July 2001
Leadership And Lions Football
Two Smeal College of Business alumni are lending their expertise as keynote speakers at an upcoming management workshop devoted to leadership in the converging economies.
Smeal College Faculty, Staff & Students Suggest Books To Read Before Starting Classes This Fall
Colleges and universities around the country are waiting for the incoming class of new students to start arriving on campuses. If you're making the transition from high school to college this year, faculty, staff and students in Penn State's Smeal College of Business suggest adding these books to your reading list.
Possible Hearings On Surveillance Technology A "Wake Up Call"
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, is calling on the relevant House committees to hold hearings on law enforcement use of surveillance technology, noting a Colorado program to create a database containing computerized three-dimensional facial maps of all those applying for driver's licenses.
Employers - How Do Your Policies Affect The Community?
Employment and management policies are geared usually towards behaviors in the workplace. But the impact of these policies and practices permeate much further, into the lives of all of us in the community. These policies can also shape the company's reputation. Consider the following cases.
West Chester Resident Will Be Student Marshal For Penn State Commencement
Robert Lee Womer, a 1997 graduate of West Chester East High School, is serving as student marshal for Penn State's Smeal College of Business Administration during the University's Summer Commencement ceremony. The event is schedule to begin at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, August 4, in the Bryce Jordan Center at the University Park campus.
On The Road To Regulating Automated Trading Systems
Automation of the trade execution process has transformed the structure of the trading services industry, changing the context within which trade execution services are regulated.
Are You Planning For Succession?
Jack Welch of GE nurtured multiple successors and triggered a fierce competition among three highly qualified internal candidates to succeed him as chairman and CEO of his mega corporation. The two candidates who didn't get the top job at GE immediately took CEO positions elsewhere. It's rare to have such bench depth. The norm is usually more similar to the sorry sagas at Honeywell, Lucent, or Xerox, where previous CEOs are called back after retirement to assume the leadership position, in light of the failures of their successors.
Jurisdictional Disputes Are Creating Accounting Wars
Jurisdictional disputes are common in many industries and accounting is no exception. A growing issue in the accounting profession is the outsourcing of internal audit services to international external audit firms.
Minimizing The Pain Of Hiring Errors
For all of his legendary accomplishments, Jack Welch of General Electric asserts that his most significant success was in the hiring and development of great people. Many managers wish they could make the same claim and had the ability to spot employees who will be unqualified successes no matter how their job expands, tremendous additions to the team, with the capacity to thrive in an uncertain future. And, managers look for the "loyalty" factor as an added measure of the success of their new hires. That's quite rational since when things go wrong, the average replacement costs for a manager or professional amounts to 18 months salary.
National Study Shows Materialistic Tweens Shop More & Save Less
A national study of materialism in 9-14 year olds, led by a marketing researcher in Penn State's Smeal College of Business, suggests that more materialistic youth tend to shop more and save less, expect their parents to spend more on Christmas and birthday presents, and that parents who are more materialistic tend to have children who are more materialistic.
Kickoff Home Football Games With A Trading Room Tour
Visitors can experience the challenging world of global trading prior to each Penn State home football game this season during a series of "Open House" events showcasing the Smeal College of Business Trading Room.
Exchanges Give Option Traders Better Deals, But Not All Are Created Equal
The structure of the options markets has been under-going significant evolution. Options that historically had traded on a single exchange now trade on multiple exchanges, with each exchange developing its own policies and practices.
Study Reveals New Information On Mangement Control In U.S.-China Joint Ventures
China is expected to join the World Trade Organization later this year, opening up new opportunities for joint ventures between firms in the U.S. and China, like the recent joint-venture announcement between AOL Time Warner and Legend Holdings, China's largest computer maker.
Cigarette Factories Should Be An Unwelcomed Guest Overseas
U.S. tobacco giant Philip Morris recently began constructing a $300 million cigarette factory in the Philippines. While overseas governments are focusing on the short-term investment and revenue gains these cigarette factories create, a Penn State marketing professor warns that they are ignoring the long-term medical costs and loss of worker productivity associated with cigarette smoking.
Internet & Global Markets Topic Of Upcoming Symposium
Securities industry professionals from around the world will share up-to-date information and research on emerging business issues that shape the global environment during the upcoming William A. Schreyer Symposium, "The Internet & Global Capital Markets."
Internships Put Students' Futures And Schedules In Hand
Christopher Ambrose expects to have an easier time managing his schedule during his senior year in Penn State's Smeal College of Business. The 21-year-old senior majoring in management science and information systems is going high-tech with his schedule this fall, thanks to a palm pilot he recently won by working an internship through the summer.
What's Your Headcount? It Depends...
It used to be simple to get an employee headcount. No more. Companies now employ a wide mix of staff from a variety of sources, and many are not full-time or "permanent" employees.
Creating New Value The Theme Of Upcoming Conference
Several of the nation's leading researchers and practitioners on business-to-business marketing are among the speakers for an upcoming conference hosted by Penn State's Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM).
Researcher Develops New Approach For Estimating Corporate-Treasury Yield Spread
Corporate bonds typically trade at a higher rate of return than Treasury bonds of comparable maturities. The yield spread is partly due to the credit risk of corporate bonds, but there has never been a consensus estimate on how much of the corporate-Treasury yield spread is due to credit risk.
What Do Your Employees Know About Where The Stock Price Is Headed?
A new study suggests that employees who hold stock options exercise them as if they can peer into the future.
Are You Fostering Entrepreneurship From Within?
Since the 1970s, the U.S. Small Business Administration reports that small businesses started by entrepreneurs have accounted for 75 percent of the net new jobs created in the U.S. economy. And, let's not forget that start-ups can rapidly grow to challenge large corporations - Netscape versus Microsoft is a case in point.
Take The E-Business Readiness Quiz
Businesses around the globe are exploring the opportunities and challenges of transforming themselves through the Internet, and Penn State's eBusiness Research Center now offers a free online quiz ( http://www.ebrc.psu.edu/extras/survey.html ) that allows businesses to assess their e-business readiness.
The XML Power Promise
E-business is poised to take the next step in communication power on the Web by adopting Extensible Markup Language (XML), and it's an evolution marketers must watch closely.
