Business & Entrepreneurship

There are times when bending over backwards to make customers happy won’t result in better profits; in fact, it could cause a drop in profits. Unprofitable customers show up in every industry, causing companies to reconsider the value of customer service and to even consider “firing” those customers that cause the most loss.

When a company decides to turn to a call center to handle its customer service, company heads assume that signing a contract is the best way to get the best service. Not necessarily, says Tava Olsen, associate professor of operations and manufacturing management in the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Olsen and a colleague at the University of Toronto, found that some contracts allow call centers to meet their obligations half-way, leaving their clients — and their client’s clients — on hold.

When both husband and wife hold college degrees, it is the husband’s degree — and the husband’s degree alone — that typically determines whether a “power couple” will move to another city for career purposes, suggests a new study by economists at Washington University in St. Louis. The study is bad news for young women seeking gender equity in salary and career opportunities.

Carl Schramm, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, will deliver an address entitled: “Innovation: How it will impact the United States in a Global Economy” on Friday, Feb. 18, 2005.

Alumnus Robert Frick and his wife Barbara have established a professorship in the Olin School of Business. Todd Zenger, authority on business strategy and organizational design, will be formally installed as the first holder.

William PeckThe economic future of St. Louis as well as the nation hinges on successful innovation and entrepreneurship. That’s part of the message Dr. Bill Peck, former director of Washington University School of Medicine and new chair of Technology Gateway, a regional economic development organization, will deliver Thursday, February 10. In his talk Peck will explore our definition of “entrepreneur” and examine the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship to education, medical and social progress. Peck will also challenge economic development policies and the current focus on corporate America.

Philadelphia but up a good fight during Sunday’s Super Bowl, but in the end the New England Patriots and Diet Pepsi were the clear winners–that’s according to the votes cast by faculty and students from the Olin School of Business during the annual Super Ad Bowl event.

Family structure may have an effect on educational outcomes.Educational outcomes of children in stable blended families are substantially worse than those of children reared in traditional nuclear families, according to a study published in the most recent issue of the journal Demography. Both stepchildren and their half-siblings who are the joint children of both parents achieved at similar levels, well below those of traditional nuclear families where all the children are the joint offspring of both parents, according to economists Donna Ginther of the University of Kansas and Robert Pollak of Washington University in St. Louis.

MacDonaldShaken by numerous accounting-related scandals in recent years, some investors are clamoring for better legal protection for their investments. But does investor protection through government regulation foster economic growth? To assess the widely-held view that it does, WUSTL economics professor Glenn MacDonald and two colleagues have completed a study concluding that the positive effect of investor protection on economic growth is stronger for countries with fewer restrictions on international capital flows.

Streams of junk mail with personalized offers for a myriad of services seem never-ending. While annoying, these solicitations raise significant privacy concerns about how these companies know so much about the recipient’s life. Many legislators and legal experts shy away from legislation that would protect the privacy of American’s personal information claiming that such rules would violate the First Amendment. But Neil M. Richards, noted privacy law expert and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, denies such assumptions.