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Real Life. Real Business.

August 2009

Dear Alumni and Friends,

In the last few months, I've told you about our real life, real business approach to business education and its impact on students and the business community. This month, however, I want to talk about an equally important part of the College of Business's mission: faculty research.

Faculty research is the lifeblood of any academic institution and is of critical importance to maintaining our AACSB accreditation which puts us among the top 500 business schools in the world. It also provides unique opportunities for faculty and student development. 

Research keeps faculty current on issues in their disciplines and provides material for classroom learning. In my 20+ years of teaching, I never wrote a lecture, built a PowerPoint presentation, or created an experiential exercise for my students - from freshmen to seniors to MBAs - without conducting a literature review or consulting the latest journal publications. Our students also have the chance to do research with faculty through participation in the Honors Program, classroom projects, or serving as an undergraduate research assistant with a chance to be a published co-author.

We introduced a new grant program this summer to strongly increase college support for faculty research. Faculty members submitted research proposals for new research ideas which were reviewed by a faculty panel. One of the unique aspects of our summer research program is that it encourages our faculty to work with each other, so many of the projects are being conducted by interdisciplinary groups of faculty, or by junior faculty working with senior faculty. In all, this summer 25 faculty members are involved in active research projects through this new grant program. 

The research topics are interesting, so I'd like to highlight a few projects for you. 

Internationalization of Central Indiana Businesses

A group of faculty is conducting research that could have a profound impact on the Central Indiana business community. The project will identify the extent to which regional companies depend on local markets and whether they are taking full advantage of the opportunities that global markets offer. This project will identify the factors that make our regional business community more or less successful when pursuing international opportunities. The faculty will interact and work with regional for-profit and not-for-profit organizations that are interested in advancing their globalization efforts. The research is being conducted by an interdisciplinary team of faculty with experience in finance, marketing and management:  Roberto Curci, Bob Mackoy and Noriko Yagi. 

Feng Shui

Marketing, management and MIS professors are teaming up to study the influence of Feng Shui on consumer behavior. Feng Shui has a significant influence on many aspects of Asian consumer behavior and its impact should be considered by marketers targeting the Asian population. MBA students will participate and assist with data collection and the research is targeted for publication in a consumer behavior journal. The research is being conducted by Bela Florenthal, Hongjiang Xu and Noriko Yagi. 

The Serving Salesperson

Dan McQuiston, Associate Professor of Marketing, is writing a book about servant leadership in the sales field. Servant leadership is based on the teachings of Robert Greenleaf and a servant leader is someone who wishes to serve others first and foremost. McQuiston has over 30 years of experience in the sales field and has noticed that many salespeople who were once committed to serving their clients have lost that customer-centered focus, leaving them feeling uninspired, unenthused and unhappy. The Serving Salesperson is based on personal interviews with over 30 salespeople and is written in parable form. The book outlines seven principles to becoming a serving salesperson.

Consequences of Nepotism

Peg Padgett, Associate Professor of Management, is researching the effect of family connections in the hiring process. Despite negative attitudes toward nepotism, nearly 95 percent of U.S. businesses are family-owned, including 40 percent of Fortune 500 firms, which suggests that nepotism is likely practiced in the U.S. and other countries. The research will determine if nepotism beneficiaries are perceived less favorably than equally qualified individuals who do not benefit from a family connection.

Herding

Steve Dolvin, Associate Professor of Finance, teaches the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) course in which students manage a $1 million portfolio in the stock market. Steve Dolvin and Craig Caldwell, Assistant Professor of Management, are conducting a research project to consider whether the SMIF class "herds" and to what extent it impacts performance. Herd behavior describes how individuals in a group can act together and influence one another, sometimes resulting in negative performance.

Additional Research

Other topics that are being researched this summer include: short selling, enterprise resource planning systems, regulations in the Chinese stock market, family connections in the hiring process, government regulations, the energy market and more.

I want to stress that faculty research is a year-round activity and doesn't happen only in the summer. Faculty participate in research and scholarship that appears in a variety of outlets including peer-reviewed journals, trade publications, published case studies, software development, conference presentations, popular press articles and more. 

Harvard Case Method

I have exciting news to share. The COB has been chosen by Harvard Business Publishing to host a regional seminar on participant-centered learning. The seminar is entitled The Art & Craft of Discussion Leadership and instructs educators on how to facilitate discussion using the Harvard Case Method. Harvard offers the seminar several times a year, primarily on the Boston campus, and partners with select universities to offer the seminar to educators across the country. The COB will host the seminar in late February and will welcome guests from other educational institutions. It is an honor for the COB to be chosen as a seminar partner. Kudos to Kathy Paulson-Gjerde, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, for arranging this partnership with the Harvard Business School.

I want to hear from you. I would like to hear your thoughts on how we might spread the real life, real business message in the business community. Please email me with your comments and suggestions.

Chuck Williams, Dean
College of Business

P.S. If you're interested in finding ways to get involved with the College of Business, please download the document, How to Partner and Get Involved, and review the 20 options available to individuals and their organizations. Specific contact information is available for each option.