Business News

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In "Tax Waste, Not Work," a new text from Redefining Progress, the authors contend that changing what is taxed in America can lead to a stronger economy and a cleaner environment. The book--co-authored by Christopher H. Stinson, a University of Texas Business School professor and a senior fellow at Redefining Progress--focuses the national debate not on HOW MUCH to tax, but, more fundamentally, on WHAT should be taxed.

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A Purdue University travel expert predicts that the Internet will change the way travel agents do their jobs. "It's inevitable that the business of travel agencies will change," says Alastair Morrison, professor of restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management. "The Internet is a way to bypass travel agents, and, though it doesn't signal their demise, it is impacting the travel industry."

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To come up with new product ideas, researchers at the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute seed consumer imaginations with tantalizing triggers such as blow-dry dog, fold clothes, or shrink car.

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Reflecting its leap into the top ranks of American business schools and the high caliber of its M.B.A. program, starting salaries for 1997 graduates of the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration jumped a whopping 17.6% (from one year ago) to $69,399. In addition, job offers are up 15% and summer internship offers are up 41% over last year. Confirmed students to Class of 1999 up 110% over same time last year.

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Economic models and proven scientific procedures must be the foundation for operations problem solving in today's business environment, a new paper indicates.In "Perspectives on Operations Strategy and Economics," Phillip J. Lederer, associate professor of operations management at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, asserts that by utilizing an operations strategy that takes into account the scientific method, microeconomics and operations research, a company will gain stronger and more insightful information on how certain decisions affect the cost and demand of products or services.

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Simon School M.B.A. Student Named 1997 National Marketing Scholar--Places first in Annual American Marketing Association Competition

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As legislators at all levels of government contemplate increased competition for natural gas and electricity, the deregulation of energy markets so far presents clear evidence that competition results in lower costs to consumers, according to a new article published by Resources for the Future.

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Tips from Babcock at Wake Forest University: 1. Rambling wrecks no longer -- Auto superstores are changing the way cars are sold. A marketing competition at Babcock at WFU creates plan for new entry into field. 2. In accounting, economic value added is "old wine in new bottles" says professor at Babcock School, WFU. 3. What really makes a world class manufacturer? With grants from the NSF, associate professor Barb Flynn and colleagues are answering that question.

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A computerized version of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) -- the standardized exam taken by applicants to graduate business programs worldwide -- will replace the current pencil-and-paper version of the test on October 1, 1997.

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Academia is taking a lesson from corporate America as competition for faculty and staff increases. Universities are setting up special assistance programs for dual-career couples to help the accompanying spouses find work and adjust to the new community. Purdue University is one example. Purdue's program, now a year old, has aided 42 dual-career couples and helped 30 spouses find employment.

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Blacks are less likely than whites to "buy" excuses from co-workers who have wronged them on the job. That's one conclusion from research co-authored by Martin N. Davidson, assistant professor of business administration at Dartmouth College's Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.

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The divide between science and service in university business schools has been growing in recent years. Rutgers professors James Bailey and Wayne Eastman have examined the problem with a special monograph of The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. Important researchers contribute to the debate about whether or not organization science is relevant to business practitioners, and what can be done to address the gap.

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Johns Hopkins historians detail in a new study why the success of Silicon Valley is so difficult to duplicate elsewhere.

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A team of MBA students from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College beat the competition from Boston College, Boston IUniversity, MIT, Northeastern University, and Suffolk University to win first place in the Lotus Bean Town MBA Marketing Competition.

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Louisiana State University's Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices will soon host the world's first mass-manufactured product using an x-ray light source. **PHOTOS AVAILABLE

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Business owners of tomorrow are getting their first crack at entrepreneurship through college competitions.

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A Purdue University professor who has long been popular with his students now will give them a bit more ã the $50,000 he just won from an international award for his lifelong research on entrepreneurship.

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Is revenge simply emotional and volatile, always an irrational response in civilized society? Not necessarily, declares Tom Tripp, WSU Vancouver business professor. He argues that revenge has its place in the work environment if it effects positive change either for the avenger or for the organization.

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ATHENS, Ga. -- The three-day Summit for America's Future is a great way to jump-start volunteerism. However, the key to keeping volunteers enthusiastic and involved rests with the boards of non-profit agencies, according to a University of Georgia School of Social Work professor.

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More than 2,000 practitioners will attend the May 4-7 INFORMS conference in San Diego to learn about current research and applications in information technology as it pertains to health care, manufacturing, military, telecommunications, tourism and transportation.

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American companies are making fundamental changes in responding to an increasingly competitive global economy. A major component of these changes is replacing the old "individual based task oriented" management concept with a "team based process oriented" approach.

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Programs to empower workers almost always fail because managers promise more than they can deliver. So says Joanne Ciulla, professor of leadership and ethics at the University of Richmond's Jepson School of Leadership Studies. She has written a paper entitled, "Leadership and the Problem of Bogus Empowerment," recently published as a working paper of the Kellogg Leadership Studies Project.

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Because virtually all of today's information technology is computer-driven, there is a huge demand for computer software engineers in just about any field a college-bound high school student can name.

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Sheldon R. Erikson, chairman of the Board of Cooper Cameron Corporation (NYSE) since May 1996, and president and chief executive officer since January 1995, will be accepting the Titanium Award for outstanding citizenship within the petroleum industry. This presentation will take place during the ASME Cajun Crawfish Boil, Sunday, May 4, from 1 to 5 p.m.

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Recognizing the critical role of technical standards in international trade, ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) has urged the U.S. government to support market-driven, de facto international standards as a means of satisfying the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade adopted at the most recent round of GATT negotiations.

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Breaking a long drought on national advertising, the American Dental Association this month will place four page-dominant advertisements in the Wall Street Journal to promote Direct Reimbursement, a method of dental benefit funding that lets patients choose their own dentist while allowing employers to allocate a greater percentage of benefit dollars toward actual dental care, thus minimizing administration costs.

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No grades were given, but the first "graduates" of Purdue University Calumet's Entrepreneurship program scored high marks for increasing sales. Collective sales of the program's charter group of 18 business owners increased nearly 56 percent over the two-year period during which they attended classes.

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East Lansing, Mich. -- The first formal joint academic program of Michigan State University and The Detroit College of law at Michigan State University -- one that enables students to earn both a law degree and a master in business administration degree in four years of full-time study -- is now accepting students for fall semester 1997. The university and the law school, which began a unique affiliation in 1995, announced the new program at a press conference today.

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Dr. Curtis W. Cook has been chosen Dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of San Diego.

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More than 42,000 franchised units will start up nationwide this year, joining the 570,000 already out there. But fresh opportunities to be an innovative, profitable frachisee still abound accourding to Babson franchise expert Stephen Spinelli.

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The pollution control system in the United States is fragmented and inefficient, targetting the wrong problems, and lacking in all kinds of information needed for effective decisionmaking, according to a report released today by Resources for the Future. The report describes and evaluates the nine major federal environmental laws, the administrative decisionmaking system at the Environmental Protection Agency, and the federal-state division of labor that are the main elements of U.S. environmental policy. It is based on a comprehensive three-year examination of the pollution regulatory system, the first systematic evaluation of the nation's pollution control efforts to date.

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Purdue University is demonstrating that the secret to improving manufacturing is really child's play. Two professors have developed a teaching tool from a child's toy that is helping manufacturers train employees and save money.

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One of every three U.S. households--37 percent, or 35 million households--includes someone who has had a primary role in a new or small business, according to a first-of-its-kind study by an international research collaborative.

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This digest contains summaries of the following news releases 1. Purdue professors' 'toy story' saves companies money 2. Purdue professor gives casinos tool against compulsive gambling 3. Finance Experts 4. Business & Finance Briefs

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Babson College announces the 1997 inductees to The Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs. They will be honored at the 20th annual Founder's Day program, Wed.,April 16, 1997 on the Babson campus in Wellesley.This year's Academy inductees include: Willie D. Davis, Leo Kahn, Leslie C. Quick, Jr. and Thomas G. Stemberg

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In a surprise tribute to its retiring president and former corporate executive William F. Glavin, Babson College announced the naming of the William F. Glavin Center for Global Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College. Major donations and net proceeds from the New York event have garnered $15.5 million to fund eight endowed faculty chairs for the Center.

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Just as some newborn babies need an incubator before they're strong enough to survive on their own, a professor and an MBA student at the University of California at Berkeley each is setting up an "incubator" for fragile young businesses.

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As the launch date nears for the first commercial remote sensing satellite, Resources for the Future is helping the National Aeronautics and Space Administration find a reliable way to measure the economic return from its transfer of formerly-classified space technologies to the public and private sectors. Researchers are using methods that have been developed by RFF for the valuation of hard-to-measure assets, such as clean air or a national park.

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What happens when Berkeley faculty in economics, business, engineering, and information systems come together with industry leaders from regional Bell operating companies, long distance phone companies, Internet service providers, computer and cable companies, and the FCC to hash out regulatory issues? A food fight? Far from it. The first conference co-hosted by the Haas School's Center for Telecommunications and Digital Convergence and Berkeley's School of Information Management Systems ended with unexpected areas of accord in an issue that's rife with difficult questions.

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The packaged goods industry's obsession with promotion and competition distracts it from engaging in survival activities and leads to higher prices for consumers, say marketing researchers Dr. Leigh McAlister from the University of Texas at Austin and Barbara E. Kahn from the University of Pennsylvania.

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The Year 2000 Problem (or Y2K), as it has been dubbed, is conservatively estimated to cost business and government $600 billion. Failure to solve it will put an estimated one to five percent of organizations out of business. And yet only 35 percent of businesses have begun to address the implications for their organizations.

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Being hired by a large company and working there for a lifetime is no longer a reality for today's workers, says a Purdue University career counselor.

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Economists have designed an experimental market to observe how buyers behave in both forward and spot marketing systems. The project should help to gauge buyer behavior, resulting in a better understanding of how markets operate.

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While health policy is attracting attention in political circles, the rapid changes in health care financing and delivery are presenting major challenges--and opportunities--to managers in the industry. In response, the University of Rochester's William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration has launched a new M.B.A. concentration in Health Care Management.

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Job opportunities in the health care industry are growing, especially for nurses and pharmacists with advanced degrees. By the start of the next century, the number of jobs for nurses with advanced degrees will be twice the supply. "This is only one of the indications ã although it may be the most startling ã that the health care industry offers promising futures in a variety of fields," says Sandra Irvin, assistant head of student affairs in the Purdue University School of Nursing.

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The federal government has made substantial progress recently to improve America's food safety system by adopting a new regulatory framework that focuses on prevention and clearly defines the roles industry and government must play. But reform of the system must go further and assign responsibilities more clearly, make better use of scarce resources, and prepare for future challenges, including those posed by persistent foodborne illnesses and the globalization of the food economy, according to a new article authored by the former head of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. The article appears in the current Food and Drug Law Journal.

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As the United States Congress considers legislation that would restrict the trading of municipal solid waste (MSW) among states, researchers at Resources for the Future have found that, under certain circumstances, limits placed on the volume of MSW shipped by one state to another state may actually increase the number of interstate waste shipments as well as increase disposal costs for some regions of the country. Embargoed March 20

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Until recently, the study of negotiation was focused on splitting up "goods," or things people want, not on the distribution of "bads." In a study by Neale, Harris Sondak of Duke University, and Robin Pinkley of Southern Methodist University, takes a close look at what factors influence people's willingness to accept burdens.

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The concept of Most Favored Nation has not been lost on the business world, where corporations frequently write Most Favored Customer clauses into contracts with their largest customers, guaranteeing them the lowest price in markets where prices vary. The government has tried to capitalize on the idea, too, but in the case of Medicaid, says a Stanford researcher, it was a bad idea.

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After analyzing the reasons for instituting the Glass-Steagall Banking Act, Stanford Business School researcher Manju Puri suggests that barriers dividing commercial and investment banks be relaxed.