SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- The holiday season is a boom time for the sale of consumer electronics, which means it’s also prime time for retailers to push extended-service contracts onto their customers. The contracts lengthen the terms of manufacturers’ warranties — for a hefty fee. Consider that Best Buy right now is charging $310 to insure a $480 laptop against spills, drops or other damage for three years.

December 21, 2014 Career Coach: How soon is too soon to quit? December 6, 2014

Tata Group acquisitions such as Jaguar Land Rover may have American consumers taking notice of the Indian company as a global force for the first time, but the company has been a subject of an in-depth study on how to transform large corporations by Sunil Mithas, professor of information systems at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Smith Researchers Mine Yelp to Predict Success, Failure of D.C. Venues SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Using a database of 130,000 Yelp reviews of restaurants in Washington, DC, two professors and a graduate student at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have identified a method that allows software to “read” the content of those reviews—and predict which restaurants will close.

By Anastasiya Pocheptsova SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Commitment-shy shoppers carefully evaluate products before making a purchase, but something different happens when the same people think about renting.

UMD Smith’s Dean Cited for Leading D.C. Education Innovation Digital news source InTheCapital has named Alex Triantis, dean of the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, among “50 on Fire” in education for the Washington, D.C., region in 2014. 

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- U.S. News and World Report recently explored the question of whether wearable fitness devices and smartphones were complementary products — or competitive ones. As fitness apps on phones get more sophisticated, must Fitbit fade?

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Despite calls from some quarters to reduce inspections of medium-sized trucks — those larger than standard pickups but smaller than big freight haulers — award-winning research from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business shows that such oversight is highly cost effective. For every dollar spent on safety programs, including inspections, nearly $9 is saved in prevented property damage, injuries and fatalities.

The Supply Chain Management Center in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business recently provided:

UMD, HCC to Train Marylanders for Mobile Health App Building, Strategy COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Maryland students and healthcare and information technology professionals have a new opportunity to help their state succeed in the health technology sector. The University of Maryland’s Robert H.