Thought Leadership

The lifeblood of a business school is its faculty, and at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business our faculty members are inspiring, supportive and world-class. We are attuned to a marketplace that values innovation, entrepreneurialism, analytical thinking and hard work. Our teaching and research equips students with the wisdom of business scholarship rooted in the experiential lessons of the marketplace.

May 30, 2025

Summer Reading List 2025

Get ready for summer with the 22nd Annual Summer Reading List for Business Leaders—featuring Smith School faculty picks on investing, neuroscience, human connection, and more, including a novel inspired by a radio show turned TV series.

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May 14, 2025

Are You Ready for the Future? AI Can Help

Joseph Reiff, assistant professor of marketing, co-invented The Retirement Visualizer™, an AI tool using GPT and DALL·E to help individuals vividly imagine retirement goals. By making the future feel tangible, it aims to boost motivation and increase retirement savings.

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May 14, 2025

The Language of Buying: Deciphering AI Conversations

Marketing PhD student Ziting Liao, with faculty Liye Ma and Wendy Moe, developed a model predicting purchase intent from AI assistant interactions. By analyzing language patterns, the tool helps advertisers better target consumers and optimize strategies based on intent.

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May 14, 2025

The Tax Revenue and Problem-Gambling Balancing Act

Research co-authored by associate professor Dan McCarthy finds that online sports betting legalization has led to a rise in irresponsible gambling, especially among lower-income individuals. The study highlights financial risks and calls for safeguards to mitigate potential societal harm.

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April 24, 2025

“The Future is Not What it Used to Be”

Ambiguity arises when choices must be made despite unclear outcomes, says Professor J. Gerald Suarez. In today’s fast-paced world, discernment, flexibility, and embracing uncertainty—not rigid control—are key to navigating change, complexity, and an unpredictable future.

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April 16, 2025

Smith Research Develops Model to Address Product Life Cycle Forecasting

Smith’s Xiaojia Guo co-authored a study on forecasting demand for new products using Bayesian model averaging. The research offers a robust, flexible model for predicting life cycles of fast-evolving items like fashion, news topics and digital content.

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April 4, 2025

Online Marketplaces: Beyond the Number of Buyers and Sellers

New online marketplaces often rely on network effects to grow, but inviting prominent sellers can shape their long-term reputation. Research from Wedad Elmaghraby and Ashish Kabra shows that high-quality sellers attract premium buyers, while lower-quality sellers foster price-sensitive markets.

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March 20, 2025

How Cities Can Attract Remote Workers and Keep Them

When the Covid pandemic made the already growing trend of remote work ubiquitous five years ago, it also opened possibilities for where people could decide to live.

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March 14, 2025

Flipping the Deepfake Narrative

Professors Siva Viswanathan, Balaji Padmanabhan, and PhD student Yizhi Liu at UMD’s Smith School developed a patent-pending deepfake method to detect and mitigate bias in decision-making. Their study shows how AI-generated images can improve fairness in hiring, healthcare, and criminal justice.

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March 7, 2025

How We React When Apps Crash

App crashes shorten user sessions and reduce content consumption, says Smith’s Michel Wedel. While a single crash boosts engagement, frequent failures can drive users away. Developers should release updates cautiously, target resilient users, and take responsibility to maintain trust.

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