SMITH BRAIN TRUST – J.Crew is battling some choppy seas. It's had 10 consecutive quarterly sales declines, two straight years of losses, and now the iconic, classic clothier is swimming in more than $2 billion in debt.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The BBC's "Doctor Who" series has long embraced the idea of change. It's been written into the script for years, with the timelord protagonist's biological ability for regeneration and new incarnations.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – When a hot designer wants a blast of interest in a new product line, there's a single strategy that has recently risen to the top: The drop. It's the sudden availability of a buzz-worthy new item, online or in a limited location, and in very limited quantities. If you want to get it, you gotta move quickly. The drop is a competitive shopping sport. And that's precisely the point.

Consumer ‘Word-of-Mouth’ Study Cited for Long-Run Impact in Marketing Field Research into managing consumer word-of-mouth communication by David Godes, professor and chair of the Marketing Department at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. School of Business, has garnered an INFORMS Society for Marketing Science “Long Term Impact Award” for 2017.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Amazon's Prime Day summer sale, now in its third year, is becoming something the e-commerce giant might not have intended. It's becoming a big day for its rivals. The midsummer hype about deals online is having an impact beyond Amazon's seemingly endless website, says P.K. Kannan, professor of marketing at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – It looks like Facebook has been sending friend requests to Hollywood.

The 2017 Frontiers in Service conference was held at the Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University, in New York, June 22-25, 2017. Frontiers in Service is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, as well as the American Marketing Association, IBM, Informs, and the Journal of Creating Value.

The Journal of Service Research (JSR) has been ranked No. 4 of 121 journals for its impact on business research published in 2016. JSR is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Service (CES) at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, in conjunction with Sage Publications. JSR’s founding editor is Roland Rust, Distinguished University Professor and David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – For Blue Apron, Amazon's blockbuster deal to acquire Whole Foods couldn't have come at a worse time, says Jie Zhang, marketing professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The U.S. grocery industry is bracing for a shakeup – and a potential price war – as one German supermarket chain seeks to make its debut and another looks to expand its reach. German grocery chain Aldi says it will invest $3.4 billion to broaden its U.S. footprint, adding 900 new stores by 2022 and remodeling 1,300 others. German rival Lidl, meanwhile, is opening its first U.S. stores this month, with plans to open 100 by next summer.