Smith Business Close-Up
Smith Business Close-Up is co-produced by the Robert H. Smith School of
Business and Maryland Public Television. The television segment focuses on the latest thinking in business management,
and features in-depth interviews with Smith School faculty and other members of
the school’s community of business leaders.
December 2011
Leadership: Avoiding a Fall from Grace
Joyce Russell, director of the Executive Coaching and Leadership Development
Program, talks about how leaders can stay ethical and what happens when they
slip up.
November 2011
Gettysburg: From the Battlefield to the Boardroom
Reporter Charles Robinson accompanies executives on a tour of the Gettysburg
battlefield as they learn how leadership lessons from the historic battle
translate to business leadership lessons for today.
October 2011
Bank
Fees
Clifford Rossi, executive-in-residence of finance, discusses the current state
of the banking industry and impacts for consumers.
Invest Maryland: New bill could bolster venture funding
Elana Fine, director of venture investments at the Dingman Center for
Entrepreneurship, talks about the outlook for regional venture investments and
what the Invest Maryland program will do for state companies.
Hospitals and Patient Discharge Decisions
Ph.D. candidate David Anderson talks about his research that finds evidence that
hospitals base discharge decisions on the amount of beds needed for surgeries on
a given day.
September 2011
Digital vs. Traditional Content: Replacement or Complement?
P.K. Kannan talks about
his research that explores under what conditions consumers would buy
both traditional and digital formats of content.
Measuring Facebook’s App Economy
Il-Horn Hann, associate professor of information systems, talks about new
research that measures the number of jobs created and the dollar value of
Facebook’s app economy.
August 2011
Social
Media in Business
William Rand, assistant professor of
marketing, talks about social media at a business tool.
Variety and
Motivation
PhD candidate Jordan Etkin talks about her research that finds variety has a huge impact on
motivation.
July 2011
New Nutrition
Guidelines
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently replaced its food pyramid
nutrition guidelines with a user-friendly plate icon to help Americans
understand the proportions of foods they should be eating each day for a healthy
diet.
Summer Gas
Prices
We’ve seen volatility in the prices at the pump this summer. Have we already
hit the peak this summer or should we expect prices to continue to rise? Dr.
Charles E. Olson talks about the factors that impact gas prices.
June 2011
A
Fast-Approaching U.S. Debt Ceiling
Dr. Curt Grimm talks about the
fast-approaching collision of the federal debt with the current ceiling limit,
and the looming deadline for Congress to act on increasing the ceiling.
May 2011
Building Your
Personal Brand
You spend much of your professional life making sure your organization, its
services and products are branded and differentiated. But how much effort and
thought are you spending on branding and differentiating yourself?
The
Gender Wage Gap
Cristian Dezsö talks about the wage gap between men and women and how the
children of CEO come into play.
April 2011
Berkshire Hathaway - Students Headed to Annual Meeting
David Kass talks about Berkshire Hathaway,
the annual shareholder meeting, and the upcoming student trip.
Management
Strategy
Lead smarter. That’s the goal with strategic management, which can help
managers detect the early indicators that strategy isn’t working.
March 2011
Accounting
Clues to the Financial Crisis
With the economy still recovering from the burst of the housing
bubble and the financial crisis, experts are combing the period before
the crisis and after for all the clues that could help avoid similar
economic problems in the future. According to new research, accounting
numbers hold big clues to how the credit default market functions – both
before and after the crisis.
Preventing
Employee Sabotage
Why does it pay to be nice to your waiter? Because if you don’t, he’ll spit in
your soup. That’s a concern not only for diners, but managers, who know that
great customer service is key to building brand and customer loyalty. Most
companies hope their employees are behaving in a friendly, professional and
patient manner toward customers, and fulfilling their requests. But sometimes
employees actively sabotage customers.
February 2011
Leadership
Lessons from the Battlefield to the Boardroom
As one of the most well-documented and studied battles in American history, the
Battle of Gettysburg offers a rich set of characters, personalities, and
examples of leadership decision-making that resonate in many organizations even
today.
Employee
Satisfaction: It’s About Time
Word of warning to employers: Don’t make the mistake of thinking the economy and
job market have left people captive in their current jobs. Employee satisfaction
is key to whether people stay with an organization, and whether they are fully
engaged at work.
January 2011
Leading Complex
Organizations
With so many public and private-sector organizations becoming increasingly large
and complex, what can senior leaders do to align their people around the
organizations’ goals?
Outpacing the
Joneses
Who doesn’t want to be better than average? Top the average income,
rate a bit better in the “looks” department, have smarter kids. As it
turns out, we consumers don’t want to be just average in using our
products, either. And if marketers understand this, they can harness it
to increase their effectiveness.
