Can the private sector alone tackle climate change? No, says Dr. Jonathan Doh, associate dean of Research and Global Engagement at the Villanova School of Business, and the Herbert G. Rammrath Endowed Chair in International Business. It will take partnerships with governments and individuals, either personally or as a collective civil society. And all of us will need to both innovate and adapt to a changing world. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Doh tells VSB student Alice Ke that each of us...
May 23, 2023•17 min
In the first part of this conversation, Bernadette Goratowski talked with Dr. Steve Andriole, the Thomas G. Labrecque Endowed Chair in Business, about the role artificial intelligence could play in the business world. Here, they continue the conversation, discussing the future of professions like accounting, and how people should prepare for what’s to come.
May 23, 2023•15 min
It’s possible that some of the tasks that now take a business professional could soon be handed over to artificial intelligence systems, like Chat GPT. Dr. Steve Andriole, the Thomas G. Labrecque Endowed Chair in Business, talks about what that would look like, why emerging professionals should learn their way through this new world, and why businesses shouldn’t wait to prepare.
May 23, 2023•22 min
This episode of Inspiring Minds is about corporate social responsibility, how companies pay taxes, and whether there’s any relationship between the two. But it’s also about the value of returning to a question long after the research papers have been written, to see if the ideas hold true – and how Villanova’s mission demands that business leaders look at how their actions affect the communities around them. Luke Watson, PhD, The Kevin Tedeschi ’71 Assistant Professor of Accounting & Informa...
Mar 08, 2022•12 min
Economics doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s also about human rights, environmental rights, and people’s expectations of living a safe and prosperous life. Chris Jeffords, PhD, associate teaching professor, Economics, studies how these areas overlap. In this episode of Inspiring minds, he talks with Austin Glass ’22 VSB about his research and how to balance policies and ideas on paper, with their practical applications in the real world. They also discuss what the next generation of economists can ...
Mar 08, 2022•17 min
Millions of people have been working from home for many months due to the pandemic. The shift has drastically altered commuting habits, spending patterns and --for many -- workplace communication. People feel disconnected from their colleagues and cranky about perceived slights. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Jake Galgano ‘21 VSB talks with Manuela Priesemuth, PhD, Associate Professor, Management & Operations, about the ways companies can support their WFH employees while continuing to ...
Apr 29, 2021•12 min
In this episode of Inspiring Minds, alumni Chris Josephs '18 VSB and Ryan Mazzie '18 VSB talk with Assistant Professor of the Practice Keith Wright, Accounting & Information Systems, about their highly successful tech start-up and the mindset of younger investors, who are used to sharing their entire lives online, including what stocks they buy and how much they pay. In January of 2021, Wall Street hedge funds bet that they could drive down GameStop’s stock price. The Reddit “hivemind” had o...
Apr 29, 2021•13 min
For many people, the path to success can seem hard to follow. Even high-achieving students and employees can find themselves unsure about which choice to make when they reach a fork in the road. Critical decisions can be easier to make with the help of a mentor. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Patrick Haley ‘21 VSB talks with Joyce E. A. Russell, PhD, The Helen and William O’Toole Dean of the Villanova School of Business about the positive benefits of mentoring -- not just for the person see...
Apr 16, 2021•6 min
Payday lenders have few friends in the financial world. But without them, people who are unbanked would lose access to cash for necessary expenses. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Kelsea Wong ‘21 VSB talks with Father Craig McMahon, Assistant Professor, Economics, about the complicated realities of the payday loan market, including the viability of alternative lenders and the effects of economic crisis on borrowers and lenders.
Apr 14, 2021•11 min
When your flight arrives at gate K, how long will it take you to walk to gate C, where your connecting flight departs? What about a walk from your hotel on 37th street to a park on 45th? Cities and businesses label our journeys in myriad ways, and those labels have an effect on how we perceive distance. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Liz Ford ‘21 VSB talks with Shelly Rathee, PhD, Assistant Professor, Marketing & Business Law, about the expectations people have when destination labels u...
Apr 14, 2021•11 min
Many researchers have studied how abusive managers negatively affect their employees but what are the personal implications of their toxic behavior? In a previous episode of Inspiring Minds, Manuela Priesemuth, PhD, The Megan ’07 and Matthew ’06 Baldwin Assistant Professor, Management & Operations, shared her research into the effects of workplace abuse on those who witness it. Now Dr. Priesemuth talks with Samantha Moccia ‘20 VSB about the effects of workplace abuse on the perpetrators them...
Feb 24, 2020•8 min
Many companies make the decision to outsource some of their IT systems, such as payroll, because outsourcing can improve efficiency and reduce costs. But outsourcing contracts can also be used as an accounting trick, to make a company seem to be more profitable than it really is. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Susan Rykowski ‘20 VSB talks with Stephen Liedtka, PhD, associate professor, Accounting & Information Systems about the factors that may result in questionable outsourcing decisio...
Nov 08, 2019•10 min
Typically, a management team runs a company and a board of directors monitors that team. Directors need to act in the best interest of shareholders, even if their decisions go against the management team. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Jacob Bank VSB talks with Tina Yang, PhD, Associate Professor, Finance about the impact of Directors and Officers Insurance on the effectiveness of board governance. Dr. Yang says insurance companies can also serve as extra monitors on a company, based on inv...
Aug 26, 2019•9 min
Closing the gender pay gap has become a goal for many companies -- and many countries. But the process isn’t as simple as giving every woman a raise. So how can companies adjust pay disparities while boosting morale and making themselves attractive to strong female candidates? In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Kelsea Wong ‘21 VSB talks with David Anderson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Management & Operations, about strategies for pay equity. Dr. Anderson has worked with 23 companies in Icel...
Aug 26, 2019•9 min
In a globally connected world, societal challenges affect organizations across all sectors. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Nicole Anderson ‘19 VSB talks with Jonathan Doh, PhD, Associate Dean of Research, Herbert G. Rammrath Endowed Chair in International Business and Co-Faculty Director for The Elenore and Robert F. Moran Sr. Center for Global Leadership. Dr. Doh says governments, businesses and non-governmental organizations will need to continue and deepen the trend of collaboration in o...
Mar 12, 2019•12 min
Can you understand a company’s culture by crunching the numbers? In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Emily Brown ‘19 VSB talks with Jennifer Altamuro, PhD, Associate Professor, Accounting about a recent paper she co-authored that focuses on corporate culture in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Altamuro and her colleagues used data about compliance with federal regulations to gain an understanding of the companies’ internal accepted practices. She says a weak compliance culture can have implicati...
Mar 12, 2019•10 min
The trade policies of the U.S. government has become a newsworthy issue in recent years. As the Trump administration renegotiate trade deals and levies tariffs on broad sectors of imports, how do those policy changes affect American producers and consumers? In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Chidinma Chioke ‘21 VSB talks with Michelle Casario, PhD, Co-Faculty Director for The Elenore and Robert F. Moran Sr. Center for Global Leadership, about the effects of tariffs on prices, production and the...
Mar 12, 2019•11 min
It seems the “Gig Economy” is here to stay. More people are working in nontraditional arrangements with employers than ever before. But are those workers happier -- and better off -- than salaried employees? In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Lucy Finnegan ‘18 VSB talks with Cheryl Carleton, PhD, Assistant Professor, Economics and Mary Kelly, PhD, Associate Chair, Economics about what factors contribute to job satisfaction, and how those factors differ based on gender and job type.
Oct 10, 2018•10 min
Compared to the heyday of manufacturing, the annual growth of the U.S. economy has slowed. Individual corporations perform well, but that performance doesn’t seem to lift all boats. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Lauren Cooper ‘19 VSB talks with Miron Wolnicki, PhD, Associate Professor, Economics about his ideas for boosting economic growth via a more robust influence of the federal government, a concept he calls the “American Entrepreneurial State.”
Oct 10, 2018•11 min
Nonprofit organizations do good work, but only if they can attract enough donors to support their mission. Donors crave information to help them make their donation decisions, and effective nonprofit organizations feed that craving with radical transparency. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Manny Garcia ‘18 VSB talks with Erica Harris, PhD, The Andrew J. Melton Jr. ’42 Assistant Professor, Accounting & Information Systems about the financial reasons nonprofits should tell the whole story ...
Mar 26, 2018•10 min
Among investors, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are gaining unprecedented popularity. Like mutual funds, they hold a portfolio of multiple securities in various asset classes providing more efficient long and short exposures. Additionally, because ETFs are traded like stocks, they provide much greater liquidity to investors. But, how do ETFs affect the prices of the stocks that comprise them, specifically the volatility and liquidity of these stocks? And do ETFs make it more difficult for investor...
Mar 26, 2018•11 min
It’s never been easier to catch a ride. Companies like Uber and Lyft have filled the gaps left by taxi services and mass transit, attracting customers with a streamlined user experience. But how have ridesharing companies affected the revenue of taxi drivers and the valuation of taxi medallions, or licenses? In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Ian MacPherson ‘20 VSB talks with Sutirtha Bagchi, PhD, Assistant Professor, Economics about the economic effects of ridesharing companies on infrastructu...
Mar 26, 2018•11 min
The days of the barking boss should be long behind us, but research shows that 65 percent of employees have witnessed derogatory behavior in the workplace within the past year. Workplace aggression is traumatic for its victims, but the negative effects can spread to bystanders, creating a toxic environment. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Alexa Farrah ’19 VSB talks with Manuela Priesemuth, PhD, Assistant Professor, Management & Operations about what happens in a workplace when supervisor...
Mar 20, 2018•10 min
A diverse workforce can be a competitive advantage for companies by developing dynamic capabilities and enhancing work processes. But in order to tap those advantages, it’s not enough to hire a diverse workforce. Managers and executives must actively work to create a climate that welcomes the participation of new perspectives. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Shayla Frederick ‘18 VSB talks with Quinetta Roberson, PhD, about successful approaches to increasing and leveraging diversity.
Mar 20, 2018•11 min
Nonprofit organizations do good work, but only if they can attract enough donors to support their mission. Donors crave information to help them make their donation decisions, and effective nonprofit organizations feed that craving with radical transparency. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Manny Garcia ‘18 VSB talks with Erica Harris, PhD, The Andrew J. Melton Jr. ’42 Assistant Professor, Accounting & Information Systems about the financial reasons nonprofits should tell the whole story ...
Mar 20, 2018•10 min
The business world is globally connected. It’s no easy task to run the numbers on companies that cross borders, and differences between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) used in the United States complicate matters. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Angela Chen ‘17 VSB talks with Lucy Chen, PhD, Associate Professor, Accounting & Information Systems, about the ways that the two standards affect audit costs and the asse...
Aug 23, 2017•9 min
In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, many financial institutions were motivated to diversify their loan portfolios by lending overseas. When there’s an increase in lending from one country to another, how does that affect the likelihood of a financial system failure? In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Carl Sonnenschein ‘17 VSB talks with John Sedunov, PhD, the Michele and Christopher Iannaccone ’91 Assistant Professor, Finance, about the risks and rewards banks can incur when lending ac...
Aug 23, 2017•10 min
In a company, no one is an island. Employees are usually part of one or more work teams -- often grouped with colleagues from different cultural and functional backgrounds. A team’s collective personality can be a help -- or a hindrance -- as it strives for synergy. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Caroline Manion ‘17 VSB talks with Narda Quigley, PhD, Associate Professor of Management, about methods to ensure that a work team will be greater than the sum of its parts.
Aug 23, 2017•11 min
Analytics has long been a part of baseball. Because batters and pitchers perform in a series of discrete events, the sport lends itself to statistical analysis. But what about a free-flowing, low-scoring, and complex game like soccer? The discrete events might be harder to spot, but a statistical analysis can still be part of a winning season. In this episode of Inspiring Minds, Dan Bernardi and Leo “Laeka” Brenninkmeyer ‘17 VSB talk with Bret Myers, PhD, Assistant Professor, Management & Op...
Aug 23, 2017•10 min
When a private equity firm buys a publicly traded company, lots of things change in the corporate environment. The organizational structure, the influence of the board, and the incentives for managers can all shift dramatically. But how do these types of buyouts affect the efficiency of cashflow? We’ll find out in this episode of Inspiring Minds, as Kyle Coleman ‘18 VSB talks with Meg Luo, PhD, Associate Professor, Finance.
Aug 23, 2017•11 min
