Olin Business School

Bank of America’s plan to begin charging customers $5 a month for using its debit card has been met with resistance from citizens and members of Congress alike. In fact, there is some reputational capitol at risk as a result of this kind of charge, says a banking expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

It’s not easy being a Chicago Cubs fan. Just ask Chakravarthi Narasimhan, PhD, the Philip L. Siteman Professor of Marketing at Olin Business School. Though Narasimhan’s sports life may have more downs than ups, his professional life has been a grand slam. “Chak is a key member of the school’s senior faculty and has built an outstanding marketing group here at Olin,” says colleague Todd Milbourn, PhD.

President Barack Obama is calling for a more modernized and concentrated hiring process in the federal government as more of its workers retire. While the government attracts many excellent candidates, the recruitment process remains bureaucratic, cumbersome and complex, leading many talented workers to be turned away. “The federal government is facing a war for talent and its competitors are winning,” says Jackson A. Nickerson, PhD, professor of strategy at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Federal Reserve’s latest plan to prop up the sagging American economy, known as Operation Twist, won’t have a significant impact, says a finance expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

Many companies struggle with how to use innovation and technology to grow their business. A new book by a Washington University in St. Louis business professor guides senior managers and executives in developing a straightforward and effective growth strategy.

A new study by a finance professor at Washington University in St. Louis finds that the amount of stock options in a CEO’s compensation package can result in an increase in risk-taking by company leaders. Such a finding seems obvious at first blush, but uncovering clean empirical evidence always has been illusive.

MBA students Nader Ben Younes (left) and Dieu Nguyen look at the “Inspire” board at the “Share at the Stairs” exhibit in Simon Hall. The display, located near the main staircase in Simon Hall, is designed to bring to life Olin Business School’s mission of “Create Knowledge, Inspire Individuals and Transform Business.”

Faculty and graduate students from St. Louis-area universities with an interest in labor, households, health care, law and social welfare are invited to take part in a series of Monday brown-bag luncheon seminars to be held on the Danforth Campus biweekly beginning Monday, Sept. 19, through Nov. 28. Presentations will be from noon-1 p.m. in Seigle Hall, Room 348. The series begins with a lecture by Joan C. Williams, JD, the Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California Hastings College of the Law Foundation Chair and director of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings on “Why Gender is So Unbending: Gender Pressures on Men.”

Mahendra Gupta, PhD, dean and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management, serves up a hamburger during the Olin Business School’s annual back to school cookout in the Simon Hall courtyard Aug. 30. The barbecue, held the first day of classes, welcomed business students to the new academic year and featured food and live music.

A recent report by the Partnership for Public Service indicates a strong disconnect between the desire of federal employees to innovate and the degree to which innovation is encouraged in their workplaces. Now beginning its second year, the Master’s of Science in Leadership, offered by Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis in partnership with the Brookings Institution, helps U.S. government employees think strategically about opportunities for innovation, and does it in a way that is very cost effective.