A big congrats to Madeleine Bate who just presented our work on Twitter at the American Marketing Association Annual Conference in Orlando. We used the independent cinema industry as our context and examined whether it’s better to have a very wide network with lots of followers or a dense network where everybody knows each other. Overall we found that width ruled the day but not without a caveat. To see our presentation please see the following link. AMA 2014 Poster v3
The passing of a local legend
Rollin “Ron” Wehman passed away today, he was the founder of the Riverside Dinner Theater in Fredericksburg. I knew Ron personally, he was on our board of advisers and when I reached out to various businesses to see if any would allow our undergraduate marketing students to do a case study on them, Ron did not hesitate. He allowed our students unfiltered access to everything from the theater’s financials to the challenges that they face. Not many undergraduates (at any school) ever get this level of exposure to business so Ron’s help was invaluable. The students got great experience and the Riverside Theater got a great consultancy project that helped them develop their social media marketing. I’m sad that we lost a greater person and my hope is that his example will be followed by others.
Why the honor code matters
At U
MW we have an honor code and we take it fairly seriously. The honor code acts as a signal in the marketplace that a UMW grad has a code that they abide by. I was talking to a colleague of mine who had found out that a student had cheated on a minor assignment and subsequently my colleague had reported the student to the honor council. The student was upset, being caught didn’t upset her as much as the perceived disproportionate response by the professor. The assignment was only worth a few marks, was it really worth jeopardizing the student’s entire academic career over one small assignment? There are people who can use a moral, ethical, or even philosophical argument to say yes. I can’t speak intelligently on any of those subjects so I’ll make an economic argument. The professor isn’t trying to harm the student that cheated, he’s trying to protect the students that didn’t cheat. Here’s how this works.
At some point the student that cheated will either go to grad school or find other gainful employment. Two things can happen now. Firstly, if the student can break the rules in college and get away with it then this increases the probability that the student will engage in similar behavior after they graduate. Secondly, the student hasn’t actually learned the material that they claim to know. Let’s assume a couple of things at this stage, in regards to businesses and grad schools 1) they don’t want people that break the rules, and/ or 2) they want people that know what they say they know. The challenge for businesses and grad schools is how to differentiate the good (honest) grads from the bad (dishonest) ones. An honor code can differentiate a UMW grad because it’s a signal that this student has spent four (or more) years abiding by a code where they acted honestly and admirably. In a market where so many people only do what’s in their own personal best interest it’s hard to find those who will do honorably even when they can benefit by not acting honorably. If this signal that is the honor code is going to become a student’s advantage then we have to enforce it rigorously. If a student can cheat at a school that values the honor code then really we’re losing a big advantage over schools which take a more lenient stance to cheating and/ or which do not have the honor code that we do. In today’s market where grad schools and jobs are increasingly competitive wouldn’t it be great if students had a competitive advantage simply by acting honorably? This can and does happen but it only works if we take a stand against those that would violate it.
National Signing Day – Where colleges compete for “admission”
National Signing day represents a unique market. In no other market do buyers do so much to signal their quality. Colleges are buying the services of football recruits (who are selling their services). If you’re a college graduate you’re a seller, you are trying to sell your services to a buyer (a potential employer). In the realm of college football it is multimillion dollar college programs that are trying to convince buyers (football recruits) to allow them to sell them their football scholarships in exchange for their services.
No more automatic service charges in restaurants
Have you ever received an automatic service charge on a restaurant bill? This usually happens in restaurants for large parties. The restaurant typically charges an automatic gratuity to the bill. Starting this year (2014) restaurants may stop doing this practice because this “gratuity” will be classified as employee income and the restaurant will be forced to pay medicaid and other benefits on this income. Click here to learn more.
