ASU News - Business

ASU study: Super Bowl generated $500 million for state

lccampb — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:08:40 -0600

A research team of students from ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business combed the metropolitan Phoenix area before, during and after Super Bowl XLII earlier this year to gauge the game’s economic impact on Arizona.

The three-month study, led by 24 students in the W. P. Carey sports business MBA program, concluded that the game and its related activities generated a record $500.6 million in direct and indirect spending by visitors and organizations in town for Super Bowl week. The game was played Feb. 3 in Glendale.

Ray Artigue, executive director of the sports business MBA, says the study was far more complicated than similar projects because events surrounding the game were staged all over the metro area. He said the research team drove a collective 500 miles to interview fans at the various events.

“We crisscrossed the town,” Artigue says. “The people we needed to interview about their spending were spread out among dozens of hotels, numerous parties and the weeklong NFL fan experience. We spent 10 days gathering data before the game and finished at the airport two days afterward.”

The students collected 1,594 surveys to represent a cross-section of the visitors who traveled to Arizona for the game and related events.

Respondents were asked a variety of questions, including the events they were attending, the number of nights they were staying and what they were spending money on while in town.

The research team also contacted out-of-state companies after the game to determine how much they spent on sponsorships and private events during Super Bowl week, all in an effort to calculate organizational spending.

The W. P. Carey Sports Business MBA program was hired to conduct the study by the Arizona Super Bowl host committee. The sports program has conducted similar economic impact studies for several other sporting events, including college football’s BCS national championship games in 2003 and 2007; the FBR Open in 2006; and Phoenix International Raceway events and the LPGA Safeway International in 2007.

“We had many choices of research firms from across the country to conduct this study,” says Bob Sullivan, president of the host committee.

“Based on their methodology, thoroughness and professionalism, we made a correct decision to work with ASU.”
In 2006, the W. P. Carey MBA Sports Business program was lauded by the Wall Street Journal as one of the top five graduate sports programs in the country.

Hal Mattern, hal.mattern@asu.edu
(480) 965-5577
W. P. Carey School of Business

Marketing students tout ASU teacher education

lccampb — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:06:07 -0600

Marketing students in the W. P. Carey School of Business are gaining real-world experience while helping to promote an ASU teaching program.

The students, members of Pi Sigma Epsilon’s Iota chapter, are creating a marketing campaign to target and inform undergraduates about the secondary science teacher program in the College of Education. The overall objective of the campaign is to increase awareness and bolster enrollment in the program.

In collaboration with faculty in the College of Education, members of the nationally ranked marketing fraternity are helping to establish target audiences for the campaign, create selling points for the program and provide a framework for the implementation of the strategy.

The college’s dean, George Hynd, says he already can see the benefits of working with Pi Sigma Epsilon.

“The marketing plan and strategies developed have been dramatically enhanced through this partnership,” Hynd says. “PSE’s insight, enthusiasm and recommendations have truly influenced the way we will market our science education program.”

The development process of the campaign, which has been in the works since the beginning of the fall semester, is scheduled to wrap up in May. Once the plan is finished, PSE will assist the College of Education in implementing the campaign over the summer.

Such campaigns provide great real-world experience for students, says Fanny Halsey, PSE’s president-elect and committee chair.

“Working on a project like this shows members what it takes to create a marketing plan that includes strategy and in-depth concepts,” Halsey says. “This allows them to use the skills they learn in the classroom, and also provides them with valuable networking opportunities and résumé-building experiences.”

PSE’s Iota chapter at the W. P. Carey School models itself on the concept of a marketing consulting firm, and treats each project like an internship for its members.

Student members are encouraged to participate in projects that give them the opportunity to develop and fine-tune the business, communication and marketing skills they will need when they enter the work force.

Fraternity members have worked on marketing campaigns with a number of companies, including local start-up Arizona Ride Home, Dewalt Power Tools, and Scottsdale nightclubs Axis-Radius and e4.

James Spiers, a senior lecturer in the W. P. Carey School’s marketing department, serves as faculty adviser to the fraternity, preaching the value of hands-on experiences.

“Students can learn a lot by reflecting upon the campaigns they create,” Spiers says. “By analyzing what does and does not work, students are able to grow and become better prepared for their careers.”

Jacob Karp, jacob.karp@asu.edu
W. P. Carey School of Business
(480) 965-0468

Greater Phoenix resale numbers spring back to 1996

dprewitt — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:26:00 -0600

March is typically an indicator for the coming resale home season, and with 4,335 recorded sales it’s showing signs of a continuing weak market. Even though it is an improvement over the 3,750 sales of February, it is significantly below last year’s 5,385 sales and is the lowest March since 1996, with 3,270 sales.

Although the year has been continually improving since January (3,350 sales), the year-to-date total of 11,395 sales is below last year’s 14,190 sales.

While there are many problems rising out of the hyper-resale market, many households were able to acquire homes with traditional financing, according to Jay Q. Butler, director of Realty Studies in the Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus.

“People who settled in their dream homes with manageable mortgage payments have little incentive or pent-up demand to change their housing investment. Thus, lower sales activity should not be unexpected,” he said.

“During the last year, the housing market has been confronting issues derived from the hyper-market of previous years such as the subprime meltdown and overly ambitious investors. Unfortunately, there is increasing data, such as job losses and layoffs, that the economy is now weakening and will add further stress for the housing markets,” added Butler.

While there has been little attempt to help investors, there have been many programs started to help people save their homeownership. Most of the attempts have dealt with reset of higher interest rates, with the basic premise being that the home occupant has the income but not enough to satisfy the new mortgage payment. In a weak economy, many households now will not have the needed income to save their homes, even with a new mortgage payment plan.

Further, with increased energy and food costs, there is added strain on the household budget. Thus, the potential economic downturn and inflationary pressures will define how much further the housing market will worsen and when recovery will begin.

The median home price remained stable at $220,000, in contrast to last year’s $265,470. The lower median price is being driven by several forces including the large number of vacant homes, especially in certain neighborhoods.

Further, capital is available for lower-priced housing, but lacking in the higher priced housing market. The recent rise in the FHA limit from $271,050 to $346,250 will help some move-up market activity. However, the non-conforming limit is expected to remain at $417,000, which will be of little assistance to the higher priced market.

Last year, 39 percent of the resale homes sold for more than $300,000, while it was 27 percent for March 2008. Homes selling for under $200,000 have increased from last year’s 16 percent to a current 40 percent of the local resale housing market. The most evident impact of lower prices is improved affordability.

Even though mortgage interest rates increased from last year’s 5.8 to 5.9 percent, the much lower sales price allowed the monthly payment to decline from $1,325 to $1,110. While improving affordability based on lower home prices can greatly benefit buyers, it adversely impacts many owners and potential sellers whom are watching their limited equity erode, as prices decline to and even below existing debt level.

“The lower prices affect the ability and desire to continue owning the home and even overall confidence in the economy, which puts additional strain on the local housing market,” said Butler.

Changes in median prices can vary tremendously throughout the Valley. For the western suburbs the median price has fallen 21.2 percent from last year’s $231,000 to $182,125, while South Tempe moved down 9.7 percent ($291,000 to $262,500). Since the greater Phoenix area is so large, the median price can range significantly from $605,000 ($573,570 in February) in North Scottsdale to $148,800 ($157,700 in February) in the Maryvale area of the city of Phoenix.

With 685 recorded sales, the townhouse/condominium market improved from the 620 sales of February, but was well below last year’s 1,350 transactions. The median home price decreased from $174,500 in January 2007 to remain at $165,000, while it was $181,000 a year ago. The underlying reasons for the fairly stable price can run the gamut from the return of the seasonal visitor and international investors to new households satisfying their initial housing needs.

The median square footage for a single-family home recorded sold in March 2008 was 1,770 square feet, which is larger than the 1,700 square feet for a year ago. In the townhouse/condominium sector, the median square footage was 1,160 square feet, which is larger than the 1,120 square feet reported a year ago.

In contrast to March 2007, recorded sales in the city of Phoenix decreased from 1,450 sales to 1,075, while the median sales price decreased to $185,455 from $228,000. Since Phoenix is a geographically large city, the median prices can range significantly such as $148,800 ($157,700 in February) in the Maryvale area to $263,500 ($260,000 in February) in the Union Hills area. The townhouse/condominium sector decreased from 400 to 195 sales and the median price decreased from $165,000 to $149,000.
The Scottsdale resale home market declined from 465 to 305 recorded sales, with the median sales price decreasing from last year’s $635,000 to $525,000. The median resale home price is $605,000 ($573,570 in February) in North Scottsdale and $260,000 ($254,000 in February) in South Scottsdale. The townhouse/condominium sector in Scottsdale decreased from 280 to 155 sales, and the median sales price decreased from $265,950 to $236,750.
The Mesa resale housing market declined from 620 sales a year ago to 450, while the median price fell from $242,700 to $200,000 ($208,750 in February). The townhouse/condominium sector also fell from 190 to 90 sales, while the median home price decreased from $158,400 to $144,000.
Glendale decreased from 355 to 260 sales, and the median sales price decreased from $248,250 a year ago to $209,750 ($202,000 in February). The townhouse/condominium sector decreased from 50 to 15 sales, while the median sales price increased from $148,850 to $155,000.
For the city of Peoria, the resale market declined from 255 to 190 sales, while the median price moved from $270,000 to $235,900 ($225,300 in February). The townhouse/condominium sector decreased from 35 to 20 sales, while the median price increased from $165,000 to $175,700.
In comparison to a year ago, the Sun City resale market declined from 150 to 100 sales, while the median sales price decreased to $182,500 from $200,000. Resale activity in Sun City West decreased from at 70 to 60 sales, and the median sales price decreased from $217,450 to $214,000. The townhouse/condominium market in Sun City decreased from 75 to 65 recorded sales, while the median home price decreased from $131,000 to $119,900. In Sun City West, activity stayed at 25 sales and the median sales price decreased from $190,000 to $130,970.
The resale market in Gilbert increased from 290 to 295 sales, and the median sales price decreased from $295,500 to $245,000 ($254,700 in February). The townhouse/condominium market declined from 15 to 10 sales, as the median sales price decreased from $200,000 to $176,450.
For the city of Chandler, the resale market declined from 380 to 325 recorded sales, with the median sales price decreasing from $293,850 to $234,000 ($245,000 in February). The townhouse/condominium market declined from 65 to 20 sales, and the median sales price went from $170,000 to $145,000.
The resale market in Tempe decreased from 125 to 100 sales, with the median sales price decreasing from $278,750 to $237,000 ($240,000 in February). The townhouse/condominium sector fell from 95 to 35 sales, and the median sales price decreased from $198,500 to $160,000.
The highest median sales price was in Paradise Valley at $1,750,000 with a median square foot house of 3,995 square feet.
In the West Valley, the following communities represent 14 percent of the resale market.
- Avondale decreased from 100 to 90 sales, with the median price moving from $232,280 to $185,130 ($194,570 in February).
- El Mirage increased from 40 to 60 sales, while the median home price went from $213,750 to $146,900 ($149,500 in February).
- Goodyear went from 105 to 125 sales, while the median price decreased from $255,000 to $220,000 ($220,490 in February).
- Surprise improved 250 to 285 sales, but the median price went from $241,500 to $205,000 ($213,740 in February).

CONTACT(S): Jay Q. Butler, 480/727-1300, jay.butler@asu.edu
Christine Lambrakis, 480/727-1173, 602/316-5616, lambrakis@asu.edu

Realty Studies is associated with the Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus. Realty Studies collects and analyzes data concerning real estate in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. Realty Studies is a comprehensive and objective source of real estate information for private, public and governmental agencies. Its director, Dr. Jay Q. Butler, may be reached at (480) 727-1300 or e-mail him at Jay.Butler@asu.edu. To subscribe to RSS feed for Realty Studies news, visit http://www.poly.asu.edu/realty/rss.html.

Professor challenges 'smart' machine thinking

lccampb — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:48:55 -0600

Asim Roy, an information systems professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business, was on sabbatical at Stanford University in 1991 when several years of thinking about the operation of the brain and artificial intelligence systems inspired him to act.

In a message to the leading Connectionist scholars, he threw down the gauntlet, challenging the prevailing school of thought and thereby the very foundations of the technologies behind “smart” machines and artificial intelligence.

“There was a Connectionist mailing list (online) and I just came flat-out and said, ‘Hey, all of your theories of brain-like learning don’t make sense,’ ” Roy says.

Roy’s colleagues around the world did not take kindly to his blunt, confrontational postulating. Roy says some researchers reacted badly – and some dissenters even walked out on his presentations.

“It’s hard to upset a science,” he says.

The conflict broke out at the intersection of a number of disciplines: cognition and learning, neuroscience, computer science, robotics, artificial intelligence and philosophy.

The prevailing wisdom in artificial intelligence is that humans learn by storing a system of rules. Thus, if one were learning to hit a tennis ball, one would be told to grip the racket at a certain place, in a certain way, with a certain pressure; to move one’s shoulder, arm and wrist in just the right way; to look at the ball in a specific way and place; and so on, given one instance and one set of conditions.

If the ball were to bounce just the slightest bit faster, slower, higher or lower, countless new rules would need to be called forth and applied from one’s memory. Combining all of the possible permutations of a bouncing ball, codifying every possible rule, would become an endless task. Although such rules can be very effective in limited cases, it would take enormous computing machines to store every rule needed to perform a certain task.

What Roy and the opposing Connectionist faction have sought is an understanding of how best to copy what the human brain seems to do: connect experiences and understandings and learn from them.

Roy says that if you were to teach someone how to hit a tennis ball every possible way without the advantage of actually swinging a racket and connecting with a ball, the individual still wouldn’t be able to play tennis, because human learning comes from data generated from the practice of a task.

Connectionists believe that this learning comes from the most basic of building blocks in the neural network: neurons. Rather than storing an incomprehensible number of rules, the brain stores tiny little bits of data and, depending on how they are connected, crafts solutions.

While the human brain may not be the best model upon which to pattern learning in machines, Roy notes that the brain still outperforms today’s computers – and if researchers are to craft a human-like machine, it should be patterned after human faculties.

Roy’s control theory holds that while there are connections that have to be made between neurons (or, in the case of a computer network, neural nodes), there also is a titular controller organizing the system.

It’s been nearly 10 years since he first began work on an academic paper defending his theory. During this time, he was ostracized for his work, and after a half-dozen rejections, revisions and resubmissions, the journal IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (Part A: Systems and Humans) is set to publish his paper, titled “Connectionism, Controllers and a Brain Theory,” in early 2009.

In this paper, Roy postulates that there are parts of the brain that control other parts. To the dismay of Connectionists, he proves his theory partly by showing that Connectionist brain-like learning systems actually use higher-level controllers to guide the learning in their systems, contrary to the widespread belief that they use only local controllers at the level of the neurons.

“A new theory is on the table, and it practically invalidates Connectionism,” says Roy of the paper’s acceptance.

Although there still are many skeptics, a number of scientists have lined up behind Roy since his paper was accepted for publication.

“Professor Roy’s paper goes to the core of the inherent limitations of commonly accepted theories of brain function and organization, and points the way to a new hybrid framework that combines the insights of existing theories to overcome their shortcomings,” says Christian Lebiere of Carnegie Mellon University.

Lebiere’s book, “The Atomic Components of Thought” (co-written with John Anderson, also of Carnegie Mellon), presents a unified theory of a cognitive architecture, one that competes with connectionism as a theory of the brain.

What form Roy’s controller takes is still a point of speculation; at the theory’s early stage, the controller is little more than a generic, guiding “ghost in the machine.” Roy’s work is not based on brain imaging scans or laboratory dissections but is more theoretical and logic-based.

“What I did was structurally analyze Connectionist algorithms to prove that they actually use control theoretic notions, even though they deny it,” Roy says. “Plus, I added some neuroscience evidence.”

In the forthcoming article, Roy uses a series of basic analogies that compare brain functions (and well-known algorithms in his field) to more everyday interactions to explain what he sees as inherent flaws in Connectionist thinking.

The Connectionists would argue that the human is not controlling the device but rather is part of a mutual give-and-take dynamic.

While Roy is not a neuroscientist, he highlights findings from other research that support his control theory. Roy says his theory does not suggest that there is a single executive controller in the brain; instead, it suggests that there very well could be “multiple distributed controllers” controlling various subsystems or modules of the brain.

This significant shift in thinking about how the brain works and learns eventually could have an impact on the design of industrial robots. Roy’s new control theory will not revolutionize the thinking behind artificial intelligence overnight. Instead, he says it may be decades before the new philosophy effectively changes the way computers operate.

Law, business schools share professor's expertise

jbmagrud — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:19:46 -0700

A prominent researcher of how police, attorneys and other legal fact-finders process scientific evidence and how investors make financial decisions has joined the faculties of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and the W. P. Carey School of Business.

Jonathan “Jay” Koehler, who holds the first full joint faculty appointment at ASU in the law and business schools, previously was a university distinguished teaching professor at the University of Texas-Austin, in the McCombs School of Business. He also was named the Outstanding Business Honors Program Professor four times and had a one-quarter appointment at the UT Law School for several years.

“I really feel like I’m in both schools at ASU, because this is a much more formal arrangement than I had at Texas,” says Koehler, who teaches a seminar in probability and science in the courtroom, and hopes to become more involved in the college’s law and psychology graduate program.

Specifically, he is interested in teaching a class about legal decision-making, which emphasizes the role of cognitive psychology in the law. It’s a natural fit for Koehler, a former visiting scholar in the psychology departments at Harvard University and Stanford University, and at Stanford Law School.

“This type of class would fit well with my background in behavioral decision theory and research interests in how jurors think,” says Koehler, who also teaches business statistics in the Department of Finance at the W. P. Carey School of Business.

At the law school, he joins Regents’ Professor David Kaye – who has joint appointments in the law school and in the ASU School of Life Sciences, and is ranked by Brian Leiter’s Law School Rankings as the seventh most-cited scholar of evidence – and professor Michael Saks, who has affiliations with the law school and the ASU Department of Psychology, and who is the fourth most-cited by scholar in law and social science by Leiter’s rankings Web site.

Koehler, Kaye and Saks are all associated with the College of Law’s Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology.

“The addition of Jay Koehler to the College of Law strengthens one of the country’s leading groups doing research at the intersection of law, statistics, forensic science and related empirical research,” Saks says. “His research has been cited in numerous judicial opinions, and in 1995 his research won the Loevinger Prize awarded by the Jurimetrics journal.”

Koehler, who has published papers with Kaye and Saks, has received many research grants and has written extensively about forensic science evidence. He is finishing a paper about error rates and proficiency tests in fingerprint examination. It proposes that jurors need to understand the accuracy of reported fingerprint matches, and argues that high-quality tests should be given to fingerprint examiners on a regular basis.
Koehler will present the paper March 21 at a symposium, “Faces of Forensics: Identification and Behavior,” at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

Another of Koehler’s recent research projects focuses on why people invest in products like Initial Public Offerings, which historically do poorly.

“Why do people invest?” he asks. “The answer financial people always give is to make money. But people also get a non-monetary utility out of their investments. It’s cool to invest in Google, and it gives you bragging rights around the water cooler.”

Koehler is on the editorial board of the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, and he served as a guest editor for its recent special issue, “Decision Making and the Law.” Since 2005, he has been an editor of Law, Probability and Risk, and a consulting editor for Judgment and Decision Making.

Koehler has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Pomona College, and he holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in behavioral sciences from the University of Chicago. His wife, Molly Mercer, is an associate professor in the School of Accountancy at the W. P. Carey School of Business, and she is a collaborator on his financial research projects. They have a 2-year-old daughter.

Lecturers to discuss pressing health care problems

gcampbel — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:57:30 -0700

Health care management is a hot topic in this election year as U.S. presidential candidates offer varied solutions to the health care problem.

Wolfgang Schulz-Weidner, a member of the permanent delegation of the German social insurance system to the European Union in Brussels and an expert in designing processes for health care reform, will discuss how select European health care systems are financed and managed during the next John F. Roatch Global Lecture Series on Social Policy and Practice.

His lecture, “Between Solidarity and Individual Responsibility: Financing Health Care in Europe,” will take place place from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., Feb. 29, at the University Club of Phoenix.

Professor Bradford Kirkman-Liff, of the W.P. Carey School of Business, and Carol Lockhart, president of C. Lockhart Associates, will discuss the U.S. and Arizona implications of Schultz-Weidner’s presentation.

“Citizens are demanding change in the health care arena, but it is oftentimes difficult for the average person or professional to understand the complexities involved,” says Emilia E. Martinez-Brawley, the John F. Roatch Distinguished Professor and a College of Public Programs professor of social work.

Kirkman-Liff teaches health administration and policy at ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business. He has taught in England and the Netherlands, and has been a World Health Organization fellow.

Lockhart, a health-systems relations and policy consultant, was the first director of the Arizona health care cost containment system at the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The lecture will take place at the University Club of Phoenix, 39 E. Monte Vista Road, across from the Heard Museum. Register online at xedreg.asu.edu/CourseStatus.awp?~~081RLS105A or call (602) 496-1564.

ASU biz students nail honors in global contest

sdesgeor — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:25:00 -0700

They’ve done it again.

Students from Arizona State University’s School of Global Management and Leadership have won top honors in a worldwide online competition that featured 111 universities from 12 countries. This is the second semester in a row the school has earned “Grand Champion” status in the Business Strategy Game (BSG) “Best Strategy Invitational.”

The two-week online exercise divides students into teams of 1-5 co-managers who are assigned the task of running an athletic footwear company in head-to-head competition against companies managed by other class members. At the end of the semester, winning teams are invited to participate in the Best Strategy Invitational.

The winning ASU team was represented by senior Jessica Archuleta and December (2007) global management graduates Rebekah Benedict, Mike Drigants and Ryan Mengel.

“These are very bright students who successfully integrated material they learned in our classes and put that to work in results-oriented decision making,” says Kathleen Anders, a lecturer in the school whose topics of instruction include strategy formulation and implementation, benchmarking, competitive strength assessment and strategy options for competing in international markets. Anders teams have been invited to compete in each of the six final competitions since the first Best Strategy Invitational was staged in April 2005, and have won three times.The competitions are held in April and December each year.

Of the collegiate teams invited to participate in the December competition, 20 “industry” winners emerged, each topping 10-12 teams in its industry. The ASU entry, “IUZ Shoes,” represented Industry 12.

All companies in the overall competition began the exercise on the same footing from a global perspective – with equal sales volume, global market share, revenues, profits, product quality and performance, brand recognition, and other market measurements. Teams were challenged to create and execute a competitive strategy that resulted in a respected brand image, kept their company in contention for global market leadership, and produced good financial performance as measured by earnings per share, return on equity investment, stock price appreciation, and credit rating.

“What I liked best about the competition was building a functioning team and pitting our skills against other teams,” says Mengel, a management and leadership graduate. “I felt this was one of the best practices for a real-world team environment I encountered at ASU. We had to use our team-building skills, people skills, and technical skills in order to achieve the synergy needed to dominate in this particularly competitive environment.”

Over a two-week period, students were required to make over 40 decisions daily addressing sales forecasts, productions, distribution, marketing and finance. Each decision set represented one year of operations.

“This exercise was helpful in understanding how different aspects in business influence one another,” says International Studies graduate Benedict, who founded Lifetouch Therapies, a sports massage therapy business, in 2003. “Scanning annual results in a 24-hour period helped me to conceptualize the long-term results.”

Anders likes the game’s ability to mirror the complex and ever-changing business world and says it presents a virtual real-world experience for her students.

“The invitational requires students to apply what they learn in business school,” says the two-time BSG “Master Professor.” “It challenges them to gain and sustain a competitive advantage over other companies from around the world.

“This year, the administrators of the game introduced changes in the global environment during the second year of operations; they increased tariffs on goods brought into North America and continued making unexpected pronouncements throughout the competition. It required our students to quickly and frequently adjust to new conditions. The global environment was much more volatile this year, yet our students were able to effectively adapt and respond to change.”

“Winning twice can give you a great feeling of success,” says Peoria resident Archuleta, referring to the team’s success in the preliminary competition as well as its win in the semester-end invitational. “The reality of the game – things like bidding on celebrities’ endorsements and measuring that impact on sales, as well as making decisions on online sales – reflects how our society is today; the game is up to date.

“This was just a lot of fun in a learning environment.”

Corporate message takes ASU professor to Holy Land

sdesgeor — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:27:00 -0700

David Waldman, professor of management and director of the Center for Responsible Leadership at Arizona State University’s School of Global Management and Leadership, recently traveled to Israel to discuss corporate social responsibility (CSR) at universities, businesses and think tanks. Waldman was joined by Donald Siegel, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of California-Riverside, at a forum hosted by the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, an Israel think tank with the mission of promulgating market-based economic policies in that country.

CSR is a subject that recently has commanded greater attention and larger headlines in the business world. The two CSR pioneers presented differing views on the subject, playing off a similar discussion between them that will appear in an upcoming issue of The Leadership Quarterly, a premier leadership journal that provides publication of leadership research and applications to a global audience.

Waldman, who recently completed a study with Thunderbird School of Global Management’s Mary Sully de Luque on the relationship of economic and stakeholder values to leadership and company performance, believes CSR is a responsibility of today’s leaders that should be pursued in a genuine or authentic manner, rather than just being pursued for strategic or image-enhancement purposes.

“Findings from scientific research are becoming increasingly clear with regard to how commitment to serving the interests of various stakeholder groups relevant to CSR is essential for the long-term sustainability of a firm,” he said in an article that appeared in the December 30 issue of The Jerusalem Post. “Firms that blindly and narrowly pursue the profit motive, without concern for the broad spectrum of stakeholders that are relevant to the long run, are increasingly shown to lack sustainability.”

Siegel, an economist, argues that leaders are driven by profit maximizing and that CSR is only one component of profit maximizing behavior and should be viewed in terms of return on investment. In other words, Waldman’s take on CSR is a holistic, leadership approach, while Siegel stresses more economic and strategic concerns.

CSR, according to Waldman, is not only about philanthropy or doing charity services in the community. It is, he believes, a holistic management approach that takes into consideration an integrated set of indicators and stakeholders – a willingness to advance the goals of diverse groups like employees, suppliers, the local community, non-governmental organizations, or even broader societal objectives. He also contends that managers should have a sincere or authentic desire to pursue CSR, not just calculative or strategic motives, in order to realize its benefits for themselves, their companies, and stakeholder groups.

“Firms must have visionary leaders who are able to connect the dots and understand how various stakeholders, and the satisfaction of their needs, represent interrelated challenges,” Waldman told the Post. “Strict calculation of profit maximization is too narrow a goal, and shareholders are increasingly demanding that their firms do more; they ‘do well by doing good,’” he noted.

Waldman, who received his Ph.D. from Colorado State University and joined the ASU faculty in 1995, is concerned about educational processes such as MBA degree programs that stress economic decision-making values, as opposed to understanding the connectedness of stakeholder values and interests. He is wary of the management and organizational cultures they tend to produce.

“With these forces at play, the CSR leadership challenge is made even more immense,” he says. “It’s not as if CSR isn’t mentioned in management educational programs, but it is typically done so in economic terms only. Little consideration is given to leadership values and behavior. MBA programs must get serious about teaching and developing leadership skills, and such skills have to be tied into decision-making – the hallmark of MBA-based learning. Overall, there must be more integration of leader behavior, strategic management and CSR.

“The good news is that the values and behaviors important to sincere CSR, if stressed and not viewed in a narrow, strictly bottom-line fashion, can foster impressions of inspirational leadership and integrity – a desire of most people in leadership positions.”

Waldman notes that the free-flowing dialogue between he and Siegel, a former ASU professor of economics (1994-2000), is an example of what he hopes the emerging Center for Responsible Leadership will offer on a variety of subjects.

“I want the center to be open to all ideas,” he says. “The center gives us an opportunity to examine how research, theory and practice come together to define leadership in relation to CSR.

“Ideally, one day the center might be the venue for such a discussion that is more inclusive, say a top-level business leader and I presenting one side of a topic, while Dr. Siegel and an executive of his choice present the other. It won’t be limited to CSR, but will include a broad range of subjects that impact effective leadership and management issues.”

Economics professor answers recession questions

lccampb — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:17:50 -0700

Economy watchers everywhere are asking the same question: are we in a recession or not? This month's JPMorgan Chase Arizona Blue Chip Economic Forecast probes the similarities and differences between March, 2001 – the beginning of the 2001 recession – and fourth quarter 2007. One-third of the Arizona Blue Chip panelists believe that Arizona is already in recession.

Lee McPheters, senior associate dean and professor of economics at the W. P. Carey School of Business, concludes that the two periods share key similarities and differences. Retail sales, for example, are down – "a bad sign for the economy." Comparing to the 2001 recession, the pattern in 2007 was strikingly similar, McPheters writes. (To hear McPheters discuss his analysis, listen to his podcast, at http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/.)

"Slicing the economy by sectors, we can say with some confidence that residential construction is in recession, and the overall economy is weaker as a result," writes McPheters.

In this month's Special Question, Arizona Blue Chip panelists said that weakening consumer spending is the number one reason that the state's economy is slipping into recession. The credit crisis was the second reason cited, followed by the housing bust. Energy costs were mentioned by only three panelists.

The Arizona Blue Chip Economic Forecast includes the consensus forecast of economists from 19 groups and institutions. It is published by the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center, an affiliate of the L. William Seidman Research Institute in the W. P. Carey School of Business. For information, call (480) 965-5543.

ASU professor earns Gallup nod

sdesgeor — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:21:40 -0700

ASU Global Management and Leadership assistant professor Fred Walumbwa has accepted an invitation from the Gallup organization to join its prestigious Distinguished Science Advisory Council as a senior scientist.

Senior scientists are leading experts who advise and consult with Gallup researchers and select clients, while making contributions that serve to further the organization’s mission and maintain the cutting-edge character of its research.

“This is very significant recognition for Dr. Walumbwa, for his work and accomplishments, and it is also noteworthy for ASU and this school,” says Gary Waissi, dean of the global management school.

Currently made up of a group of 19 international experts in the fields of leadership, management, employee selection and development, public opinion research, positive psychology, and research methodology, the council includes Daniel Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in prospect theory.

“This provides such a great opportunity to put my expertise to practice,” says Walumbwa, whose research interests include leadership development, cross-cultural management, and organizational justice.

Walumbwa, born and raised in Kenya where he earned his bachelor’s in management education before coming to the states, hopes to contribute to the council as the first member from Africa, bringing the continent to the world stage through the establishment of a center of research in the capital city of Nairobi.

“I hope to change the mindset of the rest of the world about Africa as ‘the land of hopelessness’ to the ‘land of hope.’ To create an ‘African hub’ to facilitate Gallup’s work in the country is an exciting proposition and one in which I would like to play a lead role with other Gallup Senior Scientists.”

Walumbwa earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has authored numerous article’s in such premier publications as Journal of Management, Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Operations Management, Personal Psychology, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, and Applied Psychology: An International Review. He is currently on the editorial review boards of Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Management and Leadership Quarterly.

“Imagine an ASU professor being in the forefront of changing the lives of millions of people living in Africa,” says Walumbwa, who is a member of the Academy of Management, Southern Management Association and Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. “It is time, and I am sure the ASU community will be proud to be a part of the solution in partnership with the Gallup organization.”

Also a senior scientist is internationally recognized leadership researcher Bruce Avolio, director of the Gallup Leadership Institute and a mentor to Walumbwa at the University of Nebraska.

“Fred’s expertise in the area of global leadership studies, with an additional focus on African leadership as well, will be of great benefit to the council,” says Avolio, who co-authored “Authentic Leadership Theory and Practice: Origins, Effects and Development” with Walumbwa and William L. Gardner. “His capacity to produce high-quality scientific research that is making a difference in both the academic and practice communities is impressive.”

“To have one of our faculty included in this group of the most recognized researchers in the world is testimony to Fred’s incredible achievements and his stature among his peers,” says Waissi.

“The benefit to our students is direct. They have an opportunity to study with and learn from one of the best, most recognized, leadership researchers.”