In the spring, the Cox School’s graduate admissions teams took special note of a trend among applicants for the SMU Cox Online MBA program. SMU Cox has always been a magnet for highly motivated, ambitious young professionals — but this was different.
Meet professor Zhen Zhang, SMU Cox School of Business’ newest faculty addition. Zhang brings his substantive expertise in leadership and analytical methods to the School.
A team of two second years and three first year SMU Cox MBA students representing the MBA Energy Club claimed first place and an $11,000 top prize at this year’s National Energy Finance Challenge (NEFC) hosted by the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business.
On October 15, 2020, as part of celebrating 100 years of business education at SMU, the SMU Cox School of Business honored Edwin L. Cox, Sr. ’42 with the inaugural Cox Visionary Award for his extraordinary leadership and contributions to the business community. Mr. Cox, for whom SMU’s business school was named in 1978, exemplifies the vision, civic engagement and can-do spirit that inspire the best in all of us today and shape the business world changers of tomorrow.
An $11.5 million gift from Aurelia and Brad Heppner ’88 and family to SMU’s Edwin L. Cox School of Business will strengthen the school’s commitment to fostering the leadership skills of tomorrow’s executives and investing in groundbreaking research that impacts the business world.
Passionate.
No other word is used more frequently to describe Ana Rodriguez, (BBA ’03), managing director of the SMU Cox Latino Leadership Initiative.
SMU Cox will honor four alumni at its annual Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni Awards Luncheon on Friday, September 25. This year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards honorees are Kelly H. Compton, BBA ’79 and William (Bill) A. Hall, BBA ’67 and MBA ‘68. The 2020 Outstanding Young Alumni honors go to Mark A. Lau, BBA ’06 and Courtney N. Naudo, BBA ’01.
Join SMU Cox for a week of virtual events to learn about our MBA and Specialized Master’s programs. Virtual sessions will feature Cox leadership, current students, alumni, and admissions representatives.
Securing diverse mentorship and generating an early interest in the profession have been barriers to increasing the number of Black accounting professionals, according to The CPA Journal.
Cutting-edge instruction depends not only on developing students in the new technical skills that will play an increasingly important role in the world of business but also on teaching the principles — flexibility, intellectual curiosity, critical thinking — that leaders need to make key decisions and to, well, lead.
Dixon Hall to convene University Diversity Council, supervise ombudsperson
Congratulations to SMU Cox EMBA Class of 2020 graduates Saadia Sheikh and Adam Tunks. Both were just named to this year’s slate of “EMBA Best & Brightest” by Poets & Quants.
The Cox School of Business announced today the launch of the NextGen Cox Curriculum, grounded in three foundational pillars: Leadership, Analytics, and Experiential Learning. Incoming MBA students will be the first to experience the school’s new NextGen Cox Curriculum, and benefit from the enhanced rigor and practical application to ensure they are not just “job ready” but “future-prepared” as “21st century leaders for jobs to come later in an ever changing world.”
Leaders can count on many certainties during the lifetime of their businesses. Many of these inevitable events are positive, but others, such as a large-scale crisis, can strike fear into the hearts of people overseeing an organization.
Bhaskaran has studied what makes startups successful, with an emphasis on how entrepreneurs find a balance between their businesses’ short-term survival and their long-term profitability. It’s a trade-off at the heart of a research paper he co-authored in 2019 entitled, “Sequential Product Development and Introduction by Cash-Constrained Start-Ups.” We spoke with him about why most startups fail and the skills needed to facilitate their success.
The Caruth Institute at SMU Cox distinguishes itself by providing students with experiential learning opportunities in non-traditional business settings. Learn how they are taking entrepreneurship to new and exciting places.
On Saturday morning, August 15, 2020, the All-University Commencement Convocation will assemble graduates and candidates from all of SMU’s schools and professional programs for an outdoor ceremony at Ford Stadium. Commencement speakers will offer their congratulations to our newest class of graduates, an Honorary Degree will be bestowed on Mr. Max Glauben, and President Turner will re-confer your degrees. Graduates and candidates will cross the stage and have their names announced. SMU Cox will not host a separate ceremony. Face coverings are required while inside Ford Stadium and social distancing guidelines must be maintained. For guests who are unable to attend, the ceremony will be streamed live at smu.edu/live.
Vishal Ahuja's empirical study examined the impact of maintaining continuity of care in a primary care setting. For Ahuja, the research was personal, and a goal was set: Capture the value.
Incoming Master of Science in Accounting student Ashlee Jones is the first recipient of the newly announced Nora O’Garro/Odell Brown Scholarship for alumni of the SMU Accounting Career Awareness Program (ACAP).
At a time in our national discourse when many of us are asking what we can do to make a difference, SMU Cox Dean Matthew B. Myers has announced the creation of a new Cox School scholarship fund that will give the Cox Community an opportunity to contribute to a tangible need.
The COVID-19 stay-at-home orders have created a dependence on the use of videoconference platforms and telepresence. We spoke to Professor Amit Basu, who conducted an empirical study on the effectiveness of such technologies, for his insights.
Two-year MBA students Jenkins Bender (MBA '21) and Stacy Tubonemi (MBA '21), were among 32 business students across Texas to be recipients of the Texas Business Hall of Fame (TBHF) Scholar Award. Jenkins received The Robert H. Dedman Scholar Award, while Stacy received the Signor Family Scholar Award.
SMU Cox students have access to amazing opportunities. Last year, several undergraduate students were awarded top honors and traveled the world pursuing higher education opportunities.
Running out of money can cause a business to fail. Professors Simon Mak and John Terry share their insights for avoiding this situation altogether — and what options remain to businesses when the cash is gone.
Read the full story from the Dallas Morning News: ‘Bring people together, not apart:’ Chance encounter on a Southwest Airlines flight turns into an emotional discussion on race. American Airlines CEO Doug Parker took the flight on competitor Southwest Airlines Friday that turned into an exchange about race in the midst of nationwide protests.
I invite you to read the message below, offered by Dallas resident and our campus neighbor at the Bush Presidential Center, President George W. Bush. These thoughts are representative of the Cox School’s philosophy and our dedication to diversity and to the disenfranchised, including at this particularly difficult time in history, our students, friends, and colleagues in the African-American community.
Despite COVID-19, the same kind of connections were made during the most recent Southwest Venture Forum on May 21, when the event went virtual. The Caruth Institute of Entrepreneurship took it a step further and used the opportunity to raise donations for the Prison Entrepreneurship Program.
SMU Cox School of Business alumnus Michael Bianez (BBA ’17, MSA ’18) has earned the Elijah Watt Sells Award, the highest award on the CPA exam. Of the 75,000 individuals taking the CPA Exam in 2019, Bianez was among only 137 (0.2%) people to earn the esteemed award. Bianez is only the third Cox School alumnus ever to earn the honor.
From its modest start in 1920 to becoming a world leader in business education, we have an enduring connection with the city of Dallas.
Today, we need to be agile as we encounter unforeseen obstacles — student learning outcomes in the virtual classroom, staff and faculty shortages, and other operational challenges — that drastically alter the scope of our roles and priorities. All the while, our teams are navigating health and safety concerns, working remotely, and supporting their families through the pandemic.
The persistence of four Cox School of Business undergraduates paid off in a strong finish this month, despite the unexpected challenge of COVID-19 forcing them to do an online presentation at Villanova University’s coveted real estate-focused 2020 Mulroy Challenge.
In his paper “An Empirical Study of the Effectiveness of Telepresence as a Business Meeting Mode,” Information Technology and Management Journal, 2016, Professor Amit Basu reported on a large-scale empirical study of the use of various virtual meeting technologies in business meetings.
Congratulations Dillon Baxter, Cox BBA Class of 2020, for being recognized among the 100 Best & Brightest Business Majors in 2020 by Poets&Quants For Undergrads! “Dillon represents the best of what we have to offer in the Cox School: brilliant in the classroom, caring of others, resilient, and determined.”
Congratulations Layal Zalkout, Cox Scholar and BBA Class of 2020, for being recognized among the 100 Best & Brightest Business Majors in 2020 by Poets&Quants For Undergrads! “Layal excels in the classroom, shows complete respect to her peers and faculty, and uses her free time to give back to her community.”
Congratulations to the winning teams and a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all the students from the various Cox Masters’ program who participated in the ITOM case competition this year!
This challenge isn’t about how much you give, but about the impact we can make when we join as a collective. Let’s show the world what Mustangs can do it one day.
Congratulations to SMU Board of Trustee and SMU Cox Executive Board member Gerald Alley MBA ‘75, inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame on Feb. 7
Last week four SMU Cox MBAs competed and placed 3rd in the inaugural TCU Energy Case Competition at the NAPE Conference in Houston, Texas. Mark Avioli, Travis Little, Emily Mallon and Morgan Mitchell, all 2nd year MBAs, analyzed the implications of the wide performance of U.S. E&P equities in 2019 to create innovative real-world solutions.
“I am honored to join the distinguished and diverse group of individuals who make up the NACD Fellow community and who are committed to advancing the highest standards of boardroom excellence,” said Dr. Goodwin. “The resources, insights, and connections I’ve made through NACD Fellowship will be key assets to the companies I serve, as well as to my professional growth as a director.”
"That's why I love SMU so much," Ray said. "Because I have a chance to be academically challenged and take advantage of a full scholarship and to be in one of the best business schools in the world and play for one of the best teams, I feel like, in the country."
Over the last several decades, consolidation in the banking industry has created larger banks, according to new research by SMU Cox Finance Professor Erik Mayer, leading to some negative effects for low-income households.
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt was proud of the entire team especially Andy Reid and the coaching staff who led the team to the AFC Championship game and a trip to the Super Bowl.
The SMU Lettermen's Board of Directors and its Silver Anniversary Mustang (SAM) Award Committee honored Bob Begert (BBA '67) as the recipient of the 2019 SAM Award at halftime of Saturday's SMU Men's Basketball's victory over Temple.
In ambitious research, SMU Cox Accounting Professor Sean Wang and his co-authors develop a new way to measure intangible assets that has been lacking for decades.
This fall, SMU Cox was pleased to welcome to campus the eighth Executive Leadership Forum for the Digital Supply Chain Institute (DSCI) of the Center for Global Enterprise.
In a new study, strategy professors Julian Kolev and Wendy Bradley analyze the link between digital piracy and innovation for technology firms in the software business.
Mystery and speculation shrouds short sellers, also known as the “smart money.” Who are they? Where do they trade and why? In new research, Finance Professor Mehrdad Samadi of SMU Cox and co-authors provide the first evidence of short sellers, or informed traders, trading venue of choice.
As we launch our second hundred years, SMU Cox continues to strive for excellence in the business education we offer and in the future leaders we help develop. We are committed to further growth by concentrating on academic excellence and collaboration among faculty members, the SMU campus, the City of Dallas and the global community.
Vast amounts of knowledge are at our fingertips owing to the Internet. As we continually immerse ourselves in the online world of information, what are the cognitive effects of it? This fundamental question is on the mind of Marketing Professor Matthew Fisher of SMU Cox in new research about Internet learning and its consequences. According to Fisher, little research about the subject has occurred to date in understanding this phenomenon.
The mobile channel is poised to be the future of online markets, according to ITOM Professor Tom Tan of SMU Cox. And, retail operations managers should not blindly treat the mobile channel like the conventional PC channel. In a working paper, Tan and co-author Nitish Jain make important contributions to innovative retail practices and operational decisions.
Cross-border venture capital investments play an important role in the scaling up of high growth companies, according to Strategy Professor Wendy Bradley. Foreign capital, expertise, and the networks that accompany cross-border investments are welcome by start-up ventures. However, a concern is that they transfer the majority of economic activity to the investor country. In new research, Bradley of SMU Cox and her co-authors examine cross-border venture capital (VC) investments and its implications for public policy. “There is a need for cross-border investments and partnerships for the advancement of science and economic growth,” says Bradley.
Firms with strong corporate governance are like democracies, according to Finance Professor Nickolay Gantchev. Through their proposals and votes, shareholders can determine the broad direction of a company. In new research, Nickolay Gantchev of SMU Cox and Mariassunta Giannetti study the effectiveness of this low-cost form of shareholder activism. “Like a democracy, if you have more informed shareholders, when they vote, they can figure out which are good proposals, and prevent the bad ones from passing,” says Gantchev.
Jennifer Pérez, BBA '19, grew up in Tela, on Honduras’ Caribbean coast, near a popular botanical garden and nature preserve. Like many of her peers, she dreamed of going to college in the United States, but faced obstacles – a complicated college application process, academic preparation and tuition.
It will soon be time to reconnect with your fellow SMU Cox alumni and faculty at Homecoming 2019. In addition to SMU’s homecoming and reunion events, Cox is starting a new tradition of hosting class reunions just for our MBA and MS alumni. For 2019, we’ll have a weekend of reunion activities for MBA and MS alumni from the classes of 2014, 2009, 2004, 1999, 1994 and so on!
SMU Cox Distinguished Alumni Award winners are: Steven J. Lindley and Bruce Robson, both BBA ‘74. The Cox School’s 2019 Outstanding Young Alumni honorees, also alphabetically, are: Courtney Caldwell, BBA ’00, and Ryan Dalton, BBA ’01.
SMU Cox launches Supply-Chain and Operations Management concentration for MBA students.
Neha Husein and Samuel Jacobson, both SMU Cox BBA ’19, are listed among 100 of this year’s “Best and Brightest” BBA students in the nation. Poets and Quants for Undergrads profiles students from the top 50 business schools in this annual feature.
Business-minded high school graduates now have a better shot at entering Cox as freshmen than ever before. Earlier this year, in preparation for the class entering in Fall 2020, SMU Cox launched the Direct Admit enrollment program.
As part of an ongoing series designed to promote our academic departments, publications like the one attached will highlight our programs’ star students, faculty, alumni, research and supporters.
For more than three years, ambiguous wording in the Texas Penal Code led to inconsistent treatment of black and white arrestees for low-value shoplifting, according to a new study by a professor at Southern Methodist University.
SMU Cox Marketing Professor Chaoqun Chen analyzes how consumers shop around various retail formats and how their behavior changed during the Great Recession. Her findings uncover truths about how consumers from different income levels adjusted to a new normal in their weekly treks.
Just when “simple" worries about the economy and the elections were on our minds, a new source of risk to the financial system emerges…
What if clinical trials could be conducted faster, required fewer patients, cost less, and led to improved health? "Our approach is good for patients, companies, and the public health at large, which would come from needed drugs being on the market sooner," states Vishal Ahuja, ITOM professor at SMU Cox.
From the mundane to the sublime, points-based loyalty programs are ubiquitous today. But are they driving real loyalty? Marketers who use points to build behavioral loyalty may drive incremental sales, but they’re missing an opportunity to foster far more profitable attitudinal loyalty.
At a time when capital has never been more mobile and available, financial protectionism is on the rise. The costs of these economic nationalistic policies are little known however. In new research, SMU Cox Finance Professor Miller and co-authors reveal the important consequences of government-related incursions in deals between foreign and domestic companies and the resulting decline in shareholder value for a wide range of industries.
The new scarce resource is attention, notes Marketing Professor Milica Mormann of SMU Cox. "We live in an attention economy, and our attention is limited." Through a multi-disciplinary approach, Mormann and co-author Cary Frydman reveal how attention is operating to influence economic choices in their novel research. "Attention is the step that leads a manager or consumer toward an action," she states. "We know we have about eight seconds to deliver a message on social media, in a TV ad, or for an investing decision or health care choice. But we do not know exactly how attention operates, in spite of the industry performing studies to gauge attention."
When it comes to corporate governance, hedge funds are the new sheriffs in town. That’s the take-away of “Do Activists Turn Bad Bidders into Good Acquirers?” Associate Professor of Finance Nickolay Gantchev and his co-authors reveal new insights about the mergers and acquisitions strategy of firms that shareholder activists target.
Getting inside the mind of the chief executive officer is a difficult research avenue. Knowledge about how CEOs process information, their cognitive style, has been relatively sparse. Strategy Professor Daniel Zyung of SMU Cox and co-authors unpack the cognitive mechanisms of CEOs in new research — and reveal how and why it matters. "Basically, this is a study about CEOs’ information processing style," Zyung says, "with many important implications, including their firm’s growth strategies."
The emergence of U.S. shale oil has expanded the global supply of oil. New research notes that the long-run impact of shale oil will depend on how much can be produced and how much it will cost. Few have good answers. In recent research, finance professor and energy expert James Smith of SMU Cox with co-author Thomas Lee determine what portion of known shale resources are economically viable at various price points and how many wells are likely to be drilled. So far, only a small portion of drilling sites have factored into the shale oil boom, according to Smith, and we have only depleted a fraction of U.S. shale resources.
The U.S. healthcare system is the most expensive system in the world. Identifying ways to lower costs and have better health outcomes is a primary goal for health care managers and providers, policymakers and consumers. In new research, ITOM Professor Vishal Ahuja of SMU Cox and co-authors show that better continuity of care lowers costs and wasted effort, reduces time to see specialists, and produces significant savings in hospital system resources. They identify how "gatekeepers" are key to a more optimal and healthier system.
As policymakers around the globe continue to debate options to incentivize retirement savings, new research uncovers some game-changing facts. The two main competing options consist of traditional tax-deferred savings vehicles like 401(k)s and IRAs, in which savers contribute pretax money and pay tax on withdrawals, or Roth-type plans, whereby savers pay taxes first and withdraw funds tax-free upon retirement. Which type of scheme is better depends on which side of the table one sits. In their paper, SMU Cox Finance Professor Mattia Landoni and co-author Zeldes discover that under a Roth-type regimen, government fares better, largely because of the investment fees that government implicitly pays in traditional tax-deferred accoun
Regulators of financial markets, including the Federal Reserve Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission, worry about a liquidity crisis in the corporate bond market. The financial market crisis of 2008-2009 involved domino-like liquidity shocks and regulators wish to steer clear of them if they can help it. In new research, SMU Cox Finance Professors Venkataraman and Jotikasthira show that some bond mutual funds are filling the role of a liquidity supplier, alongside a decline in dealer participation in market-making activities.
Today, many crowd-sourced investment research venues and platforms co-exist on the Internet, with new competitors continuing to arrive on the scene. These new entrants are becoming a source of information for investors and capital markets that rival the incumbent sell-side analyst research model. Technological innovation is making it so, along with smart entrepreneurs identifying market opportunities. In new research, SMU Cox Accounting Professor Stanimir Markov and co-authors examine how this increased competition is shaking up the status quo.
The findings will help inform policymakers’ rulemaking to prevent future crashes and better design market structures.
Event Proceeds Benefit Energy Student Scholarships
The state-of-the-art Sheffield Lab will give students a unique experiential learning opportunity as they prepare to enter the energy industry. The hands-on learning space is dedicated solely to the advancement of energy investment-related education.
The use of big data in the health care industry, the largest sector of the economy, offers many benefits for the overall economy, businesses, and the health and well-being of people. In a first-of-its-kind study, SMU Cox ITOM Professor Vishal Ahuja and co-authors show how the use of data can validate life-changing health care findings. Additionally, this new approach using big data demonstrates how regulatory agencies can advance their governance missions by monitoring public safety with more robust, real-time analytical methods.
With literally troves of corporate information available online for analysts to sift through, how can firms differentiate their message and convey complex, meaningful information to those who need it? The increasing number of analyst days, a long-form presentation by publicly-listed companies, indicate a trend toward a greater demand for face time with management. In novel research, Accounting Professor Stan Markov of SMU Cox and co-author Marcus Kirk study analyst/investor days as a disclosure medium that large firms with complex operations use to deepen stakeholders' understanding about the firm's outlook and valuation.
Are people hard-wired to reach agreement, even when a deal is less than optimal or below a bottom line? According to new research by Management Professor Robin Pinkley and co-authors, as if force of habit, when faced with an offer people are reaching agreements and sealing deals when not agreeing might be a more rational choice. This phenomenon is based on the tendency of people being averse to impasse and attracted to agreement.
The oil and gas industry has received a bad wrap about drilling for shale gas. Since late 2008, when prices collapsed owing to demand destruction from the economic crisis and an abundance of supply, prices of natural gas have remained low. From an all-time high of $14 per mcf (thousand cubic foot) they have fallen to under $3 today. Critics have charged that too many gas wells have been drilled given the low prices, and that the gas boom is unsustainable. SMU Cox Finance Professor James Smith's new research says the facts do not support that claim.
The conventional method used by the oil and gas industry to report on upstream operations and results distorts profitability and valuations. Industry practice is to use "barrels of oil equivalent" or BOE— a measure that combines oil and gas volumes based on thermal parity, or the energy content of the source. Research by Finance Professor James Smith, the Maguire Chair of Oil and Gas Management, shows why and how the BOE convention has overstated the cost of adding reserves, the principal asset held by these firms. This comes at a time when the industry can scarcely afford miscalculations to their detriment.
Companies buy back stocks for a variety of reasons. One rationale is a key motive for a new study: Managers of undervalued firms use stock repurchases as a mechanism to signal firm value. Curiously, Finance Professor Stacey Jacobsen of SMU Cox and co-author Utpal Bhattacharya find a large number of firms announce share repurchases but do not actually follow through with the buyback. The stock market tends to view repurchase announcements as good news, according to its reaction.
In the U.S., shareholder voting and activism is increasingly used to influence firm policy. New research by SMU Cox Finance Chair Darius Miller and co-authors suggests that shareholder voting can be an effective governance mechanism in countries outside the U.S. "This is important," says Miller, "since in many countries outside the U.S., the need for governance is greatest." The authors set out to test shareholder activism in global markets in a first-of-its-kind, large-scale study. Prior to this paper, there was not any evidence on whether shareholder voting in other countries was effective or not.