October 21, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Whereas in the 1980s nearly four in five Americans were repeat buyers of the same brand of automobile, a new survey shows only 20 percent show such loyalty today. School of Management marketing Professor Shuba Srinivasan, who studies auto-industry marketing, says increased reliance on sales promotions is partly to blame. “Over the last decade, the […]
October 20, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Boston-based State Street Corporation has been sued by the California attorney general for “unconscionable fraud” against that state’s largest public-worker pension funds. Law Professor Tamar Frankel, an authority on securities law and author of “Trust and Honesty: America’s Business Culture at a Crossroad,” says the big questions are how will State Street act in the […]
October 19, 2009 at 4:43 pm
The National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council reports that there’s about $120 billion in “hidden costs” — including environmental and public health damage — from energy production and consumption every year. Professor Ian Sue Wing of the BU Center for Energy and Environmental Studies was a member of the NRC committee which conducted the study. […]
October 16, 2009 at 2:40 pm
A Louisiana justice of the peace is raising legal eyebrows for denying an interracial couple a marriage license because he doesn’t think it would be good for any child the couple might have. Law Professor Linda McClain, a family law authority, says the J.P. is flat-out wrong legally, based on a long-ago U.S. Supreme Court […]
October 15, 2009 at 12:01 pm
With reports that most of the Nobel committee initially argued against giving President Obama the 2009 Peace Prize, former U.S. Ambassador Charles Stith, director of BU’s African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC), makes the case in a Bay State Banner commentary for awarding the honor. “The Nobel Committee gets something that seems to elude […]
October 15, 2009 at 11:28 am
After months of forcing cutbacks and considering bids, The New York Times Company decided to keep the Boston Globe after all. College of Communication Dean Tom Fiedler, a Pulitzer-winning former Miami Herald executive editor, says the key reasons were the “stunningly low” offers and the new optimism about the Globe’s prospects. “Add to that significant […]
October 14, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Despite the taxpayer bailouts and regulators pressuring Wall Street’s compensation culture, finance-industry pay is expected to push to a record high of $140 billion this year. Former Federal Reserve Bank examiner Mark T. Williams, who teaches finance at the School of Management, says only emplyees that take low risks and make large profits should be rewarded. […]
October 13, 2009 at 5:02 pm
With only one Republican voting yea, the Senate Finance Committee has approved its healthcare-reform bill and the deal making should begin in earnest to meld it with a more liberal version from another committee. School of Management Professor Stephen Davidson, author of “In Urgent Need of Reform: Saving the U.S. Healthcare System,” says the Finance […]
October 13, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Convicted Enron CEO Jeff Skilling will get the chance to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court his federal conviction on conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading, and lying to auditors. Law Professor Tamar Frankel, an authority on securities law and legal ethics, says it shouldn’t matter whether a manager directly or indirectly benefited from a wrongful act. […]
October 9, 2009 at 2:57 pm
British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC has spent more than $3.2 billion over the past five years on research and acquisitions specifically related to an anticipated flu pandemic. Now comes the payoff as the swine flu sweeps the world. Law Professor Kevin Outterson, head of the Health Law Program and an authority on drug marketing, said Glaxo […]
