Washington University in St. Louis

What happens when the CEO of one of the largest financial institutions in the world sits down to talk with MBA students? Olin Business School students had a long list of questions for Citi CEO Vikram Pandit when he visited recently. The discussion ranged from the financial crisis to reform, compensation to career choices. Pandit offered candid advice to the students with concerns about unemployment numbers and the loss of jobs on Wall Street.

MEDIA ALERT FOR MONDAY, NOV. 16 The Work, Families and Public Policy Seminar Series Nobel laureate to discuss human inequality, its origins and solutions WHAT: Lecture: “Understanding the Sources of and Solutions to Human Inequality” WHEN: Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, Noon-1:15 pm WHO: James J. Heckman 2000 Nobel Laureate in Economics University of Chicago’s Henry […]

“A lot of people were horrified that it was the first time a political scientist got the prize,” says Douglass C. North in a video interview on the 2009 Nobel prize in economics. North North, a 1993 recipient of the prestigious award, defends this year’s winners, Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson, as pioneers in the New Institutional Economics that uses an interdisciplinary approach to research. Traditional economists who favor formal mathematical model-based theory are critical of the institutional approach and Nobel recognition of the social sciences versus pure economics. North talks about this year’s winners, their work and New Institutional Economics in accompanying video.

What do ripening pumpkins, sunspots and scratching dogs have to do with stock market crashes in the month of October? Just ask Washington University in St. Louis economics professor Stephen Williamson. He proposes three theories on why the stock market might tend to crash in October as it did so famously in 1929, 1987 and 2008.

The Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition (SEIC) enters its fifth year with a new name in recognition of a St. Louis community foundation. The competition offers mentoring, business advice and workshops for social enterprise start-ups. Contestants in the seven month-long competition must pass several hurdles before investment awards, totaling thousands of dollars, are announced next spring for the most promising ventures.

David KilperVillage East student apartment buildingWashington University in St. Louis’ Village East student apartment building has received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The Village East is the first LEED-certified residence hall and third LEED-certified building on the university’s Danforth Campus.

Julie SingerThe shooting death last Saturday of Neda Agha-Soltan has emerged, thanks to video widely circulated on the Internet, as a potent symbol of Iran’s antigovernment movement. In the news media and in private postings across the Web, Agha-Soltan has been memorialized as a victim, a martyr and — perhaps most hauntingly to Western ears — as “Iran’s Joan of Arc.” Yet while fitting in some ways, that comparison says less about either Agha-Soltan or the 15th-century French saint than it does about our own need to make sense of the present through comparison with the past, says Julie Singer, Ph.D., assistant professor of French in the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis today announced that it has been selected to host USATODAY’s 10th CEO Forum on April 20, 2009. The forum will feature an interview with IAC CEO and media veteran, Barry Diller. USATODAY’s senior media reporter David Lieberman will moderate the event.

Economic downturns test the skills of the most seasoned managers. In response to the challenges of managing during the current economic crisis, the Olin Business School at Washington University is shifting the focus of its executive education seminars. Faculty are fine-tuning their lectures and case studies to address the recession and its effect on many aspects of business.

Kouvelis A new study from the Boeing Center for Technology, Information and Manufacturing (BCTIM) at the Olin Business School, calls on shipping companies to increase their use of full-container loads with specific delivery dates to reduce costs and counter the effects of the recession on global trade. Panos Kouvelis, BCTIM director and distinguished professor of operations and manufacturing management at Washington University in St. Louis – Olin Business School, co-authored the study with Jian Li. In their paper, “Managing the New Uncertainty,” they recommend the changes in the shipping supply chain as the “logical next step” for ocean freight services.