Olin Business School

Few MBA classes have ever headed into so much oozing opportunity as the Class of ’98. But their education, it seems, was only beginning, and the hard lesson ahead was that five years, or even 18 months, can seem a lifetime. But the Olin School of Business MBA Class of 1998 is a standout. The Olin School class is featured in a special cover story survey in the nation’s largest circulation newspaper, USA Today.

MoretonThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted June 2 on the most significant overhaul of media ownership rules in decades, including a change that allows television networks to own more local stations. The new rule loosens the national television network ownership cap — raising the number of viewers the networks can reach to 45 percent from 35 percent of the nation’s viewers. Patrick Moreton, Ph.D., a professor of organization and strategy at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, says that the changes are in a very real sense, a “catch-up exercise,” forced on it by changes in the technology used to produce and deliver entertainment and news.

FergusonRoger W. Ferguson, Jr., Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, gave the commencement address to M.B.A. and Ph.D. graduates of the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis on May 16. Dr. Ferguson became a Member of the Board of Governors in 1997 to fill an unexpired term and was reappointed in 2001 to a full term ending in 2014. The complete text of his commencement address to the Olin School of Business is available from the Federal Reserve System.

Economic research on the micro foundations of markets and price formation will be among topics discussed May 23-25.

McLean ParksNear one end of the spectrum are the Arthur Andersen employees who, out of loyalty to their employer and at great personal risk, destroyed files to cover up corporate scandal. At the other end is the disgruntled worker at another company who surreptitiously spread poison-ivy sap on executive-washroom toilet seats. “A clear signal to management,” says Judi McLean Parks, Ph.D., professor of organizational behavior at Washington University in St. Louis, “that something is wrong.” McLean Parks’ research at the Olin School of Business finds that both forms of organizational behavior grow from the same seed of organizational identity.

PanchapagesanThe issues that confront the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. equity markets are highly complex and while the SEC has not set a timetable to resolve these issues, Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Ph.D., a professor of finance at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, says that speedy resolution is imperative for the survival of many markets.

Business, Law & Economics Tip Sheet

KouvelisDetermining the right mix of products to offer in the marketplace has long been considered the purview of a firm’s marketing team. Research conducted by Panos Kouvelis, Ph.D., a professor of operations and manufacturing at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, reveals that operational implications of product line decisions are not to be overlooked. Kouvelis shows that integrating marketing strategies with manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies serves to maximize profitability. His model for product line selection accounts for both diverse customer preferences and manufacturing costs that vary with product line composition.

Dean H. Kropp, the Dan Broida Professor of Operations and Manufacturing Management and Co-Director of The Boeing Center for Technology, Information, and Manufacturing and Operations at Washington University, left an indelible impression on all he touched, including the thousands of students he taught since 1986 at the John M. Olin School of Business and his fellow Olin faculty and higher education colleagues. He died April 11 at Barnes Hospital after a three-year battle with leukemia. He was 57 years old.

HutchingsIt’s going to be another tough year for grads looking for that perfect job they hope their newly minted degrees will help them nab. Though the war in Iraq could impact hiring, the outlook is still pretty good for business school grads, says Gregory Hutchings, associate dean and executive director of the Weston Career Resources Center (WCRC) at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Accounting, financial services, and healthcare are a few of the industries where Hutchings sees “pockets of opportunity.”