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Supplier Integration in New Product Development Can Benefit from Modular Design Competence: A new research study suggests that supplier integration into the new product development process can be more beneficial if buyers increase their competency in modular design. A Penn State Smeal College of Business faculty member examines the ways modular design competence can mitigate costs and challenges associated with supplier integration while making best use of the benefits.
How a Seller's Conspicuous Consumption Impacts Buyers' Perceptions: What kind of judgments do buyers make based on the way a sellers present themselves? How do these judgments impact buyers’ willingness to close a sale? Researchers addressed these questions in a recent Penn State Smeal College of Business study, specifically examining the effects of sellers’ conspicuous consumption on the buyer-seller relationship.
Shades of Red, Blue in Corner Offices: Do Executives Bring Their Politics to Work?: An oft-repeated piece of advice in American culture is to never talk politics in mixed company. But are individuals’ politics affecting more than just election results? New research indicates that the political ideologies of executives might have more influence on their firms’ strategies than we think.
Marketing for Better IPO Performance: If managers want to position their young firms for better performance as they enter the public market, they should devote more resources to marketing activities early in the firm’s lifecycle, says a recent study from researchers at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business and Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
Team Dynamics Should be Fluid, Say Researchers: Fluid expression of leadership and team organization can benefit firms by making more effective use of team members’ skills and enhancing creativity according to a paper on team dynamics co-authored by Stephen Humphrey, associate professor of management at the Penn State Smeal College of Business.
The Effects of Opening and Closing Retail Stores on Firm Value: For many large chain retailers, closing store locations is more strongly associated with increases in firm value than opening new stores, according to a recently study published in the Journal of Retailing co-authored by Smeal College of Business Assistant Professor Hari Sridhar. This study is one of the first to examine how openings and closings impact overall firm value.
When it Comes to New Firms, There's No Such Thing as Too Busy: New research from three members of the Penn State Smeal College of Business Finance Department shows that busy boards may be advantageous to small, newly public firms. In fact, busyness is often a signal of quality in these board members. Newer firms need more advising than established firms, and busy directors bring with them a wide scope of experience and a vast network of contacts.
Study Shows Consumers Value Fatter Wallets Over Thinner Waistlines: Do your health goals take a back seat to your desire for a good deal? A recent study by Penn State Smeal College of Business marketing professor Karen Winterich finds that consumers will generally take advantage of "supersize" pricing, even if it means ignoring their goals to eat healthier.
Organizations Need New Architectures to Remain Competitive: Increasingly dynamic and complex business environments necessitate a retooling of hierarchical organizational schemes according to research co-authored by Penn State Smeal College of Business Professor Charles Snow. In place of these traditional structures, organizations must provide individuals and groups with greater freedom to act in collaborative ventures and respond more efficiently to business challenges.
What Population Changes Mean for the Global Supply Chain: Demographic shifts that vary by geographic region will transform supply networks in the coming years, says Fariborz Ghadar of the Penn State Smeal College of Business, and supply chain professionals should keep these shifts in mind as they plan for the future.
Do Insiders Influence Insider Trading Laws?: The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rule 10b5-1, a regulation devised to clarify existing insider trading prohibitions, gives executives a way to legally plan trades of their company’s stock when they do not possess any relevant, non-public information. But research conducted by Penn State Smeal College of Business accounting researchers shows that insiders had significant influence on the parameters of Rule 10b5-1 in favor of less stringent regulations.
Using Marketing Analytics to Increase Return on Assets: According to research by professors at the Penn State Smeal College of Business, Fortune 1000 companies that increase their use of marketing analytics improve their return on assets (ROA) an average of 8% and as much as 21%, with returns ranging from $70 million to $180 million in net income. Despite the proven value of using marketing analytics, the relative number of companies actually employing them is still low.
Creating a Silicon Valley for Life Science: Fariborz Ghadar, director of the Center for Global Studies at Smeal, writes in Harvard Business Review about the need for the “Silicon Valley” effect to take place in the life sciences industry. Ghadar and his coauthors suggest that in order for the study of human DNA to advance to its full potential, an industry cluster must be created with both technological and governmental support.
Strategies for Sustainable Freight Transportation: Among an array of logistics activities, the most environmentally damaging is extensive freight transportation. According to recent study by Smeal's Evelyn Thomchick and co-author Kusumal Ruamsook, visiting research associate at Smeal, the future of freight transportation will involve a balancing act between economic welfare and environmental sustainability. In order to strike this balance, and assure long-term success, the researchers insist on a wider adoption of sustainable efforts, with support from both the public and private sectors.
Why Employees Do Bad Things: Reports from the IRS and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners show that billions of dollars are lost annually as a result of tax evasion and global fraud. Linda Treviño, Distinguished Professor of Organizational Behavior and Ethics at Smeal and coauthors examine the cognitive process behind unethical behavior to better understand organizationally embedded deviance. The findings suggest ways that managers may identify such behavior in individual employees before it impacts the organization as a whole.
Faculty Named to Distinguished Positions at Smeal: Two faculty at the Penn State Smeal College of Business have recently earned distinguished positions. Dan Guide, professor of operations and supply chain management, and Duncan Fong, professor of marketing and chair of the college's marketing department, have been named the Smeal Professor of Supply Chain Management and the Calvin E. and Pamala T. Zimmerman Endowed Fellow, respectively, in recognition of their past research accomplishments and the promise of continuing contributions.
Do Price Bubbles Always End in Bursts?: Brent Ambrose, director of the Institute for Real Estate Studies, and his co-authors look at 355 years of housing data to investigate the long-run relationship between housing prices and market values in order to better understand the behavior of price bubbles. Although the fear is that price bubbles inevitably lead to subsequent bursts and economic contraction, the findings suggest that it is possible for bubbles to persist over long periods of time with the move toward price equilibrium coming as more of a fading out than a crash.
Liechty in Nature Magazine: Scientists, Bankers Must Unite to Prevent Financial Crises: A recent column written by John Liechty, professor of marketing and statistics at Smeal and Director of the Center for the Study of Global and Financial Stability, appearing in the latest issue of Nature calls for collaboration amongst scientists and bankers to help forestall future financial crises. Liechty discusses how scientists can work with regulators and bankers to create new financial models that have the potential to identify system-wide risks.
The Consumer-Brand Relationship: It is widely assumed that all consumers react similarly to brand advertising. However, a research study from a professor at the Penn State Smeal College of Business finds that because consumers carry their own unique biases and traits, they are as much of a co-creator of the consumer–brand relationship as the marketer. The study shows that consumers differ inherently in the way they interact with and process information about brands.
Switch to Daylight Saving Time Leads to Cyberloafing at the Office: Recent research co-authored by a professor at the Smeal College of Business finds that the annual shift to daylight saving time may prove quite costly for organizations in terms of productivity. The study finds that with the time change, employees are likely to spend more time surfing the Web for content unrelated to their work.

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