Current CGB Research Initiatives

Global Pulse

The Global Pulse is a short, 2-3 minute video series released on Wednesdays featuring Maryland Smith faculty who break down a trending global topic and why it matters to you.

If you're interested in being featured on an upcoming video or would like to propose a topic to discuss, please contact Marina Augoustidis at maugoust@umd.edu.

Latest Episode

Explore how Clinical Professor and Associate Area Chair of Marketing, Mary Beth Furst, illuminates the profound economic and cultural influence ignited by Taylor Swift's 'Eras Tour' in Singapore, aptly dubbed 'Swiftenomics.' Through a series of six electrifying performances, this event not only sparked a surge in tourism but also catalyzed a significant uptick in GDP, signaling Singapore's evolution from a mere business hub to a vibrant cultural epicenter. Amidst ongoing regional discussions regarding the allocation of public funds for large-scale events, uncover the transformative impact of this concert on reshaping Singapore's international perception and global standing.

The Distinguished Speakers in International Business Series

The Distinguished Speakers in International Business Series presents the latest trends in international business and provokes conversation among undergraduate and graduate students, policy experts, and business executives. Recent speakers include the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, UN secretary-general of climate change, and the secretary of the Maryland Department of Commerce among others.

The Center for Global Business Annual Forum

The Center for Global Business’ Annual Forum is an event occurring every spring that brings together distinguished voices from the academic, policy, diplomatic, and business communities to speak on a different theme each year.

Publications

The Rise of New Economic Powers and America’s Future by Dr. Kislaya Prasad, research professor and academic director of the Center for Global Business, released in early 2020 is a commemorative record of the Center’s Emerging Markets Forum (EMF) series that was held from 2011 to 2018. The EMF series and this book were supported in part by CIBE, a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Over the course of the eight years, EMF featured over 110 prominent speakers from organizations and companies such as the Brookings Institution, World Bank, Ford Motor Company, and Tata Communications.

According to Prasad, “readers of the book will find answers to questions such as: What role women are playing in the economic transformation in emerging markets? Is Africa an attractive place for U.S. companies to do business? What does India bring to the table?”

In keeping with the Title VI CIBE mission of making international business resources widely accessible, the Center will make the book available to faculty, educational institutions, and other organizations as the content remains timely and relevant in understanding the impact of emerging markets on international and U.S. business.

In May 2016, the Center for Global Business organized a program for business faculty from the U.S. to study in Cuba. It was a fascinating moment in Cuba’s history - diplomatic relations had just been re-established with the U.S., there was a surge in U.S. travelers to the island, fundamental economic reforms were underway, and Cuba was readying itself for a generational transition in leadership. The goal of the program was to develop a better understanding of the working of the Cuban economy, focusing on new business prospects created by economic reforms and changes in U.S. policy.

The group visited numerous economic enterprises, attended lectures given by eminent scholars and business executives (both Cuban and European), and got a chance to view the economy close up. Participants brought diverse expertise and disciplinary perspectives to the program, and this volume brings together their reactions to the changes underway in Cuba. The range of topics covered include conspicuous consumption, leisure, agricultural productivity, business education, innovation and entrepreneurship, grey market activities, worker cooperatives, the housing market, operations management, and economic development. The contributors do not attempt to be exhaustive but to convey what they found to be important and interesting. The collection is a record, at a unique time, of a society and economy in transition.

Artificial Intelligence is having a significant impact on companies worldwide, leading them to reassess their products and processes. Governments are faced with the consequential choice of how to regulate AI. In this dynamic business environment, to better understand how these changes are impacting US companies, the Center for Global Business conducted a survey of US executives from a range of sectors and asked them about Artificial Intelligence use at their companies and their views on AI regulation. The results of the survey are summarized in this report.

Here are five key takeaways:

1. People are concerned about job displacement. Younger executives and those more closely involved with AI are more concerned about the impact on their careers.

2. There is strong support for AI regulation. Asked about three types of AI regulation – transparency about AI use, explainability of autonomous decisions, and third-party auditing for bias in algorithms – respondents expressed strong support, although support for mandating explainability was slightly lower.

3. Restrictions on export of key AI technologies are favored by respondents in the Manufacturing sector. Respondents from companies with greater global sales favor export restrictions.

4. Generative AI is being widely used across sectors. The two most important uses overall are to power chatbots, and in marketing. In the Tech sector, another important use is for coding. After GenAI, machine learning and computer vision are the next most important applications.

5. Improving the customer experience and improving operations are the key drivers of AI adoption. Major reasons given for not adopting AI technologies were an absence of a clear use case or perceived need and limited technical expertise or resources.

Download the full report.

Find out more about AI at Smith: Transforming teaching, research, and the practice of business.

Awards

Through the Title VI CIBE grant, the Center for Global Business funds PhD research that advances our understanding of the international context in which business is conducted. We are particularly interested in research proposals that align with the congressionally mandated CIBE mission of contributing to: (a) the internationalization of business disciplines, and/or (b) the global competitiveness of U.S. businesses. We would welcome proposals on international themes from any of the business functional areas.

2023

Abhay Grover, a PhD Candidate in the department of Logistics, Business, and Public Policy, conducts research at the intersection of public policies, operations, and supply chain management as it relates to the agri-food industry.

2022

Ariel Rava, a PhD Candidate in the department of accounting and information assurance, conducts research on how global supply chains are affected by political risk, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine.

2021

Roxanne Jaffe, a PhD candidate in the department of management and organization, conducts research on global strategy, location choice, and international business, from an economics perspective. Jaffe also specifically looks at international data on micro-mobility expansion behavior, to better understand firm internationalization in new industries.

2020

Audra Wormald, a PhD candidate specializing in strategic management and entrepreneurship, conducts research to better understand the role startups play in the emergence and growth of a new industry by analyzing their internationalization decisions. The specific research questions of interest are: how do startups become multinationals? What role does human capital play in firms' decisions to internationalize?

2019

Sabari Karmegam of the Department of Decision, Operations and Information Technologies, conducts research on how the adoption of the mobile channel on matrimonial platforms has affected the efficacy of the matching process and the associated outcomes in India.

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