UAH College of Business Administration Newsletter Fall 2014

College of Business Administration • Fall 2014 Newsletter •

BUSINESSUA

HCollege of Business Administration | The University of Alabama in Huntsville | 2014


WELCOME:Life at UAH in photosGreetings from the Dean

ALUMNI: Toney on Ford Motor CompanyConversant Bio Employs Five

CBA CENTERS and LABSCMER Small Business DevelopmentHOT Coffee Organization

COMMUNITY:Activist Lily Ledbetter PresentsClimate Change Hot TopicEconomic RoundtablesVenerable Tenzin Visits UAH

FACULTY: Xiaotong LiD. AllenFong & WilhiteFaculty Awards

Distinguished Resarch AwardRetiring: Sherman, Evans

GLOBAL OUTREACHChina ExchangeRomania Exchange

STUDENT SHOWCASE:Boeing New BusinessHot Mobile AppStudent Tax HelpStudent Internships

In This Issue:

Business Administration

Students Know How To Work AND Play.

FACT

FUN

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412

182321

612

723

1612

921

239

2021

1612

94


This has been a wonderful year for us here in Huntsville. We received extension of our AACSB accredita-tion for another five years, estab-lished a Memorandum of Under-standing with HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology to collaborate on a variety of initiatives tied to stu-dents and start-up businesses, and joined Downtown Huntsville, Inc. and BizTech in launching a co-work-ing space called The VIBE Down-town.

We kick-started our ICE Lab (Innova-tion.Commericilalization. Entrepre-neurship) under the leadership of Dr. John Whitman…and he is off to a great start. Please read more about the work of the ICE Lab and our Center for Management & Economic Research (CMER) inside.

We continued our commitment to hosting Distinguished Speaker pro-grams that are open to students and the community – with great success. During the past year, we hosted Ford Motor Company Corporate Vice-President Frederiek Toney; a panel discussion on the science of climate change moderated by Dr. Russ Roberts of Stanford’s Hoover Institution and host of EconTalk; Lilly Ledbetter, who led a battle for pay equity that went to the U.S. Supreme Court; and The Venerable Tenzin Pri-yadarshi, Founder of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

We also hosted Entrepreneur Round-tables each semester – spotlighting entrepreneurs who lead non-profits and those who founded information technology companies.

Our faculty members have been very productive – winning grants, pub-lishing in top journals, and achieving noteworthy recognitions. Dr. Jatin-der (Jeet) Gupta, Eminent Scholar, was recognized by the University with the 2014 UAH Distinguished

Research Award and by the Indian Subcontinent Decision Sciences In-stitute (ISDSI) with the Distinguished Services Award. Ravi Patnayakuni, Associate Professor of Information Systems, was selected as an associ-ate editor for Decision Sciences.

Dr. Eric Fong, Associate Professor of Management, and Dr. Al Wilhite, Professor of Economics, received funding from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Research Integrity to continue their work on research ethics, which was previously published in SCIENCE and presented at the Seventh International Congress on Peer Review and Biomedical Publication hosted by the Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Medical Journal. Please read about these achievements and some interesting research projects inside.

We have been very busy enhancing the experience for our students. We launched a new study abroad

program to China, led by Associ-ate Dean and Associate Professor Yeqing Bao. We’ve added many internship opportunities, created a special practicum course for man-agement and marketing students, laid the foundation for three new master’s degrees, and launched a new mentoring program for top students, designed and led by Associate Professor William (Ivey) MacKenzie.

And, importantly, we have recruited some exceptionally talented faculty to join our team. Please join me in welcoming: Kevin Bao from Univer-sity of Southern California; Anna Devlin from University of Maryland; Yeolan Li from Ohio State University; Sophia Marinova from University of Maryland; Tingting Que, from Uni-versity of Iowa; and John Whitman from University of Toronto.

Greetings from the College of Business at The University of Alabama in Huntsville

New faculty members, left to right: Tingting Que, Assistant Professor of Fi-nance; Yeolan Li, Assistant Professor of Management; Anna Devlin, Assistant Professor of Management Science; Kevin Bao, Associate Professor of Market-ing; and Sophia Marinova, Associate Professor of Management. Not pictured: John Whitman, Visiting Assistant Professor, Entrepreneurship.


Frederiek Toney is Corporate Vice-President of Ford Motor Com-pany, President of Ford’s Global Customer Service Division – and an alumnus of the College of Business Administration. We were honored to have him speak on campus as part of the College’s Distinguished Speaker Series. Mr. Toney introduced his talk with two keys points about Ford Motor Company. First, the company has embodied a commitment to customer service since its inception, as illustrat-ed by a 1920 quote from Henry Ford: “It has always been our belief that a sale does not complete the trans-action between us and the buyer…but establishes a new obligation to see that the car gives good service.“ Mr. Toney noted with a laugh that he would make only one update to Mr. Ford’s statement: the car should give GREAT service.

Second, he noted, in an era of glo-balization, it is important to recognize that Ford has been an international company for well over 100 years. Ford opened its first international sales offices in the early 1900s, and launched production in Argentina in 1913.

By the end of the 1920s, Ford was assembling automobiles in over 20 plants in Europe, Latin America, Can-ada, Asia, South Africa, and Australia. The company’s slogan was ”opening the highways to all mankind.”

Mr. Toney described Ford’s approach throughout much of its history – clas-sic multinational strategy with autono-mous regions. Plants were vertically integrated and located near rivers; products were designed to meet local market needs. With increased globalization, that strategy had to change. Ford adapted its strategy over the last ten years and, according to Mr. Toney, became a truly global company in 2006.

Mr. Toney highlighted two trends driving the transformation: the geography of markets and shifting customer preferences. In the early 2000s, 72% of all vehicles were sold in the Americas – but the forecasts for 2020, just six years from now, show that only 40% of vehicles will be in the Americas. The growth markets are in the Eastern Hemisphere. Also, with the growth of markets in the East, there is an accompanying shift toward smaller cars—with small cars representing a predicted 55% in 2020.

Alumnus Frederiek Toney of

Ford Motor Company

Gives Students Lessons in Business Success

Distinguished Speaker Series

Watch Mr. Toney’s full presentation online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ina8EHhDtKc.

About Frederiek ToneyA native of Alabama, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Alabama in Huntsvillwe and earned a Masters of Business Administration from the University of La Verne in La Verne, California. Mr. Toney has had a very distinguished career with a wide variety of leading manufacturing companies. He spent sixteen years with Caterpillar, Inc. He then served for seven years at American Honda Motor Company, rising to the position of Assistant Vice President, Parts Division. Mr. Toney joined Ford Motor Company in 2000.

Since then he has held numerous leadership positions in logistics, oper-ations, and parts and service within the company including service as Executive Director, Global Material Planning and Logistics, which is Ford’s highest-rank-ing logistics executive. In 2009, he was elected President of the Global Ford Customer Service Division, and appoint-ed Corporate Vice President of Ford Motor Company—joining the ranks of the most senior leadership at Ford.

In 2007, World Trade Magazine named Mr. Toney as a Global Top 50 decision maker in the logistics field. In 2012, Black Enterprise named him one of 100 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America.


Historically, small cars have not been profitable; most profits have come from larger vehicles. So, the trend toward smaller cars has reduced margins and provoked an intense fo-cus on efficiency and a fundamental rethinking of product design, produc-tion, and supply chain management.

Now, Ford uses one design platform for a vehicle model worldwide. As Mr. Toney noted, “Scale allows prof-it.”

How did Ford transition from a de-centralized multinational strategy to one well-integrated global strategy? Toney pointed to the exceptional leadership of CEO Alan Mulally, for-merly of Boeing. Mulally set a new

strategy – called One Ford -- that focused on simplifying operations worldwide. Ford sold Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and its investment in Mazda.

It trimmed the brand portfolio substantially including dropping the Mercury line and reducing excess capacity.

Today, 80% of Ford’s models are pro-duced on five platforms, which has reduced costs and provides for faster new product development.

In addition to the new strategy, Mulally focused on leadership and culture. Rather than experiencing a high rate of turn over, which is typical when a new CEO is hired from outside, Ford saw very little turnover in its leadership team. He credits mu-tually-valued openness and honesty, and it was celebrated when division leaders brought forward problems.

FACT

FUN

Today, 80% of Ford’s models are produced on five platforms.“Scale

allows profit.” –Frederiek Toney

MR. TONEY WASNAMED ONE OF THE 100 MOST POWERFUL

EXECUTIVES IN CORPORATE AMERICA BY

BLACK ENTERPRISE.


Photo: Lilly Ledbetter signs a copy of her book Grace and Grit: How I Won my Fight at Goodyear and Beyond.

ACTIVIST LILLY LEDBETTER VISITS UAH

Lilly Ledbetter led a battle for pay equity against Goodyear, resulting in the Fair

Pay Act of 2009.

FACT

FUNThose who had heard her story sat in amazement. Those who had not heard her story sat in awe. When her lecture was over, the students left knowing they had been in the presence of a living legend.

Activist Lilly Ledbetter visited UAH and made a special stop at the College of Business Administration to share about her crusade for equal pay.

It didn’t start out as a public or political fight: it was strictly personal. But that soon changed after her legal battle for pay equity against a national tire company was eventually reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court and overturned on a technicality.

Ledbetter did not stop until the legislation that bears her name, “The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2009,” was signed into law by President Barack Obama — his first piece of legislation after taking office. “No, the company never apologized, and no, I do not buy Goodyear Tires,” Ledbetter told a chuckling audience.

After her lecture, Ledbetter answered students ‘questions and signed her book Grace and Grit: How I Won My Fight at Goodyear and Beyond.

Each spring, students at UAH donate their time to helping low-income families prepare their taxes as part of the Impact Alabama SaveFirst program. And this year was no different as approximately 70 UAH students spent 900 hours at free tax preparation sites in Huntsville and Decatur. The result, according to SaveFirst, was more than 1,270 tax returns prepared for working families, saving them $380,000 in commercial tax preparation fees and leading to $2.5 million in tax refunds. “Working together with SaveFirst, we have been able to increase the

number of families helped in the Huntsville area every year,” says Charles Hickman, clinical associate professor in the College of Business Administration. “The students learn a lot about the lives of working families and receive excellent tax preparation experience.”

SaveFirst, the state’s largest volunteer tax preparation program, is one of three signature initiatives under the Impact Alabama umbrella.UAH participates in the annual effort to assist working families eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

UAH STUDENTS

SPEND900 HOURS ASSISTING FAMILIES

WITH TAXES


The Fall Entrepreneurs Roundtable brought together three leaders in Huntsville’s nonprofit community to share how they have overcome challenges and pursued new growth initiatives.

Entrepreneurial leadership is just as important in the non-profit sector as it is in the for-profit sector, and the challenges are just as real.

Dr. Deborah Barnhart, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, spoke about the challenge of turning around a struggling museum.

Chad Emerson, Chief Executive Officer of Downtown Huntsville, Inc., discussed capturing the community’s vision for a revitalized downtown.

Stephen Black, the Founder and President of Impact Alabama, spoke about rolling out his program state-wide.

This Roundtable was another chapter in the College of Business Administration’s ongoing conversation about the role of entrepreneurs in our community and economy.

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Discussions Focus on

Overcoming Challenges

The Spring Entrepreneurs Roundtable brought to-gether some of most forward-thinking minds in North Alabama. The program, Tomorrow's IT, focused on entrepreneurial leadership in information technology.

Guest panelists Mark Fowler, founder of Solid Earth; Mark Spencer, founder of Digium, and Michael Com-perda, CTO of CURSE shared how they have overcome challenges, pursed growth initiatives and met stake-holders expectations.

The Entrepreneurs Roundtable brings together the most

forward-thinking minds in North Alabama.

FACT

FUN

Photo, left to right: Dean Caron St. John, Stephen Black, Chad Emerson, and Dr. Deborah Barnhart at the Fall Entrepreneurs Roundtable.

“Great ideas have lonely childhoods.” - Mark Fowler, founder of Solid Earth

Watch the roundtable online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcq15BWy2HE


You may not realize it, but every time you’re faced with a choice, economics plays a role in the decision you make. That’s something Dr. W. David Allen, a professor and researcher of labor and crime economics in UAH’s College of Business Administration, does his best to help his students understand.

“As soon as possible when talking to people who are new to economics, I want to let them know that economics - and particularly microeconomics - is the science of choices,” he says. “We as economists are trying to think more carefully about how individuals and firms and other agents make decisions.”

Over the years, Dr. Allen’s research has examined decision-making in a wide variety of contexts. His Ph.D. dissertation, for example, focused on the duration and dissolution of marriages. And his most recent publication, “The Demand for Younger and Older Workers: Patterns from NFL Labor Markets,” tackled NFL free agency and the draft.

The paper, which will appear in the Journal of Sports Economics, delved into whether or not worker productivity and risk factors affect the demand for younger and older workers. Dr. Allen used the NFL specifically because it offered a rich empirical environment for examining the beginning of workers’ careers.

“These players, who are workers like anyone else, come to the market with risks,” he says. “So the first thing I wanted to know, when it comes to illegality or wrongdoing - which is a risk factor for these players - were there any labor market penalties? How do NFL clubs place value on younger and older players given these and other risk factors?”

Ultimately what he learned was that older players do sustain more labor market penalties for risk factors in the NFL, a conclusion in keeping with the existing literature on the topic. “My results correlated to the results in other labor markets,” says Dr. Allen. “We see the same outcomes and patterns in the NFL as we do in broader labor markets.”

Whether or not these findings will influence future decision-making on the

part of the NFL, however, is beside the point. “The purpose is not necessarily to have NFL clubs do anything with my work,” he explains. “The purpose is to learn how employers use older and younger workers together, given that they both bring risk factors to the labor markets in which they participate.”

And indeed, he himself has already moved on. Over the last few months, Dr. Allen has begun researching an altogether different area of decision-making: self-protection against crime by potential victims. “I want to know what determines self-protection by K-12 schools in the U.S., and in particular, what determines security guard use by schools,” he says.

This is not his first foray into the field. In the late-1990s, he began to shift his attention from time allocation in general to time allocation as it applies to crime and victimization. “I realized the essential economic model of crime as applied to individuals is really an application of labor economics,” he says. “It’s founded on the idea that individuals who commit illegal activities are allocating time to do that.”

That lead to the publication of his first book, entitled Criminals and Victims (Stanford University Press, 2011). In it, Dr. Allen analyzes the decisions made by both criminals and victims before, during, and after a crime to illustrate how economics can help explain the causes and consequences of criminal and victim choices.

But unlike in the past, when he says he was “more interested in the offender side,” his current study will focus more heavily on potential victims. “I want to see if there are public policy concerns that influence self-protection by schools,” he says. “Do they face a challenge when it comes to vulnerability to crime or how to allocate their resources to self-protection?”

Not that he expects his answers to those questions to lead to concrete action As with the NFL study, his goal is to contribute to the current thinking on the economics of crime and victimization. “It’s an academic exercise that speaks to other economists first,” says Dr. Allen. He is simply putting the information out there. Whatever anyone else ends up doing with it? Well, that’s their choice.

ECONOMICS PROFESSOR RESEARCHES “SCIENCE OF

CHOICES”

Dr. Allen’s work examined how

employers use young and older workers

together.

FACT

FUN

Photo, above: Dr. W. David Allen, professor and re-searcher of labor and crime economics in UAH’s College of Business Administration.


The iSystems Club continues to raise the bar for organizations across campus. In 2013, these information systems majors donated their time to helping local non-prof-its like the United Way of Madison County and the Huntsville Commu-nity Chorus Association redesign their websites. Now, the club is the first on campus to have its own app.

Available through the Google Play store for free, the iSystems Club app presents all the content of the iSystems Club website in a mo-bile friendly format. But more than that, it’s tes-tament to the creativity and expertise that the club’s members possess.

As project manager, Lee Smithson, a married father of three and UAH se-nior, says his priority was making sure his team members - including Josh Deaton and Clay White - were up to

speed on programming basics. “We started at the beginning, and I showed them templates,” he says. “Then I wrote out brief tutorials for them for

each of their sec-tions.”

After that, the team members worked on their sections, emailing weekly to keep the others apprised of their progress. “Some-times it was kind of stressful because we only had a certain amount of time,” says Smith-son. “But it was exciting.”Not to mention good experience. While Smithson

tackled the challenges of being a first-time manager, his team members were adding new skills to their toolbox. That is the real value organizations like iSystems Club bring to the College of Business Administration and their student members.

PROFESSORS RECEIVE

FUNDING FOR RESEARCH

ETHICS STUDY

MOBILE APP FOR UAH STUDENTS

Professors Eric Fong and Al Wilhite received a second year of funding from the Department of Health and Human Services through the Office on Research Integrity to continue their investigation into the manipulation of authorship and citations in academic writing and grant proposals. This pushes their 2-year total funding for this project to over $250,000.

Past studies have shown that in some disciplines scholars add authors to manuscripts and grant proposals even though those indi-viduals have little or nothing to do with the research. These additions may be due to political pressure at the scholar’s academic home or to falsely boost the reputation of the research team. Similarly some editors insist that authors add citations to articles in the editor’s journal as a way to inflate the jour-nal’s citation count.

Dr. Fong and Dr. Wilhite’s study is the first to investigate the extent of these anti-ethical practices across the academic universe. To date, they have collected survey responses from over 11,000 schol-ars and with these data they are mapping the prevalence of manip-ulation, the rationale for its use, and exploring the consequences of the practice.

Their findings were previous-ly published in SCIENCE and presented at the “The Seventh International Congress on Peer Review and Biomedical Publica-tion” hosted by the Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Medical Journal. Ultimately their study will lead to policy recommendations designed to curtail such activities.

DR. SHERMAN, DR. EVANS RETIRE

Retirement only means that it is time for a new adventure. After decades of selfless dedication to our students, we hope these two professors take time for themselves. Dr. Daniel Sherman’s 33 years of leadership and service have made an immeasurable impact on the growth of the College of Business Administra-tion. During her 22 years of service, Dr. Dorla Evans touched countless lives, equipping her students to thrive in a competitive environment. May the next phase of their lives bring all that they seek and more.


Over the summer, Rachel Bray (’15) travelled north to Nashville, Tennessee to intern with Nissan North America.

Working within the Remarketing and Internal Audit department, Rachel relied on her knowledge of SAP and other programs to perform accounting functions and help with LKE audits.

As part of the internship, Rachel completed an assigned project which she presented to the executives in the finance and accounting department. “This experience prepared me for my future career by not only giving me hands on experience in a corporate environment, but also giving me exposure to programs such as SAP that are widely used in the accounting industry.”

She continued, “The classes I have taken at UAH have given me the background knowledge and skills

to succeed in my internship. The real-life examples and hands on work with programs such as SAP that my professors have given me really translate into the work world. “

STUDENT INTERNSHIPS PROVIDE

RACHEL BRAY

Accounting Major

Internship:NISSAN

Grace Cochran credits the depth of her classroom instruction for her success as a three-term alternating co-operative student with Mercedes Benz US International (MBUSI).

“On my first day with MBUSI, I wasn’t sure what to expect; however, I felt confident that the courses I had taken at UAH had prepared me for many of the finance and accounting topics I may encounter,” she said. And she was correct.

Applying her practical and theoretical knowledge, Grace worked within the Investment and Projects group conducting fixed asset audits and reporting on the capitalization and expensing of assets and the disposal of plant assets. Within the Corporate Controlling Division, Grace experienced the day-to-day

responsibilities of corporate controllers and the functions within that office. “My time with MBUSI was an insightful and fulfilling experience that exposed me to the corporate accounting and corporate finance functions which I will use as I continue to grow my professional career.”

GRACE COCHRAN

MBUSI in Tuscaloosa, AL’s motto is GOAL:

“Alabama’s Best, Building Nothing

But the Best.”

FACT

FUN

Finance Major

Internship:MERCEDES BENZ

Nissan North America is the 6th largest employer

in Nashville, Tennessee.

FACT

FUN


Acting on the advice of her big sister, MBA student Dominique Voltz (‘15) researched the Systems Management and Production Center (SMAP) at UAH.

What she found was a full-time opportunity to provide knowledge, expertise and leadership to resolve current issues in support of the Army, as well as further her education.

As a Logistics Management Specialist, Dominique is accountable for completion of customer requirements on specific Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cases and assisting higher grade specialists in the development of Letters of Offer and Acceptance for the fielding of weapon systems.

She said, “The most valuable lessons I have taken away from UAH exceeds any class I have taken. These include:

all things are possible, work toward your goals and achieve them, don’t take no for an answer and believe in yourself. These are the qualities that aid me in school as well as my professional career. “

Morgan Gilley, UAH marketing major, is a self-professed “Disneyphile.”

So when she was accepted into the Disney College Program last summer, her fairytale dream of working at Walt Disney World® came true.

Gilley says she worked between 30 and 45 hours a week, five days a week, at her assignment – Fantasyland.

“My attractions were Peter Pan’s Flight and It’s a Small World,” she says. As part of her training, Gilley learned every aspect of employment related to her attractions.

“We were trained to operate the ride itself, but we also did greeting, FASTPASS distribution, FASTPASS return, wheelchair assist – everything,” she says. And every 40 minutes, each cast member would rotate to the next position.

“My ultimate dream is to have a career with the company,” she says.

“I don’t know what specifically I want to do with Disney, but I know I want to do something with Disney!”

MORGAN GILLEY

Morgan Glley’s fairytale dream of

working at Walt Disney World® came true,

thanks to UAH.

FACT

FUN

Marketing Major

Internship: DISNEY

DOMINIQUEVOLTZ

Dominique Voltz is responsible for

completion of custom requirements for

Foreign Military Sales.

FACT

FUN

MBA Student

Internship:U.S. Army

VALUABLE CAREER EXPERIENCES


Headquartered in the world-class Hud-son-Alpha Institute, Conversant Bio is at the heart of life sciences research. If you look closely, you will see that heart beats Charger Blue.

Currently, five MBA alumni from the University of Alabama in Huntsville are employed at Conversant Bio. The company provides highly-annotated human tissue specimens from cancer, auto-immune, and normal donors for research purposes. Using a unique business model, Conversant Bio set out in 2007 to become the premier tissue procurement experts. To do this, it needed top notch business minds, which is where the College of Business Administration's MBA program stepped in.

"I love being a part of the CBio team! I love what I do, and I love why we do it because patients are waiting," says ac-countant Dana Belcher (‘12 MBA). She manages the day-to-day transactions to keep business running smoothly.

"UAH provided the knowledge I needed to prepare myself for a career

in business. It was a challenge, but I proved to myself that I could do it and now I am more confident to accept new challenges, to push myself in my career to be the absolute best I can be."

Amanda Owens' ('12 MBA) experience as a graduate teaching assistant in the CBA gave her hands-on experience with working with businesses in differ-ent stages of the start-up process. As a Site Development Support Representa-tive, she helps to get new sites up and running, making sure the sites meet the company's strategic goals and the researcher's needs.

"When I got the chance to work for a relatively young start-up (Conversant Bio), I was excited to join the team. Smaller companies are exciting to me because there is so much to figure out when trying to grow a successful busi-ness," says Owens. "I thrive in chang-ing environments and I know what kind of job I was looking for after getting to work with start-ups during my time at UAH.”

Taitio Eguchi (‘12 MBA), Account Executive, says the greatest part of his job is the healthy mix of comfort and competition that comes with working with friends and peers. While they push each other to be the best versions of themselves, they fall back on the train-ing they received in the MBA program.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: CONVERSANT BIO

“I am more confident now to accept new challenges, to

push myself in my career to be the

absolute best employee

I can be.” – Dana Belcher

Conversant Bio was formed to

help researchers fight diseases.

FUN

FACT

Photo, left to right: Rebecca Parker, Dana Belcher, Eric Uribe, Amanda Owen, and Taitio Eguchi


Conversant Bio employs five MBA alums from UAH

FUN

FACT

"The CBA has taught me to always keep the entire business in mind - opposed to honing in on a particular business unit," says Eguchi. "There are lots of moving parts that are critical to the health of our company, from our clinical sites to our process-ing lab. While each one adds value to our model, it's the joined efforts that enable our company."

As a Customer Success Manager, Eric Uribe ('12 MBA), assists the field sales team in managing workflow. "I took away from UAH the under-standing of how your actions affect all of the stakeholders in your busi-ness, from customers to coworkers to partners," he says.

The company mantra of "glad to be here" is held with high esteem by its employees. "We are guided by the belief that everything we do is because patients are waiting," said Rebecca Parker ('13 MBA). "I feel lucky to work in an environment where I am encouraged and sup-ported to grow professionally and personally.”

As Marketing Success Manager, she is in charge of planning and execut-ing an annual marketing plan that includes campaigns to grow existing and new products. "Every day I am glad to be here telling people about what we do and hopefully, playing a small role in helping researchers make breakthroughs in the fight to cure diseases."

Photo, right, left to right: Dana Belcher, Taitio Eguchi, and Rebecca Parker

Photo, above, left to right: Eric Uribe and Amanda Owens

Conversant Bio’s Company Mantra? “Glad

to be here.”

FUN

FACT


Listen: Access the ECONTALK

podcast: econtalk.org/archives/2014/03/john_

christy_an.html.

Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbgI5oedBuQ.

CLIMATE CHANGE

HOT

TOPIC, COMPLEX

ISSUE

Economist Dr. Russ Roberts of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution moderated the discussion.

Climate change is one of the most talked about subjects in the main-stream media – but, increasingly, the rhetoric is about choosing sides rath-er than about understanding such a complex issue.

For business and government leaders who must make real decisions about the future—in spite of uncertainty––it is important to separate facts from politics. For all of us, it is important to open our minds to information that might challenge our preconcep-tions, no matter what those precon-ceptions may be.

As part of its Distinguished Speak-er Series, the College of Business hosted “A Conversation on Climate Change.” We had the extraordinary opportunity to partner with econ-omist Dr. Russ Roberts of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution for a moderated discussion between two climate scientists with different inter-pretations of the research.

The standing-room-only crowd listened intently as Dr. John Christy, Distinguished Professor of Atmo-spheric Science and Director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville and Dr. Kerry Emanuel, director of MIT’s program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate, provided in-formed and thoughtful commentary on climate science, risks of action

versus no-action, and the public poli-cy challenges.

These two distinguished scientists, both of whom have provided expert testimony to Congress, disagreed on some aspects of the science and the relative risks of action versus no action – but they agreed on many issues as well.

About the Panel:

Dr. Kerry Emanuel is the Breene M. Kerr Professor of Atmospheric Science at the Massachusetts In-stitute of Technology and Director of MIT’s program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate. Before join-ing MIT, he served on the faculty of UCLA. Professor Emanuel’s re-search interests focus on tropical meteorology and climate, with a specialty in hurricane physics. His interests also include cumulus con-vection, and advanced methods of sampling the atmosphere in aid of numerical weather prediction.

Dr. John R. Christy is the Distin-guished Professor of Atmospheric Science and Director of the Earth System Science Center at the Uni-versity of Alabama in Huntsville. He was awarded NASA’s Medal for Exceptional Achievement in 1991 for developing a global tempera-ture data set from microwave data observed from satellites (with Dr. Roy Spencer). For that work, he received a Special Award by the American Meteorological Society and was inducted as a Fellow of the American Meteorological Soci-ety in 2002.

Dr. Russ Roberts is an economist and the John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow at Stanford Uni-versity’s Hoover Institution. He has taught at Stanford University, George Mason University, Wash-ington University in St. Louis, UCLA, and the University of Roch-ester. In 2006, he launched the weekly EconTalk podcast where he interviews distinguished schol-ars, noted authors, and global thought-leaders on a variety of im-portant topics.


Delivery drones, 3-D biotech printing and custom cupcakes …. oh my!

We asked undergraduates across the UAH campus to pitch their business ideas, and they were as unique as they were brilliant.

The Boeing New Business Challenge allowed them to be creative and show their business savvy, while competing for up to $10,000 in scholarship money.

The first-place $7,000 tuition scholarship purse was awarded to Nestegg Bio, a 3-D printing and biotech start-up from Tanner Carden, Devon Bane, Gavon Carden, and Tim Gualdin.

The second place $3,000 scholarship was awarded to Rachel Bray, Austin Mordecai, and Cole Rickles, creators of Ginger’s Cupcake Shop, which included a design-your-own cupcake mobile app.

“The thoughtfulness and careful research behind the plans combined with enthusiastic and convincing presentations are exactly what we at Boeing are trying to encourage through this Challenge,” said Jack Kachelman, Senior Finance Analyst with The Boeing Company and competition judge.

This is The Boeing Company’s second year sponsoring the New Business Challenge. The first stage of the competition was conducted in the fall when ten teams pitched three-minute proposals to a panel of five judges. Stage two allowed students to make a five minute pitch to the panel. Free Competitive Coaching Workshops offered by the Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship Lab, were held weekly at UAH’s College of Business Administration.

As one freshman noted, “It was incredibly helpful. Personally, I

learned how to speak publicly and [about] all the complications my team has to address...and this only scratches the surface of all the things we learned and the connections we made during the coaching process.”

Top photo: Nestegg Bio is presented with a $7,000 scholarship check. Bottom photo: Ginger’s Cupcake Shop took home $3,000 in scholarship funds.

BOEING NEW BUSINESS CHALLENGE

THE BOEING CHALLENGE AWARDS

UP TO $10,000 IN SCHOLARSHIP

MONEY.

FACT

FUN


Dr. Xiaotong Li is not unaware that game theorists like him have won more than ten Nobel Prizes in Economics over the last 20 years. But the associate profes-sor of Information Systems has set a much more modest goal for his research into the field. “I just do it for intellectual curiosity,” he says. “This is a mainstream theory, so mainly I wanted to contribute to it, even if it’s a very minor contribution.”

Thus far, however, his contribu-tion has been far from minor. Since arriving at UAH in 2001 Dr. Li has published a dozen jour-nal articles and has two more in press: “Relational Contracts, Growth Options and Heteroge-neous Beliefs: A Game-Theoretic Perspective on IT Outsourcing,” in the Journal of Management Information Systems and “Exter-nalities, Incentives and Strategic Complementarities: Understand-ing Herd Behavior in IT Adop-tion,” in Information Systems and e-Business Management.

He’s also been able to apply game theory to several new busi-ness contexts using “a relatively new theoretical development – behavioral game theory,” he says. Unlike game theory, which assumes every-one is perfectly rational, behavioral game theory incorporates behavioral anomalies such as over-confidence, loss aversion, myopia, and a wealth of other psychological and sociological factors to understand strategic decision-making.

“It’s intuitive but it’s difficult to model mathematically. And with-out a model, you can’t rigorously analyze what’s going to happen if something changes,” says Dr. Li. Fortunately, there’s a silver lining. “You don’t have to assume that everyone is irrational. You just have to assume that a small por-tion of the population is irrational to produce many new business insights.”

The recent financial crisis is a perfect case in point. “We know that most players in the stock market were rational, but there was a small group that made huge mistakes – they underes-timated the risk or didn’t know what they were doing,” he says. “That made the vast majority change their strategy and the result was a market collapse.”

But while some researchers conduct experiments and gather data on those behavioral anom-alies, that is not Dr. Li’s area of expertise. “I’m a modeler so I incorporate these behavioral anomalies into the assumptions of my models,” he says. “That’s the difference between empirical and theoretical research – you don’t have to have a lab or a

Information Systems Professor

Dr. Xiaotong Li Contributes to Research,

Stays Abreast of Research

Dr. Xiaotong Li has published more than a dozen articles in Information Systems and e-Business Management. He has also applied game theory to several new business contexts.

Dr. Li uses behavioral

game theory to understand

decisions.

FUN

FACT


supercomputer to build a game theoretic model.”

The one thing you do have to have? Time, which is where Dr. Li’s second sabbatical next year comes in. “I won’t teach, but I will stay here to develop my theory and work on my model – I have a new idea and I want to put it in papers,” he says. Ultimately, his goal is to “get a stream of papers published in premier business journals, like three or four, and establish my research.” Then, he says, “I can ap-ply for a grant to fund my theoretical research.”

A sabbatical will also give him more time to spend with his wife, who works alongside him in the College of Business Admin-istration as a senior research coordinator, and his 12-year-old daughter, a student at Discovery Middle School.

“I coach her in math and she’s won the top three in many state and regional math com-petitions,” says Dr. Li, “but she wants to be a designer – she re-ally likes drawing. She represent-ed the state in a national PTA virtual arts competition a few years ago and won first place.”

Until then, Dr. Li will continue to maintain his current teaching schedule, which includes classes in information systems, comput-er forensics, informational secu-rity, and data management. And thanks to a teaching innovation grant from the College of Busi-ness Administration, he’ll revise the curriculum for the college’s effort to offer more – and more

up-to-date – courses in data mining and business analytics.

“Before, you could put every-thing in an organized structure called a database. But now because of this explosion of big data, you have a lot of unstruc-tured data that you can’t orga-nize the same way,” he says. “It’s like a gold mine, but without the proper tools, you can’t analyze it. So we’re teaching our stu-dents to be data analysts to get a competitive advantage.”

That, of course, requires Dr. Li to stay abreast of the field himself, which isn’t an easy feat given how rapidly it’s growing. “When I was in graduate school, we didn’t learn those things!” he says.

As a result, many of his extracur-ricular duties include traveling to conferences, reading books and journal articles, and testing the latest and greatest in specialized software.

All of which leaves him little time for one of his favorite hobbies – fishing for stripers at the Gunt-ersville Dam. “They’re huge,” he says. “Sometimes I throw them back, but occasionally my wife will cook them.”

Though whether Dr. Li will some day reel in the biggest catch of all – a Nobel Prize – is something he doesn’t spend too much en-ergy thinking about. “Maybe,” he laughs, “in my daydreams.”

Dr. Li’s students are taught

to constantly analyze data.

FUN

FACT

Photos: Dr. Xiaotong Li.


For select students in the College of Business Administration, the Center for Management and Economic Research (CMER) provides. an opportunity to gain real-world experience through hands-on projects and internships.

Each year, between 10-12 business students participate in a wide range of projects including market oppor-tunity assessments, transportation modeling, economic analyses, and specific problem-focused projects tied to sustainability, lean operations, and information systems.

CMER has a broad and compelling mission: it conducts applied research to meet the specific needs of compa-nies—particularly in areas where there is a lot of uncertainty.

“Our focus is on things that tend to be less clear, less known in terms of problems and solutions” explains Jeff Thompson, CMER Director. Clients in-clude many private businesses as well as agencies and industry associations such as the Alabama Aerospace Indus-try Association and the Alabama Auto-motive Manufacturers Association. The Center’s mission and strong reputation attract inquiries from companies from Texas, Kentucky, and Florida – as well as Alabama.

The Alabama Technology Network (ATN) unit within CMER offers train-ing and consultancy services to many businesses and industries in the region. ATN is the Alabama affiliate of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).

HANDS-ON at CMER: Center for

CMER is one of the many values that the College of Business Administration brings to the community, industry and our students. Visit www.cmer.uah.edu for th

CMER:The Center for Management and Economic

Research is one of the many

initiatives that the College of Business

Administration brings to the community, industry and our students.


As competitive pressures continue to intensify, the focus of ATN’s programs has changed. “For many years, we’ve helped our clients with process and quality improvements. But now we’re saying to our clients -- you must continue to improve processes and efficiencies, and how you make things --- but you must also develop capabilities within your workforce that other competitors don’t have. You must be innovative and come up with new ideas,” says Nicholas Loyd, the ATN Director who also teaches in the College of Business Administra-tion.

As part of its commitment to pro-ductivity, sustainability and inno-vation, the ATN provides training on sustainable operations. For clients like the Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center, ATN has intro-duced new educational programs designed to encourage energy efficiency.

Another new program, Innova-tion Engineering, focuses on the manufacturing Renaissance that is underway in the U.S. Developed at the national MEP level utilizing pilot state projects, the innovation program’s core curriculum focuses on helping companies reinvigorate a culture of innovation in their orga-nizations.

The ultimate benefits to a par-ticipating organization include: increasing innovation, reducing uncertainty risk, and shortening time to market for new products and services.

During this past year, Thomp-son has been involved in a regional plan-ning committee for the Top of Alabama Re-gional Council of Governments. The Committee prepared a five-year strategic development plan for the five counties in its North Alabama service area.

“The biggest challenge aerospace companies in this area and companies across the U.S. will be facing soon is the work-force shift created as Baby Boomers retire. One of the issues the aero-space industry will face -- and the Alabama Department of Commerce is trying to address -- is how will we fill the positions that are going to be vacated through the exit of the talent,” said Thompson.

Learn more about CMER and view upcoming events online: www.cmer.uah.edu.

Management and Economic Research

CMER focuses on four main areas:

Alabama TechnologyNetwork (ATN):

Provides consulting and training in process improvement (lean, six

sigma), quality, sustainability & innovation.

Freight, Logistics and Transportation:

Assists communities and enterpris-es with transportation infrastruc-

ture planning and analysis.

Supply Chain Office:Works with organizations on

supply chain information systems and management issues.

Strategic Manage-ment Services: Assists communities and

enterprises with economic development initiatives.

www.cmer.uah.edu

4Areas of

Focus

“You must be innovative

and come up with new

ideas...”-- Nicholas Loyd

Photo, opposite page: ATN provides process improvement help. Above: Energy consumption demonstration


Study-abroad trips used to be the domain of backpacking liberal arts majors interested in exploring Old World ruins. But nowadays they mean business, says Dr. Yeqing Bao, associate professor of marketing at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

“If we want to increase our students’ competitiveness in the global environment, we need to offer an international-related curriculum,” says Dr. Bao, who also serves as the Associate Dean of Undergraduate and International Programs in the College of Business Administration. “I thought, given the importance of the Asian market to the U.S., we ought to have more exposure.”

So this past May, 11 business majors spent two weeks in China, as part of UAH’s first study-abroad trip to the region. “It’s treated as a summer course but known as a Maymester, because it takes place between spring and summer,” he says. “The students receive three credit hours but it doesn’t interfere with their regular semesters.”

Their first stop? Hohai University, in Nanjing. “They helped with logistics and did a great job,” says Dr. Bao. They also provided a matching number of students to create a joint class, which was then tasked with a real-world research project: develop an international business plan for

Yurun Group, a Chinese company looking to enter the U.S. market.To ensure the cross-cultural flow of ideas, Dr. Bao divided the class into groups with an equal mix of Hohai and UAH students. Each group was required to research a plan for the real estate or the retail sectors of the company, with the ultimate goal of presenting a bilingual oral and written report to Yurun’s executives.

Needless to say, no report on international business practices would have been complete without factoring in cultural differences. So the UAH students also spent time simply experiencing life in China. “Besides doing the curriculum, we also visited several cities – Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou – to give the students some perspective,” says Dr. Bao.

One stop even included a visit to the Chinese branch of local software development company Intergraph. “Many of the students knew of Intergraph or had friends working there,” he says, “so they could relate to the company and feel their excitement and their pain in trying to develop their business in China.”

But even though Dr. Bao had prepared the students with a seminar on customs before they left, he says, they were still “struck by the vast difference between what we’re used to here versus there – mundane

differences.” For example, he says with a laugh, the lack of coffee. “By the second or third day, students were asking to stop at Starbucks.”

As for the students themselves, he continues, “they formed great friendships with the students from Hohai and gained a deeper knowledge of solving the tasks.” They also picked up one other essential skill, one that Dr. Bao says may just make the difference between success and failure as an American businessperson in Asia.

“I told the students that by the end of the trip, everyone should be able to use chopsticks to pick up a peanut – and everyone passed,” he says with real pride. “People will understand if you say you can’t use chopsticks, but the distance is lessened when you can say you are able to use them well!”

TRIP TO CHINA

LESSENS DISTANCE

ABOUT 1/3 OF THE WORLD’S

POPULATION USES CHOPSTICKS DAILY.

FACT

FUN

11 business majors spent two weeks in China in first UAH trip to the region The students from UAH visited the Chinese branch of local software

development company Intergraph.


Romania is known as the land of castles, mountains, and the beautiful Danube River. But for seven UAH students, Romania is also known for international busi-ness collaborative learning.

For the past ten years, the College of Business Ad-ministration at UAH has partnered with the Roma-nian American University (RAU) in Bucharest to offer a two-week summer session focused on international business.

Although the program is coordinated by faculty from UAH and the RAU, this year’s program featured faculty from the Bifrost University in Iceland and the Arctic University of Norway.

The students’ learning experience was enhanced by presentations from the

former Romanian minister to the Euro-pean Union and the Deputy Economic Section Chief at the US Embassy in Bucharest.

As part of the overall educational ex-perience, students were introduced to

the rich culture of Romania, which included a concert at the Romanian Central Bank and a tour of Bran (Dracu-la’s) Castle and King Carol II’s summer palace at Sinai. A trip to the Carpathian Mountains included a night of dining and dancing in Brasov, a medieval city in the mountains.

For seven UAH students, the collaborative learning experience and rich cultural exposure of Romania will never be forgotten.

Photo, above, left to right: Professor Jim McCollum with student Austin Mordecai

Photo, below: On the steps of Roma-nia American University in Bucharest

Congratulations to our outstanding Faculty members!

Best Paper Research Award:

Dr. David Allen 2014Dr. Milton Shen 2013

Outstanding Service Award:

Dr. Wai Mok 2014Dr. Chris Allport 2013

Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching

Award: Dr. Jack Schnell 2014Dr. Laird Burns 2013

Outstanding Graduate

Teaching Award:Dr. Charles Hickman 2014Dr. Jatinder Gupta 2013

UAH STUDENTS VISIT ROMANIA

11 business majors spent two weeks in China in first UAH trip to the region


BUDDHIST MONK GUEST

OF HONORAT UAH

The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, Founder and Director of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Trans-formative Values at the Massachu-setts Institute of Technology (MIT) was a recent guest of honor at the College of Business. He fascinated his audience with his presentation about “Ethics and Transformative Leadership.”

The Buddhist monk and philosopher sparked discussion about how to change the direction of crime and poverty, fundamental Buddhist be-liefs and their application to Western society.Priyadarshi’s speech focused

on many of the concepts and teach-ings of the Dalai Lama, and how they can be used to benefit individ-uals, their personal interactions and the world around them. Changing those negativities, he said, is one of the Dalai Lama’s most powerful messages.

After his speech, the young audi-ence sought his presence at the catering event. College of Business students pulled up chairs to get an-other glimpse at this inspiring leader who makes a difference in the world.

When people think of the Rocket City, they think of … well rockets.

But according to John Whitman, director of the CBA’s Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship Lab (ICE Lab), there is much more to Huntsville than the name implies.

Whitman, a visiting professor of entrepre-neurship and leadership in the College of Business Administration, said, “Those of us who know and live in Huntsville are much more excited about the whole range of entrepreneurial things we have going on here.” To help bring to the forefront those “things” Whitman speaks so passionately about, he has assisted in the start-up of Huntsville Open Tech Coffee (HOT Coffee), a volunteer organization engaged in inno-

vation that works to accelerate high-tech start-ups and build an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Madison County.

HOT Coffee meets bi-weekly giving an op-portunity for people to share needs, news and ideas with other entrepreneurs. Since its inception in 2013 the group has grown to over 80 regular attendees, attracting collaborators, marketing professionals and mentors.

The lab’s mission is to promote an open and inclusive culture of innovation and entrepreneurship and to stimulate opportunities for start-up businesses in Huntsville-Madison County. It also provides hands-on learning opportunities for student to engage in the process.

HOT COFFEE: Huntsville Open Tech Initiative

Photos, above, left and right: John Whitman, Visiting Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, from University of Toronto; Whitman speaks to the HOT Coffee participants.

Above: The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi


Tucked away in a nondescript corner office of UAH’s Business Administra-tion Building is possibly the region’s most valuable asset: the UAH Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

The University’s SBDC is a program dedicated to helping small business-es develop the tools necessary for success and assisting entrepreneurs in the cultivation of their ideas – allow-ing said ideas to become the starkest of realities. The SBDC, headed by Director and Senior Consultant Foster Perry and Procurement Specialist Mary Jane Fleming, lends over 50 years of combined corporate and small busi-ness management experience to the program.

Perry, who began his work at the SBDC in May of 2012, brings to the center over 30 years of corporate leadership and knowledge, serving as vice president of Teledyne Industries International for Latin America, as well as its director and country marketing manager in Venezuela. He also spent many years in Business and Organi-

zational Development and Defense Conversion for the Defense Industry. Mr. Perry has also been an Adjunct Lecturer in International Business at the UAH College of Business Adminis-tration since 2002.

Fleming was recognized this year with the HASBAT’s small business advocate of the year award from the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce. With the SBDC since 2006, she supports the center’s specialty program, the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), which provides small businesses with the opportunity to work with the local, state, and federal government – specifically, through their free bid-matching program.

With the help of Perry and Fleming, the SBDC has helped hundreds of local businesses, accumulated over 1,000 businesses in the program’s database and actively matched more than 500 sub-contractors and busi-nesses with government programs and projects.

This successful track record has led over 80 percent of clients who have worked with UAH’s SBDC, as well as others around the country, to say the assistance they received was worth-while.

Photo, above: Corey Whaley is assist-ed by Mary Jane Fleming and Foster Perry.

This spring, Dr. Jatinder (Jeet) N. D. Gupta received the 2014 UAH Distin-guished Research Award. This com-petitive award is based on life-time excellence and achievement in research and is awarded to one person in the university each year.

Dr. Gupta is an Eminent Scholar and Professor at UAH and also serves as the Associate Dean for Graduate and Sponsored Programs and the Director of the Integrated Enterprise Lab in the College of Business Administration.

This was his second prestigious award in a six month timeframe. He was also recognized with the Distinguished Ser-vices Award by the Indian Subcontinent Decision Sciences Institute (ISDSI) at a ceremony held in Delhi, India.

“This award recognizes Dr. Gupta’s long-term, sustained, and excellent contributions in the creation, fostering, and continued growth of the ISDSI,”

says Dr. Bhimaraya Metri, Dean Aca-demic at the International Management Institute and President of ISDSI. “As such, there is no one else more deserv-ing of this first Distinguished Services Award than he.”

As for Dr. Gupta himself, he says the award “recognizes the value of the work we have been doing in globally expanding the reach of decision sci-ences in solving complex technical and managerial problems.”

Moreover, he continues, “it shows that people in India and other emerging economies do wish to improve their de-cision-making processes and are willing to participate in making contributions to teaching and research in decision sciences.”

Photo, left: Dr. Jatinder (“Jeet”) Gup-ta, Eminent Scholar in Management of Technology

DR. GUPTA RECOGNIZED FOR SERVICE

AND RESEARCH

SMALL BUSINESS

DEVELOPMENT CENTER


301 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, Alabama 35899

Nonprofit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDHuntsville, AL 35899

Permit No. 283

College of business administrationwww.uah.edu/cba

LEARN MORE: uah.edu/cba

Board of Advisors:

Donna Berger, Crabtree Rowe & BergerEd Faulkner, SAICDavid Karabinos, PointClear SolutionsCharles Kettle, First Commercial BankTracy Lamm, Lockheed Martin CorporationTasia Malakasis, Belle ChevreRobert Mayes, BlueCreek Investment PartnersFrederiek Toney, Ford Motor CompanyIrma Tuder, Analytical ServicesJack Kackelman, The Boeing Company

About the CollegeThe College of Business Administration serves business and society through the expertise of our alumni, students, and faculty. The College provides academically rigorous programs emphasizing the application of theory and skills in scientific, technological, and traditional business environments.

Business Administration

graduates are in high demand.

FUN

FACT

College of Business Administration301 Sparkman DriveHuntsville, AL 35899

UAH College of Business Administration Newsletter Fall 2014

Documents

Transcript of UAH College of Business Administration Newsletter Fall 2014