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.

January 18, 2018

Understanding the Numbers Game

When simulating complex systems, getting the numbers right can be tricky. In new Smith School research, Michael Fu explores methodologies that can help streamline that process.

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January 18, 2018

How Sales Tax Ended Up in the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is poised to take up an issue that states have wrestled with since before the earliest days of online retail sales. It's the issue of whether states may collect sales tax from out-of-state retailers. Sam Handwerger explains why it's a bigger deal than ever.

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January 18, 2018

CVS Isn't Cool With Airbrushing Anymore

When CVS announced it would ban heavily retouched photographs from its marketing campaigns, suggesting those images set unrealistic beauty standards for the millions of women who shop in its stores, it wasn't just a good deed. It was also good business.

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January 17, 2018

Practical Tips for Tackling the Daily Grind

The Smith School's Trevor Foulk evaluates six intervention methods that aim to combat the ongoing effects of the daily grind.

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January 16, 2018

How to Optimize Executive Incentives

Leaders can lose their jobs for simply having the right skills at the wrong time, which can complicate negotiations for executive incentive packages.

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January 16, 2018

Digital Strategies in Bond Markets

Bond markets value IT investments differently than stock markets according to the strategic roles of IT in industries and the types of risks they create.

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January 11, 2018

Can Blockchain Save Kodak?

Can cryptocurrency save the struggling Eastman Kodak? "Kodak is clearly trying to ride this wave," the Smith School's Brent Goldfarb says. "But I am at a loss as to the problem this solves." He thinks the effort will slowly disappear.

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January 9, 2018

Is It Time To Rethink 2 Percent Inflation?

What happens when the two key pieces of economic data suggest different paths for U.S. interest rates? That's the situation playing out now as the Federal Reserve maps its course. The Smith School's Robert J. Windle explains.

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January 4, 2018

Decoding Hotel Management Structure

Does it make good economic sense for hotel owners to hold the deeds and manage operations at their properties? Professor Hui Liao believes it does.

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January 3, 2018

Why the Budgeting Process Matters

Numbers, like sales goals, drive action in organizations. But it's the goal-setting process that actually motivates individuals to hit those numbers.

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