Making your list and checking it twice could help you avoid picking up the extra unplanned purchases this year and curb your spending while shopping. In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Rosellina Ferraro talks about her new research that offers easy tips that can help consumers cut back on unplanned purchases.

Research by Rosellina Ferraro

Gilvan Souza, associate professor of operations management, received his PhD from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His primary research areas are in technology management and supply chain management, including production planning, remanufacturing, reverse logistics, and closed–loop supply chain design.

With so many choices to make throughout the customer journey, people are turning to their “traveling companions” for guidance, says new research.

If you see an ad picturing a child's sad face, it’s likely to stir some emotions. They just might not be the feelings the organization hopes to evoke.

General Motors has banned its employees from using cellphones while walking around its facilities – even office buildings.

If you've got it, don't flaunt it. That's the conclusion Smith School professor Rosellina Ferraro and two colleagues came to when they studied how people display the brands they use. Using brands in a conspicuous manner is a turnoff for many others.