Smith Newslink MBA - An eNewsletter for MBA Students at the Robert H. Smith School of Business

News Briefs

Smith CIBER to Host Global Security Seminar on April 12, 13
The Smith CIBER's seminar on Global Security and Enterprise Resilience will explore the security implications of globalization for business and their impact on enterprise resilience and competitiveness. The key purpose of the seminar, to be held at the Smith School on April 12-13, 2007, is to help improve organizational capacity to respond to emergency, catastrophic, and disruptive challenges – whether natural, accidental, or deliberate. These challenges are particularly relevant to multinational corporations and government and non-profit organizations.

The co-chairs of the seminar are Dr. Lawrence Gordon, Ernst & Young Alumni Professor of Managerial Accounting at Smith, and Dr. John Steinbruner, professor in Maryland's School of Public Policy and director of the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland.

►Find out more (Register Online - discount available for students and faculty)

ExecutiveBiz Seminar Moderated by Howard Frank: "Surviving & Thriving in the Flat World: China, India and YOU," Feb. 28 in Tysons Corner (Special Discount for Smith Community)
The Smith School has teamed up with ExecutiveBiz to present "Thriving & Surviving in a Flat World: China, India, and You!" The panel will be moderated by Dean Howard Frank on Wednesday February 28, 2007, from 7:30 - 10 a.m. at the Hilton McLean, Tysons Corner. The panel will address how globalization is affecting business locally and ways that every business leader can thrive in this new global economy. This is a great opportunity to hear practical advice and learn from executives recognized for their impressive business acumen. Panelists include Smith School Entrepreneur-in-residence Tien Wong, CEO of Opus8, Inc., Smith School Fellow Wei-Wu He, PhD, general partner at Emerging Technology Partners, Jai Saboo, principal of the Saboo Business Group, Amir Hudda, CEO of Apptix, and Peter Harrison, CEO of GlobalLogic.

All members of the Smith School community (alumni, students, faculty, staff, and partners) qualify for the promotional discount rate of $55 (vs. $75 for non-members). Be sure to use promotion code RHS for the Smith School discount. The event fee includes a full breakfast.

►Find out more and register online today!

Seth Godin Urges Students to Spread the Idea Virus

Associate Dean Scott Koerwer (left) with Seth Godin.

Legendary Internet pundit Seth Godin spoke to a packed auditorium of students and corporate partners on Friday, February 9, 2007 in Van Munching Hall. Known for his thought-provoking and sometimes controversial books, such as All Marketers Are Liars and Unleashing the Ideavirus, Godin believes that both students and companies should think big. Godin was introduced by Jeremy Epstein of Microsoft, which was one of the sponsors of the event. Epstein, a self-professed Seth Godin fanatic, still possesses the purple-and-white milk carton in which he received Godin's book Purple Cow. He emphasized to the audience how powerful Godin’s concepts were and indicated that, after having given his boss at Microsoft a copy of one of Godin’s books, the division of the software giant was beginning to implement some of Godin’s ideas, albeit “slowly,” he joked.
►Full Story

Club Officer Elections
After a fabulous year in which student leaders across all clubs provided exceptional leadership and brought an infectious enthusiasm for club activities, the time has come for the MBA Class of 2007 to pass on the baton to the Class of 2008. Various clubs have transitioned or are in the process of transitioning. Here is a list of some of the early results:

MBA Consulting Association – Incoming Class of 2008 Leadership
President: Ganesh Sundaresan
Executive Vice President: Eduardo Vargas
VP, External Affairs: Kenyon Crowley
VP, Finance: Volkan Bayram

MBA Finance Association – Incoming Class of 2008 Leadership
Co-Presidents:
Alex Obaza
Jonathan Steele
Vice Presidents:
David Schneyer: Career Development
Eric Olesh: Competitions
Thomas Shanley: Special Events
Siddharth Mathur: Finance & Logistics
Chirag Thakkar: Marketing & Web Development

Spring Career Fair March 6-7, 2007
The University Career Center is set to host their Spring Career Fair March 6-7 at the Stamp Student Union. The fair will take place in the Grand Ballroom and Colony Ballroom from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. There are scheduled to be 150 companies each day at the event searching for students to fill both full-time and internship positions. Each day will play host to a different set of companies so visit the Career Center’s Web site for more information on the fair, as well as the companies that will be in attendance. http://www.careercenter.umd.edu/

Campbell's VP to Speak at Smith

Friday, March 2, 2007
Time: 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Location: Frank Auditorium
Irene Britt, Vice President and General Manager, Sauces and Beverages - Campbell's USA

Join the Smith community as we hear from Campbell’s Soup VP and GM Irene Chang Britt, who is coming as part of the full-time, first-year speaker series – though all students are welcome! A dynamic and energetic speaker, Britt has been an entrepreneur, held major strategic and R&D roles with leading consumer products companies, and led marketing and business development initiatives for some of America’s favorite brands: Campbell’s Soup, Kraft Foods Inc., Kraft/Nabisco, and Kimberly-Clark.
►Full Story

Dingman Day Lunch featuring Founder of Paperboy Ventures, Allen Andersson
Friday, March 2, 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Room 1528 VMH
Paperboy Ventures is named after founder, Allen Andersson's, very first job, a paperboy. His most recent venture celebrates the importance of delivering new ideas to people with the working-class values and determination of a paperboy. Allen Andersson founded Paperboy Ventures with a very personal vision that would benefit many: helping scientists and out-of-the-box thinkers turn their innovations into commercially successful businesses that serve a public good.

Paperboy Ventures’ background and experience in science enables it to find the best ideas that others may overlook. Paperboy views its portfolio companies as much more than investments in rarified invention, bur rather as long-term partnerships to protect and nurture successful businesses built on a strong foundation of protected intellectual property.

Paperboy Ventures is an intellectual property merchant bank. It seeks out path-breaking scientific discoveries and unlocks their value. Paperboy Ventures actively nourishes its portfolio companies, scientists and entrepreneurs - all chosen because they share the same background: Innovation, Realization, Working-class values.
►REGISTER TODAY!

KPMG's Avelino Speaks at Smith on Corporate Social Responsibility at Business Ethics Lecture Series

Scott Avelino, managing director with KPMG’s forensic practice in Washington, D.C., spoke to Smith students on February 7, 2007 in the first of the school's three-part Spring Business Ethics Lecture Series. He is a national coordinator of the practice’s fraud risk management services in the United States. Avelino began his discussion, titled "Corporate Social Responsibility: Real or Imagined?" by outlining the important business drivers for corporate social responsibility. He highlighted how the business drivers differ around the world. For example, European companies tend to approach corporate social responsibility as a business driver that creates a competitive advantage in the market, whereas American companies tend to be more compliance-oriented in their efforts. ►Complete Highlights

Mark your calendars now and stop by the Frank Auditorium, 5:30-7 p.m. to hear these enlightening speakers:

On March 7, Dr. George Ellard, Esquire, Baach, Robinson & Lewis, will talk on "Business-related fraud." Ellard is a partner with Baach, Robinson & Lewis. He has had broad experience as a federal prosecutor, white-collar defense counsel, and a civil litigator. Ellard received a JD, as well as a PhD in philosophy, from Yale University, where he was articles editor of the Yale Law Journal. ►Complete Bio

On April 18, Smith alum B. Gary Dando, retired partner, Ernst & Young, will talk on "Ethics in business." Dando first started working for Ernst & Young in 1964 after he graduated from what was then the College of Business and Public Administration at the University of Maryland. He was elevated to partner at the firm in 1976. He retired in June 2001 after 37 years with firm. ►Complete Bio

More Latest News

♦ Save the Date for the Netcentricity Conference: April 27

♦ Research@Smith Winter 2007

♦ Winter Commencement Highlights (With Video!)

♦ Smith Strategic Plan 2006-2011 (Available Online)

♦ Fall 2006 Smith Business Magazine

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Spotlight: Asher Epstein
Managing Director of the Dingman Center

Asher Epstein joined the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship as the managing director in 2004, after earning is MBA from the Smith School of Business. In his role at the center Epstein has a range of responsibilities that center around creating entrepreneurial opportunities for the students and the school. This has included teaming up with external companies, running a Smith-sponsored business plan competition in China and positioning the Dingman Center to be at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship and globalization – the key components for the Smith School as a leader in the digital age.
►Full Story

Student Spotlight: Robert Grossman, MBAA President

From afar, Robert Grossman seems quiet, almost shy, but that impression is completely changed when you talk to him. To many in the student body, he is the easy-going chap with an avid interest in planes -- an interest so intense it has carried him all over the world as a pilot. This term, he adds another facet to this profile of quiet intensity: an interested and warm Mr. President.

Always charming, Grossman simply states the reason he decided to run for presidency was because he felt he “could make a difference to the Smith MBA program and most importantly, ensure that every student has a stake in our community”. As it is early in his term, Grossman is asking a lot of questions. In this stage, he’s gathering the information he’ll need to be successful over the next 52 weeks.
►Full Story

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Smith School in the News

►Baltimore Business Journal – Feb. 16, 2007 – A story about entrepreneurship education includes profiles and quotes of Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship company Hook & Ladder Brewing Co. and information about Dingman programs. ►Read more

►Wall Street Journal Online – Feb. 16, 2007 –Business professor Peter Morici provides comment on slumping housing starts. ►Read more

►Marketplace, American Public Media – Feb. 16, 2007 – Business professor Peter Morici is interviewed about the possibility of a GM-Chrysler deal. ►Listen online

►Los Angeles Times – Feb. 15, 2007 – Business professor Peter Morici is quoted in story about Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke’s economic predictions. ►Read more

►Associated Press – Feb. 14, 2007 – Business professor Peter Morici is quoted in story about the dollar’s value against the euro. ►Read more at Forbes.com

►Frederick News-Post – Feb. 13, 2007 –Marketing professor Janet Wagner is quoted in a story about customer service in Frederick Business Week, a special print section of the News-Post.

►BusinessWeek.com – Feb. 12, 2007 – Telecommuting statistics from the 2006 National Technology Readiness Survey are sited in a story about working from home. ►Read more

►Associated Press – Feb. 11, 2007 – Marketing Chair Roland Rust is quoted in a story about how TrimSpa will recover from the death of its spokeswoman, Anna Nicole Smith. ►Read more

More Smith School in the News

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Thursday, February 22, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, February 23, 6:00 a.m.

Surviving Past Start-Up: How to Find Capital for Your New Business
Nearly all entrepreneurs face challenges when it comes to finding capital for their new ventures. It takes energy and creativity to locate the necessary start-up financing.

In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up, Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, gives tips on ways to identify and leverage resources when launching a new business.

Smith Business Close-Up can be seen bi-weekly on Maryland Public Television's Business Connection. Watch Asher Epstein on Thursday, February 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Friday, February 23, 6:00 a.m. on public television stations throughout Maryland and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, including:

    ■ WMPB-TV (Ch. 67), Baltimore
    ■ WMPT-TV (Ch. 22), D.C. metro/Annapolis
    ■ WCPB-TV (Ch. 28), Salisbury
    ■ WFPT-TV (Ch. 62), Frederick
    ■ WWPB-TV (Ch. 31), Hagerstown
    ■ WGPT-TV (Ch. 36), Oakland

Have an idea for Smith Business Close-Up? Contact Kathy Marmon at kmarmon@rhsmith.umd.edu (or at ext. 59568) to discuss appearing in an upcoming edition of Smith Business Close-Up and to make suggestions for a future segment.

►Watch previous episodes online.

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Faculty Up Front

Supply Chain Coordination for False Failure Returns
In his paper “Supply Chain Coordination for False Failure Returns,” Gilvan Souza, associate professor of operations management, looked at the problem of false failure returns as a function of supply chain coordination. Souza proposes a target rebate contract that pays the retailer a specific dollar amount per each unit of false failure returns below a certain amount.
►Full Story in Research@Smith (with podcast)

Haslem Judges Sharpe Indexing Achievement Awards
John Haslem, emeritus professor of finance, was again selected to the Board of Judges of The William F. Sharpe Indexing Achievement Awards. The awards were presented at the Eleventh Annual Super Bowl of Indexing, in Phoenix, AZ, on December 4, 2006. The conference was sponsored by IndexUniverse.com and Information Management Network (IMN).

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Technology@Smith

Windows Vista
You may be aware that Microsoft has released or is releasing versions of a new operating system named Vista. Vista is being promoted by Microsoft as offering many benefits in the way of improved security and compliance, optimized desktop infrastructure, finding and using information, and enabling the mobile workforce. Vista is currently being tested against all of the PC hardware and software that the Smith School offers/supports. Due to a lack of support for Vista by third party software vendors (Novell among others), we do not currently have 100 percent compatibility between Vista and our environment. We will continue testing as hardware and software vendors release updates that move us toward that 100 percent compatibility. Until that time when we determine Vista is compatible with our environment, we will not support Vista on any PC. The Office of Smith IT will keep you updated as we evaluate Vista and determine the optimal strategy in rolling Vista out to the community.

Campus Discontinuing Dial-up Service
The campus modem pool was originally created to enable faculty, staff and students to have remote access to the campus network at a time when commercial dial-up options were limited or unavailable. Eventually, this remote access service evolved to provide Internet access.

The vast majority of the campus community have switched to other commercial options over the years, and the modem pool usage has declined dramatically. Because of this decreased usage and the availability of other options, the number of modems supporting the campus dialup service is continually being reduced. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) will eliminate dial-up service completely on June 30, 2007.

Please contact the Office of Smith IT Help Desk at 301-405-2269 or helpme@rhsmith.umd.edu with any questions.

Update Your Virus Protection
Our installations of McAfee are set to automatically update virus definitions, however, when security exploits are announced, this needs to be done more frequently. To protect your computer please manually update your McAfee virus definitions as soon as possible. To do this,
1. Right click on the red "V" in the taskbar at the bottom right of your computer screen.
2. Choose "update now" and it will update to the latest version of "dat."
Of course, new viruses or "exploits" are most likely being created, so you should manually run McAfee updates daily.

Update Your Windows Critical Patches
If you have a computer with our software image (such as your office computer), that PC is set to automatically update critical Windows patches overnight. We recommend that you remain logged into Novell overnight, and THEN RE-BOOT YOUR COMPUTER IN THE MORNING. This will download the latest critical patches available for Windows, and when you re-boot your computer in the morning they will be installed. As always, the Office of Smith IT recommends that you distrust all communication (attachments, files, links, etc.) that comes unannounced to best protect yourself from malicious attacks.
►More information on the latest Microsoft Advisories

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Bulletin Board

Carly Fiorina to Judge Smith Technology Challenge
On Friday, February 23, three teams of Smith part-time MBA students will compete in the final round of the Smith Technology Challenge. This year, the new competition features former HP CEO and alumna Carly Fiorina as a judge. The event will take place from 6-10 p.m. in Van Munching Hall and is by invitation only. For more information contact Gabrielle Graves.

Smith CIBER Offers Microeconomics of Competitiveness Course with Harvard
The Smith CIBER is offering a short course on microeconomics and its effects on regional and national prosperity in cooperation with the Harvard Business School. The course is offered over five Saturdays beginning on February 24 in Baltimore, Md.
►Find out more

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