Noncompetes Suppress Worker Mobility and Earnings Without Protecting Trade Secrets
Smith’s Evan Starr and colleagues found that noncompete agreements reduce worker mobility and earnings without improving protection of business secrets. Their randomized study suggests employers can rely on nondisclosure agreements while avoiding noncompetes’ costs to recruitment and workers’ future earnings.
Q&A: Space at Smith’s Jon Crocker on the Significance of SpaceX’s Starship Orbital Debut
Jon Crocker of the University of Maryland says SpaceX’s Starship rocket could lower launch costs and intensify competition for low Earth orbit. He cautions that launch constraints could raise customer prices, while lunar operations and orbital debris remain significant challenges.
Less Experience Equals More Profit?
Rajshree Agarwal’s research finds that startup founders with little industry experience perform worse on average but can achieve exceptional success. Their innovative ideas can offset knowledge gaps, while partnerships with established companies could combine breakthroughs with expertise and benefit both.
Space Economy on the Rise: Assessing Lunar Investment, SpaceX Growth and Orbital Computing
A Deloitte analysis projects the lunar economy could reach $566 billion by 2050. Smith professor Jon Crocker says investors should prioritize transportation, energy and communications, pursue government contracts and dual-use technologies, and build partnerships balancing scale with innovation.
Smith’s Anil Gupta Pushes Back on Bill Gates’ AI Job‑Loss Warnings
Bill Gates warns artificial intelligence incentives could displace workers and backs a token tax to fund retraining. UMD-Smith professor Anil K. Gupta counters that hiring and entry-level data show no disruption, advocating a four-day workweek if displacement grows.
From Hypothesis Testing Towards Inference to Best Explanation: A PEEBI Testimonial Structure for Abductive Studies in Strategy
Though scholars employ abduction, there is no agreed-upon structure to reporting their findings. Moreover, the traditional hypo-deductive reasoning structure does not align with the epistemology of abduction.
An Unattainable Emotional Advantage? Supervisors' Perceptual Biases in the Relationship Between Emotional Understanding Ability and Performance Ratings for Female Employees
Empathy is increasingly valued at workplaces as it facilitates interpersonal relationships, collaboration, and team functioning. Accordingly, organizations increasingly observe and recognize employees' emotional understanding (EU) ability—a key foundation of empathy—as an important dimension of individual merit in performance evaluations. We note that, however, supervisors' gender stereotypes may constrain whether EU ability is recognized properly, particularly for female employees.
Meet the Marketing Graduate Who Kept UMD’s Biggest Secret for Four Years
Luke Hanson ’26 secretly portrayed the University of Maryland mascot Testudo for four years while studying management and marketing. He applied classroom lessons to Testudo’s social media strategy and, after graduation, became Talon, Major League Soccer club D.C. United’s mascot.
In Memoriam: M. Susan Taylor, Professor Emerita
M. Susan Taylor, a University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business professor emerita and former senior associate dean whose influential research, teaching and academic leadership shaped organizational behavior scholarship, died July 25 from Alzheimer's disease complications at 74.