Olin Business School

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.”

The Olin School of Business has launched its new “Olin Cup” entrepreneurship competition with an emphasis on life sciences, medicine, and technology start-ups, as well as other student started ventures. Start-up companies will vie for $70,000 in seed capital funding for their new businesses. Entrepreneurs and students can now review the program guidelines and register for the competition online.

A new residential Executive MBA program is beginning next September at the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Classes will meet just once a month from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the business school’s Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center. The program grants a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Washington University in only 18 months.

Photo by Mary ButkusOlin School of Business students and their families celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year at the “Chinese New Year Festival.”