Owen in the News

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK EVENTS ABOUND

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:04:30 +0000

Business-related events abound in the Nashville area this week, as several organizations participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week beginning today. The Nashville Entrepreneur Center will release one video interview each day this week featuring local entrepreneurs. The “I Am Music City” series was created by Vanderbilt University students participating in the ACCELERATOR program and can be found at www.iammusiccity.com.

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LOCALS BRINGING RETAIL GLITZ TO COOL SPRINGS

NASHVILLE POST — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:35:43 +0000

A group of local investors is preparing to open glitzy Cool Springs space that will market Italian sports cars, private jets and swanky weddings. The investors include Owen alumnus Durégo Jevon Lewis, Jim Jirjis, chief informatics officer of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's clinics, and TAMI FASSINGER, Owen's associate dean of executive programs.

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BANKERS DOUBT DODD BILL WILL PASS

THE TENNESSEAN — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:32:35 +0000

U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd's proposal to gut the Federal Reserve probably won't ever make it into law, but regulatory reform likely will be enacted next year in some form, local banking experts say. HANS STOLL, the director of the Financial Markets Research Center at Vanderbilt University, called the more than 1,000-page bill "not worth reading."

"I think (Dodd) is angling for votes from the general populace," he said. "It's not a practical proposal."

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TENNESSEE RETAILERS LINK SALES TO CHARITABLE GIVING

THE TENNESSEAN — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:01:04 +0000

At a time when retail sales are expected to be weak, some stores are aligning themselves with nonprofits in a bid to get consumers to feel better about spending money again.

Consumers who are perhaps too busy to volunteer say they are happy to buy cause-related items because it shows they're still contributing to charity with their dollars, said KIMBERLY PACE, a clinical professor of management at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management. "It's a win-win," Pace said. "They get to buy what they need, and at the same time they can give."

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EXECUTIVE MBA PROGRAMS SHIFT GEARS TO WEATHER RECESSION

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:53:44 +0000

Enrollment in most local MBA programs aimed at working professionals has spiked during the recession, including Vanderbilt’s EMBA program.

Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management’s 32-year-old MBA degree for working professionals is the only one in Middle Tennessee specifically entitled an EMBA.

The rigorous two-year program has a cap of 50 students a year, so enrollment has remained the same in recent years.

But there has been an increase in applicants, many of whom wait one or two years to matriculate into the program, said TAMI FASSINGER, associate dean for executive programs at the Owen school.

“Compared to 34 percent who had complete corporate sponsorship a year ago, only 12 percent had full scholarship in 2009,” Fassinger said. “The current economic climate has had an effect.”

The Vanderbilt program is seeing increased interest from women and from students outside of Middle Tennessee. There’s also more concern about finding the time to complete an MBA, Fassinger said.

The school recently changed from an alternating Friday-Saturday schedule to an alternating Saturday-only format. “We watched the economic stress all businesses were under starting in October 2008,” Fassinger said.

“We thought changing the schedule was the right thing to do: Help people do better work, but don’t make them miss work. After interviewing students and prospective students, the school discovered 90 percent of interested students wanted a Saturday-only option.”

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HANDS-ON APPROACH WITH VANDERBILT MBA

FINANCIAL TIMES — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:22:16 +0000

Financial Times takes a closer look at the Vanderbilt Health Care MBA program and how Owen is shaping graduate management education surrounding this dynamically changing industry. Dean Jim Bradford and Professor Larry Van Horn are quoted.

To view the full story, click here.

MARKETPLACE: EVERY PENNY COUNTS IN ONLINE RETAIL WARS

AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon are continuing their online pricing battles. The subject of this week's contest? DVDs. And the back-and-forth is down to the penny. Jeremy Hobson reports.

These companies are already operating on relatively thin margins, and so if you think about a product that's going to sell a million copies, right, a penny per copy is a pretty substantial hit to these firms, says JEFF DOTSON, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management.

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Casual Gaming Industry Leader Merscom Invades Social Media Space

MCV — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:59:13 +0000

Dr. Steve Hoeffler of the Owen School at Vanderbilt University is an expert in consumer products marketing, brand management and consumer behavior. ... Full Story

"Best Practitioner Presentation" award

FRONTIERS IN SERVICE — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:07:55 +0000

Professor Bart Larivière, Dr. Timothy Keiningham (Owen ’89), Professor Lerzan Aksoy and Professor BRUCE COOIL received the "Best Practitioner Presentation" award at the 18th Annual Frontiers in Service Conference (the leading conference in services) last Saturday night, October 31st, in Honolulu!

The title of the presentation was: "Because Customers Want To, Need To, or Ought To: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Impact of Commitment on Share-of-Wallet" by Bart Larivière, Timothy Keiningham, Lerzan Aksoy, and Bruce Cooil. It was a case study of AXA in Belgium.

Copy of Presentation (16MB)

NASHVILLE MAN'S PIZZA DREAM TAKES 20 YEARS TO RISE

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:30:22 +0000

After two decades, a local entrepreneur is finally seeing his product on local grocery store and convenience store shelves. MARK RATCHFORD, assistant professor of marketing at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, said selling products to students can encourage parents to buy the product, but cautioned that the company should consider the perception that follows products sold at discount stores and in vending machines.

"There's sort of a perception things bought there are cheap," Ratchford said. "You don't want to create a low-quality perception because of the channels you are selling through."

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VOLATILITY INDEX OPTIONS PROVIDE SAFETY FROM FUTURE CRISES

MEDILL REPORTS — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:28:29 +0000

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's volatility index has soared in visibility during the stock market's turmoil. ROBERT WHALEY, Valere Blair Potter Professor of Management in Finance, invented the index and is quoted.

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NASHVILLE STARTUP WEEKEND PREPPED FOR SECOND INSTALLMENT

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:24:19 +0000

Up to 100 participants will come together at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management to pitch business ideas to their peers, vote on their favorites and then team up to make those ideas into viable, ready-to-launch companies – all within 48 hours.

10 STARTUPS ARE FINALISTS FOR STATE TAX CREDITS

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:22:11 +0000

The Department of Economic and Community Development and the Department of Revenue will choose six firms to be eligible for $20 million in assistance through a program of tax credits established earlier this year for small and startup businesses. Among the finalists are firms run by BYRON SMITH, adjunct professor at Owen Graduate School of Management, and Christopher Rand, the manager of new venture development in Vanderbilt University's Office of Technology Transfer and Enterprise Development.

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MICROSOFT MAY BE NEARING EU TRACE

THE SEATTLE TIMES — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:34:38 +0000

Moving closer to an antitrust settlement, the European Union warmed to Microsoft's proposal to offer a browser ballot screen so users could choose their Web browser.

LUKE FROEB, an associate professor of management at the Vanderbilt Business School, said while Europe is more aggressive about antitrust cases, the relief the commission prescribes "is really problematic." Froeb is a former economist at the Federal Trade Commission.

"Things change so quickly that you're litigating a case that might be a year, two, three years old, and nobody cares about it now because we're on to completely new and different issues," Froeb said.

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BUSINESS SCHOOL GETS CROWDED

BUSINESSWEEK — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:17:37 +0000

Yields are up at full-time MBA programs, and B-schools are enrolling larger-than-ever classes. But not everyone is sharing in the bounty.

MBA programs were braced for the worst this fall. A damaged brand, a shortage of jobs, and questions about return on investment all threatened to send admitted students away from business school and into the relative stability of the workforce.

"That was the biggest difference between this year and last year, people's personal financial situations coming into play," says JOHN ROEDER, admissions director at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, where melt was on the high end of normal. "We had multiple students who couldn't sell their houses." Other programs reported students who weren't able to secure the loans, didn't want to lose their job, or didn't think their spouses would be able to find work in a new location.

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Guest Commentary: WHAT IF HEALTH COVER WAS LIKE OTHER INSURANCE?

MODERN HEALTHCARE'S: DAILY DOSE — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:51:10 +0000

Larry Van Horn, associate professor of management, wrote this opinion piece suggesting tying health insurance rates to lifestyle choices in order to alleviate the health insurance crisis.

I'm a balding, middle-aged, overweight American male I have borderline hypertension and high cholesterol. I don't like to exercise, and I enjoy eating foods with mayonnaise and cheese. I am everyman. This is not an education problem. I know what I should do and generally how to do it—I just can't make myself do it. I know the consequences of my short-run gluttonous behavior will negatively impact my long-run health, but like many people, knowing something is bad for me is insufficient to discipline my behavior.

- Larry Van Horn

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'We are Music City' Entrepreneur Campaign launches

VENTURE NASHVILLE CONNECTIONS — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:02:53 +0000

Nashville's next economic-development campaign aimed at attracting and keeping entrepreneurs in Music City will be unveiled tomorrow morning.

For instance, over at Vimeo.com, there are numerous video testimonials, in which prominent Nashvillians tell why they love Nashville, using the tagline "I Am Music City," and explaining why Nashville is great for entrepreneurship.

As reported earlier by VNC, the "I Am Music City" slogan was created for the Chamber by a team of students enrolled in last summer's ACCELERATOR program at the Owen Graduate School of Management, at Vanderbilt. By the end of the end of the Accelerator competition, a theme other than "I Am Music City" seemed to have won the day.

FOR RENT: CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

WALL STREET JOURNAL — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:19:48 +0000

Some small-business owners in need of accounting help to balance their books and guide them out of a financial black hole are renting CFOs rather than hiring them. The strategy comes at a time when the deep recession has forced small companies to look for money-saving alternatives that can yield good returns yet avoid substantial overhead costs. Germain Böer, professor of management and director of the Owen Entrepreneurship Center, says business owners often want such a service when their company's finances are getting more complex and need someone with more financial expertise.

OWEN ADDS FOUR PROFS

NASHVILLE POST — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:52:39 +0000

Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management has recruited four academics, two of whom are focused on marketing, to its faculty for the new year. Read More

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR NEGOTIATING TEAM — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:59:04 +0000

Key ideas from the Harvard Business Review article by Jeanne M. Brett, RAY FRIEDMAN, and Kristin Behfar:

Negotiating teams frequently sabotage their own efforts: Even though everyone is technically on the same side, each member has different priorities and imagines different ideal outcomes.

To negotiate with another party successfully, a team must first negotiate internally to align its members’ interests and develop a disciplined bargaining strategy.

By uncovering conflicting interests, the team can determine which trade-offs to make. Tactics like role playing instill discipline and reduce the risk of a serious gaffe at the table.

PRESSING DOWN ON THE ACCELERATOR

BUSINESSTN — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:29:51 +0000

An Owen School of Management program provides companies a burst of intellectual capital

CASH FOR CLUNKERS: THE LONG GOODBYE

MOTHER NATURE NETWORK — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:50:25 +0000

The federal Cash for Clunkers program ends tonight, and experts cautiously declare the experiment a success. The program could have blowback. We may see months of auto industry famine after the feast of Cash for Clunkers. According to JOSEPH D. BLACKBURN, James A. Speyer Professor of Production Management at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, we might see what he calls “the bullwhip effect.” He describes it as “false euphoria” — the automakers are pushing up production volumes (GM by 20 percent in the third and fourth quarters) in anticipation of demand that might not materialize.

EVEN WITH CO-OPS, TAXES WILL HAVE TO GO UP

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:46:12 +0000

MICHAEL BURCHAM, professor of the practice of management, wrote this opinion piece about health-care co-ops. Read More

BANKS LOOKS FOR UPPER HAND IN ONGOING BATTLE OVER CUSTOMERS

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:08:09 +0000

Local banks are competing for accounts by emphasizing superior customer service. Since banks’ products and offerings are so much alike, they must emphasize service to stand out in the crowd, says DAWN IACOBUCCI, marketing professor at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

TESTING OBAMA'S EFFECT ON RACIAL ATTITUDES

CHICAGO TRIBUNE — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:00:04 +0000

One study finds a pro-black bias among white college students. Another, by RAY FRIEDMAN, Brownlee O. Currey Professor of Management, suggests Obama's election closed an achievement gap. Others say nothing has changed. The age of Obama Studies has begun. The story also ran in the Los Angeles Times.

'SMART' TECH VENTURES SPAWNED BY VU STUDENT-ENTREPRENEURS

VENTURE NASHVILLE CONNECTIONS — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:36:49 +0000

One of Nashville's newest technology ventures was spurred by Vanderbilt students and faculty connecting theory and practice.

Soon to debut: Nashville Pulse and VandyUpon, a pair of Internet services that leverage wireless phones (initially, the iPhone) and GPS location and guidance technology to direct users to events, retail discounts and other benefits, real-time as the phone-wielders move about the city or campus.

The new business that plans to offer these services – Great Glass Media LLC – has been formed by a team of current Vanderbilt students and is among the first fruits of increased collaboration among faculty and students of the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering (VUSE) and VU's Owen Graduate School of Management.

The company is currently marketing the Nashville Pulse service to local Nashville businesses. The VandyUpon adaptation for campus denizens is not yet ready, and Great Glass is working with VU staff to ready it for launch. The campus version would alert students to special events and other benefits, as they pass in proximity to those opportunities.

The Owen Entrepreneurship Center's (OEC) Summer Enterprise Development Program simultaneously helped fuel the Great Glass enterprise by awarding a total $20,000 in startup development grants to a pair of students pursuing Owen MBAs, according to OEC Director Germain Böer. He said winning ventures driven by a single student-entrepreneur typically get $15,000 grants.

Böer told VNC yesterday the idea behind the four-year-old summer grants program is that "we want to take students who have what we think is a pretty interesting idea and, instead of them going out and working for a big company in the summer in an internship," they spend the summer working on their own business plan.

In this case, 2nd Year Owen MBA students Thomas Bernstein and Miguel Coles were among students who won the grants that are powering Great Glass. Among other benefits of the grants program, the entrepreneurs were able to meet each week this summer with Böer, who provided counsel and who continues to track the company's progress.

PANEL: MONEY TIGHTER BUT OPPORTUNITIES EXIST

NASHVILLE POST — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:53:59 +0000

The Nashville Health Care Council crowd convened for a panel discussion investing in young health care companies. JIM BRADFORD, dean of the Owen Graduate School of Management, moderated the panel.

U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOLS: WHY FOREIGN MBAs ARE DISAPPEARING

BUSINESSWEEK — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:51:28 +0000

International applications were down at business schools across the country this year, challenging admissions officers to meet diversity goals and posing questions for the future. JOHN ROEDER, associate director of MBA student services and admissions, says his school plans to do more international outreach this fall than ever before. Owen is unusual in that it had a banner year attracting international students: Roeder expects international enrollment to hit 26% this year, up 6 percentage points over last year.

THE NEW CRITERION FOR MBA ADMISSIONS

BUSINESSWEEK — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:40:44 +0000

The magazine’s “Getting In” blog reports on how business schools are protecting their graduate employment rankings by seeking out applicants who already have hire-worthy skills. For JOHN ROEDER, admissions director at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management (Vanderbilt Full-Time MBA Profile), letting in the candidates who are most likely to find jobs is "really a matter of customer satisfaction." "The worst thing that we could do," Roeder said in an interview in May, "would be to bring in a student who we know full well we're not going to be able to get into their dream job." To keep that from happening, he said, the school added its director of career services to the admissions team about a year and a half ago (the admissions department has been working with the career services center for about four years). Career services' input, he says, helps him identify the qualities that corporate recruiters are looking for, creating a more competitive class two years down the road. [Read More]

SMALL BUSINESSES SUPPORT BIGGER GOVERNMENT HEALTH-CARE ROLE

THE TENNESSEE POLL — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:41:18 +0000

A Tennessee health-care policy group plans to publicize the results today of a Peabody-led survey that showed a majority of small businesses want a larger government role in providing health care to more Americans, but many of them also have questions about cost and quality. LARRY VAN HORN, an associate professor of economics and management at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, said businesses may hope the government takes over health insurance, but "there isn't any free lunch."

"These surveys say we should have affordable, high-quality health care. Can we afford that? The answer is no," Van Horn said.

WHAT'S IN THE JOURNALS, JUNE 2009

THE ECONOMIST — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:15:25 +0000

This roundup of notable papers and articles includes a brief review of “Why Does the Quality of Health Care Continue to Lag? Insights from Management Research <> ” co-authored by RANGARAJ RAMANUJAM, associate professor of management, and published in Academy of Management Perspectives.

EX-HCA BOSS RICK SCOTT RANKLES CRITICS IN HEALTH FIGHT

THE TENNESSEAN — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:35:20 +0000

Rick Scott, former CEO of Columbia/HCA, has emerged as a spokesman for a group fighting government-run health care in the reform efforts being debated in Congress. BART VICTOR, Cal Turner professor of moral leadership at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Business, said that Scott is entitled to his opinion despite his past. "He simply has the right to speak and its up to everyone to evaluate it — what's his credibility," Victor said. "In this debate, because it's so complicated, we need to help people understand what we say and why we say it, what interests we represent and what perspective we come from."

A SMALL SCHOOL WITH BIG AMBITIONS

BUSINESSWEEK — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:34:00 +0000

The magazine’s “MBA Insider” series features a Q&A with JOHN ROEDER, associate director of MBA student services and admissions.

ÓLAFUR (Oli) ARNARSON, OWEN ALUM, TO DISCUSS ICELANDIC MELTDOWN

20/20 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:33:21 +0000

Owen alum Ólafur (Oli) Arnarson, from Iceland, is scheduled to be on tonight's (6/10/09) 20/20--the show focuses on the Icelandic economic meltdown. Arnarson's book on the meltdown remains Iceland's number 1 bestseller after six weeks.

BIZ BOOT CAMP HELPS VINEYARD GROW NEW IDEAS

THE TENNESSEAN — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:29:41 +0000

Entertainer and vineyard owner Kix Brooks has enlisted students at Owen Graduate School of Management’s Accelerator Program to help develop a plan to expand the Arringon Vineyard’s business strategies. The students are divided into eight teams. "They've got a week to come up with their best idea," said MICHAEL BURCHAM, professor for the practice of management with the Owen Graduate School of Management.

CRITICS CALL OBAMA'S FINANCIAL OVERHAUL COSTLY, WASTEFUL

THE TENNESSEAN — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:54:54 +0000

Critics of President Barack Obama's sweeping new "rules of the road" for the nation's financial system said Wednesday the changes would be costly and wasteful, while supporters said they were necessary to modernize regulations and protect consumers. Vanderbilt University associate professor LUKE FROEB, former director under George Bush of the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission, said he fears giving a broad federal mandate to the Federal Reserve will distract the central bank from its mission of fighting inflation and unemployment — creating confusion for the marketplace.

THE OBAMA EFFECT: QUICK FIX FOR BLACK ACHIEVEMENT

THE NATION — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:53:43 +0000

Columnist Kameelah Rasheed writes about recent investigations into the existence of an “Obama effect”—a rise in African American achievement pegged to positive publicity about Barack Obama during his campaign for president. The phenomenon was first described by RAY FRIEDMAN, Brownlee O. Currey Professor of Management, last fall.

PAYING TRILLIONS FOR COVERAGE COULD BE PAINFUL

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:49:21 +0000

Covering the estimated 46 million people nationwide without medical insurance won't come cheap. One recent analysis puts the cost at $1.5 trillion over 10 years. LARRY VAN HORN, who runs the health-care MBA programs at Vanderbilt University, said taxing all health-care benefits would save the government about $250 billion a year. "Just as importantly, it will result in changes to the design of health plans and reduction in demand for health-care services," he said. "At the end of the day, we can't afford what we're consuming now, so we need to consume less."

JUDGES LIKE 'NASHVILLE: WHERE INNOVATION SINGS' FOR CITY BRANDING

VENTURE NASHVILLE CONNECTIONS — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:24:48 +0000

During the annual Owen ACCELERATOR competition, "Nashville: Where innovation sings" topped seven other brand themes for marketing Nashville. The students were challenged June 1 to devise a new brand for the city that would leverage the city's long-standing Music City positioning.

TICKETMASTER AND LIVE NATION: OBAMA'S ANTITRUST TEST

TIME — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:07:53 +0000

A merger between concert promoters Ticketmaster and Live Nation awaits approval by federal antitrust regulators. Critics say the merger could lead to a monopoly within the entertainment industry; proponents say it would enable greater efficiencies. What's there to like about this merger? The combined company will effectively cut out middlemen, such as independent concert promoters, business managers, lawyers, agents and venue owners who want a piece of the pie, and allow artists to deliver services "quicker, faster, better and cheaper" to its fans, said LUKE FROEB, associate professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management and a former senior economist with the FTC and Justice Department. From a stock perspective, Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney sees significantly bigger growth than Ticketmaster would enjoy on its own.

VANDERBILT PROGRAM DESIGNED TO BOLSTER BANKS' BOOKS, STRATEGY

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:24:14 +0000

For the 10th year, the Vanderbilt Banking Institute is offering programs for bankers in partnership with Chicago-based Bank Administration Institute, an educational organization for the financial services industry. “It’s a big industry with a lot of issues,” says DAVID OWENS, faculty director of the Vanderbilt Executive Development Institute, which runs the program. “We’re arming banking leaders with the sharpened skills they need to reshape and strengthen an evolving industry.”

BROOKS TURNS TO GRAD STUDENTS TO PLAN FOR WINERY EXPANSION

THE TENNESSEAN — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:37:31 +0000

Country music singer and entrepreneur Kix Brooks of Brooks and Dunn is turning to students from the Vanderbilt Accelerator Summer Business Institute to create a physical space plan and operating plan for Arrington Vineyards.

CHAMBER WANTS TO LURE TECH START-UPS

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:00:02 +0000

The Nashville Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with the students participating in the summer Accelerator program at Owen Graduate School of Management. The chamber's challenge to the young marketers: Brand the city of Nashville as the top entrepreneurial leader in America.

NASHVILLE ENLISTS STUDENTS IN VANDERBILT PROGRAM TO BRAND CITY

THE TENNESSEAN — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:58:14 +0000

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce is working on a new marketing or "brand campaign" to get people to recognize Nashville for more than just music.

The chamber, after a year of strategic planning, has enlisted the help of some of the most promising young business minds in the country — a group of students who come to Vanderbilt University every year for a special summer school program to jump-start their business careers.

NO "O" EFFECT

NEWSWEEK — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:13:13 +0000

The magazine’s “Lab Notes” blog reports that further studies have not supported findings by RAY FRIEDMAN, Brownlee O. Currey Professor of Management, that suggest African American test-takers performed better during times when then-Sen. Obama’s presidential campaign was receiving positive publicity.

EUROPE HITS INTEL WITH $1.45B ANTITRUST FINE

USA TODAY — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:12:10 +0000

In a landmark ruling, the European Commission on Wednesday slammed chipmaker Intel with a record $1.45 billion fine for using illegal monopolistic practices. Microsoft's dealings with European regulators suggest Intel faces a drawn-out battle. Both cases derive from Europe's belief in "ordoliberalism" — competition based on many firms competing to serve the market, says LUKE FROEB, a professor at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

MBAs SEE BLEAK JOB LANDSCAPE IN THE RECESSION

MSNBC — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:19:28 +0000

No matter which business school they attended, many MBA graduates are feeling the economic squeeze as much as their non-MBA counterparts. “We started out the year really strong with jobs offers for students and recruiters signing up to come to campus,” says JOYCE ROTHENBERG, director of the Career Management Center at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. “But as the year went out we had recruiters that canceled and fewer job offers.”

MASTERS PROGRAM FOCUSES ON HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT

VANDERBILT REPORTER — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:36:15 +0000

Members of the leadership team at Vanderbilt Medical Center enthusiastically back the new Master of Management in Health Care program at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management. Read More

STOCK RESEARCH: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

NEWSWEEK — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:48:49 +0000

Individual investors are rapidly losing sources of analysis and advice, as money set aside for independent research dries up and Wall Street firms slash budgets. "When [people] have to start paying for equity research, [they] could come to the conclusion it's not worth all that much to them at the margins," says CRAIG LEWIS, professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.

BUY-WRITE: SAFE HARBOR IN TROUBLED TIMES?

WALL STREET JOURNAL — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:02:39 +0000

A financial strategy that involves investing in the Standard & Poor's 500 index and then selling publicly traded investment contracts known as "call options" against the portfolio is described. A study of the strategy by ROBERT WHALEY, Valere Blair Potter Professor of Finance, is mentioned.

FORMER FED CHAIRMAN GRAPPLES WITH 'GREAT RECESSION'

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:59:21 +0000

Leading economists gathered last weekend in Nashville for a conference at Owen Graduate School of Management’s Financial Markets Research Center. Several Federal Reserve presidents, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker all spoke on the state and future of the U.S. economy. The conference was covered widely by Reuters, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.

HEALTH CARE FOR ALL: A MORAL OBLIGATION

NEW YORK TIMES — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:24:21 +0000

BRUCE BARRY, professor of management and sociology, wrote this letter to the editor responding to an opinion piece by National Review editor Ramesh Ponnuru about universal health care.

A BUSINESS SCHOOL SPECIALIZES

WALL STREET JOURNAL — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:45:56 +0000

As for-profit executive-training firms ramp up their efforts, many business schools, including Owen Graduate School of Management, are looking to compete by offering more in-depth open-enrollment programs, which bring senior managers back to the classroom. TAMI FASSINGER, associate dean for executive education, is interviewed.

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

FINANCIAL TIMES — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:31:16 +0000

LARRY LEBLANC, professor of operations management and information technology at Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, warns that widespread usage of spreadsheets to communicate information carries a risk for errors, which in turn could have costly repercussions for the company using it.

THE INFLUENCE GAME: FIRMS REAP RESULTS OF LOBBYING

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:15:43 +0000

Big companies that spent hundreds of millions lobbying successfully for a tax break enacted in 2004 got a 22,000-percent return on that investment — proof that for those who can afford it, hiring a lobbyist can pay handsome dividends. Research by DAVID PARSLEY, professor of management, is mentioned.

MASTER'S OF THE FINANCIAL UNIVERSE

BUSINESSWEEK — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:21:50 +0000

Prospective students who want to focus exclusively on finance have options beyond traditional MBAs, as many schools have begun to offer master’s of science degrees in finance. OWEN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT is one of these schools.

LIVE NATION DEAL HAS A CHANCE, SAY ANTITRUST EXPERTS

REUTERS — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:57:56 +0000

Some competition experts, several of whom are former government officials, say the proposed combination of concert promoter Live Nation and ticket vendor Ticketmaster has a fair shot at success, though they were not certain if it finally could win approval.

"The DOJ will want to know if anybody else will be able to reach the minimum efficiency and sufficient scale necessary to compete with the new Live Nation," said Professor LUKE FROEB of Vanderbilt University, a former senior economist for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice.

"This is a small merger with small potential overlap, I think they'll get a fair hearing," said Froeb, who gave testimony at a congressional hearing last month in Washington D.C. on Live Nation's $225 million bid for Ticketmaster

HEALTH CARE RE-EXAMINED

THE TENNESSEAN — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:56:55 +0000

The Tennessean asked several local executives and health-care opinion leaders what they would like to see as part of broader health-care reform and how they would approach it. LARRY VAN HORN, director of the health care MBA at Owen Graduate School of Management, is among the contributors.

NASHVILLE-AREA MBA PROGRAMS FILL UP, BUT JOBS ARE HARD TO FIND

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:39:09 +0000

A lack of jobs has sparked a surge in enrollments among college MBA programs as students take refuge in school to wait out the recession, but they may graduate before the economy recovers. JOYCE ROTHENBERG, director of the Career Management Center for the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, said sectors considered more stable include health care and perhaps government finance jobs at the Securities and Exchange Commission or other similar offices.

SEN. BILL FRIST TO SPEAK ON LEADERSHIP AT VANDERBILT EVENT

THE TENNESSEAN — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:39:12 +0000

Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will speak about leadership at a March 26 breakfast sponsored by the Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

Frist is University Distinguished Professor at Vanderbilt, a partner in the private invetment firm Cressey and Company LP and a heart and lung transplant surgeon. He represented Tennessee in the Senate for 12 years.

Today he is focused on domestic health reform, heart transplantation, global health policy, economic development in low-income countries, health care disparities, medical mission work in Sudan, genocide in Darfur and HIV/AIDS issues.

The public is invited to the event, to be held at the University Club of Nashville, 2402 Garland Ave. Admission, which includes a breakfast buffet, costs $10 for Vanderbilt students and $20 for others.

Pre-registration is required to attend, and can be done at www.vanderbilt.edu/moral_leadership

WHOLE FOODS, FTC SETTLE ON WILD OATS MERGER

REUTERS — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:45:02 +0000

Premium organic grocer Whole Foods Market Inc. has settled an antitrust battle with U.S. regulators by agreeing to sell the Wild Oats brand, 13 functioning stores, and the leases and assets for 19 closed stores. LUKE FROEB, who teaches at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, seemed skeptical that it would be easy to find appropriate purchasers for the stores.
"It's high-end retailers that have gotten killed in this downturn," he said, calling the FTC's decision to revive the Wild Oats brand "unprecedented."

PASCRELL RAILS AGAINST TICKETMASTER, LIVE NATION MERGER

(NEW JERSEY) STAR-LEDGER — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:47:54 +0000

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8th Dist.) blasted the proposed merger between Ticketmaster, the nation's largest ticketing firm, and top promoter Live Nation, telling a House subcommittee that the plan "is a bad deal for the American people." LUKE FROEB, associate professor of management, was referenced in the story. Froeb was also referenced in a report published on the Ticket News.

TICKETMASTER/LIVE NATION MERGER: AZOFF, RAPINO AND NEW SPEAKERS FOR HOUSE HEARING

TICKET NEWS — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:31:15 +0000

Economist Luke Froeb provides congressional testimony on Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger.

MICHAEL LAPRÉ RECOGNIZED WITH "MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD"

M&SOM SOCIETY — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:26:39 +0000

We are delighted to announce the 2008 M&SOM Meritorious Service Award.
Gerard Cachon, M&SOM editor, 2006 - 2008
Steve Graves, M&SOM editor, 2009

2008 M&SOM Meritorious Service Award

Manufacturing & Service Operations Management (M&SOM) depends on the volunteer work of many professionals who take the time to provide careful reviews of the manuscripts submitted to the journal. In fact, in 2008 M&SOM received 514 reviews from 277 individuals. Remarkably, 59% of those reviews were submitted on or before their due date, a figure that increases to 66% if you allow a one day grace period. Due in large part to the responsiveness of our reviewers, M&SOM made 98.5% of its 317 manuscript decisions within 90 days.

While we deeply appreciate all those who served as reviewers for the journal in 2008, some individuals have distinguished themselves by reviewing many manuscripts and with each manuscript by writing a timely, unbiased and thoughtful review. In recognition of their outstanding service provided to support the journal’s scholarly mission, M&SOM grants the 2008 Meritorious Service Award to…

Yossi Aviv                               Washington University
Fernando Bernstein                 Duke University
Francis de Vericourt                 European School of Management and Technology
Laurens Debo                          Carnegie Mellon University
Noah Gans                              University of Pennsylvania
Vishal Gaur                            Cornell University
Manu   Goyal                         University of Maryland
Hans S. Heese                         Indiana University
Ganesh Janakiraman                New York University
Ziya Eda Kemahlioglu               University of North Carolina
Sang-Hyun Kim                       Yale University
Michael Lapré                        Vanderbilt University
Martin Lariviere                       Northwestern University
Cuihong Li                              University of Connecticut
Qian Liu                                 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Serguei Netessine                   University of Pennsylvania
Michael Pinedo                        New York University
Erica Plambeck                       Stanford University
Justin Ren                              Boston University
Guillaume Roels                      University of California, Los Angeles
Sergei Savin                           Columbia University
Allan Scheller-Wolf                  Carnegie Mellon University
Robert Shumsky                     Dartmouth
Robert Swinney                      Stanford University
Terry Taylor                            University of California, Berkeley
Christian Terwiesch                 University of Pennsylvania
Beril Toktay                            Georgia Institute of Technology
Senthil Veeraraghavan             University of Pennsylvania
Owen Wu                                University of Michigan
Yi Xu                                      University of Maryland
Assaf Zeevi                             Columbia University
Yong Pin Zhou                         University of Washington
Serhan Ziya                            University of North Carolina

LET'S HELP OUR STUDENTS ACHIEVE ACADEMIC SUCCESS

THE TENNESSEAN — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:03:19 +0000

BILL FRIST, professor of business and medicine, wrote this opinion piece promoting his new effort to improve education for Tennessee children.

BILL FRIST UNVEILS PLAN TO TURN AROUND TENNESSEE SCHOOLS

THE TENNESSEAN — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:14:03 +0000

Former Sen. BILL FRIST, professor of business and medicine, is launching the State Collaborative on Reforming Education, or SCORE, featuring a series of town hall and steering committee meetings across the state plus project teams to address teacher quality, technology and other topics. The story was also reported by the Nashville Business Journal and City Paper.

SCHORR, SCHICKLING JOIN NASHVILLE BUSINESS COMMUNITY

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:48:43 +0000

JIM SCHORR has joined Owen Graduate School of Business as an assistant clinical professor of management.

'TWESTIVAL' SHOWS POWER OF TINY BLOG TWITTER

THE TENNESSEAN — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:18:55 +0000

Local Twitter enthusiasts met their online friends for the first time Thursday at what they called a “Twestival” at Big Bang Nashville. "When you hear 'Twestival' you think it's going to be a massive room of nerds," said JARED DEGNAN, a Vanderbilt business school student known on Twitter as @marketingdiner.

'ECONOMIST' U.S. OUTLOOK DIMS

WALL STREET JOURNAL — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:18:09 +0000

Economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey still mostly project growth in U.S. gross domestic product by the third quarter, but they largely agree that a 2009 "second-half recovery" -- a widely shared scenario until now -- is looking much less likely. J. DEWEY DAANE, Frank Houston Professor of Finance Emeritus, is quoted.

VANDERBILT MBAs CREATE TARGETED TRAVEL WEB SITE

BACK TO B-SCHOOL — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:32:27 +0000

This B-net blog reports that students at the Owen Graduate School of Management have developed a travel Web site designed specifically for the needs and limitations of college students.

MBA PAY: A CRYSTAL BALL

BUSINESSWEEK — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:30:52 +0000

New research commissioned by BusinessWeek suggests that when it comes to the post-MBA earnings accrued by graduates of top business schools over the span of their careers, not all schools are created equal. VANDERBILT ranks 30th, with the 21st overall highest salary average.

STIMULUS MAY SAVE 75,000 TENNESSEE JOBS

THE TENNESSEAN — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:02:02 +0000

Amid Republican criticism of President Barack Obama's $900 billion economic stimulus plan, the White House released figures Wednesday saying the package would boost employment in every state, including saving or creating 75,000 jobs in Tennessee over two years. "They're using the cover of the fiscal crisis to dramatically expand the reach and scope of government," said LUKE FROEB, the William C. and Margaret W. Oehmig associate professor in entrepreneurship and free enterprise at Vanderbilt University. "It is shameful the debt legacy we are leaving on our kids. It is shameful."

BUSINESS ETHICS PROGRAMS BOOMING IN WAKE OF REAL-LIFE WALL STREET SCANDALS

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:00:51 +0000

About 70 MBA students from Vanderbilt University gathered last week to watch actors from the Tennessee Repertory Theatre perform excerpts from “Glengarry Glen Ross,” a raw Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy about two days in the lives of four real estate agents desperate to succeed in a cut-throat corporate environment. Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management, Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business and Lipscomb’s business college all require business ethics classes for MBA students. But the issues of the day are giving the schools an unprecedented opportunity to address the issue in new ways, says BART VICTOR, professor of moral leadership at Vanderbilt. “We’re seeing a fundamental shift and change happen before our eyes,” Victor says. “We’re witnessing the direct engagement of the democratic system in business. It’s painful and difficult, but the relationship between business and democracy is changing. We are going to spend a very long time unwinding all of this.”

BUILDING LOYALTY IN BAD TIMES

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:50:35 +0000

ProfitPoint Inc., provider of gift and loyalty card services to small- and medium-sized merchants, has managed to not only survive but to thrive. TIM VOGUS, professor of organization studies, is quoted.

THE OBAMA EFFECT

CANADIAN TELEVISION NETWORK AND WNYC — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:53:01 +0000

New York Public Radio, interviewed RAY FRIEDMAN, Brownlee O. Currey Professor of Management, on his research that showed the presidential run of Barack Obama had a strong positive impact on the test-taking achievement of African Americans. The live interviews were conducted using VUStar, Vanderbilt’s campus broadcast facility. Professor Friedman was also interviewed for Public Radio International’s “Takeaway” segment.

IS THERE AN 'OBAMA EFFECT' ON STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES?

U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:42:19 +0000

Positive racial role models may have an effect on school performance, according to new research by Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management professor RAY FRIEDMAN and co-authors who document that the performance gap between black and white Americans in a series of online tests was dramatically reduced during key moments of then-Sen. Obama’s campaign.

The story was also covered by the science blog Scientific Blogging.

FIVE YEARS TO B-SCHOOL: THE FOURTH YEAR

BUSINESSWEEK — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:30:10 +0000

D-Day is fast approaching. If you're serious about business school, now is the time to stand out at work, line up your recommendations, and mentally prepare for the application process.
To help you, BusinessWeek.com is launching a new series: a five-year planner for business school. The five-part series—this is the fourth—will provide a year-by-year guide to what you should be doing and thinking about in building the sort of résumé and skill set that will be attractive to MBA admissions committees. Those who can openly discuss their plans with their recommender can take him or her to lunch at this point, suggests JOHN ROEDER, director of MBA Admissions at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management. Use your time together to give the potential recommender an overview of your achievements and your reasons for wanting to go to business school.

OBAMA MYSTIQUE IMPROVES TEST SCORES AMONG BLACKS

DIVERSE EDUCATION — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:40:59 +0000

Documenting what the authors of the report call the “Obama Effect,” a recent study found the performance gap between black and white Americans in a series of online tests was dramatically reduced during key moments of the 2008 presidential campaign, when Obama’s accomplishments garnered the most national attention. RAY FRIEDMAN, an associate professor at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University and co-author of the report, is quoted.

The story was also covered by eSchoolNews and the Kansas City Star.

STUDY SEES AN "OBAMA EFFECT" AS LIFTING BLACK TEST TAKERS

NEW YORK TIMES — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:39:04 +0000

Research led by RAY FRIEDMAN, professor of management, documents a so-called Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama’s nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election.

The story also ran in the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Nashville Scene.

COMMENTARY: BUSH SAVED 10 MILLION LIVES

CNN.COM — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:08:35 +0000

Former Senator BILL FRIST, professor of medicine and business, wrote this opinion piece highlighting President Bush’s achievements in curbing AIDS and malaria in the third world.

ENTREPRENEUR BUILDS GAMER PARADISE

THE TENNESSEAN — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:53:48 +0000

Owen Graduate School of Business student Bradley Metrock has opened The Score, a retail and tournament space for video game enthusiasts.

ANITRUST CASE HITS WHOLE FOODS

THE TENNESSEAN — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:52:58 +0000

The Federal Trade Commission wants to bring Wild Oats back to Nashville and other cities across the country months after Whole Foods acquired its competitor and converted many stores to its own organic supermarket brand. "The eggs have been scrambled, and it's hard to know how they would be unscrambled,'' said LUKE FROEB, a Vanderbilt associate business professor and former director of the bureau of economics at the Federal Trade Commission, commenting on the case. "This would be unprecedented in antitrust law, to force Whole Foods to build a whole separate brand."

RIGGED GAMES

FORBES — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:09:07 +0000

In the 1990s, Bernard Madoff led a group of Nasdaq marketmakers who wanted a piece of the NYSE’s very profitable game. They argued they could give investors a better deal by bypassing the established exchanges and matching buyers and sellers more rapidly on their own computers. There was only one problem: The marketmakers were gaming the system, too. Marketmakers “had a cushy existence in the Nineties,” says WILLIAM CHRISTIE, a finance professor at Vanderbilt University who exposed the spread manipulation in an influential 1994 paper. That ended soon after Christie’s paper came out. Spreads collapsed literally overnight, and the Justice Department and class action lawyers extracted a consent decree and a $1 billion settlement a few years later.

HEDGE FUNDS RAISE THE GATES, AND INVESTORS PAY

NEW YORK TIMES DEALBOOK — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:02:48 +0000

Numerous money-losing hedge funds have curtailed investor withdrawals over the past few months as redemption requests piled up. But “raising the gates,” as it’s known in the industry, can cost investors dearly, according to a recent study from the Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management and Columbia University. “Given that most hedge funds require significant investment levels to begin with, the resulting costs of liquidity restrictions — whether existing or newly imposed — can potentially be staggering for investors,” said NICOLAS P.B. BOLLEN a professor at the Owen School and one of the authors of the study.

BANKS LOOK FOR UPPER HAND IN GOING BATTLE OVER CUSTOMERS

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:15:15 +0000

Banks are competing for new accounts by highlighting customer service. Since banks’ products and offerings are so much alike, they must emphasize service to stand out in the crowd, says DAWN IACOBUCCI, marketing professor at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

BLOCKED EXITS MAY BE COSTLY AT HEDGE FUNDS

REUTERS — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:37:56 +0000

Hedge fund investors may face an expensive tug-of-war with managers, according to a new research paper that suggests they could lose as much as 15 percent of their initial investments should they be unable to exit when they want. This trend is not only aggravating but also extremely pricey, NICOLAS BOLLEN, a professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, said in an interview.

SHOPPERS DROP OUT

WASHINGTON TIMES — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:36:44 +0000

Retailers got some help from Black Friday sales, but not enough to keep them out of the red in November. "Consumers are just going to be more picky," said DAWN IACOBUCCI, a professor of marketing at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management in Nashville, Tenn.

STARTUPS DEFY SOUR ECONOMY

THE TENNESSEAN — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:30:46 +0000

During tough economic times, entrepreneurs are on the hunt for recession-proof businesses, like funeral parlors and liquor stores. GERMAIN BOER, the director of the Owen Entrepreneurship Center at Vanderbilt University, said it's less important what the business is than who manages it. "If you have the right kind of manager, they will figure out how to make their business better than anybody else,'' he said. Boer said managers who guess correctly about what's six months down the road are more likely to buy the kinds of products that will sell, for example. Those who cut expenses, even laying people off, earlier than competitors may get an edge in a recession, he said. “If you get a manager who is creative enough, (the business) may not be recession proof, but it may do better than competitors,'' Boer said.

FOR THE VIX, 40 LOOKS LIKE IT'S THE NEW 20

WALL STREET JOURNAL — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:20:00 +0000

The most popular proxy for market fear is the Chicago Board Options Exchange's Volatility Index, or VIX, developed by ROBERT WHALEY, Valere Blair Potter Professor of Finance. It peaked at nearly 81 about two weeks ago, roughly four times its historical average of about 20.

RETAILERS TO LURE HOLIDAY SHOPPERS WITH BARGAINS

WASHINGTON TIMES — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:20:50 +0000

Shopping malls have been adorned with Christmas decorations for weeks, and most Santas showed up on the heels of Halloween, yet the holiday shopping season has not officially started. "This year we're hearing these doomsday predictions," said DAWN IACOBUCCI, professor of marketing at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management in Nashville, Tenn. She said retailers are responding with a method that appeals to all socioeconomic levels: bargains."Hunker down to the basics," she said of the emphasis on price this shopping season, which began a little earlier than usual this year.

PEOPLE IN BUSINESS

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:47:24 +0000

DAWN IACOBUCCI has been named associate dean for faculty development at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. James E. Auer, director of the Center for U.S.-Japan Studies and Cooperation, will be honored with the Order of the Rising Sun, a decoration conferred by the emperor of Japan, in recognition of contributions to the promotion of relations between Japan and the U.S.

HANDS-ON ADVANTAGE

CONTINENTAL — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:15:47 +0000

Colleges and graduate schools all over the country have developed consulting programs designed to match businesses with student brainpower. Owen’s ACCELERATOR program is highlighted.

WIN THRILLS NASHVILLE AREA DEMOCRATS

THE TENNESSEAN — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:14:44 +0000

Metro Councilwoman Megan Barry and her husband, BRUCE BARRY, a Vanderbilt University professor, held a bipartisan but heavily Democratic party at their Hillsboro Village home. More than 150 guests watched the returns on six TV sets — none of which were tuned to Fox News Channel, the councilwoman noted wryly

AGAINST ALL ODDS, THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES FIGHT ON

THE TENNESSEAN — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:04:20 +0000

Independent candidates come to their races with a kind of special grit and humor, aware that the chances of success are low but determined to fight their way through to Election Day and beyond, proudly advocating their views no matter how long the odds of winning. BRUCE BARRY, a Vanderbilt sociology professor who hosted a forum of third-party candidates just before the presidential debate in Nashville, said that in a way, it's "kind of a lousy year" to be a third-party candidate. Many voters are excited about the two major-party candidates, he said, and "you don't sense that huge amount of lesser-of-two-evils discontent that we've felt in some years," he said.

FOR SOME SKILLFUL AND PLUSKY INVESTORS, IT'S A BUYER'S MARKET

CNN.COM — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:44:24 +0000

People with investing experience, confidence and extra cash to spend could find some real bargains in today’s stock market. "Who's on the other side? There's always someone," said CLIFFORD BALL, an economist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "It's got to be hedge funds, large institutions and some investors who are thinking this is a good time to buy, at these prices."

THIRD PARTY POLITICS A TICKET TO OBSCURITY

CQ POLITICS — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:42:30 +0000

Third-party candidates are having a difficult time attracting voters because the mainstream candidates this year are more appealing to independents. “It’s probably a more-difficult-than-usual year because the two parties for the first time in a long time have thrown up candidates that people sort of like,” says BRUCE BARRY, a professor of management and sociology at Vanderbilt University who moderated a third-party debate there this month.

FRIST TO SHAPE FUTURE HEALTH CARE LEADERS AT VANDERBILT

BNET.COM — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:41:11 +0000

Slated to begin next semester, Sen. FRIST’s class will combine business students with fourth-year medical students to scrutinize the financing, delivery and quality of health care.

ON WALL STREET, EYES TURN TO THE FEAR INDEX

NEW YORK TIMES — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:40:09 +0000

The VIX (officially the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index) measures volatility, the technical term for those wrenching market swings Wall Street has seen lately. “The first purpose was the one that is being served right now — find a barometer of market anxiety or investor fear,” Professor WHALEY, who now teaches at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, recalled in an interview. But, he said, the board also wanted to create an index that investors could bet on using futures and options, providing a new revenue stream for the exchange. Professor Whaley spent a sabbatical in France toying with formulas. He returned to the United States with the VIX, which gauges anxiety by calculating the premiums paid in a specific options market run by the Chicago Board Options Exchange.

FRIST'S CHOICES SETTING STAGE FOR GUBERNATORIAL RUN

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:52:29 +0000

Former U.S. Senate majority leader and surgeon BILL FRIST is returning to Vanderbilt University to teach a healthcare business course at the Owen Graduate School of Management, leading many to think he is raising his profile in advance of a run for the governor’s office in 2010. The story is also covered in the Chattanooga Free Press, The Tennessean. The Nashville Business Journal and Nashville Post covered Frist’s return to Vanderbilt.

WALL STREET'S ROACH MOTELS

FORBES — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:51:30 +0000

Hedge fund returns are declining for two main reasons. First, the easy days of finding a positive return strategy and employing large amounts of cheap leverage are over. Second, they are very easy—perhaps too easy—to create. NICHOLAS BOLLEN, associate professor of management, is quoted

ALTERNATIVE DEBATE HAS ITS OWN ISSUES

THE TENNESSEAN — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:50:21 +0000

BRUCE BARRY, professor of management and sociology, moderated a third-party candidates’ debate at Vanderbilt University's Stevenson Science Center on Oct. 6. Related: Third-party supporters have impromptu protest

NEW MASTER OF MANAGEMENT IN HEALTHCARE

VANDERBILT BUSINESS — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:38:42 +0000

There’s more to great health care than medicine. While physicians, nurses and hospital administrators are experts at patient care, they often lack the business skills needed to be effective managers. The new Vanderbilt Master of Management in Health Care is a one-year degree program designed to arm physicians and other clinical professionals with the business fundamentals and decision-making skills needed to manage people, programs and processes successfully. Read More

'IDEA 67": SHMERLING OFFERS ENTREPRENEURIAL CONCEPT FOR NASHVILLE

VENTURE NASHVILLE CONNECTIONS — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:48:41 +0000

GERMAIN BOER and BRUCE LYNSKEY, both professors of management at Owen, are quoted in this local business blog post about new ideas in entrepreneurship.

2008 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE CANDIDATE'S ALTERNATIVE DEBATE

NASHVILLE SCENE — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:47:41 +0000

A debate for third-party presidential candidates will take place on Oct. 6 at Vanderbilt and will be moderated by BRUCE BARRY, professor of management and sociology.

MIDDLE TENNESSEANS DISAGREE ON WHETHER BAILOUT IS NEEDED

THE TENNESSEAN — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:46:43 +0000

Some Middle Tennessee residents applauded the House of Representatives' rejection of a $700 billion plan to help Wall Street firms by buying up their bad mortgage debt, while others warned of dire consequences unless something is done to prop up credit markets. Vanderbilt University management professor DAVID PARSLEY said the government probably will need to pump more money into the market to solve the problem, but he said it was probably best that the bailout plan on the table Monday fell through."They were really asking for a $700 billion blank check. The details are pretty sketchy," he saidWhile the economic crisis has affected some retirement accounts, right now the impact on the average person "is not that bad," Parsley said.But without a rescue plan, he said, that could change, especially for companies that rely on short-term loans.

TREASURY, FED LOW ON RESCUE OPTIONS

WASHINGTON POST — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:45:49 +0000

The failure of the $700 billion bailout bill leaves Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke with few options to continue their urgent campaign to rescue the financial system. "The problem is, all the eggs were in one basket," said HANS R. STOLL, director of the Financial Markets Research Center at Vanderbilt University. "The economic leaders have worked hard on this particular program, and its failure puts everything into question."

AND THE BEST EXECUTIVE MBA PROGRAMS ARE...

WALL STREET JOURNAL — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:44:31 +0000

Owen Graduate School of Management ranks 18th in this ranking of executive MBA programs.

VU PROFS ARGUE PRIVATE EQUITY MORE VIGILANT IN NEW FINANCIAL WORLD

VENTURE NASHVILLE — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:56:09 +0000

This local business blog reports on a recent report by RON MASULIS, Frank K. Houston Professor of Finance, and Randall Thomas, John Beasley II Professor of Law and Business, on whether private equity generates wealth.

DOCTORS LEARN DOLLARS, CENTS OF HEALTH CARE

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:54:57 +0000

A new master’s program at Owen teaches doctors the business side of health care. Jeffrey Guy, director of the Vanderbilt Burn Center, is a member of the first class. On a recent Saturday on Vanderbilt's campus, professor LARRY VAN HORN, director of the Healthcare MBA program used a discussion of the medicines that his son takes to explain how consumer choices about drugs might change if people had to pay full price for medicines without insurance discounts.

WALL STREET TRADES IN FEAR - LITERALLY

NPR — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:21:03 +0000

Somewhere in the Chicago Options Exchange building, tucked away from the noisy trading floors, sits a computer that digests the latest financial data. Every 15 seconds it calculates the human emotion known as fear.
"That's in fact what it measures," says BOB WHALEY of Vanderbilt University's business school
who invented the fear formula.

TAXPAYERS FOOT BILL FOR 75 PERCENT OF COUNCIL'S HEALTH-CARE BENEFIT

THE TENNESSEAN — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:29:36 +0000

A little-known benefit for Nashville's 40-member part-time legislative body is taxpayer-subsidized health insurance for life. Many private companies are getting away from promised health-care benefits after retirement because of the unknown costs involved, said LARRY VAN HORN, a Vanderbilt University economist who studies the health-care system. He said even though the council benefit may be promised to a relatively small group, it will still carry costs well into the future. "There's a real liability to the government if it's booking that benefit and funding it," Van Horn said. "That's a pretty significant expense."

WALL STREET CRISIS IS CULMINATION OF 28 YEARS OF DEREGULATION

MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:37:25 +0000

Yesterday’s stock market tumble is the direct result of the deregulation of the financial system during the ‘70s, experts say. "It was another example of an asset bubble that appears periodically. An economy will disregard risk, and when people see another investor making money by investing in an asset, others will throw caution to the wind," explained NICOLAS BOLLEN, professor in finance at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management in Nashville, Tenn.
The story appear in papers nationwide, include the Seattle Times, Hartford Courant and Forth Worth Star-Telegram.

NBC'S PRESIDENT OF CREATIVE SERVICES AND MIND BEHIND 'MUST SEE TV' TO SPEAK AT VANDERBILT

VANDERBILT NEWS SERVICE — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:36:14 +0000

The man credited with making ‘Must See TV’ one of the most popular and recognizable promotional themes in television history is coming to the VANDERBILT OWEN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT President of NBC Creative Services Vince Manze will talk about his experience in the entertainment industry and the future of global media on Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.
Manze will launch the Owen School’s Distinguished Speakers Series, which brings in a diverse array of business professionals to give a personal perspective on business today.

ZERO TO CAREER IN 30 DAYS

THE CITY PAPER — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:35:15 +0000

Colleges and other organizations are responding to the need. The Nashville chamber and Nashville State are creating a tailor-made curriculum for logistics and transportation workers, giving students the opportunity to follow a very targeted syllabus — almost as if they were majoring in the job.
The chamber also helps companies create internships to groom potential employees.
“We’re looking a systemic change — a connection between work, education, and training,” said Eisenbrandt, adding that other programs along those lines are on the way.
Vanderbilt University is among the educational institutions responding to the changing job market in radical ways and integrating work and education to better prepare students. Michael Skoumal is a third-year undergrad, but during this summer’s month-long ACCELERATOR Summer Business Institute, he was treated more like a contestant on NBC's The Apprentice.
He and his peers survived 100-hour weeks, juggling multiple team projects for companies like Griffin Technologies and William Morris Agency while taking classes from Accelerator faculty. At one point, he was thrown on a bus at 5 a.m. and taken to Louisville to present his business plan to execs at health insurer Humana.
“I haven't slept more than maybe four consecutive hours this month,” said Skoumal.
But the most challenging obstacle for Skoumal and the 84 other students in the Accelerator Vanderbilt Summer Business Institute was the price of admission: a cool $8,500, which covers food, housing and programming.
The Accelerator program works with companies such as American Airlines, Caterpillar and Bridgestone to create a targeted educational experience unlike any other. Students work in teams to create business solutions for 10 companies in 30 days.

THE BIG QUESTION FOR U.S. VOTERS: TO TAX OR NOT TO TAX

THE OBSERVER — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:34:11 +0000

Senators Obama and McCain face a crucial issue in their presidential campaigns: what to do about Bush's $2 trillion in temporary tax cuts, skewed towards the wealthy, which expire in 2010. LUKE FROEB, a free enterprise expert at Vanderbilt University's management school in Nashville, identifies this as a key ideological gap. He argues: 'Renegotiating Nafta would make our economy a lot less flexible. It would reduce income and make us all worse off.' An overt McCain supporter, Froeb views Obama as a classic interventionist who overestimates the government's power to control the economy. 'He's relatively young. He knows enough to be arrogant and not enough to be humble,' Froeb says. 'Whereas McCain knows enough to be humble. He sees a problem and he may understand that there isn't an immediate solution.'

CAREER PLACEMENT AT VANDERBILT

BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:19:17 +0000

JOYCE ROTHENBERG, director of Owen's Career Management Center, talks about virtual recruiting, international MBA networking, and much more

RESEARCH ON THE POWER OF STORY

A PRACTICAL POLICY — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:57:57 +0000

This blog post looks at how our love for telling tales reveals the workings of the mind. Research by JENNIFER ESCALAS, professor of marketing, that shows humans respond more positively to advertisements presented in narrative form, is mentioned.

DRIVERS SCOUR FOR BEST GAS DEALS

THE TENNESSEAN — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:56:57 +0000

Average prices at the pump have dropped by nearly 37 cents a gallon in the Nashville area in four weeks, but what motorists pay for a gallon of unleaded still varies by 25 cents or more, depending on the gas station. Consumers might think that buying gas near $3.40 a gallon today is a bargain because they compare that to a memorable $4-a-gallon record price, said JENNIFER ESCALAS, associate professor at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University."You know, $4 is an even number, easy to remember. It's never been that high before," Escalas said.“Those things might make the $4 reference price sticky or memorable."

LEADERSHIP HEALTHCARE NAMES '08-'09 BOARD

NASHVILLE POST — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:55:00 +0000

Leadership Health Care, a division of the Nashville Health Care Council created for a younger generation of health care professionals, has announced its 2008-2009 board of directors, which includes KYLE CLAY, a student in the Vanderbilt’s Owen School Healthcare MBA program.

BANK CUSTOMERS NEED CLARITY, EXPLANATION

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:54:54 +0000

FREDERICK TALBOTT, professor of the practice of management in communications, wrote this opinion piece about the importance of public education about finances.

CODDLING HUMAN GUINEA PIGS

NEWSWEEK — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:54:01 +0000

Endless red tape and paternalism toward study volunteers is having a stifling effect on clinical research. DAVID DILTS, co-director of the management research in healthcare program, is mentioned.

WILL OLYMPIC SPONSORS STRIKE GOLD?

MSN.COM — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:52:41 +0000

Olympic advertisers will spend more than $1 billion for U.S. airtime alone, although some say they will not get their money’s worth. In a time when it's harder to win by simply offering a better product, the goal of a lot of advertising is to arouse positive feelings that forge lasting bonds with consumers, says JENNIFER ESCALAS, a Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management professor who specializes in understanding how advertising works our emotions. (Her husband is also former Olympic swimmer.)This year's Olympic ads fit squarely with that goal. McDonald's, for example, isn't trying to sell a specific burger but to "build a relationship," Escalas says. "If you feel good about the Olympics, that good feeling should spill over to the brand.”

IT'S AN INTERVIEW, NOT A DEBATE

MAINSTREET.COM — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:07:58 +0000

BRUCE BARRY, professor of management and sociology, is quoted in this blog about the Justice Department report released on July 28 about the interview and hiring tactics used by top aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez when hiring for non-political positions.

DID REG FD LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD?

CFO.COM — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:07:16 +0000

Researchers have found that the Security Exchange Commission’s Regulation Fair Disclosure rule has curtailed the amount of information that companies disclose to the public. Baljit Sidhu from the Australian School of Business, Tom Smith from Australian National University, and ROBERT WHALEY and RICHARD WILLIS from Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management studied the effect of Reg FD by comparing cost components of the bid-ask spreads of NASDQ-listed stocks in the months before and after the Reg FD went into effect. "While Reg FD gave everyone the same info at the same time, what it's done is it has made firms release less information and it drove up the cost of trading," Robert Whaley, co-director of the Financial Markets Research Center at Vanderbilt, told CFO.com.

WASHINGTON TRIED TO PROTECT INVESTORS. IT FAILED

WALL STREET JOURNAL — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:05:36 +0000

This blog interview with ROBERT WHALEY, Valere Blair Potter Professor of Management, discusses a study recently published in The Journal of Accounting Research that examines the effect of Regulation Fair Disclosure, which Congress passed in 2000. Whaley is a co-author of the study. This article appears in the online edition only.

NAKED SHORTING LIMITS EXTENSION EXPECTED

THE DEAL.COM — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:04:31 +0000

Market participants are bracing for the extension of temporary limits on "naked" short selling. Limits on shorting stocks of 19 financial companies were initiated by an emergency order last week and are set to expire at midnight Tuesday, July 29. It is expected that regulators will not only extend the order's life but possibly expand it to the rest of the market.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has said the order could be extended for 30 calendar days if it determines that it is necessary for the public interest and to protect investors. If that happens, the order would be effective through Aug. 20.

Short sellers, in particular hedge funds, are not pleased with the prospects of extending and expanding the order. The Managed Funds Association, a Washington-based group representing hedge funds, and the Coalition of Private Investment Companies have been urging the SEC not to extend the emergency order or the list of designated securities.

HANS STOLL, a finance professor and director of the financial markets research center at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, agreed that the emergency order should expire. "Short sellers are an important part of an orderly market and making policy on the fly" is never a good idea, he said.

ON SEMGROUP AND MARGIN REQUIREMENTS

WALL STREET JOURNAL — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:25:14 +0000

The collapse of SemGroup LP, which filed for bankruptcy after losing $2.4 billion on energy contracts, has focused attention on margin requirements — cited in the company’s documents as a culprit behind its woes. “Increased margin requirements have had a severe negative impact” on the company’s liquidity position, documents said. During the three months ended March 31, the firm and its affiliates posted $1.96 billion to satisfy margin deposit requirements, more than double the amount for the same period the prior year. Futures exchanges like the New York Mercantile Exchange, where SemGroup traded, set margins so that customers have enough money set aside in case their trading bets go awry. The exchanges have been raising the amount necessary to participate in a crude oil trade this year, because of soaring prices and volatility. Financial-market experts point out that while trading firms may struggle with margin requirements, increased margin doesn’t become an issue unless the trade is a loser to start with. “It’s a standard argument” when traders “get into trouble,”says HANS STOLL, a finance professor at Vanderbilt University’s school of management.

BOARD BRIEF CHINA- BALANCING FLEXIBILITY AND CONTROL: OPTIMIZING YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE IN CHINA

GLOBAL NAVIGATION/ CHINESE SERVICES GROUP — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:21:46 +0000

China presents great opportunities for global corporations, but also great challenges to some of their traditional decision-making structures. Cultural differences and rapid change in China mean that headquarters-oriented organizational systems used in Europe or the U.S. may not be flexible enough for China. At the same time, empowering local managers too much can lead companies to stray from standards protecting core corporate values. Extra risk controls and increased board attention to corporate education and in-country leadership selection may be required. In this Board Brief, Global Navigation examines these challenges and how companies can strike the right balance between flexibility and control. RAY FRIEDMAN, who studies business practices in China as the Brownlee O. Currey Professor of Management at the Owen Graduate School of Business, is quoted.

AMERICAN AIRLINES USES STUDENTS TO HELP BUSINESS

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:04:23 +0000

American Airlines is turning to college students to help them appeal to small-business owners. Students in a summer program at Vanderbilt University crafted proposals for the nation’s biggest airline, and the winning team travels to American's headquarters in Fort Worth next week to pitch ideas to company executives.

FANNIE AND FREDDIE SHARES UP AGAIN

PRI'S MARKETPLACE — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:29:56 +0000

PRI’s “Marketplace” featured an interview with Hans Stoll, director of the Financial Markets Research Center, in a story on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s recent difficulties. HANS STOLL says “But if it comes to the situation where Freddie Mac goes under, I don't think the existing shareholders should be bailed out. Which is a risk to existing shareholders or the one who would participate in this new issue.”

COST CUTTERS: TRIMMING PAYROLL, WITHOUT LAYOFFS

SMART MONEY'S SMALL BIZ — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:14:00 +0000

SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS LOOKING to stay afloat in today's choppy economy have a lot riding against them. Raw materials are pricier. The U.S. dollar is worth less. Credit is harder to come by. And the cost of health care continues to rise. As a result, many entrepreneurs are slashing one of their biggest expenses: payroll. If there isn't enough work to go around, consider switching up people's duties, suggests RAY FRIEDMAN, a management professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. "I have seen big companies make it through downturns by having factory workers do maintenance work [such as] painting, fixing tools" and the like, he says. Small companies, he adds, can receive similar cost savings by having current employees perform jobs that you would otherwise hire someone to do.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

THE TENNESSEAN — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:20:08 +0000

Vanderbilt University has launched a new, one-year master's degree program in health-care management to teach doctors, nurses and hospital administrators how to apply business skills to solving health care problems.

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL

NEW PROGRAM TEACHES DOCS THE BASICS OF BUSINESS 101 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:52:58 +0000

Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management is rolling out a new one-year master's degree in health care management for doctors. Director LARRY VAN HORN, C. Wright Pinson, associate chancellor for health affairs, and Marilyn Key, director of clinical laboratory operations, Practical business applications to real-life scenarios are the bedrock of degree, says Van Horn.

NEW PROGRAM TEACHES DOCS THE BASICS OF BUSINESS 101

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:40:10 +0000

Doctors and nurses in high-level positions often find themselves being required to make business decisions.
Yet, they often don't know about core business principles or have practical business experience. Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management is rolling out a new one-year master's degree in health care management to address the issue. Read More

COLLEGE STUDENTS TRY HAND AT MARKETING TO COLLEGE STUDENTS

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:47:01 +0000

This year's ACCELERATOR program at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management is covered. Andy Van Schaack, lecturer in education and the program’s science advisor, and students A.J. Axelrod, Coco Chalfant and Catie Burleson are quoted.

BUSINESS TN MAGAZINE

GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:18:34 +0000

Tennessee’s MBA programs are “greening up” to create a generation of more environmentally aware executives. The school's environmental emphasis pulls from expertise in the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies (VCEMS) and the School of Engineering. MARK COHEN, an Owen Graduate School of Management business professor and director of the VCEMS, has been teaching environmental management courses in the MBA program since about 1993."We've had the emphasis since the mid-'90s," Cohen says. "Essentially, it involves taking four courses in the curriculum, two in the business school and two others outside (from the engineering school or even philosophy). Interested students are basically broadening their specialty base."

THE TENNESSEAN

FALLING CD SALES FORCE RETAILERS TO TRY NEW STRATEGIES — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:39:46 +0000

CD sales in the U.S. have declined 29 percent from their peak of $14.6 billion in 2000, leaving retailers searching for new strategies to wring profits out of a product that's in the midst of a fundamental transformation. TIM DUBOIS, a former Nashville music executive and now a professor at Vanderbilt's Owen School of Management said of the problems in the industry, "It's not going back like it was. It's a change, and it's permanent."

THE TENNESSEAN

COLLEGE STUDENTS COME UP WITH CREATIVE USES FOR OLD THERMAL SITE — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:38:55 +0000

Participants in Owen’s Accelerator program put together proposals to redevelop the Thermal site, the patch between the Shelby and Korean War Veterans Memorial bridges that was once home to a garbage incinerator.

BUSINESS LOANS FROM UNCLE SAM

FORTUNE SMALL BUSINESS — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:21:05 +0000

The government can help you get cash with the SBA’s 7(a) program, but banks still hold the purse strings. Assuming that an SBA-backed loan makes sense for your business, you need to figure out exactly what you want to do with the money so that you spend it wisely, says GERMAIN BOER, a professor of management and entrepreneurship at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. A clear plan will also help you get the loan. “That makes the bank feel more comfortable with you,” says Boer. But small business owners shouldn’t look to the SBA program as some sort of freebie: “This is not any kind of a gift,” Boer says.

VENTURE NASHVILLE

OWEN 'CONSULTANTS' BOOSTING NINE TOP COMPANIES — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:37:59 +0000

At Vanderbilt University, nine prominent companies are keeping 85 consultants awake long hours these days, as the "Accelerator" summer business class rushes headlong toward its July 3 finale at the Owen Graduate School of Business.

INSIDE HIGHER ED

NEW PROGRAMS — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:37:20 +0000

Owen’s new one-year health care management program is mentioned.

GAC

ERIC CHURCH GOES TO BUSINESS SCHOOL — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:36:24 +0000

Singer-songwriter Eric Church’s career will be a featured case study for this summer’s Accelerate program at Owen Graduate School of Management. KIMBERLY PACE, assistant clinical professor of management, is quoted.

CITY PAPER

FRANKLIN ENTREPRENEUR HAS AN EYE FOR BUSINESS — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:35:35 +0000

Optometrist Jim Tilley’s eyeglasses boutique seems well positioned to weather the challenges faced by many small businesses. “In the long run [defined as 10 years], roughly nine out of 10 start-up businesses will be gone,” said BRUCE LYNSKEY, a clinical professor of management at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. Lynskey said the biggest reason small businesses fail is that the market deteriorates for their product and they don’t have the diversification of a big company as an offset.“Every next year in business is money in the bank for his survival,” Lynskey said.

INSIDE HIGHER ED

QUICK TAKES — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:33:59 +0000

A new method for determining business school rankings devised by MIKE SHOR, assistant professor of economics at Owen Graduate School of Management. Mike Shor, the economist, took the top 50 programs, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, and took data on inputs (college grades and scores on the GMAT) and outputs (average salaries). It is no surprise of course that some of the top ranked programs see their graduates do particularly well, but Shor noted that these schools attract some of the best students — so he compared salaries to what might have been the “predictive” salary based on GMAT scores and college grades. And he ranked the 50 in order of the gains in salary that the school appears to provide. Using this system, Cornell University comes out on top, followed by Indiana University at Bloomington and the University of Virginia.

VANCOUVER SUN

MANAGERS STRUGGLE WITH ETHICAL DECISIONS — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:33:04 +0000

Managers are struggling to balance their own moral code with some of the demands being placed on them by changing markets and opposing organizational mores. According to RICHARD DAFT and DOROTHY MARCIC at Vanderbilt University, Ross Bradford at the University of Alberta and Heather Stevens at George Brown College, there are eight guidelines for ethical decision making.

ERIC CHURCH TEAMS UP WITH VANDERBILT

COUNTRY HOUND — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:07:25 +0000

Country Music artist Eric Church is working with Vanderbilt University’s OWEN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT’s Summer Business Institute for Accelerator 2008, a group of students who will develop and propose solutions to various business challenges. The story was also reported by Great American Country.

VANDERBILT BUSINESS STUDENTS TO STUDY ERIC CHURCH'S CAREER

CMT.COM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:44:16 +0000

Musician Eric Church's career has been chosen as one of the topics to be examined during a summer program sponsored by the OWEN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT at Nashville's Vanderbilt University.

NEW HEALTH CARE PROGRAM AT VANDERBILT

BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:09:23 +0000

Apparently for clinical professionals, extensive knowledge about human anatomy can only take you so far up the company ladder. Yesterday, the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management unveiled its newest one-year program: Master of Management in Health Care. Essentially, it is tailored to equip clinical professionals with the know-how they need to manage employees, programs and procedures.

NEW HEALTHCARE PROGRAM AT VANDERBILT

BUSINESSWEEK — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:41:38 +0000

Apparently for clinical professionals, extensive knowledge about human anatomy can only take you so far up the company ladder.

Yesterday, the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management unveiled its newest one-year program: Master of Management in Health Care. Essentially, it is tailored to equip clinical professionals with the know-how they need to manage employees, programs and procedures.

WILMINGTON GRIPPED BY FEAR

CINCINNATI ENQUIRER — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:56:31 +0000

Ever since DHL announced on May 28 that it might shut down local operations, fear has been spreading that Wilmington, Ohio, could be reduced to a ghost town. "Antitrust is all about consumers. If the deal won't affect customers, regulators won't challenge it," he said. LUKE FROEB, a management professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and former chief economist with the Department of Justice, said antitrust regulators narrowly focus on market issues."Job losses are irrelevant to their analyses," he said.

FIVE MORE INTRIGUING MONEY MANAGEMENT IDEAS

FINANCIAL WEEK — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:53:55 +0000

Research by ROBERT WHALEY, Valere Blair Potter Professor of Management, on the risk/return of strategies based on the CBOE BuyWrite monthly index is seen by an increasing number of portfolio managers as relevant in today’s volatile markets. Hans Stoll, Walker Professor of Finance, co-authored the research and is also mentioned.

SURVIVORS: NASHVILLE BUSINESS PLAN WINNERS UNVEILED AFTER 12-MONTH TREK

VENTURE NASHVILLE CONNECTIONS — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:52:58 +0000

Yesterday, the Nashville Business Incubation Center announced the winners of its 2008 business-plan competition – a program that’s so lengthy and demanding, it won’t produce another batch of winners until 2010. Although they don’t compete in the NBIC contest, students from Vanderbilt University’s OWEN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT and Belmont University regularly emerge among the leaders in national intercollegiate contests.

CMA FEST LURES NEW FANS: CORPORATE SPONSORS

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:51:59 +0000

When it opens on Thursday, the CMA Music Festival is set to have its largest presence of marketers in recent history, attracting a raft of mainstream corporate sponsors that once overlooked country music fans. STEVE HOEFFLER, associate professor of management in marketing, is quoted.

$25M IN SENIOR LIVING CENTERS IN WORKS

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:10:14 +0000

Maristone Senior Living Inc. is set to begin construction on three area senior living communities in the next few months. LARRY VAN HORN, associate professor and faculty director of health care management at the Owen Graduate School of Management, says "This should be a huge winner for a number of reasons, including the aging U.S. population and the strong local economic fundamentals.”

OPTIONS PIONEER FINALLY HAS HIS DAY

PENSIONS AND INVESTMENTS — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:28:36 +0000

Whaley's trail-blazing work from the '90's adopted today amid surge in market volatility.

Sometimes it takes years for trail-blazing academic research to have its full effect on portfolio strategies.

Such is the case with ROBERT WHALEY, professor of management at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, Nashville, Tenn., who has written pioneering studies starting in the 1990s on how to protect portfolios against surging volatility.

The paper was written with HANS STOLL — who serves as co-director of Vanderbilt's Financial Markets Research Center along with Mr. Whaley — and Veronika Krepely Pool, assistant professor in finance at Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.

NASHVILLE LOSES VERAN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES

VENTURE NASHVILLE CONNECTIONS — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:16:26 +0000

This business blog reports the move of a medical technology firm from Nashville to St. Louis. BRUCE LYNSKEY, a clinical professor of management at Owen Graduate School of Management, a Veran board member and advisor to Edwards since before Veran was formally created in 2003, said yesterday, "Nashville does not really have any VC firms that are comfortable with a tech-intensive medical device system, and consequently, nor does it have a significant number of medical device firms. ...St. Louis does have a small but growing critical mass of medical device firms -- and a growing labor force that can fulfill these needs."

SHORT TAKES

NASHVILLE SCENE — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:29:35 +0000

Iraq documentary Body of War opens at the Belcourt May 9. Tomas Young will appear 7 p.m. May 10 for a post-film Q&A moderated by BRUCE BARRY, professor of management and sociology.

EMBA STUDENTS WIN FIRST PLACE IN CASE COMPETITION

THE TENNESSEAN — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:05:38 +0000

A team representing Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management won the top prize at this year's Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Finance Case Competition at Tulane University's Freeman School of Business in New Orleans. Team members were MBA students Bill Lambert, Justin Stark, Carl Hinrichs and Travis Messina.

TO CATCH A PREDATOR

THE NASHVILLE SCENE — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:25:53 +0000

The Tennessean’s coverage of the Predators’ sale is critiqued. One of the few people who asked—and tried to answer—that question is Scene freelancer and Vanderbilt business professor BRUCE BARRY, who, to his credit, is not a trained journalist. Barry pointed to the lack of objective data showing the economic impact the Predators have had on the Nashville economy and cited a recent study that concluded pro sports franchises rarely do a thing to generate local spending. More importantly, Barry revealed the deceptive economics of pro sports in which gullible cities like Nashville fund a franchise that can’t turn an operating profit, allowing its owners to inflate its assets and sell it for a tidy profit.

NASHVILLE CEO MAKES SAGACIOUS REPORTS FOR THE FED

VENTURE NASHVILLE — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:24:18 +0000

This business blog post about the Nashville branch of the Federal Reserve board says that The Beige Book plays a key role in the Fed's decision-making on interest rates and other issues, according to DEWEY DAANE during a recent interview with VNC. Daane is a former member of the Fed's Board of Governors and a Vanderbilt University emeritus professor of finance

DOES POLITICAL SPENDING BOOST ROE?

CFO.COM — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:32:16 +0000

In the past 25 years, companies that contributed to a large number of political candidates saw a much higher annual return on equity than companies that didn't contribute, an academic study finds. While political scientists have often looked at the relationship between corporate political contributions and favorable voting, the professors sought to quantify whether firms themselves benefit financially from political contributions, ALEXEI OVTCHINNIKOV, an assistant professor of management and finance at Vanderbilt University told CFO.com.

STUDY AIMS FOR WISE CHOICES FROM A WEALTH OF HEALTH PLANS

THE TENNESSEAN — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:29:52 +0000

A study by MIKE SHOR, assistant professor of management, shows that too many choices can hamper good decision-making as much as having too few choices. Overwhelmed by information, consumers often choose health care plans that cover the most drugs, rather than the ones they are most likely to need.

HEDGE FUNDS COME UNSTUCK ON TRUTH-TWISTING, LIES

BLOOMBERG.COM — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:26:02 +0000

Two recent academic studies suggest that hedge funds have been routinely dishonest, or at least economical with the truth. One of the studies mentioned was co-authored by NICHOLAS BOLLEN, associate professor of finance.

LOTTO COMBO KEPT ON WINNING

THE TENNESSEAN — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:23:19 +0000

For the second time in two months, winning lotto number combinations repeated in consecutive games, but lottery officials call it a coincidence. BRUCE COOIL, associate professor of management at Vanderbilt's Owen School of Management, studies the probability of rare events. "In the Cash 3 Lottery, the probability is less than 1 in 10,000 that one would see the same three numbers in various orders for three of the last four winning numbers," he said. He thinks the lottery should check its equipment. The story was also picked up by USA Today’s news blog, On Deadline.

SWAPS BACKFIRE AS COST SAVER ON PUBLIC DEBT

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:23:53 +0000

An interest-rate swap is supposed to help local governments, schools, museums and hospitals lower borrowing costs. More recently, the turmoil in the auction-rate securities market has caused the use of certain swaps to backfire, forcing issuers to pay much higher rates. ROBERT WHALEY, a finance professor at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, said municipalities should generally avoid swaps and issue most debt with a simple a fixed rate. While it is possible that the fixed rate might bring in some additional costs as interest rates fall, it eliminates uncertainty about debt payments. "That's a safe management strategy," he said. "You lock in your rates so you can focus on the business plan."

VU MEDIA TARGETS 'VANDERBUBBLE'

THE NASHVILLE POST — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:31:20 +0000

Vanderbilt University launched a service to stimulate student readership of The New York Times and USA Today, in an effort to increase Vanderbilt's diversity and broaden students' awareness of the world beyond the campus. Mark Bandas, associate provost and dean of students, Vanderbilt Student Communications student media director Chris Carroll, VSC chair BRUCE BARRY said yesterday he has little doubt most faculty would encourage greater student news readership. Barry said he shares Carroll's concerns the program could "pose some risk to the viability of student media on campus," but warns the university should also "be cautious about the idea of subsidizing for-profit media, when it could be, at the same time, subsidizing student media." and Hustler editor in chief Elizabeth Middlebrooks is quoted, and former student body president Cara Bilotta was mentioned.

ZELL INVOKES VIAGRA, F-WORD URGING CREATIVITY, SPEED AT TRIBUNE

BLOOMBERG.COM — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:43:05 +0000

Billionaire Sam Zell is traveling the U.S. using pep talks laced with profanity to exhort Tribune Co.'s 19,000 employees to be more creative or risk seeing their jobs disappear. BRUCE BARRY, a professor of management and sociology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, says encouraging change works best when employees believe their suggestions won't be met with ridicule or retribution. Zell, he said, needs to tailor his message so that it jolts without offending.

IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALA., PRESSURE GROWS OVERS SWAPS

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:42:10 +0000

Pressure is intensifying on Jefferson County, Ala., after it failed to produce roughly $200 million to extend a faltering derivatives trade. Swaps can be used to lower risk. But swapping a fixed rate for a floating rate, or using swaps that encompass two different floating rates is pure speculation, says ROBERT WHALEY, a finance professor with the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. "You're betting that the spread between rates will move in a certain way,' he adds.

ERRORS DELAY BLUECROSS' RELEASE OF DOCTOR DATA

THE TENNESSEAN — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:03:57 +0000

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has put on hold plans to share quality of care and cost data about individual doctors with its members after doctors questioned the accuracy of the information. DR. LARRY VAN HORN, faculty director for the health care MBA program at Vanderbilt University's graduate business school, said that there's more demand for information to compare doctors as consumers are given more responsibility for managing their health care. There's a debate about the legitimate source of information that should be used, though. "Claims data is an important source of information, but doesn't provide a complete picture of patient severity," Van Horn said.

GENESCO, FINISH LINE AGREE TO SETTLEMENT

FORBES.COM — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:16:28 +0000

Genesco Inc. announced on Monday it has agreed to end a legal battle to compel Finish Line Inc. and UBS AG to proceed with a proposed $1.5 billion buyout of the specialty retailer. On Friday, the Tennessee Court of Appeals declined to immediately take up Finish Line's appeal in a move that could have hastened working out a settlement, said LUKE FROEB, a professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management who has followed the case. "The settlement amount, it surprises me they (Genesco) settled for so little, but you're bargaining in the shadow of the law," he said. "Maybe the costs of litigation were actually prohibitive, so nobody wanted to bear that cost. "Genesco obviously thought their chances at trial were not that good. They may have inferred they weren't going to get very much."

VU GIVES INTERIM CHIEF THE JOB

THE TENNESSEAN — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:38:14 +0000

A seven-month national search persuaded Vanderbilt University to name one of its own as the school's eighth chancellor.

Nicholas S. Zeppos, the school's provost and interim chancellor, was named to the university's top position Saturday, reflecting the board's desire for a chancellor more directly involved in Vanderbilt's academic endeavors — and one likely to finish his career at the school.

"This is a spiritual calling for me," said Zeppos, who came to the school in 1987 as a law professor.

His appointment, affirmed by a unanimous vote from the school's Board of Trust, marks the first time in 70 years that a chancellor has been named from within the university.

EX-DIVIDEND PLAYS BONANZA FOR TRADERS, STUDY FINDS

REUTERS — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:43:30 +0000

The study, conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management in Nashville, Tennessee, examined the extent to which retail option holders failed to exercise their call options on stocks with quarterly dividends from January 1996 through June 2006.

"Because many call option holders have failed to exercise these options they experience a price drop in the call premium – a premium that market makers and professional traders can capture by selling a huge number of calls on the day before ex-dividend," said Robert Whaley, a professor of finance at Owen.
"Many rely on the fact that call option holders fail to exercise allowing them to capture the ex-dividend price drop," Whaley said.
"We were shocked to see the vast amount of money that is being left behind," Whaley said. "The failure to exercise options leaves these profits exposed to professional traders, who are pocketing the overlooked cash."
Whaley believes exchanges and brokers should provide more guidance to mitigate future losses.
In the study, he recommends that brokers could share more information with their clients, such as e-mail alerts to those holding positions before ex-dividend day

GRIFFIN TECHNOLOGY NAMES FIRST CEO

NASHVILLE POST — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:20:34 +0000

DAVID OWENS, for many years a professor of management at Owen, has been named CEO of the popular iPod accessory maker, Griffin Technology.

VANDERBILT SUMMER BUSINESS BOOT CAMP

BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:14:05 +0000

MICHAEL BURCHAM talks about the four-week summer crash course where students learn by consulting on projects with companies like American Airlines and the National Civil Rights Museum
Watch Video

LESSONS IN HELPING THE WORLD DEVELOP

FINANCIAL TIMES — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:55:41 +0000

To judge by their activities, one might think some MBA students at Cornell's Johnson Schoolin the state of New York were pursuing a degree in international development. Their projects range from water purification technologies for poor African communities to a sustainable tourism initiative in Croatia. Among the schools it highlighted in a report was Kenan-Flagler, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where the marketing course includes a session on understanding customers in emerging countries and how to increase social as well as monetary value.
At the University of Michigan’s Ross school, students can choose a course that looks at the innovations in business models and technology needed to enter low-income markets. Other business schools that incorporate similar material into their courses include: Egade in Monterrey, Mexico; Iese at the University of Navarra, in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; the OWEN SCHOOL at Vanderbilt University, Nashville; San Francisco State University; and the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

YOUNG PEOPLE BRING POLITICS ONLINE

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:54:48 +0000

Young adults are finding their political voices online, although sometimes they don’t understand the repercussions their online statements may have in the real world, including the workplace. BRUCE BARRY, professor of management and sociology, who wrote the book "Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace," said, "We all have this magical view of free speech." Young people's lack of work experience contributes to their misconception that they can say whatever they want about politics without workplace repercussions, he said.

SELDOM-READ HOME LOAN DOCS MUST CHANGE:EXPERTS

REUTERS — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:53:28 +0000

The papers that U.S. borrowers sign when buying a house are piled so high that few people read them all, and even fewer absorb the information. LUKE FROEB, associate professor of management, says a drive in recent years to give borrowers more information has backfired. Additional data and legalese has turned the forms into perhaps a dozen pages of fine print. "The disclosures have gotten so large that nobody ever reads them anymore," said Froeb

The Washington Post ran the story online.

VU ANTI-POVERTY CLASS HEADS TO BANGLADESH

THE TENNESSEAN — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:52:21 +0000

Students in the PROJECT PYRAMID Global Poverty Alleviation program, a class offered by the Owen Graduate School of Management, will travel Wednesday to Bangladesh for a firsthand look at some solutions to poverty. They will meet with Nobel laureate and Vandy alumnus Mohammed Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank, which makes microloans to the very poor. Bart Victor, director of the Cal Turner Program in Moral Leadership, and several students are quoted. Owen’s use of Project Pyramid in its curriculum is also mentioned in the Financial Times.

SUBPRIME LESSONS HIT HOME FOR CEOs IN OTHER INDUSTRIES

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:49:50 +0000

Far from Wall Street, executives in other industries and their advisers are finding management lessons in the subprime-loan meltdown. JIM BRADFORD, dean of Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, sees another lesson in the subprime woes: Make sure subordinates feel comfortable delivering bad news -- promptly. It's possible that earlier strong warnings of mounting subprime problems may have helped top bank executives react better.

Mr. Bradford speaks from experience. Before entering academia, he was CEO of glassmaker AFG Industries, a unit of Japan's Asahi Glass Co. He tried to foster a candid environment by also praising and promoting people who disagreed with him or who brought him bad news.

That candor helped thwart disaster at least once. In the mid-1990s, a customer told an AFG sales representative about a potentially serious safety problem. A forklift at the customer's warehouse had crashed into some AFG glass intended for shower doors. The break pattern indicated the glass hadn't been properly tempered and could cause injuries. The sales representative told Mr. Bradford about the problem, and AFG alerted shower-door makers before the faulty glass reached consumers.

Mr. Bradford later praised the rep at meetings. "You really want to encourage that conduct, as painful as it may be," Mr. Bradford says. "You don't want to have to wait until the Federal Trade Commission or a safety group is coming to you."

CLOCK TICKING ON AMERICAN COLOR

THE NASHVILLE POST — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:48:35 +0000

GERMAIN BOER, professor of management, is quoted in this article about a local printing company’s financial woes.

SPRING BREAK TO INDIA IN AN EFFORT TO LEARN HOW TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY

WSMV, CHANNEL 4 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:47:17 +0000

Vanderbilt graduate students who will be participating in a Project Pyramid trip to India in an effort to learn how to alleviate poverty. While in India, the group will meet with Vanderbilt alumnus Muhammad Yunus, who shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with the Grameen Bank.

ONLINE VIDEO VIE FOR PATIENTS' MIND AND HEARTS

THE TENNESSEAN — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:45:42 +0000

Hoping to generate some word-of-mouth marketing, Saint Thomas Health Services and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have posted videos on YouTube with testimonials from patients. Douglas Vaughan, chief of cardiovascular medicine, and JENNIFER ESCALAS, an associate professor of management with Vanderbilt's graduate business school, said advertisers using mediums such as YouTube are trying to avoid the public's skepticism about traditional advertising by stimulating conversation and encouraging sharing among viewers.
"They're hoping to get people who look at it who wouldn't see it on television, so it's a broader reach," she said. "And with TiVo and everything, people aren't watching that many ads on television."

THE INFLUENCERS

ENTREPRENEUR — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:35:09 +0000

What forces will affect your business in the coming year? Here are the 25 people, trends and events you can't afford to ignore.

In our first-annual look at the nation’s top 25 influencers, we name the individuals, groups and trends we believe will have a substantial impact on business owners in the coming year. In our view, no entries here are merely interesting for you to know about. They are essential--the forces you must take into account now so your business can reach full strength.

China
Expect to see more Chinese investment in the U.S. in the coming year, says DAVID PARSLEY, professor at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management.
Parsley, an international finance expert, says that since the Chinese currency has appreciated against the dollar, the Chinese have increased buying power. Chinese investors are buying U.S. companies, manufacturing facilities and service institutions. He also sees opportunities in tourism, as the U.S. is becoming a cheaper place to visit.

THE E-LIST: 75 EXECS JOIN CHAMBER ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT

THE NASHVILLE POST — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:25:27 +0000

Students at Owen Graduate School of Management are assisting with the Nashville Area Chamber-Partnership 2010 Entrepreneur Project, which plans to assess how Nashville can do a better job of spawning, attracting and retaining high-growth companies. Several Owen professors are also participating, as well as Harry Jacobson, vice chancellor for health affairs.

MBA AND I LOVE YOU

BUSINESSWEEK.COM — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:29:01 +0000

In honor of Valentine's Day, here's a selective look at what the dating scene is like at some of the nation's top business schools, according to current MBA students. SHARRAN SRIVATSAA, who is finishing up his last year at Owen Graduate School of Management, met his wife at Owen. Their story is on page 8 of the slideshow.

PRAXIS FOLLOWS OPPORTUNITY TO THE WEST COAST

THE NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:16:00 +0000

Nashville-based Praxis Communications Inc. is working with the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt to look at options for expanding overseas to areas such as Europe, Latin America, India and China. DR MICHAEL BURCHAM, adjunct professor of management, is the faculty director of the Praxis project says students are serving as a substitute consulting company for Praxis and will present a complete strategic business plan in April.
"It's a growing company," Burcham says. "It's a good opportunity for students to help plan its growth beyond domestic boarders in the global economy."

POLITICS AND WORK CAN BE VOLATILE MIXTURE

MSMBC — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:24:28 +0000

As presidential race heats up, injecting ideology on the job has risks

Nearly 40 percent of companies have written policies prohibiting workers from handing out literature endorsing political parties or candidates, according to a just-released survey by the American Management Association. But what you discuss around the water cooler or on your personal blog is typically not something businesses spell out in employee handbooks. While state and federal employees, as well as union members, offer some protection when it comes to free speech and work, most employees don’t often have a leg to stand on. Fear of losing one's job has had a chilling effect on free speech in the workplace, argues Bruce Barry, a professor at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and author of “Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace.”

“With a very few exceptions employers have a huge amount of power to regulate employee speech,” he explains. “But I think they should calm down.”

If it interferes with job performance or is disrupting the workplace, he adds, employers have a right and obligation to step in “but my concern is that employers are to quick to make judgments.”

Barry believes employees have begun to self-censor themselves because they fear retaliation by their employers.

Indeed, a recent Monster.com poll of more than 26,000 people found that when it came to talking about politics with coworkers, 46 percent took a “listen, but keep your opinions to yourself” approach; 30 percent answered “don't ask, don’t tell” and only 22 percent say they wanted to “stand up and be heard.”

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:54:05 +0000

Chief executives who lived through the heady days of TQM and similar runaway management fads might be feeling just a little skeptical as they watch the green movement take on a life of its own. Collaboration among stakeholders, and even former critics, is becoming the norm for CEOs hammering out their green strategies. “What you find is that companies doing this intelligently don’t just announce, ‘This is what we’re doing,’ in isolation,” notes MARK COHEN, law professor with the Owen Graduate School of Management in Nashville, who writes about environmental management and sustainability. “What they do is they sit down and engage with their stakeholders— NGOs and committees and workers that have the most concerns and are most affected by the environmental consequences—and they work through it. They get those stakeholders on board with the change.”

SHARED EFFORT

ENTREPRENEUR — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:18:57 +0000

Need goods and services but low on cash? Make vendors part owners and share the rewards. "I strongly recommend it," says BRUCE LYNSKEY, clinical professor of management in entrepreneurship at Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. "Cash is absolutely dear, so if you can get anyone to accept at least partial stock options instead of cash, that's good." Lynskey witnessed the upside of this financing tool in the '90s as an employee of Wellfleet Communications, which began paying its delivery vendor, FedEx, partly in options instead of cash at the vendor's request. Wellfleet's hugely successful IPO made the stock a Wall Street darling, says Lynskey, "and FedEx made much more money than if we'd paid them in cash."

POLITICS AT WORK

WBUR'S HERE AND NOW — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:15:03 +0000

Is the workplace a place where political talk, or demonstration of support for a certain candidate, should be off-limits? We pose that question to two experts in the field. BRUCE BARRY, is a Professor of Management and Sociology at Vanderbilt University, and author of the book “Speechless: The Erosion of Expression in the American Workplace” and Bruce Weinstein writes the “Ethics Guy” column for BusinessWeek-dot-com.

EMERSON CEO (OWEN ALUM DAVID FARR) NAMED AMONG THE BEST IN AMERICA

EMERSON NEWS and INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR MAGAZINE — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:23:05 +0000

Institutional Investor magazine has named DAVID N. FARR, chairman, CEO and president of Emerson (NYSE: EMR), one of "The Best CEOs in America." Farr was named the top CEO in the electrical equipment and multi-industry category. In the magazine’s January issue, Institutional Investor credited Farr with “positioning his company to withstand more difficult times ahead,” noting that while leading the company through difficult restructuring earlier in the decade, Farr maintained important investments in technology and innovation.

CHAT TRANSCRIPT: VANDERBILT MBA

BUSINESSWEEK — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:04:10 +0000

MBA aspirants interested in Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management asked questions of the admissions director and a first-year student in an online chat recently. The transcript is now available online.

'NET LOSSES - CLAMPING DOWN ON THE WORKPLACE'S BIGGEST TIME WASTER

NEW YORK POST — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:03:35 +0000

Exactly what to do about it is a question companies are wrestling with. Perhaps the most common method for cracking down on errant surfing is to put blocks on certain sites or types of sites. In a recent survey conducted by Clearswift, nearly 70 percent of employers reported preventing employees from accessing video or photo sharing sites such as YouTube and Flickr; 64 percent blocked access to social networking sites such as Facebook; and 63 percent blocked wikis and blogs. Supervisors' methods “can take many different forms," notes BRUCE BARRY, a professor of management at Vanderbilt University, and the author of “Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace."

BUSINESS SCHOOLS TAKE MORE STUDENTS STRAIGHT OUT OF COLLEGE

THE CHRONICLE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:02:51 +0000

A growing number of business schools have developed programs to catch promising students without work experience. SERDAR SIKCA, a first-year student at the Owen Graduate School of Management, says some older students may have qualms about their younger classmates. "I was studying in a group for final exams, and I was talking about an assignment and the work-experience issue came up," he says. "One of my friends made a comment about 'Oh, those young kids haven't been out in the work force and don't know what they're talking about.'"

VANDERBILT ADMISSIONS CHAT

BUSINESSWEEK — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:02:06 +0000

The Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management accepted fewer than half the applicants who applied to its program in 2007. If you'd like to earn a spot at the top-tier business school, you won't want to miss the live chat event on Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. EST. JOHN ROEDER, director of admissions at Owen, will be taking your questions on everything from the required interviews to recommendations.

THAT CAMPAIGN BUTTON CAN STING YOU AT WORK

NEW YORK TIMES — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:00:24 +0000

As the presidential elections heat up, many of your co-workers are openly advocating certain candidates. Are these displays of affiliation appropriate in the office? That depends on your employer. BRUCE BARRY, professor of management and sociology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said that while some companies regard political debate as building team spirit, others view it as a distraction or worse.