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Kelley School of Business Indiana University Bloomington
Kelley School of Business

Kelley School professor appointed as an advisor to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

WASHINGTON — Michael R. Baye, the Bert Elwert Professor of Business Economics at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, has been appointed to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Academic Research Council, which advises bureau leadership on a broad range of consumer financial issues and emerging market trends.

Baye, who joined the Kelley School faculty in 1997, previously served in Washington, D.C. as director of the Bureau of Economics at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2007-08.

In his new appointment, Baye will serve for the next two years in an advisory capacity as a member of the CFPB’s Academic Research Council. It advises the bureau on its strategic research planning process and research agenda. It also provides feedback on research methodologies, data collection strategies, and methods of analysis, including methodologies and strategies for quantifying the costs and benefits of regulatory actions.

“When I returned from the FTC, my students really enjoyed learning first-hand about current policy issues. I was also able to share useful information with colleagues,” Baye said. “The value of that knowledge has depreciated over the past decade, and it will be good to have fresh insights to share.

“It is certainly an honor to serve our country,” he added. “America has given me so many opportunities, and I welcome the opportunity to give something back. “

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Venture co-founded by Kelley alumnus aiming for top honors at TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield competition

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

SAN FRANCISCO – Civic Champs, a startup based in Indiana University Kelley School of Business’ Hoosier Hatchery incubator, is one of 18 companies — chosen from more than 700 firms worldwide – to compete in Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019.

The company, co-founded by Ryan Underdahl, Civic Champs chief operating officer and a 2019 graduate of Kelley’s Full-Time MBA program (second from the left in image above), will compete on tech’s biggest stage for the Disrupt Cup and $100,000 in equity-free prize money.

At the heart of the company is a mobile application that helps nonprofits “seamlessly” digitally track volunteer hours and other information they need to apply for grant funding. Bloomington nonprofits Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County and My Sister’s Closet were involved in early efforts to test app’s effectiveness.

The Startup Battlefield competition plays out over three days. Civic Champs will make its pitch to judges on Thursday, Oct. 3 at around 1:40 pm local time (4:40 EDT), which can be viewed live online.

The conference surrounding the competition is considered the original tech startup conference. The competition showcases promising early-stage and fundamentally disruptive startups. Previous winners have included familiar apps such as Vurb and Dropbox, social media network Yammer and the personal financial management service Mint.

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IU, Kelley School and Whirlpool mark a decade of Habitat for Humanity Homes campus builds

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For the 10th time, hundreds of students, faculty and staff from Indiana University and its Kelley School of Business will team up with Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County to build a new home on campus for a local family, with support from Whirlpool Corporation.

Since 2010, nine other families have benefited from the 10-day blitz builds happening annually across 17th Street from the IU Athletics complex. Bob and Alice Wilmoth of Bloomington (pictured below) soon will join them, receiving the keys to their new home on the field at Memorial Stadium before IU’s homecoming football game against Rutgers University.

A year ago, the Wilmoths watched as last year’s build for Stephanie Rose and her two children unfolded, as they made their way to and from church services at St. Paul’s Catholic Center. While they were impressed with the house being built, they today appreciate even further the meaning behind the effort.

“These students, these volunteers are the most important people in our lives right now and they don’t even realize it yet,” Bob said. “It is amazing that in their short time here as students, they’re leaving a legacy in Bloomington that will last forever.”

Construction began today (Oct. 1) down the street from the stadium at the southeast intersection of 17th Street and Fee Lane. The public is welcome to attend the house dedication at the building site at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 12. The following morning, weather permitting, the house will be moved to its permanent location.

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IU and Kelley School professor pleased to partner in newly formed Cyber Peace Institute

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Amid escalating cyber attacks worldwide against all kinds of public and private institutions and individuals, an independent NGO – the Cyber Peace Institute – was established Sept. 26 in Geneva, Switzerland to address their impact and risks.

Among those helping to frame the organization’s goals and objectives are Indiana University and a professor in its Kelley School of Business.

Scott Shackelford, associate professor of business law and ethics in IU’s Kelley School of Business, chair of the Cybersecurity Program IU Bloomington and director of the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance, is one of new NGO’s strategic partners. Also involved are academics at other research institutions, such the University of Toronto, Harvard and Stanford universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“In a world beset by cyber insecurity, it is important to build ties, and ultimately trust, such as through the establishment of norms of behavior,” said Shackelford. “Discussions are ongoing on this front across numerous forums, including the UN, but they are disparate.

“The concept of cyber peace has the potential to link together discussions ranging from making democracy harder to hack to holding cyber criminals responsible for spreading ransomware. A whole ecosystem is needed to support this effort, including academia and civil society such as the Cyber Peace Institute,” he said.

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Another week, another move up in rankings for Kelley’s Full-Time MBA Program

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For the second time in about a week, the Full-Time MBA Program at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business has been ranked a top 20 program with one of the best returns on investment for students who choose it as the place to transform their future.

In rankings of MBA programs released today by QS Intelligence Unit, which also produces the QS World University Rankings, Kelley’s residential program was ranked 16th among 105 U.S. programs and 33rd out of 240 programs worldwide. A year ago, the program was 18th in the U.S.

The program was ranked fourth highest in the U.S. in terms of return on investment, which was based on a 10-year gain in compensation after accounting for tuition, pre- and post-program salary estimates and the length of Kelley’s program.

QS estimates that graduates of the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program have an average ROI of $866,963 in the decade after graduation, and reported that it only takes two and half years to fully pay back the cost of their degree. This compares favorably to a global mean average of 43 months or 3.6 years for graduates of other programs.

On Sept. 18, the program also moved from 26th to 19th in Forbes’ rankings. Kelley had the fastest payback periods of any MBA program in Forbes’ Top 20.

The new QS ranking reflects upward movement in rankings for the Full-Time Program generally. The program has seen solid Top 25 improvement in rankings issued by the Financial Times (22nd, up from 29th) and U.S. News & World Report (21st, up from 27th). Earlier this month, Clear Admit, a go-to source of information for prospective MBA students selected Kelley among its list of the Best Business Schools For Marketing.

Learn more about the program at Kelley’s annual, on-campus MBA Preview Weekend on Oct. 18-19.

Kelley faculty to contribute insights and expertise to Indiana Innovation Initiative

Posted on by George Vlahakis

INDIANAPOLIS – Two professors at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business have been appointed to the newly formed Indiana Innovation Initiative, established by the Indiana Supreme Court.

Loretta H. Rush, chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, issued an order on Sept. 24 establishing the initiative and task forces on family law and technology. Those involved are expected to produce a report of their findings and recommendations to the court by July of 2021.

“Indiana has been a national leader in justice reform in areas such as evidence-based decision-making, pretrial release, problem-solving courts, and commercial courts,” Rush said. “Additional innovation opportunities now present themselves in Indiana, designed to make Indiana’s system of justice more efficient, less expensive, and easier to navigate while continuing to ensure that justice is fairly administered and the rights of all litigants protected.”

Scott Shackelford, associate professor of business law and ethics, Cybersecurity Program Chair at IU Bloomington and director of the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance (pictured left); and Roger Schmenner, professor emeritus of operations management and Kelley’s former associate dean at Indianapolis (pictured right), are joining more than 35 others on this project. They will primarily contribute to the initiative’s task force on technology. (more…)

Socially responsible companies can serve stakeholders while doing good, says Xylem CEO

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Patrick Decker, president and CEO of international water technology company Xylem, returned to the Indiana University Kelley School of Business on Sept. 13 to speak to more than 150 students, providing them with insights into how he and other c-suite executives communicate with all areas of Wall Street.

Decker, who has led the 17,000 plus-employee company since 2014, also spoke about the importance of corporate social responsibility. At a time when there’s much debate about the importance of clean energy, Xylem is directing attention to “clean water.”

The company uses digital intelligence and analytics to help customers and communities manage water more effectively and be more environmentally sustainable. Among its clients worldwide is the city of South Bend, Indiana, where the company helped reduce sewer overflows by 70 percent and prevents more than  1 billion gallons of polluted water from entering local waterways annually.

As part of its efforts to create social value, Xylem is collaborating with environmental youth leadership organization EarthEcho International to host events nationwide highlighting the need for a clean water future. In mid-August, the company was again included on Fortune’s “Change the World” list of 50 companies that have made social impact a significant part of their core business strategy.

In the summer of 2018, the world watched as courageous cave divers, local responders and many other volunteers helped rescue members of a youth soccer team and their coach, who were trapped in a flooded cave in Chiang Rai, Thailand. In support of the Thai-led rescue effort, a team from Xylem helped reconfigure pumps to increase the flow rate of water being removed from the cave, improving the rescue team’s chances of success dramatically. (more…)

‘Creating companies where women can thrive’ is the focus of Business Horizons’ latest issue

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For many years, professional women have been told to “be more assertive” or “less emotional,” while also being advised to “demand a seat at the table.”

But the notion of placing the responsibility on women to advance within organizations is thankfully beginning to change, said Carolyn Goerner, clinical professor of management at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business (pictured below). Companies are beginning to see the value of being more inclusive.

“Beyond mere diversity or having a representative number of employees from different social categories, the best companies today focus on inclusion,” Goerner writes in the article, “Creating companies where women can thrive,” in the latest issue of Business Horizons. “In an inclusive company climate, workers feel comfortable bringing their ‘full selves’ to work.

“While traditional thinking about gender diversity suggests that women need to be more like mainstream men to succeed, current perspectives of inclusion assert that women are necessary in organizations because they are women,” she added. “The unique skills and perspectives of women help a company reach new levels of success.”

Goerner, who joined the Kelley School in 2000 and has coached many successful female students, is guest editor of the September/October 2019 issue of Business Horizons, an academic and practitioner journal published by the Kelley School. The issue features a special section on issues facing women in the corporate world, featuring seven articles and an interview with Cheryl Henry, president and CEO of Ruth’s Hospitality Group, the parent company of Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

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Open Medicare data helps IU researchers uncover potential hidden costs of health care

Posted on by George Vlahakis

stethiscope on money

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — An interdisciplinary team of Indiana University scientists studying Medicare data has found an association between health care industry payments to medical providers for non-research expenses and what these providers charge for medical services — shedding new light on potential hidden costs to the public.

Their findings, published Sept. 20 in Nature Communications, demonstrate that medical providers receiving higher amounts of industry payments tend to bill higher drug and medical costs. Specifically, they found that a 10 percent increase in industry payments to medical providers is associated with 1.3 percent higher medical costs and 1.8 percent higher drug costs.

For example, a $25 increase in annual industry payments to a typical medical provider would be associated with approximately $1,100 higher medical costs and $100 higher drug costs.

Jorge Mejia

Jorge Mejia

“Let’s be clear here — we should not find such an association,” said Jorge Mejia, co-author on the paper and an assistant professor of operations and decision technologies at the IU Kelley School of Business. “Our findings raise the possibility that medical providers may be unduly influenced by payments from the health care industry.”

It’s important to note that an association shows that two variables appear to change at the same time, whereas causality implies that one variable causes another variable to change. This study does not prove causality, which the researchers said would be difficult to do with secondary data.

Jorge Mejia’s co-authors are Amanda Mejia, assistant professor in the Department of Statistics, and Franco Pestilli, associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, both in the IU College of Arts and Sciences.

Amanda Mejia said the team controlled for several key variables to rule out the possibility of other drivers of the association between industry payments and medical costs.

“We found that the association was still there after taking into account the size of the practice, its location and drug prescribing levels,” she said.

Pestilli said the large Medicare data sets that the researchers used were made openly available as part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

“Our research capitalized on such openly shared data,” Pestilli said. “We demonstrate the value of open data in providing society with critical insights on hidden costs that can be addressed at the policy level.”

But Jorge Mejia said transparency alone is not enough to fix these hidden costs. That’s why studies like this one are important: They help interpret the data so the public can better understand what it means.

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Kelley global immersion opportunities change lives, including for those going to South Africa

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

Editor’s note: This guest column was written by Kelly Eskew, clinical associate professor of business law and ethics and instructor of a Kelley X272 course.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Every spring, the Indiana University Kelley School of Business sends out nearly 450 second-semester sophomores on a great adventure, taking the classroom to every continent (except Antarctica) to study the culture, economy and political systems of 18 countries around the world.

This group of rigorous courses — known as “X272s” — allows students to immerse themselves in global challenges and opportunities focused on a specific region, and then to travel and apply that learning through local and personal experiences.

Each department in Kelley is home to at least one X272 course. Classes meet for eight weeks of intense study and preparation on campus, followed by a seven- to nine-day study tour.

I would like to share with you my X272 course, “Business and Human Rights in South Africa.” There is no greater privilege than my responsibility for shepherding this life-changing learning experience for my incredible students and then watching how it impacts the vision each has for the principled way in which he or she will conduct business. (more…)

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