June 2002
Logistics Professor To Testify Before Congressional Subcommittee
The Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations has invited John J. Coyle, director of corporate relations for the Center for Supply Chain Research at Penn State, to testify during a hearing examining the Department of Defense business process.
Getting Leaders Back On Track
Hasn't the ENRON scandal challenged the credibility of corporate America? Don't huge payoffs to banished CEO's fuel our cynicism towards business leaders? Isn't leadership really a lost art? In recent weeks, students, clients, friends, colleagues, and reporters alike have barraged me with these questions. And providing a response hasn't been easy.
Dr. John Coyle's Testimony On DOD Business Practices
John J. Coyle, director of corporate relations for the Center for Supply Chain Research in the Penn State Smeal College of Business, testified on June 25, 2002 before The Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relation. The hearing examined the Department of Defense business process. Below is a copy of Dr. Coyle's testimony.
New Ways Needed For Managing Technical Assets
Technology is increasingly becoming a major source of competitive advantage; yet most corporations are struggling with a key question - how can they efficiently manage their technical resources to ensure a continual and timely supply of leadership products without an inordinate expenditure on research.
Conduct An Ethical Culture Audit Before Joining A Firm
While advancement opportunities, corporate culture, salary, and signing bonuses are important factors when considering a job offer, a Penn State authority on ethics and leadership advises conducting an ethical culture audit before joining any firm.
Managing People And Puppies
Training new puppies is a challenge. I can attest to it -- I have a new puppy. I've been reading about methods to manage and train puppies and it strikes me that there are similarities between good management, and good puppy management. Don't get me wrong, the nuances of managing people far exceed the sensitivities associated with managing a puppy, but there are some commonalities.
Financial Times Ranks Smeal's Executive Programs Among The World's Best
The Financial Times ' 2002 Global Executive Education Rankings' ranks Penn State Executive Programs in the Smeal College of Business 22nd overall in the world, 14th among U.S. universities and in the top five among U.S. public universities.
Austin Jaffe Gives Presentations On Property Rights
Dr. Austin Jaffe, the Philip H. Sieg Professor of Business Administration in the Penn State Smeal College of Business, recently gave two presentations in Helsinki, Finland: "How Traditional Property Analysis Fails Us and The Rise of Modern Real Estate Finance" at Skanska Oy, and "Some Subtleties of Real Estate Securitization" at the Centre for Real Estate Finance and Investment. The presentations took place in May 2002, while Jaffe was the Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration.
A New Idea For Getting Directors To Think Like Owners
Numerous critics have raised serious concerns recently about outside directors who do not have much riding on the financial performance of their firms. One method for improving corporate governance is to make outside directors owners, but not necessarily by just giving them shares, suggests a Penn State management professor.
Online Behavior - It's Not Very Private
In this era of electronic data sharing, privacy isn't what it used to be and it's unclear whether people care to do much about it. Survey results just released by an online consulting company -- Jupiter Media Matrix - suggest inconsistency between individuals' concern for privacy protections and their actual online behaviors. Seventy percent of those surveyed by Jupiter say they're worried about online privacy but only 42% read website privacy statements. At the same time, in return for the chance to win $100, 82% of those surveyed were willing to release substantial personal information to online retailers.
Maximizing The Powers Of The Elderly
It's not surprising that anyone selling anything -- consumer products, drugs, financial services, or education -- is showing intense interest in older Americans. Recent census data show an increase of 12 percent in the over 65 year old U.S. population since 1990, and life expectancy continues its upward trend from 68 years in 1950, to almost 77 in 2000. Projections are that there will be more than 40 million Americans over age 65 in 2010, and close to 60 million by 2020. In contrast, the 40 - 55 year old cohort will decline by 2020.
eBusiness Research Center Readies The Power Of One
A follow-up book to the award-winning Pushing the Digital Frontier: Insights into the Changing Landscape of E-Business is under development for publication in Fall 2002. Like its predecessor, The Power of One - Leveraging the Potential of Personalization Technologies , is being created under the auspices of Penn State's eBusiness Research Center (eBRC), and will be co-edited by Nirmal Pal, Executive Director of the eBRC, and Arvind Rangaswamy, research director of the eBRC and director of the e-Incubator Laboratory in Penn State's Smeal College of Business.
The Supreme Court Interprets The ADA
There are 30 million American adults with serious disabilities. According to a recent Harris survey, 32 percent of disabled Americans are employed, compared to 81 percent of Americans without disabilities who are working. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was crafted to encourage employment of disabled Americans by offering protections against discrimination, and by requiring employers to offer accommodations that make it feasible for qualified disabled individuals to work, despite their disability.
Firms Make Common & Lethal Mistake When Selling Products, Notes Penn State Marketing Expert
Many companies make a common mistake when selling products, and it can be lethal to any firm's future.
Building Better IT Partnerships
If, as you've no doubt discovered in your studies, information technology (IT) is the future of business, why is it such a pain to manage productively? Since my days at Penn State, I've come to see that the reasons lie in the way IT has evolved. And I've found that the solution - one that you will soon help provide - lies in a move toward partner relationships among technology suppliers.
Study Examines Concentration In The Cable Television Industry
A new study on the cable television industry and ownership limits shows that a cable operator that serves 27 percent of the multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) market is as powerful as one that serves 51 percent of the market.
