McCombs School in the News
January 2007
AT&T Named Company of the Year by Forbes
Magazine
Forbes, Jan. 8, 2007
Under the helm of Chairman Edward Whitacre, AT&T has become the
largest telecom company in the world. Now with the $80 billion
merge with BellSouth underway, AT&T is positioned to break into
the digital media market and expand its product line
accordingly. It recently built an all Internet network with
40,000 miles of newly laid fiber optic lines and signed
distribution deals with more than 300 cable channels. But being
a newcomer to digital media isn’t easy—Hollywood and Madison
Avenue studios instantly raised their prices. “No question they
look down at us, and no question they made us pay for the lack
of subscribers we have,” says Scott Helbing, AT&T entertainment
chief. Helbing, who is leading AT&T’s digital video revolution,
believes this pattern will soon change. “They see the scale
Whitacre has pulled together here. It’s hard not to take us
seriously.” AT&T is an executive member of the McCombs School’s
Center for Customer Insight and Marketing Solutions and Helbing
is the center’s point of contact for AT&T.
Get the full story.
Konana Shows How
Technology Can Help Fight Corruption
The Hindu, Jan. 29, 2007
Could technology be the answer to India’s corruption
problem? In an op-ed published in India, Prabhudev
Konana, IROM associate professor, writes that the IT-enabling of
many government procedures would help limit direct dealings between
its representatives and citizens and therefore the chances for
bribes to take place. “The rhetoric of ‘brand India’ becomes meaningless when
common citizens have to suffer from this menace,” Konana writes.
Get the full story.
In the News:
Pinky’s Wireless Hangs It Up
Austin American Statesman, Jan. 31, 2007
Due to crushing competition by retailers such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy, the finances of Pinky’s Wireless are in the red. The Austin-based company is ending its 17-year stint as check-casher, pager-provider and wireless service supplier. “It's like a tree,” said
Jim Nolen,
finance lecturer, about the increased competition in the telecommunications sector. “The limbs start to get heavy from all the people trying to make a living,
“[Pinky’s] just got squeezed in the middle.”
Get the full story.
Incentives May Induce Denser Downtown Dwellings
Austin American Statesman, Jan. 29, 2007
Affordable housing in downtown Austin may sound like an anomaly,
but not if proposed incentives are passed encouraging developers
to construct compact, taller buildings that allow for some units
to be sold or rented for less than the market rate. Eugene
Sepulveda, McCombs marketing lecturer, recommends providing
height and density bonuses in areas on the downtown periphery
such as Concordia University’s campus on 32nd Street, where
neighbors traditionally oppose denser development.
Get the full story.
New Book from McCombs Alums Offers
Marriage-Survival Tips for Parents
Today, Jan. 23, 2007
Navigating through the sleepless fog of new parenthood can be a time of confusing frustration. The experience is often complicated by marital strain as couples keep score of baby-related chores and try to incorporate romance into their hectic schedules. “Parenthood is a soggy, uncomfortable, life-altering trial by fire,” attest
Stacie Cockrell, MBA ’96, and Julia Stone, MBA ’96,
co-authors of the new book, “Babyproofing Your Marriage.” They
discussed the book and their experiences as mothers on the Today
show Jan 23. Fellow MBA ’96 alums Debbie Baladad Miles,
Brad Miles, Kathleen Lewis Mabley and Lou Mabley also participated in a focus group for the segment.
Watch the segment.
Guedj, Barnea Research
Helps Explain “The Sky High Club”
The New Yorker, Jan. 22, 2007
Even the most jaded observer of CEO compensation had to blink when,
earlier this month, Home Depot’s board of directors handed the
company’s CEO, Bob Nardelli, more than $200 million after pushing him out of his job. Nardelli didn’t pick
the board members, but when an independent board negotiates a
CEO’s contract, the directors are often, in a sense,
negotiating with themselves. Of the ten independent members of
Home Depot’s board, for instance, eight are or have been CEOs.
Since CEO pay is often driven by comparisons between companies,
directors have a certain interest in keeping executive pay high.
A study of 500 companies by Amir Barnea and Ilan Guedj,
assistant finance professors, found that even after other
factors were accounted for, CEOs at companies whose directors
sat on a number of other boards were paid 13 percent more
than CEOs at companies whose directors were not.
Get the full story.
Locking in Gas Prices Natural Response to Volatility,
Says Ronn
Hartford Courant, Jan. 14, 2007
Imagine pulling up to the pump and
the
driver next to you is filling up for $3.25 per gallon, while
you’re paying 50 cents less after locking in a price months
earlier. Now run through that scenario again. Same day, and
you’re filling up for $2.75 per gallon with your fixed-price
plan. The other driver is paying the station’s posted price.
It’s $2.25. Both are possible. New Englanders will soon get to
play the game of chance at the pump when Gulf Oil starts offering drivers the option of setting a
per-gallon price for a period of months. “This is an entirely
reasonable response to volatility,” said Ehud Ronn,
director of the Center for Energy Finance Education and Research
at McCombs. Ronn said markets often respond to price swings by
giving consumers choices, referring to the myriad options
mortgage companies now offer homebuyers.
Get the full story.
Thanairongroj’s MBA Journal
Highlights Admissions Process
BusinessWeek Online, Jan. 18, 2007
In the first installment of his MBA Journal for BusinessWeek
Online, David Thanairongroj, MBA
’08, gives prospective MBA students advice on applying to
B-school and shares what brought him back to school for the
second time. With both bachelor's and master's degrees in
computer engineering, Thanairongroj started two businesses in
2003. Now, he'’s enrolled at McCombs to take his software
engineering company to the next level. What does he think of
McCombs so far? “My professors are amazing!” he writes. “Second,
I can't be happier taking this two-year journey with my current
classmates. I can confidently say that if you're looking for
that ideal environment and culture where students cooperatively
compete (I know that's an oxymoron, but that's one of the best
ways to describe the "McCombs Culture"), then I guarantee that
you won't be disappointed considering McCombs as one of your
schools.”
Read Thanairongroj's first MBA journal.
Read Thanairongroj's second MBA journal.
Last Updated
Monday, May 14, 2007
