Business & Entrepreneurship

Four alumni of the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis received Distinguish Alumni Awards on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 at the school’s annual dinner at the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis in Clayton. Business school dean Stuart Greenbaum also presented the Dean’s Medal at the same dinner.

GuptaMahendra R. Gupta, senior associate dean of the Olin School of Business and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management, will become dean of the business school as of July 1, 2005, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Gupta will succeed Stuart Greenbaum who is retiring from the position after ten years of service.

A new Web site designed to capitalize on St. Louis’ entrepreneurial energy was launched by the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. The new site is called IdeaBounce.com and will support the growth of innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurial activity. IdeaBounce.com participants will also have a chance to vet their ideas before a panel of judges during a quarterly event at the Olin School of Business. The first IdeaBounce event is this Thursday, April 28th at 5 p.m.

WHAT: The International Business Outlook Conference (IBOC) is a daylong meeting where area business leaders, entrepreneurs and small business owners will discuss and learn about challenges and opportunities in the global marketplace. WHEN: Wed., April 20. The conference begins at 8 a.m. with keynote speakers and breakout sessions until 4 p.m. The Rt Hon John […]

A daylong conference on April 20 exploring the international business environment will feature the Rt Hon John Major CH, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as one of its keynote speakers. MBA students in the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis organized the annual International Business Outlook Conference (IBOC), which includes presentations on topics ranging from the global supply chain to business in China. The conference starts at 7 a.m. Mr. Major’s addresses the meeting at 3 p.m. with media availability from 2:15 to 2:45 p.m. The conference takes place at the Charles F. Knight Center for Executive Education on the Washington University campus.

With trade barriers decreasing and outsourcing becoming a common practice even for white-collar workers, every business—no matter the size – has been affected by globalization. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that American companies have to react intelligently to this reality, but instead of trying to respond on their own, many companies are turning to experts and researchers in the field

Good team work means not trusting each other too much.There’s no denying that trust is essential in a healthy work place. It’s expected that you trust your co-workers and your boss. And you hope that your boss and peers trust you. Common wisdom is that trust brings numerous benefits: it improves communication, raises group performance, reduces conflict, and provides greater job satisfaction. However, a recent study by a professor at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis found that too much trust could actually be bad for business…when it comes to working on team projects.

Stock options or pure stock — what’s the trade-off?In recent years, the practice of motivating CEOs and managers with stock options rather than pure stock has been linked to corruption and fraud. But companies shouldn’t fear the option, according to two professors in the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Moving away from stock options as a way to reward good work may be a bad business move. The professors argue that in most cases stock options provide better incentives to motivate employees and they’re less expensive for the company to issue. At the same time, the researchers found that if a company is just starting out or facing possible bankruptcy, then stocks are your best bet.

Eliminating the need to ascertain eligibility.Years of double-digit increases in health care costs are devastating business, federal, state and family budgets. While the United States pays more per capita for health care than any other industrialized country, 44 million people lack assured care. “Most people overlook the most affordable way to achieve universal coverage – putting all of us under the Medicare umbrella,” says Merton C. Bernstein, a founding member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and the Coles Professor of Law Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis. “That single-payer system would reduce non-benefit spending by doctors, hospitals, clinics, laboratories and health care insurers by about $300 billion a year, providing funds to insure everyone without additional outlays.”

It’s tax-time. For many people that means handing some hard-earned money over to Uncle Sam. But for others tax time is refund time. Theoretically, that refund is money you’ve earned as a part of your salary, and should be accounted for and spent like regular income. However, most people view it as “found money” and generally find a way to justify spending it on something they didn’t necessarily need. According to a professor of marketing at the Olin School of Business, people mentally credit their refunds to specific budgetary accounts to justify spending it on desirable luxuries. The result is people end up spending too much, making it harder to pay other, more essential accounts.