Guest Blogger: Contributed by Dr. Geoffrey Stoker, Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems and Dr. Uklu Clark, Professor of Management Information Systems at the UNCW Congdon School of Supply Chain, Business Analytics, and Information Systems (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on August 20, 2020).

There is a clever meme floating around the internet that goes something like this:
 
“Who led your company’s digital transformation?”
A.  CTO
B.  CEO
C.  COVID-19

Following a joint presentation to academic advisors and administrators at the Eurasia Higher Education Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, earlier this year, Associate Vice Chancellor of International Programs Michael Wilhelm and Stephen Hill, director of the MS Business Analytics Program in the Congdon School of Supply Chain, Business Analytics, and Information Systems, have been selected to lead a virtual student advising session for Education USA in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Guest Blogger: This piece was contributed by Lily Pezzullo-Frank, Coordinator of External Programs and Communications for the Cameron School of Business and program administrator for the Cameron Executive Network. (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on July 30, 2020).

In January 2020 Cameron Executive Network mentor and Cameron School of Business alumna ‘07, Liz Roesel, and CSB alumna ‘17, Arianne Branch, launched a new business, just weeks before the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic rocked the United States.

Guest Blogger: This Insights article was contributed by Dr. William Sackley, Director of BB&T Center for Global Capitalism and Cameron School of Business Professor of Finance (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on July 15, 2020).

The stock market, as gauged by the S&P 500 index, just completed its strongest calendar quarter of appreciation during the 21st century, albeit following a dismal first quarter. At this writing, the index is down just over 4% year-to-date, or just over 8% from its February high. That is fairly amazing in the presence of a global pandemic that appears to be escalating rather than abating in the U.S., and which has resulted in a larger disruption of economic activity than during any downturn subsequent to the Great Depression. Should investors be complacent about their equity exposure at this point, or “heading for the exits?”

Guest Blogger: Contributed by Jessica Mesmer-Magnus, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, SPHR, an industrial, work, and organizational psychologist and a professor of management in the Cameron School of Business at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on June 30, 2020).

The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically affected workplaces worldwide. Not only are businesses trying to serve their customers and clients, but they are adapting “on-the-fly” to make payroll and to support employees who are working from home. Many employees do not have the experience or the tools needed to work virtually, and are often navigating this new work-norm while simultaneously being thrust into a world of homeschooling and dependent care. The need for alternate work strategies may be extended for an unknown period of time, and employers can’t take a “wait-and-see” approach. Although there is little research specific to managing employees during a pandemic, there are some takeaways that can be applied to help organizations navigate this situation.

Guest Blogger: Contributed by Dr. Edward Graham, Professor of Finance and Real Estate at the Cameron School of Business, UNCW (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on June 15, 2020).

Economic or financial risk is generally of two types: systematic and non-systematic. Non-systematic risk is risk that impacts a specific asset or group of assets – like a UAW strike impacting Ford and GM, or Mad Cow Disease impacting Wendy’s or McDonalds. Systematic risk concerns itself with factors that impact the entire economy, like the housing and financial crisis of eleven or twelve years ago motivating the Great Recession. The Covid “pandemic,” in turn, now manifests itself as a clear example of systematic risk, impacting the whole economy. But the pandemic has impacted some sectors of the economy far more than others.

Story notes contributed by Cetin Ciner, Professor in Finance at the UNCW Cameron School of Business.

Cetin Ciner, Ph.D. professor of finance at UNCW Cameron School of Business has “Stock Return Predictability in the time of COVID-19” accepted for publication in Finance Research Letters, which is rated A by the Australian Business Dean’s Council.

Guest Blogger: Contributed by Richard J. Walsh, Director  UNCW’s Swain Center for Executive Education & Economic Development (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on June 1, 2020).

These last several months have been a time of change and innovation both for UNCW’s Cameron School of Business, as well as for local businesses, health providers and community leaders. Like us, many leaders are responding to these new realities, re-focusing their efforts, and adapting to our new work environments.

Guest Blogger: Contributed by Dr. Stephen Hill, Associate Professor of Analytics at the UNCW Cameron School of Business (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on May 15, 2020).
 
At the time of the writing of this article (early April 2020), the number of confirmed cases of the Coronavirus globally had just passed 1,400,000. Over a quarter of those cases were in the United States, where almost 13,000 deaths were attributed to the virus. Schools and many businesses are closed. Passenger transportation networks, particularly air travel, have ground to a near halt. We are encouraged to stay home and to distance ourselves from others. Despite these hardships, the pandemic has given analytics professionals a unique opportunity to see their work prominently displayed and to see the public take great interest in data, visualization, and modeling related to the pandemic.

Guest Blogger: Contributed by Heather McWhorter, Regional Director of the Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC) (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on May 1, 2020).
 
The 890,000+ small businesses in North Carolina employ 1.6 million people and account for 60% of the private sector workforce and 45% of the Gross State Product. Like other employers, small businesses are concerned about the immediate and long-term business impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing requirements.