In Print (((and on the air))) A Sampling of Recent News Coverage of The UTD School of Management Compiled by Patricia Schoch The Toronto Star June 5, 2003 "Cost of reforms exceed benefits" The conclusions of a study by Kam-Ming Wan, assistant professor of finance and managerial economics, were featured in a story that discussed the controversial topic of independent directors of corporations. The story quoted Professor Wan's study, "Independent Directors, Executive Pay, and Firm Performance," as indicating that "independent directors neither strengthen CEO pay-for-performance sensitivities nor improve firm performance." The Dallas Morning News April 27, 2003 "Hopeful Financial Service Employees Need to Display Many Skills to Stand Out" Constantine Konstans, professor of accounting and information management, commented in an interview, that even in the down economy there will be an "uptick" in the hiring of internal audit and internal control assurance services professionals. This story was also carried by the Knight-Ridder Business News Wire. Associated Press Newswires April 23, 2003 "University's Jones Graduate School of Management: Teaching Excellence Award for Second Time" Research by Chris Kirby, associate professor of finance and managerial economics, received prominent mention in a story on the recipient of a teaching excellence award at Rice University. Professor Kirby collaborated with the Rice award recipient, Jeff Flemming, and with Barbara Ostdiek, also of Rice's Jones School, on a study that measures the importance of volatility modeling for portfolio asset allocation decisions. The Miami Herald.com April 23, 2003 "American a 'classic' case study" Diane McNulty, associate dean for external relations and corporate development, was interviewed for a story on former AMR Chairman Don Carty's apology to employees for failing to disclose details of the supplemental pension plan and retention bonus program for AMR executives. "It will become a classic in terms of leadership and governance. And, when the whole story comes out, we'll be able to tell: Was he acting as a puppet for the board or acting on his own?" Dr. McNulty told the newspaper. The Fort Worth Star Telegram also published a version of this story in which Dr. McNulty was quoted as saying the AMR board should publicly clarify how much it knew of the situation. The Dallas Morning News April 9, 2003 "Texas-Based i2 Technologies Must Reassure Clients It Can Survive, Experts Say" Hasan Pirkul, dean of the UTD School of Management, was asked his opinion on what could help the software maker survive the economic slump in its industry sector. "They do a have decent-sized [customer] base, and really they have had a valuable piece of software so I think they can survive a little longer in this environment," Dean Pirkul said. This story was also carried by the Knight-Ridder Business News Wire. PM Network Magazine April 2003 "Open Mind: In the Competitive Workplace, Experience Can Only Lead So Far" Details on UTD's Project Management Program led the article in which UTD project management student Richard Stubing, who works for a Plano software company, was interviewed on the value of formal training in the project management field. "School doesn't replace [experience and effort], but it does equip you to see the bigger picture, to take and implement the fundamentals that you've learned," Mr. Stubing told the magazine. The Wall Street Journal Europe March 18, 2003 "Stock Laggards in Japan Hurt Entire Market" Pointing to the importance of its findings, this article featured a study on the Japanese economy by Yexiao Xu, associate professor of finance and managerial economics, and his collaborators. The study, "Idiosyncratic Risk and Creative Destruction in Japan," shows how support for weak companies is hurting strong ones in Japanese equity markets. Professor Xu's collaborators on the work were Yasushi Hamao, of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, and Jianping Mei, of New York University's Stern School of Business. "The findings are important," the story said, "because they illustrate how long and painful it may be for Japan to untangle its financial problems; similar to the long U.S. climb out of the Depression." This article also appeared in The Toronto Globe and Mail. The Dallas Morning News February 25, 2003 "Aligning goals can help avert crisis" In a story on the pressures for business leaders to reach higher performance levels with fewer resources, Dr. Gregory Dess, Andrew R. Cecil Professor in organization, strategy and international management, commented that poor organizational structures or political power plays are often the cause of problems within a company. Another cause is employees who don't get along with each other and "fail to do what's best for the entire organization," Dr. Dess said. The Richardson Morning News February 20, 2003 Richardson Business This column, by business reporter Ieva M. Augstums, reported on a $152,000 teaching grant from IDS Scheer, Inc., won by Nirup Menon, assistant professor of information systems and operations management, and Michael Savoie, director of the UTD Center for Information Technology and Management. The two won the grant to test the IDS Scheer software in their classes. The Outsourcing Journal February 2003 "Does Your Sales Force Know Where Your $100,000 Demo Machine Is? You Would If You Outsourced" Jim Joiner, director of The UTD School of Management's Project Management Program, was interviewed on the strategic advantages to companies who outsource management of highly technical equipment. Mr. Joiner stressed that integrity and trust are foremost in creating successful relationships in the outsourcing process. He added that companies need to create "clear guidelines and documentation of what they expect" when looking for a service provider. Dallas Business Journal January 30, 2003 "UT-Dallas School of Management receives high ranking" Dallas Business Journal reported that the UTD School of Management (SOM) was ranked sixth, worldwide, in research productivity in operations management and information systems in a study published by OR/MS Today, a publication of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences. SOM Dean Hasan Pirkul stressed the importance of the ranking. "This is the first time in our history that someone has looked at what we've done and placed us alongside the best in the nation and world," he said in the article. Texas Technology Magazine January 2003 "Education: What Skills Do You Need?" In a story on the latest education trends for technology workers, Sumit Sarkar, professor of information systems and operations management, reported that The UTD School of Management plans to soon begin offering short courses on various subjects of technology management. The course offerings will be based on needs expressed by both prospective students and the companies they work for. The article quoted Dr. Sarkar as explaining that companies are "very interested in knowledge management - compiling basic tools in a company that people can refer to instead of solving a problem from scratch every time." ESPN January 3, 2003 "America's Team still a financial dream" Gerald Scully, recently retired professor emeritus of economics and author of The Market Structure of Sports, commented for this story on the economic status of the Dallas Cowboys that Dallas has "always had a base of fickle fans. Texans just hate losers. Maybe that's their residual Wild West spirit." Professor Scully also said that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is "still making money hand over fist, but at some point there has to be a decline." Los Angeles Times November 4, 2002 "The Microsoft Decision: Many Consumers Discount Ruling" In a story on the public reaction to a U.S. District Court settlement in the landmark antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation, Stan Liebowitz, professor of finance and managerial economics, commented that the software industry is different from other industries. The story pointed out that the anti-monopoly legal battle against Microsoft "has failed to resonate with most consumers" because, since the software giant's legal battles began, there has continued to be "better gadgetry at lower prices." As Professor Liebowitz - who is the author of Winners, Losers, and Microsoft - put it, "It's not like the healthcare industry, where their insurance premiums and prescription costs are always going up. This is an industry where everything's been getting cheaper . . ." A version of this story also appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer. ABC World News Now October 17, 2002 Stan Liebowitz, professor of finance and managerial economics and author of Re-Thinking the Network Economy, was the featured guest, interviewed by co-anchor Derek McGinty on intellectual property and copyright issues raised by such Internet companies as Napster. Professor Liebowitz agreed with Mr. McGinty's comments that the struggle against Napster represented a war "to control media and content in the digital age, when the technology changes far faster than the laws written to manage it." But, he pointed out that in destroying Napster, the recording industry has created a situation that is even more difficult to control. "[T]he record industry could have asked them to make certain changes that might have allowed them to generate some revenues from Napster. But with the replacements, the pure peer-to-peer systems . . ., those are much harder for the record industry to deal with," Professor Liebowitz explained.