Media Coverage

A major investment decision requires some amount of due diligence to figure out the risks as well as the returns involved, so that you have an idea of what’s in store for you and you have no unpleasant surprises later.

Financial Times (FT) releases its annual global MBA rankings for colleges/universities. Various parameters are also analyzed and colleges ranked accordingly. Value for money which is indicative of a program ROI is one such parameter. This value is calculated by dividing the post-MBA alumni salary three years after graduating by the total cost of the program. This cost would take into account the MBA tuition, and related expenses as well as the opportunity cost (forgone income during the duration of the program) minus the scholarship or any financial aid obtained.

MBA programs in USA with the best ROI

1. University of Florida: Hough
2. University of Connecticut School of Business
3. Brigham Young University: Marriott
4. University of Texas at Dallas: Jindal
5. Wisconsin School of Business
6. Georgia Institute of Technology: Scheller
7. Ohio State University: Fisher
8. Pennsylvania State University: Smeal
9. Michigan State University: Broad
10. Purdue University: Krannert
11. Arizona State University: Carey
12. University of Pittsburgh: Katz
13. Rutgers Business School
14. Rice University: Jones
15. Emory University: Goizueta

Leading thinkers and agitators in migration, diversity and integration will debate the latest research, challenges and successes from across the globe, when international and national academics, practitioners and community representatives converge in Sydney this October.

They will be joined by award-winning author and Distinguished Professor of Management and Global Business at Rutgers Business School, USA Dr. Nancy DiTomaso, who will address how business and migration in the 21st Century intersect.

For years now, attorney and Black Parents Workshop head Walter Fields has been litigating against academic levels in the South Orange-Maplewood School District with the U.S. Department of Education, and more recently in federal court, on the basis that higher level honors and AP classes have fewer black students in them.

Given binding Supreme Court precedent, though, including the Parents Involved v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County cases in 2007, which struck down two race-based school integration plans as unconstitutional, there is no good legal basis for the assertion in the Fields litigation that academic levels in South Orange and Maplewood violate the law.

Wayne Eastman holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and is a professor at Rutgers Business School where he teaches business law and business ethics.

Balance transfer credit cards have a lot of moving parts, including a balance transfer APR, balance transfer fee, annual fee and, potentially, introductory rates and fees. Plus, offers change regularly.

What’s the best way to find the best balance transfer credit card?

Dr. John Longo is a Professor of Professional Practice in the Finance & Economics Department at Rutgers Business School.

"Many websites compare balance transfer credit cards. When looking for a card, a person should keep in mind their objective in doing the balance transfer. Hopefully, that objective is to pay off their debt faster. In that case, one should select the credit card that gives an introductory rate period that allows the balance to be paid off. If the balance, including new purchases and their interest, cannot be paid off in that time, one should not do the transfer."

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) today announced that Damien Atkins has been named Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, effective August 13. In his new role, Atkins will lead Hershey's legal, government relations, and corporate secretary functions.

Atkins brings 20 years of legal experience to his new role at Hershey. Most recently, he was General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Panasonic Corporation of North America.

Atkins serves on the Board of Directors for the Minority Corporate Counsel Association; Habitat for Humanity, Newark; Rutgers Law School Center for Corporate Law and Governance; and is Vice-Chair for the Institute for Ethical Leadership at Rutgers Business School.

Everyone's so busy these days that it is easy to think you need to schedule time to have fun.

But be careful about how you do that, said Selin Malkoc, a time management expert at The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business.

In an invited article in the journal Current Opinion in Psychology, she and Gabriela Tonietto of Rutgers Business School evaluated recent research that shows how people can find time for leisure and still keep it fun.

They recommended three keys:
Schedule more roughly.
Avoid hard stops.
Focus on the now.

THE DATA IS IN: Thirty percent of incoming freshmen at U.S. higher education institutions are the first in their families to attend college, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Unfortunately, the first-year dropout rate for these students is four times that of their next-generation peers. Only 11 percent will complete their bachelor’s degrees in six years or less.

Two schools—Boston University’s Questrom School of Business in Massachusetts and Rutgers Business School in Newark and New Brunswick, New Jersey—recently adopted new approaches for serving first-gen populations. Although their initiatives have been in place for only a short time, the schools already are seeing positive results in the form of higher rates of enrollment, retention, and on-time degree completion.

At Rutgers Business School (RBS) at Rutgers University in New Jersey, the key to supporting first-generation students is a suite of programs called RBS-PLUS (Pathways Leading to Undergraduate Success), launched in 2013. Delivered through the business school’s office of diversity, RBS-PLUS doesn’t just support its current first-generation and low-income undergraduates. It also reaches out to high school students to offer guidance just as they’re beginning their college preparation.

"It’s a “power-packed program,” says Charles Brown, assistant dean for diversity programs.

Going forward, from an estate planning perspective, the vast majority of New Jersey residents will encounter a world void of estate tax exposure. The recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was signed into law at the end of 2017, raises the amount every taxpayer can gift or bequeath tax-free to $11, 180, 000 and, furthermore, in 2016 the New Jersey Legislature eliminated the state's estate tax, effective in 2018. The combination of these federal and state legislative initiatives fundamentally changes how state residents will orchestrate their testamentary affairs.

Amid the turmoil caused by a recent spate of tariffs, there has been a great deal of news, analysis, and speculation surrounding financial markets and large industries. It might have left small businesses wondering what are these tariffs and what do they mean for my business?

"When the elephants dance, everybody gets shaken up," said Lyneir Richardson, executive director of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at Rutgers Business School. "In this instance, [small businesses are often] dealing with the supply chain asking for higher costs that cannot be quickly passed onto customers. It means more time thinking about pricing, renegotiating and managing cash flow."

IIMA "Young Alumni Achiever's Awards 2018" were presented yesterday to seven alumni from the institute.

Ms. Anuradha Chugh (currently the MD, Ben & Jerry's), Mr. Prakash Jhanwar (currently Regional Head - South East Asia and China, Olam International), Mr. Utsav Baijal (currently Partner, Apollo Management/Aion Capital, USA/India), Mr. Kuldeep Jain (Founder and CEO, Cleanmax Solar), Mr. Manish Gupta (Co - founder & CEO, Indegene), and Prof. Ashwani Monga (Vice Dean for Academic Programs and Innovations, Rutgers Business School, Newark and New Brunswick) were among the awardees this year.

Ahmedabad: They became successful managers, academicians, entrepreneurs and even pursued offbeat career of an author. However, what bound the seven Young Alumni Achievers Award recipients at IIM Ahmedabad on Tuesday was their passion for chosen field and love for alma mater.

This year’s recipients included Anuradha Chugh, MD of Ben & Jerry’s; Prakash Jhanwer, regional head - Southeast Asia and China, Olam International; Utsav Baijal, partner, US-based Apollo Management; Kuldeep Jain, founder and CEO, Cleanmax Solar; Manish Gupta, founder and CEO, Indegene; Ashwani Monga, vice dean (academic programs) of Rutgers Business School; and Chetan Bhagat, renowned author.

I teach classes for the Rutgers Business School Executive Education, so I cross paths with savvy digital marketers on a constant basis. I have been asking them the same question for the last three years, “If people are really getting creeped out by the way marketers are sneaking around with their data, how come no one has started a business around data privacy?” And I never really got an answer that I understood. Not once.

The basis for my question is that most students in the class were unnerved by Google reading their emails and Facebook knowing who their friends are, but no one ever quit Google or Facebook. Why? Because no good alternative existed. At least that’s what they told me.

But I wanted to understand why. Why does no good alternative exist?

The Rutgers University Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CUEED) – America’s first and only program to integrate academia, the private sector, government organizations, and non-profit partners to stimulate urban economic growth through entrepreneurship – has created its Council of Urban Entrepreneurs.

The purpose of the Council will be to provide guidance, inspiration, and education opportunities for aspiring business owners who wish to build their organizations in urban locales.

“Since its founding in 2008, CUEED has helped 370 New Jersey area entrepreneurs to create 580 jobs in urban locales and generate over $137MM in revenue,” says Lyneir Richardson, Executive Director of CUEED.

The U.S. government's recent move to impose controversial tariffs on imports from China shows it suffers from misconceptions about trade relations, a U.S. academic said.

On Tuesday, the United States threatened to slap an additional 10-percent tariff on 200 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese goods. It has been long complaining of being taken advantage of by many of its trading partners, and "suffering" from trade deficit.

However, Farok J. Contractor, a professor in Rutgers Business School's management and global business department, said "suffer is the wrong word."

"Millions of Chinese workers toil for about two to five dollars an hour on behalf of American people that buy a lot of reasonably well-made Chinese products and have in material terms a higher standard of living," Contractor said, pointing out that while the United States has a trade deficit with China in merchandise, it enjoys a surplus in services.

In an article on his website Globalbusiness.blog, Contractor listed how U.S. consumers "enjoy" rather than "suffer" from the trade deficit.

Nell Painter enjoyed a celebrated career as professor of American history at Princeton University. But after decades of earning fellowships and honors and publishing nine scholarly books, her last name came calling. Painter embarked on a new chapter of life: to become an artist.

Her Ph.D. from Harvard wouldn’t be enough to get her into a good M.F.A. program, so at the age of 64, Painter — whose books included the New York Times bestseller “The History of White People” — enrolled as an undergraduate at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers.

Have you ever decided to take the next hour before you have to go to get something done, and then mysteriously failed to accomplish anything? If so, you're not alone. This phenomenon, when knowing that the available time has a limit keeps you from using it to its fullest, is the subject of a new study in the "Journal of Consumer Research."

Gabriela Tonietto, a professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School, began the research while she was working on her PhD. "This is the second half of my dissertation," she says, "which is somewhat inspired by me trying to work on the first half of my dissertation."

The New Jersey Banker's Association held its eighth annual Women in Banking (WIB) Conference last week on Wednesday at The Palace at Somerset Park. The day event was meant to help participants stand tall in an industry dominated by men.

Dr. Patti Ippoliti, president of PI Associates, LLC and assistant professor of professional practice with the Management & Global Business department at Rutgers Business School, led a breakout session.

"It is more important than ever to hold yourselves, and others, accountable," said Ippoliti.

Minority groups, including biracial families and the LGBT community, say they continue to be let down by brands that fail to create diverse and inclusive advertising. But those complaints are leading some companies to change their ad strategies.

Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Jerome Williams, executive vice chancellor and provost at Rutgers University Newark and former chair of the board of trustees of the American Marketing Association, about what's happening.

Rutgers University-Newark’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jerome Williams has been recognized for career-long impact and excellence by the American Marketing Association’s Marketing and Society Special Interest Group (MASSIG) as the winner of its Lifetime Achievement Award. An internationally esteemed scholar, teacher, and leader in business education, Williams is also the Distinguished Professor and Prudential Chair in Business at Rutgers Business School.

“I’m truly honored to be included in the esteemed list of winners of this prestigious award,” Williams remarked. “Many of the past recipients have been mentors to me and whose work has been the foundation of my own work. I’m especially honored to be able to continue this work at Rutgers-Newark, where social justice is a core value and where my research is so much in line with the strategic initiatives of an anchor institution, with an emphasis on publicly-engaged scholarship.”

Have you ever decided to take the next hour before you have to go to get something done, and then mysteriously failed to accomplish anything? If so, you're not alone. This phenomenon, when knowing that the available time has a limit keeps you from using it to its fullest, is the subject of a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Gabriela Tonietto, a professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School, began the research while she was working on her Ph.D. “This is the second half of my dissertation,” she says, “which is somewhat inspired by me trying to work on the first half of my dissertation.”

"Injustices in the Workplace"
Nancy DiTomaso, Distinguished Professor, Department of Management and Global Business, Rutgers Business School–Newark and New Brunswick
Dana Britton, Director, Center for Women and Work, School of Management and Labor Relations

The dramatic strides women have made in the workforce can be seen in their increase from 33 percent of American workers in 1948 to 47 percent of the workforce in 2018. But a gender gap in both wages and authority remains. And although the gaps exist across virtually all occupations, the percentage of disparity is actually greatest for those in highly skilled, highly paid positions.

A case study by a Rutgers Business School professor about a start-up enterprise in Pakistan and its quest to be self-sustaining after 12 months has won first place in the WDI 25th Anniversary Case Competition.

“Roshni Rides: Pricing Transportation for the Underserved,” by Can Uslay examined how the enterprise, which provides affordable, dignified transportation to refugees and was awarded the $1 million Hult Prize in 2017, dealt with many challenges as it prepared to launch. For the case, Uslay followed the Roshni Rides team as it tried to find a price point that made it affordable to its customers while also generating enough money to make future expansion possible.

“Roshni Rides wants to restore the dignity of refugees by providing accessible, affordable, and reliable transportation, one ride at a time,” Uslay said. “For me, it was great to be able to create a case study to convey their powerful story which will resonate with more people as a result of this win.”

When discussing digital transformation, it’s impossible not to discuss social selling and its impact on the sales cycle. In fact, sales reps who utilize social selling are 23 percent more likely to hit their targets than those who do not.

Despite these statistics, formal training programs on social selling are hard to come across… until now! Social selling expert, Neal Schaffer, has teamed up with Rutgers Business School Executive Education to create an eight week executive course dedicated to training organizations and professionals how to maximize social selling efforts and calculate ROI of those programs. Schaffer is one of the World’s best social media strategists. He has written about (Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing) and is an experienced corporate trainer on social selling and is also considered a leading Social Selling Influencer by Forbes.

There is one question parents rarely answer truthfully. Do you play favorites with your kids? Overwhelmingly, parents say no. But what does the research say? Our co-host Steve Inskeep talked about it with NPR's Shankar Vedantam.

VEDANTAM: In this case, we're looking at gender favoritism, Steve. I was speaking with Kristina Durante. She's a marketing professor at Rutgers Business School.

DURANTE: In the United States and in India, we found that there was a sex-matching bias such that fathers were significantly more likely to choose that the Treasury bond should be allocated to their son, whereas mothers were significantly more likely to choose that the treasury bonds should go to their daughter.

You’ve got a full hour until your next meeting. But you probably won’t make the most of that time, new research suggests.

“We figure something might come up, we might need some extra time, even when there’s no need to do that. As a result, we do less with the available time,” Selin Malkoc.

Malkoc conducted the study with Gabriella Tonietto, assistant professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick, and Stephen Nowlis, professor of marketing at Washington University’s Olin Business School.

Have you ever wondered if your mother has a favorite child –and it’s not you?

It’s a topic two academics have been closely studying for the past two decades.

And what did they learn? Moms do have a favorite child. In general, “daughters were overwhelmingly chosen over sons,” says Suitor.

“We found that the effect was very robust in four different experiments and across cultures,” says researcher Kristina Durante, an associate professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey. “The bias toward investing in same-gendered children occurs because women identify more with and see themselves in their daughters, and the same goes for men and sons.”

Life doesn’t stop once a PR agency has been acquired. Its CEO and entire staff become integrated into the buyer’s organization and life becomes quite different.

Grace Leong’s firm Hunter PR was acquired by MDC Partners several years ago. Learn from Grace firsthand how sellers can make being acquired work. Grace is one of the most respected agency heads in the industry. Here words of wisdom will teach you how and what to do to make being acquired exciting, stimulating, motivating and financially rewarding.

Q3: You hold an MBA from Rutgers University. With such a passion for marketing and building brands, why didn’t you become a brand manager?

I am a brand manager! And it’s not because of my MBA—it’s because I help my clients manage their brands through a PR lens. What story are we trying to tell about this brand and how can we do it efficiently using the power of word-of-mouth and the media? So, I am a brand manager—just not a traditional one holding a brand management position at a CPG company.

Have you ever wondered if your mother has a favorite child –and it’s not you?

It’s a topic two academics have been closely studying for the past two decades.

And what did they learn? Moms do have a favorite child. In general, “daughters were overwhelmingly chosen over sons,” says Suitor.

“We found that the effect was very robust in four different experiments and across cultures,” says researcher Kristina Durante, an associate professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey. “The bias toward investing in same-gendered children occurs because women identify more with and see themselves in their daughters, and the same goes for men and sons.”

Have you ever wondered if your mother has a favorite child –and it’s not you?

It’s a topic two academics have been closely studying for the past two decades.

And what did they learn? Moms do have a favorite child. In general, “daughters were overwhelmingly chosen over sons,” says Suitor.

“We found that the effect was very robust in four different experiments and across cultures,” says researcher Kristina Durante, an associate professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey. “The bias toward investing in same-gendered children occurs because women identify more with and see themselves in their daughters, and the same goes for men and sons.”

With the passage of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, institutions of higher education experienced a 42-percent increase of military-affiliated students onto their campuses.

Some intuitions of higher education were able to respond by expanding programs and services, and establishing offices dedicated to serving a military-affiliated student population.

So, what then, are institutions that do not have the resources to do?

The authors provide four tangible actions.

Ann Treadaway, Director of Veteran and Military Programs, Rutgers University and Margaret O'Donnell, Manager of Military and Veteran Engagement Programs in Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University

Suppose you have two tasks before you. One isn’t that important but needs to be done quickly. The other is important but isn’t urgent. Often, people will choose against their self-interest to do the urgent but less important task, a new study has demonstrated. What’s more, the busier and more overwhelmed you feel, the more likely you are to pick the urgent task.

This idea of urgency bias, of course, is not new to consumer and behavioral research. It is, for example, why stores offer limited-time sales, and why hosts on Home Shopping Network say, “Call now while supplies last.”

Ashwani Monga, who was not involved in the new study but is a longtime consumer researcher at Rutgers Business School, said the "interesting finding here isn’t just that time durations are a factor in decision-making but that they can actually change the calculus of decision-making.”

The finance department must play a central role in surmounting challenges to successful implementation of strategic priorities.

Some companies tap the finance department mostly for raising capital, closing books, and implementing controls. And it’s true, of course, that a key function of finance is ensuring accurate reporting and preservation of capital and assets.

However, the CFO and his or her team can and should be a partner to the CEO when it comes to developing strategy — and, more importantly, executing it.

You’ve got a full hour until your next meeting. But you probably won’t make the most of that time, new research suggests.

In a series of eight studies, both in the lab and real life, researchers found that free time seems shorter to people when it comes before a task or appointment on their calendar.

“We seem to take a mental tax out of our time right before an appointment,” said Selin Malkoc, co-author of the study and associate professor of marketing at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

Malkoc conducted the study with Gabriella Tonietto, assistant professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick, and Stephen Nowlis, professor of marketing at Washington University’s Olin Business School.

The need for governmental accounting education has never been greater in the United States, as governments at the federal, state, and local levels face a wave of impending personnel retirements.

As the director of the Rutgers Master in Accountancy in Governmental Accounting Program, the author is increasingly aware of the need for the academic training of governmental accounting and auditing professionals in the public sector.

The need to academically prepare the next generation of government accountants and raise interest among students in serving in governmental accounting positions should be a priority for the accounting profession as a whole. Given the financial challenges that all levels of governments currently face, this is truly an urgent task.

There are specific reasons why students enter the Hult Prize. “They are looking for careers that focus on more than the bottom line,” says Ahmad Ashkar, founder and chief executive. “They want to produce economic return and sustainable, social impact. Entrepreneurship is a way for them to do that.”

One example is Roshni Rides, a rickshaw transportation business that helps refugees in south Asia get to important locations, such as hospitals, using pre-paid transaction cards. It was founded by Rutgers Business School students, who won last year’s grand Hult Prize — $1m in funding.

By the end of May 2018, thousands of extraordinary students will have received bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees from Rutgers University–Newark. Here is an introduction to a few of them.

Sheila Zegarra
Rutgers Business School
At a young age, Sheila Zegarra questioned everything and never took “no” for an answer. She continually uses her passion and drive as motivation to be her very best in all aspects of her life. As a result of her hard work and excellent academic standing, Zegarra was able to take college courses as a high school senior. She always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and through her exposure to college business courses, realized her aptitude for management and leadership. Unsurprisingly, in May she will be graduating from Rutgers Business School with a bachelor’s degree in business management and global business

Digital Transformation will ultimately affect every company in every industry because of almost every customer – and certainly every consumer – becomes predominately digital with time.

The Digital Transformation is a term that can be used throughout the organization, but if businesses need to adapt to the ever-changing digital consumer, I would argue that the digital transformation of their sales and marketing organization should be the first priority.

H. L. Mencken, the famous early 20th century newsman, said the primary objective of news is entertainment. The public wants dramatic stories, clashes between good and evil, not an analysis of the pros and cons of policies. Picking up on Mencken, a catchy story doesn’t have to rest on facts. Possibilities are far more intriguing. So far, the debate over the T-Mobile-Sprint merger proves how right Mencken was. Both sides are already composing stories of what might be if this merger takes place.

Victor Glass, Ph.D., is a professor of professional practice in finance and economics at Rutgers Business School. He is also the director of research at the Center for Research in Regulated Industries.

Rutgers Business School Marketing major Kelsey Huber, 22, of East Brunswick is proud to be a member of the Class of 2018, and thankful to her mother and father, Nancy and Fred Huber, for their support over the years.

"It's been one of the most rewarding experiences to attend Rutgers University," said Huber, who decorated her cap with a crescent moon and the saying "May your hats fly as high as your dreams." "I've met my best friends, found my dream job, and had an unforgettable four years that I'll never forget. I can only hope to continue learning and growing in my personal and professional life as a new Rutgers alumni."

Members of the university community who have made outstanding contributions in the classroom, to their disciplines or for the benefit of the community or world were honored during a May 3 reception at the Rutgers Visitor Center.

Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Research honors faculty members who have made distinguished research contributions to their discipline or society. Recipients receive a $1,000 honorarium.

Benjamin Melamed, distinguished professor, Department of Supply Chain Management, Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick, was recognized for his seminal contributions throughout his four-decade research career in the areas of applied probability, analysis and simulation, and systems modeling and performance evaluation.

“My dream in life is to make movies and having my film shown at Cannes really validates that I could be a film writer full time,” says Daniel Reji, who graduated last year from Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick. Reji was a senior when he wrote the screenplay for Opal, a fictional account of a writer who becomes infatuated with a woman in the Somerset Diner.

Trade offers many benefits for economies, and the outlook for the United States is not as grim as some political leaders suggest. Still, there are challenges for the US-Chinese trade relationship, explains Farok J. Contractor, professor at Rutgers Business School.

The United States does have a hefty trade deficit with China in goods, but is also the world’s leading exporter in services and enjoys a surplus in services with China. US companies are innovative and entrepreneurial, recognizing they must guard their technology secrets in any trade relationship. The United States has operated with deficits against the rest of the world for decades because the country resists curtailing spending or increasing saving. Such patterns contribute to ballooning government debt, about half of which is held by foreign investors.

Contractor warns the US pattern of deficit spending can continue only as long as three conditions hold: foreign and domestic Investors continue viewing the US dollar as a safe haven, foreign workers keep working for low wages, and the United States continues to create jobs. – YaleGlobal

But before judging the response to the refugee crisis by some EU countries, consider the existing social conditions in the Europe, where this wave of displaced people seek sanctuary. Across much of Europe, youth unemployment is already at an all-time high, with one in five young people ages 15 to 24 being idle. In countries like Greece, Spain and Italy youth unemployment ranges from 40 percent to over 50 percent. "In Greece youth unemployment is 50 percent, but in Germany youth unemployment is only 7 percent, with overall unemployment well below 5 percent and jobs going begging,” says Farok J. Contractor, professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School.

There are organizations on campus that support hundreds of students' creative endeavors, such as The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CUEED) and organizations like the Rutgers Entrepreneurial Society, said Jeffrey Robinson, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship in the Rutgers Business School and director of CUEED.

Make no mistake that the avalanche of e-commerce and evolving consumer market is knocking the traditional brick-and-mortar business model to the ground, taking commercial retail real estate with it.

Kevin Riordan, executive director of Rutgers Center for Real Estate at Rutgers Business School, said he’s not surprised stores such as T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, and TJX’s relatively new-to-the-U.S. store Homesense are weathering the storm because their pricing makes them
“almost like the brick-and-mortar version” of Amazon and many people still seek the “tangible, physical retail experience.” They are willing to go to them knowing “it’s hit-and-miss.”

Why did you choose this business school?

I chose the Rutgers Business School for a number of reasons. While researching MBA programs with supply chain management concentrations, I discovered that U.S. News & World Report ranked RBS’s graduate SCM program eleventh nationwide, which I found particularly impressive. However, what really sold me on the institution was its rankings as first and third in the nation for job placement and employment, titles respectively given by Bloomberg Businessweek and U.S. News & World Report. Rutgers knows what it takes to prepare students to compete for highly sought after positions in multiple industries. My personal journey can attest to that fact.

Re “An Overdue Reckoning for Apu,” by Vikas Bajaj (Editorial Observer, April 30), about an Indian character on the animated TV series “The Simpsons” that some South Asians find offensive:

This is a ridiculous commentary on a self-made, hardworking Indian who happens to own and work in a store where his accent won’t hurt him. Indians come in all stripes, from the chief executives of Google and Microsoft to the Apus of Deli Marts and Kwik-E-Marts to the taxi drivers of New York City.

I myself am Indian and a professor at Rutgers Business School, and I am not in the least offended by Apu’s accent. Mr. Bajaj, smile and get over it.

In this article, I will cover everything I learned about AI and its impact on marketing. We’re just getting started down a new and disruptive path in marketing and it’s very exciting.

This new technology will make it easier for brands to not only manage its’ big data and get actionable insights, but will drive marketing key performance indicators (KPIs) to new heights. They’ll also usher in a new level of transparency never seen before in ad tech.

As marketers, we all need to ask ourselves, “Are we prepared for marketing to be fundamentally disrupted?”

A recent survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council found that the vast majority of full-time MBA alumni – 90 percent – say their degree enhanced their earnings power. One way to gauge future income potential is to look at a school's salary-to-debt ratio. That rate of return is calculated by dividing the average salary and signing bonus of recent grads by the average student debt of those who borrowed. Here are 10 ranked business schools where full-time MBA grads earning more than $100,000 on average within three months of graduation received the highest return.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey—Newark and New Brunswick
U.S. News business school rank: 44 (tie)
Average salary and signing bonus within three months of graduating (2017): $117,265
Average debt (2017): $40,550
Salary-to-debt ratio: 2.9-to-1

For a market that is seeing an extended growth period, it isn’t all that complicated to sum up what exactly is driving the major trends in commercial real estate lending:

Fierce competition.

At least, that’s according to panelists at a recent conference hosted by the Rutgers Center for Real Estate, where lenders and other experts gathered to discuss the state of commercial real estate finance in New Jersey and beyond.