Business & Entrepreneurship

Two early-stage companies received commitments for funding at the annual Olin Cup awards ceremony Feb. 7 at the Olin Business School. The top award of $50,000 went to Is That One Good? (ITOG), a Web site (itog.com) that allows users to generate relevant, accurate product recommendations, hold meaningful discussion about the products and discover new […]

If politics were like high school, Republicans would be the football stars and Democrats would be chess club captains. Those stereotypes are the easiest way to summarize part of the conclusions made by Michael Lewis, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing at the Olin Business School .

In America, helium is running out of gas. The element that lifts things like balloons, spirits and voice ranges is being depleted so rapidly in the world’s largest reserve, outside of Amarillo, Texas, that supplies are expected to be depleted there within the next eight years.

Release embargoed until 9 p.m. Feb. 7, 2008. Two student-owned business startups won the top honors at the Olin Cup Competition award ceremony Thursday, Feb. 7. The first place award of $50,000 went to Is That One Good? an internet web site where consumers can compare notes on goods and services. The second place, $25,000 prize went to MedExceed, a medical device company. The awards were announced at a ceremony on Feb. 7 at Washington University in St. Louis. Arnold W. Donald, former chairman of Merisant and current president and chief executive officer of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International was the keynote speaker.

Stuart GreenbaumFormer dean of the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, Stuart Greenbaum, is available for comment on the wisdom behind the stimulus package proposals under consideration in Congress. Greenbaum is skeptical that a stimulus package will be effective and proposes several other strategies that could improve the economy.

If politics were like high school, Republicans would be the football stars and Democrats would be chess club captains. Those stereotypes are the easiest way to summarize part of the conclusions made by a marketing professor at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Marketing students, faculty and community members at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will critique the television commercials that air during the Super Bowl during the 8th annual “Super Advertising Bowl.” For pre-game action and a presentation by Schupp Company about making commercials effective, join the Olin community for a panel discussion on Super Bowl Sunday, February 3, 2008, from 3:30p.m. – 4:15p.m. Members of the media are welcome to attend the panel and stay for food, drinks and the game, which will be broadcast via large-screen televisions.

Students from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will present their ideas and debate possible outcomes to the European Commission in a mock-parliament in Brussels on Feb. 1. The deputy head of mission from the Croatian ambassador to the EU will give introductory remarks at the mock-parliament. Officials from the EU and the City of London will be in attendance as well as professors from the Cass Business School.

WUSTL has received a commitment of $1 million from Robert and Julie Skandalaris to create and support the Skandalaris Center Internship Program. The gift will sustain the internship program for the next 10 years and will enable 20 interns per year to participate in an intensive summer experience.

Reversing the longstanding case law would give undue windfall to opportunistic third parties, says Kieff.The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing Quanta v. LG, a case that could determine the future direction of patent law. “This case is key to ensuring that patent law develops in a way that best promotes innovation and competition,” says F. Scott Kieff, J.D., professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Kieff and colleagues have filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in support of LG, arguing that under contract law the patent holder had a right to sue a downstream purchaser. Kieff will be closely following this case and is available for comment.