Volume 2 - Number 1

Leading the Digital Economy is your source for business intelligence from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. No time to read? Log on to Smith Podcasts to download video and audio directly to your iPod. Read it here, or get Smith business intelligence when and where you want it.

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‘Tis the Season for Consumer Product Returns! What Retailers Can Do to Make the Season Brighter Throughout the Supply Chain

When consumers return products such as inkjet printers, even those with no functional or cosmetic defects, the cost is significant. Most of the costs, from transporting the product back to the firm to testing and repackaging, are borne by the manufacturer. So how can retailers be persuaded to make sure their customers don’t buy products that don’t match their needs, and thereby reduce the number of returns? A new study provides a solution that could result in significant savings for both manufacturers and retailers.

http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/research/ras/jan2007/souza.html

ARTICLE    AUDIO PODCAST 

Culture and Bargaining: A New Perspective on What Really Matters at the Multi-Cultural Negotiating Table

Today’s global business environment has many of us sitting at the negotiating table with people from different cultures. Experts have been divided on how a person’s culture impacts the negotiating process, with some believing culture is always important and others calling it irrelevant. A study on how those in the U.S. and those in South Korea bargain with each other in situations with incomplete information sheds new light on the debate.

http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/research/ras/jan2007/srivastava.html  

ARTICLE    AUDIO PODCAST 

Conquering the Knowledge Sharing Challenge – Does the Solution Lie with the Group or the Individual?

It’s a problem that continues to plague some of today’s most sophisticated organizations. No matter how hard they try, they can’t get their employees to share information for the benefit of the whole. Research recently conducted in the Netcentric Behavioral Lab of the Robert H. Smith School of Business suggests that companies can build an environment of knowledge sharing by developing group incentives, emphasizing group performance.

http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/research/ras/jan2007/bartol_tesluk.html

  ARTICLE    AUDIO PODCAST 

Smith Video Views

Entrepreneurship Checklist: A Good Idea, Seed Money, Hard Work… and Oh Yeah, China

When U.S. entrepreneurs show up at the Smith School’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship for advice, they better be prepared to think about a nation far from home. In this Smith Business Video View, the center’s managing director, Asher Epstein, explains why it’s risky business for today’s start-ups to ignore China no matter what industry they’re in.

AUDIO/VIDEO PODCAST 

Research Briefs

Dot-Com Survivors – Not So Unusual After All

Despite significant losses suffered by investors, nearly 50 percent of 1990s dot-com startups survived at least five years, according to a new study. This success rate is better than or on par with other emerging industries, contradicting the traditional view that the majority of Internet companies landed belly up.

ARTICLE

Using the Internet as a Path to Better Health

For smokers who count kicking the habit as their top 2007 New Year’s resolution, going online might offer the key to success. A just-released study that analyzed the effectiveness of Internet support networks in helping smokers quit found that more than 62 percent of respondents successfully abandoned cigarettes after joining a smoking cessation support community.

ARTICLE

Other Resources from the Robert H. Smith School of Business

Research@Smith Gets New Look

Research@Smith unveils a new design this month -- online and in print. The new look features  expanded coverage of research conducted by Smith School's faculty. The free publication is published three times a year and is available online: http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/research/ras/ 

■ Leading the Digital Economy Archives

■ Smith Video and Audio Podcasts

■ Smith Video and Audio Podcasts (Mandarin Chinese)

■ Smith Business Magazine

■ Executive Education Programs

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