October 3rd, 2008
John Paglia, PhD
The recently approved bailout is yet another attempt to prop up the markets with an election around that corner that will only delay and worsen the inevitable pain ahead…
There is definitely a lack of trust and confidence in the markets, but it is due to the blatant lies and unethical representations. How many times have we heard an NAR (National Association of Realtors) economist call the bottom in housing? How many times have we heard the reporters on CNBC call a bottom in the equity markets? How many times have we heard phrases like “subprime is contained,” “we’re comfortable with our capital position,” “we have adequate liquidity,” and “the economy is fundamentally sound?”
The benefits of this package are being oversold to Main Street. And many don’t realize that a large part of this funding will be channeled to foreign banks through our domestic institutions. Furthermore, distribution of funds will not be exclusively through reverse auction; therefore preferential distribution—both in funds provided and responsibilities assigned to select agents—is a negative consequence. It is a disaster in the making and we will be left with a really bad hangover in a few months once we realize what happened.
During the early phases of this crisis, capital providers were buying these representations and investing billions of dollars of fresh capital in troubled financial institutions only to find out that portfolio values were not as represented. After sustaining large losses …
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October 2nd, 2008
David Callen, MSOD
Congratulations to David Callen, MSOD, the $1,000 winner of the First Annual Graziadio School Student Paper Competition presented by the GBR and the Graziadio School of Business and Management of Pepperdine University.
The competition challenged Graziadio School students from all programs to submit a well-researched original article on any business thesis. The publication accepted manuscripts starting mid-term fall 2007 through the summer 2008 term.
Callen’s winning paper “How Intercultural Competence Drives Success in Global Virtual Teams,” will be published in the GBR’s fall 2008 issue, this October.
The paper takes an innovative look at virtual teams that organizations may employ for collaboration across international settings. Callen argues that team members must be versed in “the body of knowledge and skills to successfully interact with people from other ethnic, religious, cultural, national, and geographic groups” in order to achieve desired business objectives. This cultural perspective brings a unique dimension to the existing literature on virtual team best practices.
“I chose the topic because it combined my passions for interacting with people from other countries, digital media and technologies, and business effectiveness,” said Callen, who has traveled and lived in over 23 countries and speaks Spanish and basic Hebrew.
Callen completed the Master’s of Science in Organizational Development program in August 2008. He most recently worked as a media supervisor for …
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October 1st, 2008
America’s Financial Crisis (Audio)
On Tuesday, September 30, 2008, members of the Graziadio School community came together from New York to Los Angeles on a conference call to hear about America’s financial crisis from a distinguished panel of professors.
During the 45 minute conversation, moderated by the Graziadio School’s Associate Dean of Executive Education Dr. Ron Ford, listeners from across the country submitted questions to the panel that ranged from explaining the sophisticated complexities behind credit-default swaps (CDS) to understanding the practical reasons that led to the crunch in financial markets. The panel discussed the factors that led to the crisis and offered an outlook for the financial sector and the overall economy.
Listen to the discussion 
Panelists:
David M. Smith, PhD
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Economics
Joetta Forsyth, PhD
Assistant Professor of Finance (Read why Dr. Forsyth thinks a flawed bailout is better than none at all)
Ed Fredericks
Practitioner Faculty of Finance and Portfolio Manager at East Wind Asset Management
Moderator:
Ronald D. Ford, PhD
Associate Dean of Executive Education and Practitioner Faculty of Finance
Excerpts:
“The most constructive thing to do is to understand this situation and try to determine how we can move ourselves forward.” ~ Ed Fredericks
“The extent to which we can’t address important issues sooner, …
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September 30th, 2008
Joetta Forsyth, PhD
The United States is facing the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Financial institutions are failing, as is confidence in the financial system.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have testified that Congress must act immediately to bail out troubled financial institutions, or we could face a financial collapse. There is much furor over the proposed $700 billion bailout, which didn’t get the required number of votes today to pass the House. Why, taxpayers ask, should people who were responsible and didn’t buy a house that they couldn’t afford, pay to bail out people who did, along with Wall Street fat cats? Exacerbating the problem is the fact the some of the people who are viewed as contributing to the crisis are now asking Americans to trust them to solve the crisis, using what could be an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars.
I share the same fury. And there is plenty of blame to go around. However, I would like to focus on the immediate problem. We are being told that something has to be done immediately, or we might have a financial collapse.
The key questions are:
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September 29th, 2008
Paul Gift, PhD
With all of the recent turmoil in the financial markets, the impact of hurricanes Ike and Gustav on gasoline prices in certain U.S. markets did not get the normal amount of attention it otherwise would have.
Immediately following hurricane Ike, motorist Fred Hamilton paid $4.87 per gallon for regular unleaded at a gas station in Miami, Fl. He claimed it was “price-gouging.”
In a video posted on YouTube on Aug. 27, rapper, music producer, and businessman Sean “Diddy” Combs complained that “gas prices are too high.” According to CNN.com, he stated:
“I’m actually flying commercial,” Diddy said before walking onto an airplane, sitting in a first-class seat and flashing his boarding pass to the camera. “That’s how high gas prices are. I’m at the gate right now. This is really happening, proof gas prices are too high. Tell whoever the next president is we need to bring gas prices down.”
The previous examples reference the fact that many people seem to think of a price as a number set by a greedy business owner that should always be low and should not have to react to market forces, except possibly for costs of production. That could not be more nonsensical.
In a free market, capitalist system (a.k.a. the price system), prices are nothing more than signals. They signal what consumers in the marketplace reveal about the value of the next additional unit and what the supply side of the market is revealing about scarcity. Economists call this signaling value and scarcity on the margin.
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September 11th, 2008
This is a guest post by Don Atwater, PhD, practitioner faculty of economics. It is a companion piece to Dr. Atwater’s GBR article, “Where Do Older Workers Go?”
Don Atwater, PhD
At the World Ageing & Generations Congress 2008 in Switzerland last month, I had the opportunity to talk to many people about older workers. John Martin, OECD Director for Employment, Labour & Social Affairs spoke about a “conundrum” :
Why don’t employers recognize that ageing is an important labor supply change process that needs a timely response?
My response was that the demographers assume that labor supply changes drive changes in labor demand. But a case can be made that businesses are creating new business models around new technologies and innovative ways of keeping up the dynamic markets and competition. These changes are supported by emerging financial plans but few if any have up-to-date workforce plans for workers of all ages. The older worker issue is part of a bigger problem with workforce planning in business. It is broken.
What do you think?
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August 27th, 2008
This is a guest post by Michael Williams, PhD, Assistant Professor of Information Systems
Michael Williams, PhD
If you spend much time on the road away from your office you realize what a challenge it can be to find a reliable Internet connection for your critical tasks. Sporadic and unpredictable availability at hotels, airports, and public areas is a frustrating experience for even an occasional business traveler.
For the past few years the hope for business travelers has rested on Muni Wi-Fi. Muni Wi-Fi is a concept of creating a wireless hot-spot across an entire city. Prominent pioneers in this effort include Philadelphia, Toronto and Paris. (See here for a comprehensive list of municipal wireless networks)
Unfortunately, however, due to technical difficulties, the credit crisis, legal challenges, and a lack of will several cities have stopped adding capacity, or even cancelled these programs entirely (e.g., San Francisco and Philadelphia).
The good news is that several retail outlets have stepped up their Wi-Fi programs and begun to offer free, or nearly free, service to paying customers.
As of this fall, there are still three main types of Wi-Fi offerings from retailers:
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July 24th, 2008
Click on the links below to read the latest articles from the GBR:
Employment options for older workers continue to evolve and public opinions of older workers vary substantially by country. These differences reflect a range of choices that businesses can learn from and use to realign their value and cost relationships for older workers.
By Donald M. Atwater, PhD, and Daniella Pop
7 New Rules for the Software Business. There is something abuzz in the software industry and this time it is not coming from a new hotshot start-up or being propagated by a massive marketing campaign. The buzz is coming from customers and developers alike and it is called Software as a Service, or SaaS for short.
By Kyle C. Murphy, MBA
6 Strategies for Partnering with Key Minority Stakeholders. Minority businesses, increased spending power within minority communities, and supplier diversity are creating new opportunities for astute companies to realize first-mover …
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July 8th, 2008
L-R: Douglass Gore, Director of Public Relations, Danielle L. Scott, Associate Editor, GBR (me)
Our first time exhibiting was an overwhelming success! We learned so much about our readers and authors at the at the AACSB Faculty Conference on Learning and Research and hopefully brought a new audience into the fold.
Congratulations also go out to Jay Lightfoot, Phd, professor of computer information systems at the University of Northern Colorado (pictured above) for winning our iPod Nano giveaway at the conference. We hope you enjoy it!
For all those who don’t know, we’ve begun exhibiting to spread awareness of the publishing opportunities available for business faculty outside of Pepperdine University. For the past ten (almost 11 now!) years, the GBR has published applied business research. Last year as part of our strategic growth plan, we began accepting submissions for potential publication from non-Pepperdine faculty.
The great response we received in Florida makes us just that much more excited for our next exhibiting opportunity at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Anaheim this August (9-12)!
Here are a few things we’ve learned that potential authors want to know about submitting their research for publication:
The GBR is double-blind, peer-reviewed, online, quarterly journal (one academic review, …
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June 26th, 2008
The Graziadio Business Report will be exhibiting at the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Conference on Learning and Research next week (June 29 to July 1) in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Will you be there? If so, we’d love to meet you!
If you have a compelling research project and are interested in publishing in the GBR, we want to hear from you!
Stop by our table in the exhibitors’ room or contact me to set up a meeting.
Hope to see you there!
Danielle L. Scott
Associate Editor, Graziadio Business Report
dscott@pepperdine.edu
310-568-2311
P.S. You can find our guidelines for submitting an article for review to the GBR at http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/guidelines/
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