Author: Chuck Finder

A team of five students in Olin Business School’s data analytics program prevailed over 44 other teams, taking first place in a global competition with a project that provided the National Multiple Sclerosis Society invaluable insight about its annual fundraising bike race.

A new study led in part by Olin Business School’s Todd Gormley finds that increasing numbers of passive investors is encouraging activism targeted at board makeup changes, proxy settlements and the sale of the business or its parts.

Olin Business School’s Daniel Gottlieb was part of a group of researchers conducting an economic behavioral study on how a consumer’s moral compass points him or her to repay debts. The group borrowed from Muslim teachings.

Using a novel idea, as well as a rare union of separate centers within Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis’ Bauer Leadership Center and Center for Analytics and Business Insights together are holding a Data for Good conference Friday, Oct. 5, at Emerson Auditorium, Knight Hall, as part of the David R. Calhoun Lectureship series.

Thanks to a $500,000 gift from Cliff Holekamp and his father, Bill Holekamp, known as the Holekamp Seed Fund, Olin Business School now offers up to 20 grants a year of $1,000 to students who need a small injection of capital to get a startup business off the ground.

The question of what constitutes “naturalness” — and consumers’ attitudes about it — lies at the heart of Washington University in St. Louis research from lead author Sydney Scott, assistant professor of marketing in the Olin Business School.

The Waffle House index refers to a clue into the level of devastation wrought by a natural disaster — disasters like Hurricane Florence, which made landfall at Wrightsville Beach, N.C., early Sept. 14. Panos Kouvelis, director of the Boeing Center for Supply Chain Innovation at Olin Business School, has taught it for years.

The 4th annual Olin Sports Business Summit takes place Friday, Sept. 14, at Washington University in St. Louis. The daylong seminar opens the 2018-19 Lacob Family Business of Sports Speaker Series.

Over the summer, more than 500 faculty members migrated their Fall 2018 courses to Canvas. Blackboard continues to be available during the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 semesters alongside the new Canvas system, which becomes the university’s lone LMS starting in the 2019-20 academic year.

A new trade deal to replace NAFTA will require completion by the end of the week, with or without Canada — so it’s too early and too hazy to consider this a good deal or a bad deal no matter what President Trump calls it, said a Washington University in St. Louis trade expert.