, where students will log on at a specific time to interact with faculty and fellow students. Other coursework can be completed at times that work best for each student.

The program is fully accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, AACSB International, the premier accrediting agency for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting. GMAT or GRE entrance exams will be required for admission.
“Different educational formats work best for different kinds of learners – this program is best for working professionals who can learn within a rigorous, structured program, but more-so on their own time,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “The elements that make our MBA degree programs so successful will still be in place with this program, but the key difference will be the level of flexibility.”

The Smith School’s MBA curriculum is focused on experiential learning opportunities for students and the online MBA program will also offer these experiences. Students will work together in groups on action learning projects, using knowledge gained in courses to tackle a real challenge or opportunity faced in a team member’s organization. Students will self-select teams, conduct remote project meetings and deliver presentations virtually.

These team projects and online group discussions give students many opportunities to create relationships with business professionals in the program across the nation and the world. The two residencies also provide the chance to establish strong professional connections with peers and professors.

For more information about the curriculum or the program requirements or to apply, go to www.rhsmith.umd.edu/onlinemba or contact a school representative at 1-877-807-8741.

About the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, executive MS, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

View the original article here