Olin Business School

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 biweekly through April 26.

Undergraduate tuition at Washington University in St. Louis will be $39,400 for the 2010-11 academic year — a $1,600 (4.2 percent) increase over the 2009-10 current academic tuition of $37,800. The required student activity fee will total $394, and the student health fee will be no more than $580. Barbara A. Feiner, vice chancellor for finance, made the announcement.

Olin Business School is taking its executive education programs on the road and due west on I-70. Destination: Kansas City. Senior faculty will offer the same top-ranked seminars and the 20-month Executive MBA degree program to Kansas City-based professionals as those offered on the St. Louis campus. Olin’s executive MBA program was established in 1983 and has been offered in conjunction with Fudan University in Shanghai, China since 2002. 

Banks and borrowers went on a leveraged consumption binge that led to the financial crisis in 2008 according to Anjan Thakor. And the entire economy is still feeling the hangover pain from the credit-fueled party that caused bank failures and forced foreclosures across the country. Thakor’s new research examines the cycles of leveraged borrowing by banks and consumers as a possible cause of the crisis. His new theory of ‘infectious leverage’ could help prevent future financial meltdowns.

An international gathering of business executives will don caps and gowns for their graduation ceremony at the Olin Business School. Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution will deliver the keynote speech.

Human guinea pigs do their homework before volunteering for high-paying clinical trials. New research shows that people equate large payments for participation in medical research with increased levels of risk. And when they perceive studies to be risky, potential participants spend more time learning about the risks and nature of the study. Findings published this month in Social Science and Medicine, suggest there is a “mismatch” between current research guidelines for setting compensation levels and the assumptions participants make about the levels of pay and risk.

A record number of aspiring entrepreneurs entered 45 ideas for new ventures in the annual Olin Cup business plan competition this fall. As the race toward $75,000 in seed money enters its last stage, seven finalists are crunching numbers and honing their plans for the crucial final presentation to judges in January.

Seven entrepreneurs enter the final round of the Olin Cup business plan competition this month as they vie for $75,000 in seed money. Ken Harrington, managing director of the Skandalaris Center, co-sponsor of the Olin Cup, emceed the recent “Elevator Pitch” event where 17 semi-finalists had two minutes each to present their business plans. The teams presented privately in front of 16 judges, then presented publicly in front of an audience. Harrington said, “the judges, audience, and I were very impressed with the quality of this year’s pitches and ideas. We look forward to the next phase in the competition and seeing their full business plans.” Winners will be announced in February. Video report on the competition included.

GM releases its first quarterly results post-bankruptcy on Nov. 16. U.S. auto sales in October equaled an annualized rate of 10 million vehicles. That’s a steep drop from the 17 million cars sold each year from 1991-2007. Not even a robust recovery from the recession is expected to boost sales near previous highs. Bailouts, bankruptcies and cash for clunkers have helped keep the industry afloat this year. Yet, the reality of too many factories and workers remains as demand continues to dip. Supply chain expert Panos Kouvelis says auto makers need to keep the brakes on production and proceed with caution. Video available.

What happens when the CEO of one of the largest financial institutions in the world sits down to talk with MBA students? Olin Business School students had a long list of questions for Citi CEO Vikram Pandit when he visited recently. The discussion ranged from the financial crisis to reform, compensation to career choices. Pandit offered candid advice to the students with concerns about unemployment numbers and the loss of jobs on Wall Street.