Olin Business School

Executives will meet March 22 at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education CenterThe John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis will hold a half-day conference on March 22 for executives of large and mid-cap companies interested in partnering with the business school. William Finnie, Interim Director of ExecEdge Corporate Education at the Olin School of Business, said that the business school is forming a consortium of leading Midwest companies to partner with the Olin School in a wide range of areas, including executive education, degree programs, and career development.

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoHiring outlook looking good for 2004 grads.Overall hiring activity has increased in all industry sectors this year, according to Gregory Hutchings, Associate Dean and Executive Director of Career Resources at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. “Last year was probably one of the worst hiring markets for newly minted grads in the last 10 or 15 years, but we have seen a substantial increase in employers coming to campus this year with about a 30 to 40 percent increase,” says Hutchings.

Business, Law & Economics March Tip Sheet

Washington University faculty and staff make news around the world. Following is a representative sampling of media coverage from clippings and electronic sources. For the most recent clips, see the Clips Index

Washington University faculty and staff make news around the world. Following is a representative sampling of media coverage from clippings and electronic sources.

The John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis announces a new workshop series to support university and community entrepreneurs. The workshop series is part of the 2004 Olin Cup Entrepreneurship Competition. The goal of the competition is to support people interested in starting new business ventures. Fifty workshops are planned for the year ahead. The workshop series debuts this month with discussions on “Idea/Opportunity Evaluation.”

The European Union (EU) will impose trade sanctions on billions of dollars of U.S. goods starting March 1 if Congress fails to repeal an export subsidy ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The export subsidy provision — known as the “extraterritorial income” deduction — gives U.S. companies a big leg up on competitors, but is paid for by the U.S. taxpayer, said William J. Streeter, a professor of international business at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Streeter says legislation to repeal the export subsidy that has yet to be passed by Congress is projected to save U.S. taxpayers $80 billion over the next decade, but will be offset by lower corporate taxes on the earnings of U.S. firms abroad.

Determining the right pricing strategy can make or break the overall profitability of a firm. One such strategy, dynamic pricing, long practiced in the airline and hotel industries, is showing promise and profitability in the world of retail. When applied to products sold over a short sales season—new toys, skiwear, and the like— dynamic pricing can boost profits for a firm, according to research recently conducted by two professors at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis.

Super Bowl XXXVIII is over, but the Super Bowl ads — which cost a cool $2.3 million for a 30-second ad — are still battling it out. For the fourth year in a row, MBA students and faculty at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis critiqued and ranked the Super Bowl ads during the big game with veteran advertising executives. This year, the Olin MBA students huddled with senior ad execs from the Leo Burnett agency. But expectations were dashed as most of the Super Bowl ads fell flat. Click here to view the article on the Super Advertising Bowl from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

To some people, the Super Bowl is a football game. To others, it’s a marketing derby. “Careers are made, and careers are ended, on these commercials we’re about to see,” said Lewis Williams, a senior vice president, creative director, at Leo Burnett Worldwide Inc., a Chicago-based advertising agency. Williams was addressing more than 100 attendees of the fourth annual “Super Advertising Bowl” at Washington University’s Olin School of Business while Sunday’s game was starting on a giant screen above him. Every year, MBA students, their friends, Washington U. faculty and ad execs like Williams gather to rank Super Bowl ads. During halftime, Advertising Bowl participants vote for their favorite commercials.