A team of four undergraduates from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business traveled to Winston-Salem, N.C., in early April 2017 to compete against other business school student teams from around the globe in a highly-selective Marketing Summit. The event, hosted by Wake Forest University’s Center for Retail Innovation, chooses only 14 teams (seven graduate and seven undergraduate teams) from scores of applicant teams and challenges each to research and present their findings and recommendations to solve a marketing case problem.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – What could be better than free? For companies with a freemium business model – Spotify, Dropbox, Hulu and The New York Times are examples – it’s a key question. Can a company increase its number of paying customers when a free version is available? And if so, how?

Big data, business intelligence, predictive analytics, key performance indicators, risk analysis, marketing research – these buzz terms are prolific in the C-suite. At the Inaugural Smith Analytics Conference on April 21, 2017, in Washington, D.C., attendees will learn how to leverage the latest analytics best practices to help improve your company’s bottom line.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — People who share copyrighted content on digital piracy sites don’t get paid or protected from lawsuits. So why do they do it? “The major motivation is building reputation in these online communities,” says Kalinda Ukanwa, one of 34 women PhD candidates at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “They want bragging rights.”

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — With Google gripped by a spiraling ad boycott as companies protest having their content posted alongside extremist YouTube videos, the search giant's competitors might be spotting an opportunity. Already a fresh focus has turned to the "upfronts," the annual New York City ritual in which TV networks make pitches for long-term contracts with major brands and advertising agencies based on expected audiences. And experts at the University of Maryland's Robert H.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Has Starbucks figured out a way to entice its devoted morning-coffee crowd to come back later in the day? The Seattle-based retail chain is rolling out a line of ice cream coffee treats — called affogatos — at 100 stores across the country, betting that a more decadent coffee treat will inspire an afternoon or evening splurge.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Social media users post millions of “likes” and comments every year on brand pages for everything from AAA to Zyrtec. That’s a potentially rich source of information for marketers trying to gauge customer sentiment, but built-in biases create challenges. New research from professor Wendy W. Moe and a colleague at the University of Maryland’s Robert H.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Can Victoria's Secret get her groove back? Faced with shifts in customer preferences, rising online shopping and fading mall traffic, the queen of lingerie has reported a slowdown in sales and is cautioning that this year's revenue won't be among its perkiest. Now experts are wondering whether the brand can bounce back.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The car you rented as part of your auto-share club reeked of cigarette smoke and a cross-country roadtrip worth of crumbs littered the seats and floor. There was a slight and mysterious stickiness on the gear shift. It made you wonder: Why are some of the vehicles in the car-sharing club kept meticulously tidy while others arrive icky?

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – When Jonathan Aberman thinks about Snap Inc.