Robert H. Smith School of Business finance professor and former Citigroup Inc. senior executive Cliff Rossi has weighed in on Citi’s plans to cut 11,000 jobs from its global consumer-banking unit. The move entails closing 84 branches, including 44 in the U.S.: “These latest cost-cutting measures get Citi focused back on efforts to improve their operating efficiency relative to their peers. Citi's dollars of revenue generated per employee lag behind their competitors and so this announcement is not surprising.

MEDIA ALERT: December 5, 2012 Robert H. Smith School of Business finance professor and former Citigroup Inc. senior executive Cliff Rossi has weighed in on Citi’s plans to cut 11,000 jobs from its global consumer-banking unit. The move entails closing 84 branches, including 44 in the U.S.: “These latest cost-cutting measures get Citi focused back on efforts to improve their operating efficiency relative to their peers. Citi's dollars of revenue generated per employee lag behind their competitors and so this announcement is not surprising.

Anil Gupta, the Smith School’s Michael Dingman Chair in Global Strategy and Entrepreneurship, will answer questions in “Adapt or Invent: Innovating in an Emerging Market," a webinar presented live by The Economist from 11-11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4.

Thursday, November 29, 2012, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, December 2, 2012, 7:30 a.m. Behavioral Economics for Businesses Many startups base their businesses on changing their customers’ behavior – which can be a challenge. But it doesn’t have to be so hard. The trick is understanding how customers make decisions and how to influence those decisions.

Thursday, November 29, 2012, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, December 2, 2012, 7:30 a.m.  Many startups base their businesses on changing their customers’ behavior – which can be a challenge. But it doesn’t have to be so hard. The trick is understanding how customers make decisions and how to influence those decisions. In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up, the Smith School’s Rebecca Ratner talks about her experience working with entrepreneurs at Silicon Valley’s behavioral economics summit for startups, StartupOnomics, and the takeaways other businesses can use.

Anil Gupta, the Smith School’s Michael Dingman Chair in Global Strategy and Entrepreneurship, will answer questions in “Adapt or Invent: Innovating in an Emerging Market," a webinar presented live by The Economist from 11-11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4. Gupta will discuss dilemmas firms face when tweaking their products or rethinking their business model for emerging markets. The conversation, moderated from the London Stock Exchange by editor Paul Lewis, is part of the Economist’s Emerging Markets Webinar Series.

Marketing experts in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to comment on trends shaping the 2012 holiday shopping season. The Smith School has an in-house facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content. Janet Wagner:  Insight for Savvy Shopping

Media Alert: November 16, 2012 Marketing experts in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to comment on trends shaping the 2012 holiday shopping season. The Smith School has an in-house facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content.

Thursday, November 15, 2012, 7:30 p.m. & Sunday, November 18, 2012, 7:30 a.m. Organizations are often in a race to increase productivity – a good thing in the business world. But too much service productivity can actually cut into a company’s revenue, according to new research from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up, the Smith School’s Roland Rust talks about his new research that finds lower productivity can often lead to a better bottom line.

College Park, Md. – November 14, 2012 – World-leading cybersecurity researchers at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business won a significant grant from the Department of Homeland Security to develop economic models for cybersecurity investments. Professors Lawrence Gordon and Martin Loeb – along with colleague William Lucyshyn from the School of Public Policy -- received one of just 34 contracts awarded to 29 academic and research institutions for research and development of solutions to cybersecurity challenges.