Media Coverage

In May 2022, the Hayti Heritage Center co-sponsored a ULI Advisory Services panel with the ULI Foundation to study the Fayetteville Street Corridor. The goal of the panel was to identify opportunities for intentionally inclusive development that would involve the community in both neighborhood planning and economic participation.

The panel was led by chair Lyneir Richardson, co-founder and CEO, Chicago TREND, and executive director, Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development, Rutgers Business School, Newark, New Jersey.

Panel chair Richardson observed, “Change to this historic neighborhood is palpable. The market demand for opportunity is coming. There’s an urgency of the moment that requires strategic action first—from the community, the residents, Black business owners, and Black-led organizations.”

According to Kristina Durante, vice chair and professor of marketing at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, the “new normal” in the aftermath of the pandemic could partly be the reason for this.

“Valentine’s Day was a very public-facing holiday that was almost like a competition, but then during the pandemic, there was no one to send flowers to at work or school and nowhere to go out to eat,” she said. “Now it’s socially OK to not go nuts and people feel comfortable doing alternative things. The pandemic normalized Netflix and chill. Valentine’s Day isn’t on steroids anymore.”

Lyneir Richardson, executive director of CUEED, says small businesses are the backbone of the nation’s economy and supporting them is critical, especially those who have less access to connections and capital. They’re the business owners EPI was created to help.

“We recognize the role that entrepreneurs play in terms of being economic engines. They make our cities and neighborhoods more vibrant. They create jobs,’’ said Richardson. “We’re working to get 1000 diverse entrepreneurs in New Jersey the educational resources and the capital needed to grow to one million a year in annual recurring revenue.’’

Disabled people are being hired more often and making more money in the tight American labor market. Did Covid prove that remote work was possible after all? Ben Casselman, who covers economics for The Times, speaks with Nora Genster of Northwest Center, Mason Ameri of Rutgers University and others. Listen to a condensed version of their conversation here, or in full on Twitter.

“I’m thrilled to join Bernel Hall and New Jersey Community Capital’s Board of Directors to support the organization’s mission and contribute to its dynamic and effective programs and services,” Lyneir Richardson said. “There’s always more to be done to make communities in New Jersey and beyond more equitable and accessible, and I’m eager to play a role in that work on this board.”

Although subscription boxes are incredibly popular, box companies often miss out on the benefits of a subscription model. Customers routinely skip boxes, and even when they do not, they end up returning products from each box. Hoping to avoid these returns, box companies coopt customers to preview upcoming boxes, evaluate delivered boxes, and justify skipped boxes. We are interested in how such extensive customer participation can discourage skipping or, even better, encourage spending. An analysis of 30,000 apparel box customers’ repeated preview, feedback, and purchase behavior reveals that, in addition to whether customers participate, the way in which and when they do matter and often in counterproductive ways. Specifically, customer participation with the delivered box drives future purchases, whereas participation before and after the delivered box appears to decrease box opt-in and spending. Further, the double-edged nature of customer participation, especially when such participation involves emotionality, has long-lasting effects, indicating the important role of customer participation dynamics in shaping purchase behavior.

Nita Umashankar, Kihyun Hannah Kim and Thomas Reutterer

“This is a typical soft landing,” said Farrokh Langdana, professor of finance and economics at Rutgers Business School. “It’s painful. A soft landing means growth slows from 3.5% to 3% to 2.5% to 1.5%. Unemployment happens, it's not fun.”

“Will President Biden have the luck of the Irish? I'm thinking he will,” Langdana said. “The Biden stimulus plan is going to kick in by spring and the labor participation rates are going to go back up. Even though the number may be small that's enough for wage-prices pressures to go down.”

The Source, hosted by veteran journalist David Martin Davies, is a daily, one-hour call-in talk program that gives listeners in San Antonio the opportunity to call and connect with our in-studio guests and city-wide audience.

Guest: John Longo, Ph.D., professor of professional practice in the finance and economics department at Rutgers Business School, author of "Buffett's Tips: A Guide to Financial Literacy and Life.”

The national debt ceiling sits at $31.4 trillion, and the Republican-led lawmakers in Congress say that they will not raise the limit unless there is a large cut to social safety net programs.

If the debt ceiling is not raised, it could mean a default on Social Security payments, salaries for federal civilian employees and veteran benefits.

What will happen next with the debt ceiling? What cuts could be made to lower spending? How much money does the U.S. government borrow? If Congress continues its standoff, how will this impact the economy?

Prof. Farok J. Contractor from Rutgers Business School imparted his views of India's contribution in management research at global stage and articulated the roles of researchers in fulfilling India's economic growth aspirations.

"For companies, it's really hard. Especially for large brands because consumers are expecting them to take a stance on these big-ticket issues. But it's a delicate dance,” says Rutgers Business School marketing professor Kristina Durante.

Durante says she is researching this issue.

And while some see the change in the candies as “woke,” others say it is “woke-washing” – co-opting a cause for money.

"They didn't really go all in with it, so it's being seen as inauthentic. It's like they said, ‘Hey, let's make some candies diverse. That means we're supporting of diversity and inclusion and equity,’” Durante says.

What does it say about car insurance companies that so many have celebrity endorsers?

In today's world of social media, breaking through the vast clutter of material is a challenge to all marketers. The highly competitive market for car insurance, with its very high level of competition among many players, combined with the many competitive options available, makes getting noticed a constant challenge. Celebrities help to give those companies a memorable spokesperson and validity for their products, and that is an image they seek.

Instead of being an admission of failure, the decision to give up a leadership role can be seen as a powerful choice, said Terri Kurtzberg, professor at Rutgers Business School. “To decide to shift is difficult, and the decision to leave a position, especially in the middle of a term, can be thought of as an impressive act in this way.”

Back before COVID sent most meetings to Zoom, Farrokh Langdana remembers interviewing a West Indies EMBA candidate in his office at Rutgers Business School.

Across from him, the candidate froze. He just couldn’t talk. But Langdana saw something in the older man, and his resume was fantastic. Langdana, who grew up in Mumbai, India, picked up a cricket ball from his table, given to him by his brother.

“West Indies? You play cricket right?” Langdana said to the quiet candidate and tossed him the ball.

“He just grabbed it, and then he wouldn’t stop talking,” Langdana tells Poets&Quants. “He went on to finish his PhD in finance and now he’s a professor.”

That’s the advantage of an academic-run EMBA program, as opposed to one run by staff, says Langdana, a professor of finance and economics but also the program director of Rutgers’ Executive MBA, nicknamed the EMBA Powerhouse. All applications come directly to him. He personally conducts about 200 EMBA interviews per year.

As a tenured professor, he has the power to look past a bad day and a bad interview to see what a candidate might actually bring to an EMBA classroom.

We had people do the exact same kind of task. We had them look at a store circular deciding what items they would choose to buy, and we found out that when they did it on their cell phone, they were less able to shut down that task and go back to work effectively.

A keynote speech was delivered by Professor (Dr.) Farok J. Contractor (the immediate past president of the Academy of International Business and a distinguished professor in management and global business at Rutgers University, USA), focusing on the role of international business in India's aspirations to become a developed nation by the year 2047.

Dr. Contractor's address was on how India can leverage itself for faster growth by harnessing the knowledge of multinational companies, with Indian company partners learning cutting-edge know-how to eventually become global players in their own right.

A study by Rutgers Business School finance professor Simi Kedia and Venkatesh Panchapagesan, now at the Indian Institute of Management, found that moving to the NYSE from NASDAQ involves gains in visibility and prestige for a company, that can be reflected in the price of a company’s shares. NYSE listing can also mean increased liquidity and lower transaction costs for a company’s stock, they said.

Though the two health systems announced their intent to merge in December, it’s possible that the merger was in the works prior to then, according to Dr. David Dreyfus, an assistant professor at Rutgers Business School who focuses on health care operations. But like many things, the pandemic happened.

“They may have been eyeing [Cape Regional] pre-COVID,” he said, “but a lot of these kind of strategic objectives slowed way down during the pandemic.”

Rutgers-Newark Provost Jeffrey Robinson, a professor at Rutgers Business School and academic director of the school’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development, praised Brown Stovell as a perfect fit for the job.

“Karen Brown Stovell’s experience in business, entrepreneurship, sustainability, mentorship and business acceleration makes her uniquely qualified to lead our Rutgers Newark partnership with Fiserv,’’ said Robinson. “Our corporate partners at Fiserv are looking forward to working with her and our faculty and staff will learn how her collaborative approach will benefit our campus."

New Jersey’s minimum wage is set to rise to $14.13 an hour on Jan. 1, an increase of $1.13. But while they acknowledge it’s always good to see people get bigger paychecks, advocates for low-income workers say $14.13 an hour still falls far short of a living wage in New Jersey. “I dare anybody to scroll through Zillow and try to find a place you can live on $14 an hour in New Jersey,” said Sue Altman, executive director of New Jersey Working Families Alliance.

“With two children, the living wage would work out to something like $43 an hour. So you see, there is a bit of a disconnect,” said economist Parul Jain of Rutgers Business School.

How can you boost the likelihood of small business success? Several attributes, including an entrepreneurial mindset, a focus on cash flow, and an emphasis on your customers, are key to positioning your business for sustained growth and success. “Cash flow is the essence of your business,” said Gary Minkoff, assistant professor of professional practice at Rutgers Business School. Along with tracking revenue and expenses, business owners need to monitor the timing of cash receipts and payments, to ensure they have enough money to cover payroll and other upcoming bills.

If you leave the platform because you think he’s emboldening hate speech, you abandon an audience you’ve spent lots of time and resources building, said Stacy Smollin Schwartz at Rutgers Business School.

But if you stay and Twitter devolves, there’s a possibility your brand gets tarnished.

“A white extremist post is happening next to my post for Oreos, and someone takes a screenshot of that and it looks like I’m endorsing that, that’s bad,” Smollin Schwartz said.

“The craziness is that people are still spending,” said G. Tony Bell, an assistant professor at Rutgers Business School. “Even with interest rates rising, it still hasn’t put as much of a damper as what was expected. Yes, they are impacted, yes, they’re hurting, but it doesn’t seem like they’re hurting as much as we may think.”

Bankman has pushed for a system where the government would perform the role of tax preparer for American workers. Tax preparers lobbied against it. He poured $35,000 of his own money into counter-lobbying in California.

“He said, ‘Look, Jay, I could remodel my kitchen, or I can do this on behalf of taxpayers,’” said Jay Soled, a professor at Rutgers Business School who has known Bankman for about 20 years.

Who should purchase Gap Insurance?

Ideally, Auto insurance should cover the market value of the vehicle. However, there might be differences between the market value and the amount loaned to buy a car. Gap insurance would be needed by anyone who owes more (on the car loan) than what the Auto policy covers under property damage. In such cases, in the event of a total loss, the amount paid out by the insurer will not be enough to pay off the debt, and the insured may end up footing the difference, that is if there is no other insured motorist involved. In such a case, the other driver’s policy will serve the purpose.

Echoing several of his peers, Doug Miller, associate dean for MBA programs at Rutgers Business School, says that the GMAT “could become redundant” — not because standardized testing is void; rather as alternative means of assessment are gaining ground.

“The debate isn’t about whether standardized tests are bad at their job, it’s about whether other indicators are just as good,” Miller says, adding that there has been no decrease in the quality of candidates admitted with the waiver policy in place.

Welcome to our Twitter space. My name is Ben Casselman. I'm an economics reporter here at The New York Times, and we're here today to talk about disability, remote work, and employment.

Disabled people are being hired more often and making more money in the U.S.'s tight labor market. Did Covid prove that remote work was possible after all?
@bencasselman discusses with Nora Genster of @nwcenter, Mason Ameri of @RutgersBSchool, and others.

Mason Ameri:
“Just as you've noted, there's been recent academic papers suggesting broad and relatively sharp employment gains for people with disabilities since the recovery from the pandemic. And we could argue that the increase in remote work has certainly contributed to that.

“You know, during the pandemic, we all realized that many of us could work remotely, and that realization was disproportionately positive for people with disabilities. So, the acceptance we now have of remote work has really helped boost this group's employment, and it's been a total game changer.”

Listen to the entire recording; the transcript is available.

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… I took my first Operations Research course in the second half of my senior year of college. I was a Chemical Engineering major, about to accept a job in the chemical industry and, with room in my schedule, decided to enroll in a course in a discipline I knew next to nothing about. Within weeks I had discovered my academic passion, and was fortunate to be able to secure an NSF Traineeship and enroll in a graduate program in Operations Research, earning M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, and embarking on a fulfilling career in academia.

Stacy Smollin Schwartz, a marketing professor at Rutgers Business School, said the fast-food industry was one of the pioneers of using social media to banter and entertain with low-stakes humor.

Taking a more bold approach on social media won't necessarily equate to more people taking Amtrak, Schwartz said, but it could help the brand stick out.

"It is imperative for more brands to be more human and transparent, and you don’t scrub everything through legal first," she said. "I wouldn’t say that universally companies should be more risky or be more funny or be more sarcastic. I think it’s that companies should be more human, and being more human means understanding your customers."

“The people at Fiserv are innovative leaders who are thinking about how they can create more innovators and entrepreneurs,” Robinson said. “This partnership with RU-N is important not only to the New Jersey economy, but also to the United States economy.”

“It's a litmus test for many who equate this to be equivalent to economic growth and as we know, it has very little actually to do with real economic growth,” said Farrokh Langdana, professor of finance and economics at Rutgers Business School.

“People don't realize that we are not in a digital world. We're so used to turning on the light and the light comes on, putting our phones on mute and the phone becomes mute,” Langdana said. "A perfect macroeconomic soft landing in which inflation falls to manageable levels, red hot wage increases calm down and job and GDP growth slows just enough to calm down wage pressure, is exceedingly difficult to execute. With the macro policy lags, this can be a tall order."

“Cognitively speaking, we aren’t built for sustained attention for long periods of time,” Terri Kurtzberg, PhD, a professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School, Newark and New Brunswick, told Healthline.

“We run out of juice, so to speak, and need to detach to let the mind rest before re-engaging.”

“There’s research that shows that taking breaks is good for technical tasks and improves accuracy and speed, but also that it lowers stress, restores motivation, and even promotes creativity.”

Briana Vannozzi: “According to Reuters, Reckitt, the company that supplies Enfamil, and maker of the largest baby formula brand on the market, announced the shortage is likely to continue until spring.”

Rudi Leuschner: “Reckitt, as Abbott was shut down, they could rely on Abbott’s suppliers to give them more raw materials. But now that Abbott is ramping back up, so, the same raw materials, you can’t necessarily easily make more of that either. Now you are having a supply constraint at Reckitt that prevents them from running at that ultrahigh, above and beyond level.”
@12:25

What daily behaviors lead people to amass credit card debt?

High levels of inflation are impacting most people since raises have generally not kept up with price increases of the goods and services they purchase. There is also a lot of direct and indirect pressure to keep up with your peers or to live an aspirational lifestyle that many people cannot afford. Most people do not have an emergency fund so when unexpected expenses arise, such as for a car repair or medical bill, many people fund the deficit with a credit card. These and a plethora of other reasons often lead people to amass credit card debt.

Supply chains are looking “much better — improved flow of goods and lower freight charges are all helping,” said Alok Baveja, professor of supply chain management for Rutgers Business School. “Inventory stocks look more normal than they have looked for a while.”

Rudi Leuschner, an associate professor of supply chain management at Rutgers University, said getting back to pre-shortage baby formula stock levels will likely take more time than we’d like it to.

“But when it involves something like this and the impact is on babies and little kids, it’s crushing.”

Developing countries should think twice about COP27 goals

China, India and many other developing countries should be wary of the climate commitments that were pushed for at COP27 in Egypt. The entire economies of the West were built on fossil fuels, hence asking the aforementioned countries to abstain from using them is tantamount to asking them to freeze their development. Is this a backhanded way of keeping them poor under the guise of saving the planet?

CPA Evolution encompasses a new model for licensure and the CPA Exam that will subsequently necessitate some significant changes to our accounting programs. As accounting educators, we’ve been considering CPA Evolution for some time. The CPA Exam is due for an overhaul, and we are enthusiastic about the changes, but many questions remain about how best to incorporate these new topics into our programs. Curriculum changes aren’t always easy to achieve. And while we recognize the importance of the new material, we also grapple with the challenge of where to include the new material in a curriculum that is already jam-packed.

Accounting educators have been considering CPA Evolution for some time, but what about accounting students? Are they thinking about the new licensure model at all? Do they welcome the changes? Are they worried? To find the answers, I polled a few accounting majors at Rutgers Business School. Most of the students who responded to my inquiry were juniors and seniors — all of whom are likely to be affected by the new CPA Exam.

Live Oak officials did not comment, by press time, on the reasons behind their decision. Some possible motivators are suggested by Simi Kedia and Venkatesh Panchapagesan, of Rutgers Business School and Olin School of Business, respectively. In a 2004 research paper, the two cite "significant gains" a company can make by listing on the NYSE rather than Nasdaq.

Morris Davis, the Paul V. Profeta Chair of Real Estate and the academic director of the center, said Ladell is a perfect fit for the role.

“From the time that the Rutgers Center for Real Estate was established, Ron Ladell has been an integral part of the mission of the center and successfully engaged in all aspects of the center’s activities, including academics, research, fundraising and student outcomes,” he said. “As a result, I am pleased to announce that Ron has accepted my invitation to become the next chair of the Rutgers Center for Real Estate.”

Rutgers Today asked Stacy Smollin Schwartz, a marketing professor at Rutgers Business School and the founding director of its fully online Master of Science in Digital Marketing program, to shed some light on the story, which is changing by the hour.

It is not illegal for companies to pay employees through benefits instead of salaries, but those benefits must still be reported to tax authorities as income - with the exception of minor perks like free coffee at the office, said Jay Soled, a lawyer and accounting professor at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey.

NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi reporting on the U.S. House voting to avert a nationwide rail strike.

Professor Rudi Leuschner comments at 5:11. Watch the video. Full transcript available.

“Last year we had far more severe and systematic supply chain problems than this year and more significant Covid concerns,” said John Impellizzeri, director of the center for supply chain management at Rutgers University business school. “We’re in a better position than last year, but we are dealing with persistent supply chain issues.”

One of the easiest ways to optimize your digital marketing is by making a bigger investment in one type of marketing which will help optimize and lower spend on multiple types of marketing.

This type of marketing that I refer to is influencer marketing. When you look at influencers as being those social media users that publish content and have networks of friends and fans that follow their advice, you begin to see a holistic perspective on influencer marketing.

"Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry"

Dynamic inventory system with pricing adjustment for price-comparison shoppers
Wen Chen, Michael Katehakis, Qian Tang

With numerous price-comparison websites and applications, consumers today are frequently conducting price-comparison shopping. As a result, retailers face an increasing challenge in predicting consumer demand and determining the optimal product price and inventory level accordingly. To address this issue, this paper proposes an inventory model with joint decisions of price and inventory to optimize the retailer's long-run average profit under price-comparison consumer shopping.

Is it important for the average consumer to understand how the federal funds rate works? Why or Why not?

They may not need to know the details, but they should understand the role of interest rates and how it increases the cost of buying a house, mortgage or college education.

Although it’s a macroeconomic concept, how does the federal funds rate affect consumers’ personal finances?

The Federal Funds Rate mainly impacts short-term interest rates. For example, if someone runs a balance on their credit card, it increases the interest payment they owe to the credit card provider. This is one of many reasons why it is usually a bad idea not to pay your credit card off in full each month.

According to Mahmud Hassan, the director of Rutgers' Business School's Pharmaceutical MBA Program, the program is not for everybody, and the students who tend to excel in the program are those who have either an interest in the industry, or a strong technical background (some students might even already have either a PhD or a PharmD.)

“For the people who have done well, they've had science backgrounds or experience in the healthcare industry,” Hassan says, adding that “they may have worked not directly with the pharma industry, but indirectly, like as a consultant, or as a researcher.”

Parul Jain, associate professor of professional practice, Rutgers Business School: Black Friday deals may be misleading (and have a massive time cost) and Cyber Monday deals may offer better value.

A general consensus is that comparison shopping is needed, with a complete check on internet prices. It would be helpful to reduce the budget and focus on reduced lists. Additionally, everyone should make lists and avoid costly items. Also, while name brands are popular, it is important to assess quality relative to price. Plus, some brand items may be cheaper because of offbeat colors.

Kristina Durante, marketing department vice chair and professor, Rutgers Business School: Consumers were geared up for holiday cheer this year and spending started early. On the one hand, consumers are concerned about inflation and spending too much. On the other hand, they are more excited for the holidays than in prior years. Consumer eagerness for the holidays this year comes from the back-to-normal feel compared with pandemic days and wanting to control holiday spending and wrap up early before prices change again.

G. Tony Bell, assistant professor of professional practice, Rutgers Business School: Last year, we saw retailers and their suppliers operating in a just-in-time environment by minimizing their inventories as much as possible without sacrificing service. This was an overall management strategy aimed at receiving goods as close as possible to when those goods are needed.

Last year at this time, retailers had high demand, but stock was in short supply. This year, that's turned on its head. So, what does that mean for consumers? Assistant Professor of Professional Practice G. Tony Bell, Department of Supply Chain Management and Alla Valente join Kimberly Atkins Stohr.

Yla Eason, the creator of the first Black superhero figure and who is also a professor of professional practice at Rutgers Business School in Newark, says she’s excited to see Afro-futuristic toys roll out this season more than ever before. Sun-Man, the Black action figure she designed in the 80s, has been growing in popularity over the last several years, an industry shift she believes is due in large part to the Black Panther fandemonium.

“For boy's toys especially, there’s a lot of Black animation, gaming that’s being developed, drawn from comic books and sci-fi. Its characters looking like you and being futuristic and magical, and mystical, it’s part of the genre right now. And I’m seeing a mass of it, not just a one-off," Eason told Rutgers University.