On The Verge

Is your company taking enough risks?  Managing a company is a challenge. CEOs need to balance short-term profit with long-term innovation, performance with investment, and shareholders’ interests with employees’ expectations.  Some CEOs are natural risk-takers; others may be more risk-averse. Managers need to strike the right balance between “doing what works” and investing in risky […]

“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the national, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all of the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them […]

Whether it’s over coffee or on Zoom, social connections create companies, establish successful partnerships and launch industry-changing research projects. That’s why one of the biggest challenges we’ve had globally over the last year, as we sought to slow and stop the spread of the coronavirus, has been maintaining our social relationships with far-away friends and […]

Influencers dominate today’s social media landscape. Consumers turn to their favorite bloggers, vloggers and online personalities to influence their purchasing decisions on everything from beauty products to streaming services. In the business-to-consumer (B2C) space, almost every major company has an influencer marketing strategy to capitalize on this phenomenon. But what about business-to-business (B2B)?  “Consumers are […]

How many Friday afternoon office conversations go a little something like this? “What are your plans for the weekend?” “We’re hoping to binge the new season of ‘Ozark.’ We’ve been waiting for this to drop on Netflix for months.” But binge-watching, by definition, is not supposed to be a planned activity. It’s supposed to be […]

In 1973, Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize the use of marijuana. Nearly fifty years later, eleven other states—including Colorado, Alaska, California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Vermont—have all fully legalized recreational marijuana. So, what is holding back the rest of the country from joining in the green rush? Kevin Fandl, associate professor […]

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused—and will continue to affect—dramatic changes in our world. In the early part of the crisis, information changed rapidly. Entire industries needed to react quickly, by pivoting, adapting or crumbling in the face of the country’s social distancing guidelines.  When surrounded by the unknown, a single decision can make or […]

“In intercollegiate athletics and beyond, you put in your hours. Many people believe the only way to get better, to be more successful, is to work harder.” Elizabeth Taylor, assistant professor at the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management. Do you live to work, or work to live?  Inspired by her own past as […]

During the 2019-2020 academic year, Sunil Wattal was named the new managing director of PhD programs. He shared with the On The Verge editorial team his relationship with research, the value of pursuing a PhD in 2020 and his vision for the future of the program.  1. What are your primary research interests?  As a […]

TV impacts what we talk about at the water cooler, but how is it affecting executives’ decision making? What TV viewers consume can shape their decisions and beliefs. In today’s polarized political climate, viewers of MSNBC often have completely different interpretations of current events than viewers of Fox News.  Business executives, however, need to make […]

No business is perfect. From top-down management to lopsided raises, maintaining a successful business strategy comes with many challenges. The “perfect” organization might seem like a fairytale, but can it be a reality? In-Sue Oh, Charles E. Beury Professor of human resource management at the Fox School, found a recipe for a just-right workplace environment.  […]

While research experts like Jay I. Sinha and Thomas Fung, professors in the Fox School’s Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management (MSCM), are studying how companies are innovating to reach millennial audiences, these three Fox alumnae are living it.  The On the Verge editorial team caught up with these micro-influencers to talk about their […]

For many, teleworking is a normal occurrence. A 2016 Gallup poll found that 43 percent of working adults spent at least some time working from home. With advancements in technology, cloud-based file sharing and storage and demands for more flexibility, it’s a trend unlikely to stop anytime soon.  Sandra Webster, DBA ’17, knows more than most […]

Diana Kyser, DBA ’17, has played nearly every possible role one can in business. Even with jobs like programmer, marketing manager, customer service representative, consultant and COO under her belt, she was not satisfied with her scope of knowledge. To connect her practice to theory, she decided to pursue an Executive Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the […]

We get dozens of digital notifications every day. From text messages to calendar reminders, privacy permission requests to software updates, our reactions are near-automatic each time: dismiss, snooze or remind me later. Why do we let these important notifications pass us by? “Our brains are wired to tune things out over time,” says Anthony Vance, […]