After a pandemic season that saw ratings take a hit, skeptics wondered whether the 2021 season would yield similar numbers. But the return of fans and excitement in the playoffs has proved that the NBA isn’t just bouncing back, it’s booming, says Maryland Smith’s Henry C. Boyd III.

Amazon is still the biggest name in e-commerce. But the buzz these days is about Shein. China-based Shein surged past Amazon as the most downloaded shopping app in the United States, after China removed export taxes to offset the 2018 U.S. trade tariff. The move sparked rapid international growth, with annual sales growing by 250% during the pandemic.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – This week’s seventh iteration of Amazon Prime Day reportedly generated more than 250 million item purchases across 20 countries. This included more than $1.9 billion in third-party sales, including through the event’s two-week lead-up, by mostly small and medium-size businesses.

What’s the right look for returning to the workplace? Professional or casual? The answer is both, according to Maryland Smith’s Jie Zhang and P.K. Kannan. In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Zhang and Kannan discussed the evolution of work attire after 15 months of many professionals working from home and weighed in on the ongoing debate on what to wear to the office.

The Maryland Smith chapter of the American Marketing Association drew several accolades at the 2021 International Collegiate Conference. The chapter was recognized as outstanding in three categories: Chapter Planning, Membership and Internal/External Communications. The 2020-21 academic year has been filled with challenges, but the chapter’s executive team demonstrated that they could rise to those challenges. The team successfully transitioned the chapter to the online environment, seeing an impressive 60% increase in membership applications.

P. K. Kannan, the Dean’s Chair in Marketing Science at Maryland Smith, has been inducted as a fellow of the European Marketing Academy (EMAC), a recognition of outstanding contributions to the scholarship and practice of marketing and contributions to EMAC.

New Book Guides Workers, Leaders and Educators The next stage in the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has workforce implications that may seem surprising.

The marketing department at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business was recently recognized for prolific research over the last decade by the American Marketing Association (AMA), a leading industry organization. Individual faculty members were recognized for their contributions and for outstanding mentorship to students and junior scholars.

At Maryland Smith, learning is a cooperative effort. And this semester, representatives from PepsiCo worked with Maryland Smith students to teach them about the ins and outs of the sales industry. This semester in BMGT 350, a marketing principles course offered to nearly 700 students across 11 different sections, took those principles into practice by partnering with PepsiCo for a class project.