Media Coverage

Stanley tumblers are filling our social media feeds and stories about the high demand for the popular quenches are dominating the news cycle. How did a water bottle manufactured by a company that has been around for more than 100 years become a cultural phenomenon? Stacy Schwartz, a marketing expert from Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick, talks about how a product becomes the item of the moment - and whether that is good for business.

Claudine Gay wraps herself in Harvard’s toga of integrity. It simply won’t work, not for herself nor for Harvard. Plagiarism allegations are serious, especially for an academic researcher — or for a president of a leading academic institution. The best she can do now is to leave gracefully, without excuses or explanations.

The law grants seasonal employers and those with six or fewer workers until 2026 to reach $15 an hour. Still, those employees' pay will increase by 80 cents next year, to $13.73.

“You want to cut them a little bit more slack so they can organize themselves a bit better, but they’re not exempt from the law,” said Parul Jain, who teaches finance and economics at Rutgers Business School.

Lisa Kaplowitz, executive director of the Rutgers Center for Women in Business, said women get stuck in “non-promotable work in the office, like note-taking, running the employee resource groups, taking on the emotional labor of the office, as the support role. Women are viewed as not as ambitious, which is just not true. Outside of the office, women still take on the majority of housework and child care at home.

“There’s the assumption that she doesn’t want the promotion, the assumption that she doesn’t want to travel, the assumption that she isn’t committed to her job. All of that is a false narrative,” Kaplowitz continued.

Morris Davis, the Paul V. Profeta Chair of Real Estate and the academic director of the center, said the night is made by the generosity of donors, including ICSC/Glenn and Mary Rufrano, the Hasan family, the Inspired Co., the Hampshire Cos. and the Wilf/Tanzman and Kokes families.

“The center awards so many scholarships thanks to the generosity of the advisory board, Leaders Council and the many supporters we have, and we are so grateful to them,” he said.

The scholarships are well-deserved, Davis said.

“This year, we have taught some of the strongest students in the program,” he said. “Several of the students participated in real estate case competitions and won or placed against large, well-known universities.”

Lei Lei, dean of Rutgers Business School, said the evening was special.

“The celebration of these scholarship recipients reflects the commitment of Rutgers Business School to reward excellent students,” she said. “It was heartwarming to see the appreciation the students and alumni had for the donors who work closely with the Center for Real Estate.”

On this episode of "Bloomberg Equality," Lisa Kaplowitz, finance professor at Rutgers University and the co-founder and executive director of the Rutgers Center for Women in Business, looks at how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting women in the financial-services industry. She speaks with Bloomberg's Haidi Stroud-Watts and Shery Ahn.

Financial analysts, like journalists, split their time between deskwork and roadwork: meeting executives, inspecting operations, tasting the local cuisine. Are these escapes into the outside world worth it?

In a new paper Azi Ben-Rephael of Rutgers University, Bruce Carlin of Rice University, Zhi Da of the University of Notre Dame and Ryan Israelsen of Michigan State University investigate the benefits of travel. They track 336 analysts of American stocks from 2017 to 2021, estimating the length of their office days from the time they spent logged in to their Bloomberg terminals. Analysts who did not log in during a workday were assumed to be traveling for work.

Logging off and getting out has some costs: peripatetic analysts issued fewer forecasts. But their stock recommendations made more of a splash, moving the market by more than their peers’ picks. They were also more likely to be rated as “star” analysts in the rankings published by Institutional Investor, a magazine.

Was this prestige deserved? Escaping from the office does, after all, give a stockpicker more time to schmooze with the institutional investors who contribute to rankings. And it fills their sleeves with more seductive tales to tell.

On the other hand, the paper shows that the forecasts of well-traveled analysts were also significantly more accurate than those of their peers.

Financial experts have concerns, especially as pandemic savings dwindle, and America’s collective credit card debt sits at a record $1 trillion.

“We’re creating a society of indebtedness,” said Marc Kalan, an associate professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School.

He looks at buy now, pay later as a much smaller-scale version of mortgaging a home, but for a secondary product, one that won’t gain value over time. Today’s consumer, however, often isn’t thinking long-term. If they were, he added, they would save up for these smaller purchases in advance.

“We are being trained for quick and instant gratification,” he said. Buy now, pay later “can make for short-term excitement. … I’m not sure how the feeling will be in the first quarter of ‘24 when the first payments are coming due.”

Parul Jain, who teaches finance and economics at Rutgers Business School, said tipping got a huge boost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

People used to tip on the basis of performance, she said. Now, the near ubiquitous use of touch screens at places where we'd never previously think of tipping applies enormous pressure.

"You feel guilt or misery," Jain said, adding that during COVID when many eateries were struggling, it was not uncommon to tip 30%.

In its questions to experts, MoneyGeek asked, Are there any drawbacks that businesses should be aware of when using balance transfer cards? "Businesses should keep meticulous records, so the owner(s) should look at the monthly and year-end reporting features of balance transfer cards and seek low-interest rates and attractive rewards programs," said John Longo, a distinguished professor of professional practice in finance at Rutgers Business School.

Some of the larger realities impacting food prices extend beyond the United States. The war in Ukraine as an example of factors abroad that hit consumers’ wallets more locally. Labor is also an issue. “The reality is that we still have a labor shortage,” Rutgers University finance and economics professor Arthur Guarino said Tuesday. “If there aren’t enough workers to pick the crops, farmers can miss out on delivering goods to market. Meanwhile, the cost of labor has shot up, as well.”

A single verdict, however, is not the last word on any issue, particularly in an industry as vast and profitable as real estate. “Somebody will overturn this, and it will go away,” said Morris A. Davis, the academic director of the Center for Real Estate at Rutgers Business School.

Seventy-five years of public policy coupled with a powerful real estate lobby have created an entrenched marketplace resistant to significant reforms, he said: “I just don’t see a world in which we’re willing to blow that up.”

Talent advisory firm DHR Global has appointed James Abruzzo as vice chairman. In this role, he will represent the firm while speaking at industry conferences and forums, provide search and consulting advice to clients, and mentor associates pursuing partner-level positions.

We’ve gotten to be a grab-and-go society. And Wawa has recognized that grab-and-go opportunity to build its business.

SOUNDS
The presidents of the US and China will meet in San Francisco, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is taking place. It's the first time they will meet in a year. We look at what might come out of the event.

The US and the UK have announced new sanctions against four senior leaders and two financiers of Hamas. But how effective can sanctions be?

Professor Ajai Gaur at 16:00 into the podcast.

In reporting for this article, Francesca Paris talked to 16 researchers and medical professionals who study disability, long Covid, cognition and census data.

Before deeming certain days of the week in-office days, it might behoove leaders to check in with employees about their preferences, says Terri Kurtzberg, professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School: "Sure, some people will feel unheard if they're outvoted, but it does seem better to find out directly whether there are unexpected preferences."

Kristina Durante, associate professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School in the US, says that when people feel stressed, they “retreat and go into survival mode, protecting resources to ensure their survival.”

Recognized for academic excellence, intellectual innovation, inspirational leadership, and embodiment of the intrinsic value of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Rutgers Business School is a force to be reckoned with in the national and global arenas. New Jersey is a great place to live and learn and with strong employment outcomes, Rutgers Business School has been consistently ranked one of the Best Undergraduate Business Schools in the U.S. by Poets & Quants.

But John Longo, the former chief investment officer of Beacon Trust and a professor at Rutgers Business School, told the News that the 60-40 model is not an appropriate benchmark to judge the performance of Yale’s endowment.

He noted that Yale’s peers all follow an alternative investment model, too.

“Performance over a one-year period is not meaningful for an institution like Yale which has a very long-term horizon,” he told the News. “Despite the somewhat disappointing short-term returns, in my opinion, Yale’s approach to managing its investment remains sound.”

Index funds are another newer way to build wealth — one that’s easier to get started with than it was in the 20th century.

“The index fund is undoubtedly one of the most important financial innovations in the past 100 years. Vanguard created the first index fund for individual investors in 1976, but its growth has dramatically accelerated since the early 2000s,” said John Longo, PhD, CFA, Beacon Trust’s chief investment officer and Rutgers distinguished professor of professional practice in finance and economics. “An investment in an index fund requires minimal time and effort, charges an exceptionally low fee and outperforms roughly 90% of active managers over the long run.”

While there are many great majors and career paths to choose from, most anyone in our profession will tell you that accounting is one solid choice. What makes it so?

1) Endless career options.
2) Endless industry options.
3) The opportunity to help people.
4) Work-life balance.
5) Good pay and benefits.
6) Skills that transfer to your personal life.
7) Learning an actual job skill in the classroom.
8) The CPA license itself.

In a new paper, Katic and her co-author, Jerry W. Kim of Rutgers Business School, investigate another strategy firms can use to achieve regulatory capture: incentivizing government regulators with offers of private-sector jobs.

“I come from a training in economic sociology, where we care a lot about networks,” Katic says. “I thought it would be really interesting to think about these networks being formed by people transitioning from public to private employment.”

Katic and Kim focused their analysis on government regulators who go on to join private firms as lobbyists, examining whether these individuals appear to help shorten the regulatory approval process for firms—either before or after they’re officially hired.

Nancy DiTomaso, Distinguished Professor at Rutgers Business School, points out that employers should offer “higher pay, better benefits, more stability of employment, and greater flexibility.” Meaningful, fairly compensated, and non-exploitative jobs are key for retaining a motivated workforce.

“Dynamic Engineering is a firm focused on helping to ensure that students studying real estate are prepared to join the workforce,” said Morris A. Davis, the Paul V. Profeta chair of real estate and academic director for the Rutgers Center for Real Estate. “We are gratified to be cooperating with such a committed firm and look forward to this engagement and the benefits to our students.”

Students with disabilities face both physical and attitudinal barriers when they go on a job search. Our colleague Mason Ameri of Rutgers Business School has been exploring which factors enable students with disabilities to become effective self-advocates, who are not afraid or reluctant to portray their strengths along with the types of accommodations they may need to work to their maximum potential. He will discuss these at the seminar next week.

Tell us more about the seminar.

Schur: It’s on Tuesday, October 24 at 12:00pm in Room 219 of the Levin Building on Livingston Campus. There’s also a Zoom option.
https://newbrunswick.rutgers.edu/event/rutgers-research-focus-advancing-disability-employment

We will have a one-hour presentation that includes short, five-minute summaries of six research projects we have been working on, including some of those referenced in this interview. It’s open to the public and the entire Rutgers community.

“It’s really a celebration of the history of the supply chain and procurement professions,” says Dr. Arash Azadegan, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of the Supply Chain Management Department at Rutgers Business School. “It started with a single realization. I was in Detroit at the Institute of Art, and they had an exhibit on the history of writing, and it showed the oldest human written thing that we have, written in cuneiform from Sumeria, and it’s a goods receipt. That’s literally the first record we have of human written communication anywhere on the planet. And it got me thinking.”

In the case of the Earn program, Gemini has displayed a troubling “lack of transparency” with customers, according to Tobey Karen Scharding, a professor at Rutgers Business School and expert on risk-related business ethics.

“The fact that they were withdrawing money suggested that they had significant worries either about Genesis or about crypto at this time, but they were, at the same time, encouraging their customers to make deposits and encouraging their customers to maintain a very positive attitude toward cryptocurrencies,” Scharding said. “That’s worrying.”

Some portions of Harvard’s endowment may still deliver strong performances. According to Rutgers Business School professor John M. Longo, HMC’s stock portfolio — which is heavily invested in technology companies — could boost its fiscal year 2023 returns.

“US stock market performance has largely been driven by a small group of large cap Technology oriented securities,” Longo wrote. “Harvard Management Company held three of these stocks (Meta, Alphabet, and NVIDIA) among its top 10 equity positions, so the equity segment of the HMC portfolio likely performed well this calendar year.”

As a professor who teaches finance and economics and a former investment banker and chief financial officer at some of the top firms in the world, you can be sure that Lisa Kaplowitz cheered the announcement that Claudia Goldin was the third woman to earn the Nobel Prize in economics — the first to do so as a solo winner.

And, as the co-founder and executive director of the Rutgers Center for Women in Business, you can be sure Kaplowitz is pleased that Goldin’s pioneering research on identifying drivers of gender differences in the labor market will bring more attention to the issue.

Kaplowitz’s biggest hope, however, is that the next generation won’t need such distinctions — or the research.

“I’m really looking forward to a time when her research is realized and we’re not talking about the fact that so-and-so is the first, because that means we have created pay equity, we have created equal representation and the biases have been removed from the system,” Kaplowitz said.

Rutgers-Newark Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Jeffrey Robinson was named to the newly formed state Diversity Finance Advisory Board.

The board, formed by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJDEA), will work to increase access to institutional capital for women- and minority-owned startups. It will also provide knowledge, guidance, and insights on ways to best increase capital, access, and investments in New Jersey’s diverse entrepreneurs.

Robinson, a Rutgers Business School professor, is an internationally known author and co-founder of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. He holds the Prudential Chair in Business and is a Professor of Management and Global Business at Rutgers Business School and specializes in management and entrepreneurship.

He has authored many articles and books in his areas of expertise, including the 2022 Harper Collins guide "Black Faces in High Places: 10 Strategic Actions for Black Professionals to Reach the Top and Stay There,'' co-authored with Rutgers alumnus Randall Pinkett.

“I am very pleased to serve on the state’s Diversity Finance Advisory Board. I have been working in this space for more than 15 years and it is great to see the State of New Jersey taking a leadership role to provide access to capital and resources for all of the state’s entrepreneurs,'' said Robinson.

A lot of the suggestions that Jeffrey Robinson gave during his talk to business owners at the Advantage Conference came straight from his first-hand experiences.

He specifically addressed entrepreneurs in the room at the Turnbull Center last Wednesday. The gist of his message was about the importance of knowing how to “connect the dots.”

The “dots” are resources that could save a business born out of an entrepreneurial spirit from going under, said Robinson, PhD, Prudential chair in business at Rutgers Business School.

“It isn’t a straight line,” he said of being an entrepreneur. “It’s a little bit of ups and downs. There could (however) be lots of positive things if you have the right surroundings; the right environment.”

“Any country that wants to be competitive in the 21st-century is going to need STEM and people trained in STEM to be successful, grow their economies and create the kind of innovations that every nation is going to need to survive,’’ said Rutgers-Newark Provost and business school professor Jeffrey Robinson, who is leading the effort at Rutgers. “We’re training people who can be leaders of innovation in their countries.’’

The grant, will be administered through Rutgers Business School’s NJSBDC Network, adding to the increased community and economic development initiatives supported by the highly ranked business school.

Reflecting on the SSBCI program, Rutgers Business School’s Dean Lei Lei said, “We applaud the SBDC’s success in securing this important funding that ensures its work to assist small business owners, especially those from socially and economically disadvantaged groups, will continue.”

Panel: Partnerships (such as one between Fiserv and Rutgers-Newark) are key to next-generation workforce initiatives.

Participants in the panel included, from left, New Jersey Institute of Technology President Teik Lim, Rutgers University – Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Bergen County Community College President Eric Friedman and New Jersey City University President Andrés Acebo, with co-moderator Arturo Osorio and co-moderator Eliza Charters.

Lisa Kaplowitz, an associate professor in the Department of Finance and Economics at Rutgers Business School and executive director at the Rutgers Center for Women in Business (CWIB), said that a company goes public for two primary reasons: to access more money to expand its business and to provide private investors the opportunity to monetize their investments.

The post-pandemic IPO market had stayed dormant due to a lack of investor optimism, but companies have recently gained confidence in their ability to raise capital as the Federal Reserve slows down on interest rate hikes and inflation concerns subside, she said.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) today announced the establishment of the Diversity Finance Advisory Board (DFAB) which will work to increase access to institutional capital for women- and minority-owned startups. The board will provide knowledge, guidance, and insights on ways to best increase capital, access, and investments in New Jersey’s diverse entrepreneurs.

According to a survey from the National Venture Capital Associations (NVCA), venture capital investments have quadrupled across the United States over the past 10 years, but those increases are not true for startups with women or racial minorities as their founders. The State recognizes national studies that correlate with the NVCA study that finds only one percent of venture capital-backed founders are Black and less than two percent are Hispanic.

Dr. Jeffrey Robinson, Rutgers University – Newark, Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor, will serve as a member of the inaugural 2023-2024 Diversity Finance Advisory Board.

A new White Paper from the Rutgers Center for Real Estate focused on parking in multifamily residential communities spells this out. (Click here to read the paper.)

The result of several months of examination after analyzing data obtained from over 175 properties and approximately 28,000 operating multifamily rental units in the state, the report concludes that mandatory rules required by the Residential Site Improvement Standards are outdated — and that they may not reflect a society that relies on ride-sharing and/or mass transit more than ever.

The report, entitled “How Much Is Enough? Parking Usage in New Jersey Rental Units,” showed that, on average, low and midrise apartment buildings in New Jersey utilize approximately 0.56 parking spaces less than as required by RSIS, with high-rise communities utilizing approximately 0.32 parking spaces less than as required by RSIS.

Deb Tantleff, the founding principal of TANTUM Real Estate and one of the authors of the paper, said the results of the objective research provide conclusive and compelling data that can and should be utilized by both the public and private sector.

“A thoughtful and intentional approach to reduce parking requirements will benefit municipalities, planners, developers/operators and, importantly, the end user while creating a pathway to address larger affordability challenges that we face as a state and country,” she said.

Tantleff prepared the paper along with Morris Davis (the head of the Rutgers Center for Real Estate), Ron Ladell (the head of AvalonBay in New Jersey) and Facundo Luna (a Ph.D. student at Rutgers University).

Edmund Zagorin, Founder & CEO of Arkestro, and Dr. Arash Azadegan, Professor & Vice-Chair of the Department of Supply-Chain Management at Rutgers Business School, were recently interviewed by Benzinga.

Founded in 2017, Arkestro’s Predictive Procurement Orchestration (PPO) taps into the power of behavioral science, game theory and machine learning to help companies make their best buying decisions faster. Leading enterprises leverage Arkestro to optimize their procurement cycles with direct actions and clear recommendations, managing spend at scale without increasing headcount.

The company has teamed up with Rutgers to offer its “Museum of Procurement” at the university’s school of business.

Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/U9spEMa2JVc

Jeffrey Robinson
Speaking at the reopening of JBJ Soul Kitchen at Rutgers University-Newark last fall, college provost and executive vice chancellor Robinson remarked that the venture from Garden State rocker Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorethea was “a fantastic example of social entrepreneurship in action, when you build a restaurant that is meeting a social need, you demonstrate the power of a double bottom line.” And entrepreneurship in action is something the academic, author and advocate knows well. Robinson’s research is focused at the intersection of business and society, with projects and initiatives addressing diversity, economic inclusion, inclusive entrepreneurship, and innovation. At Rutgers, the school’s recent collaboration with Fiserv on the Fiserv-RU-N Program for Inclusive Innovation is just one example of such practical applications at work. Robinson is also a professor at Rutgers Business School, the co-founder and academic director of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development and serves as Prudential chair in business at RU-Newark, a position he assumed last fall that employs a multidisciplinary approach to business education. Upon his appointment in the latter position, RU-N Chancellor Nancy Cantor said Robinson was the “perfect match” for the role, describing him as “a pioneer in social entrepreneurship and a steadfast builder of inclusive innovation.”

This year’s NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business honorees were drawn from hundreds of nominations – a testament to the myriad accomplishments of the 2023 class.

Launched in 2007, this program recognizes 50 women who have made a significant impact on New Jersey business and the community at large.

After an open nomination process, a panel of independent judges selected this year’s honorees using a points system to evaluate submissions.

Lei Lei, dean, Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University is included on this distinguished list.

“This is a one-of-a-kind executive education, workforce development and bonding capacity building program. It will increase the readiness of small businesses to sign contracts. It leverages the Port Authority’s commitment to local contracting, the connections of AACCNJ, the research on minority business development of CUEED and expertise in procurement of Integrity Compliance Consulting,” said Lyneir Richardson, assistant professor of practice at Rutgers Business School and executive director of the Newark Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CUEED).

Lei Lei
Dean
Rutgers Business School

Her research expertise includes supply chain network design and optimization, operations planning, scheduling and process recovery after disruptions, demand-supply planning and resource allocation optimization.

Lyneir Richardson
Executive director
Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development

He leads capacity-building programs that have assisted over 400 entrepreneurs — and he serves an assistant professor at Rutgers Business School, where his commitment to teaching intersects with his passion for equitable economic development.

In-office time can indeed have its benefits, including productivity and team building, but employers need to tread carefully when developing and communicating new or more intense RTO policies, says Terri R. Kurtzberg, professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School. “Especially in policy statements, it pays for organizations to recognize that insisting on anything feels a little bit like an affront to employees at this point.”

A beloved aunt who raised him, the football coaches who mentored him and the organizers of an enrichment program at Rutgers Business School (RBS) who encouraged him serve as the inspiration driving Jerry Melius to succeed.

“Growing up, Jerry didn’t have much, and he has struggled, but he never let that stop him,” says Miyokee Saint-Florent, program coordinator for the B-STAR program, which offers mentoring and academic support to high-performing students from under-represented backgrounds.

Could making a large purchase on a 0% APR card affect one’s credit score?

A large purchase may negatively impact your credit score since one of the components of the credit score is the percentage of credit utilized. You should also analyze the purpose of the 0% purchase. If the purchase is purely for consumption purposes, it may be unnecessary. However, if the purchase helps fund a business or other investment, perhaps it will be worthwhile. Clearly, once the 0% "teaser" rate expires, it is crucial to repay the debt in full since future interest rates will often snowball to a rate in the high teens or 20%+.

Are there any benefits of getting a credit card while still in college?

Getting a credit card at nearly any age — late teens and above — can help you build up a positive credit rating if the card is used responsibly. It may also earn the owner rewards points that may provide discounts on purchases or cash back. However, if you are unable to pay the credit card balance in full each month, you are probably better off sticking with a debit card.

What is some advice you would give to people for managing their money during a recession?

Currently, money market funds, CDs, and Treasury Bills are offering attractive (e.g., 5%+) yields. These investments may make sense for a portion of the "safe" part of one's portfolio. I'd be surprised to see 5%+ rates on these instruments a year from today. Over many months, investing in stock index funds on a dollar-cost-averaging basis has historically been a good investment for the "risky" part of one's portfolio. Descriptions of the "American Dream" usually consist of owning your own home. So, saving money for a down payment on a new home or accelerating payments on an existing home may make sense as part of an overall financial plan.

In researching disruptions in supply chains and the dynamics of humanitarian supply chains, we’ve identified five key lessons for private-sector supply chain managers when working with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

What mistakes do people make with credit cards, and specifically rewards programs?

While these are generally good elements of credit cards, users need to be careful to be able to pay the card balance in full each billing cycle. To charge items just to get the rewards is generally not a good strategy and can lead to growing balances.

What are the "gotchas" about credit cards and rewards programs that are not well understood by consumers?

Sometimes there are other "catches" to the rewards programs requiring additional purchases or other elements. I use a "cash back" card offering rebates for gas, travel and other items at different levels. Look carefully at what items deliver the maximum level of return (e.g., I get gas rebates of 4%).