Olin Business School

If politics were like high school, Republicans would be the football stars and Democrats would be chess club captains. Those stereotypes are the easiest way to summarize part of the conclusions made by Michael Lewis, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing at the Olin Business School .

Release embargoed until 9 p.m. Feb. 7, 2008. Two student-owned business startups won the top honors at the Olin Cup Competition award ceremony Thursday, Feb. 7. The first place award of $50,000 went to Is That One Good? an internet web site where consumers can compare notes on goods and services. The second place, $25,000 prize went to MedExceed, a medical device company. The awards were announced at a ceremony on Feb. 7 at Washington University in St. Louis. Arnold W. Donald, former chairman of Merisant and current president and chief executive officer of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International was the keynote speaker.

Stuart GreenbaumFormer dean of the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, Stuart Greenbaum, is available for comment on the wisdom behind the stimulus package proposals under consideration in Congress. Greenbaum is skeptical that a stimulus package will be effective and proposes several other strategies that could improve the economy.

What: Super Advertising Bowl VIII When: Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008, 3:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Where: Washington University in St. Louis’ Knight Center, Anheuser-Busch Dining Room 3:30 – 4:15: Presentation by Schupp: Simon Hall Room 108 4:30: Game End. Super Ad Bowl: Anheuser-Busch Dining Hall at The Knight Center Who: Local advertising and media experts, Olin marketing faculty, students and guests Why: While the Giants and the Patriots face-off in the big game, advertisers go for the win by shelling out the big bucks for comedic, over-the-top risk to compete for viewers’ attention. And Olin Business School students are ready to take on the ads. A “Top Five” list of this year’s most effective Super Bowl ads will be distributed after the game to media, students and attendees, with commentary by Olin community members about which ads worked and why. Students and faculty also will be available for interviews during the game. For information before, during, or after the game contact Shula Neuman, director of news and information, (314) 374-2360, or Julie Isserman, MBA ’09, (512) 796-9393.

If politics were like high school, Republicans would be the football stars and Democrats would be chess club captains. Those stereotypes are the easiest way to summarize part of the conclusions made by a marketing professor at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Marketing students, faculty and community members at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will critique the television commercials that air during the Super Bowl during the 8th annual “Super Advertising Bowl.” For pre-game action and a presentation by Schupp Company about making commercials effective, join the Olin community for a panel discussion on Super Bowl Sunday, February 3, 2008, from 3:30p.m. – 4:15p.m. Members of the media are welcome to attend the panel and stay for food, drinks and the game, which will be broadcast via large-screen televisions.

Students from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will present their ideas and debate possible outcomes to the European Commission in a mock-parliament in Brussels on Feb. 1. The deputy head of mission from the Croatian ambassador to the EU will give introductory remarks at the mock-parliament. Officials from the EU and the City of London will be in attendance as well as professors from the Cass Business School.

WUSTL has received a commitment of $1 million from Robert and Julie Skandalaris to create and support the Skandalaris Center Internship Program. The gift will sustain the internship program for the next 10 years and will enable 20 interns per year to participate in an intensive summer experience.

Discounts are no way to increase business.Price promotions may not be the best way to increase sales of canned tuna — or any other frequently purchased consumer good. Managers can become overly focused on losing market share and get caught up in a mindless cycle of discounting — without regard to the long-term implications of their actions, according to marketing professors at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

As the number of foreclosures on homes purchased with a subprime mortgage continues to grow, the chatter from Washington and big business is focused on a way to slow, or even reverse, the trend. However, bailing out the industry isn’t necessarily the way to go, according to a finance professor at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.