Costello College of Business News

Nermeen Shawky made the most of her opportunities and will graduate from Mason this spring with a master’s degree in accounting.

Following the tragic shooting on March 16, 2021 in Georgia, Long Chen, associate professor of accounting and president of Association of Chinese American Professors and Scientists (ACAPS) worked together with the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community to prompt change at Mason.

George Mason University professor Sarah Wittman said the usual offboarding process is rote: effectively a checklist, and it doesn't need to be.

Impact Fellows, a flagship B4BW initiative is focused on this central mission. The students selected participate in collaborative cohorts, partake in experiential learning, and receive mentorship and networking opportunities—all with the goal of helping them become problem solvers, addressing the key issues facing our planet. Ji Eun Kim, who was recently hired as the student communications assistant for Mason’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE), is one such Impact Fellow.

These days, devising an outsourcing strategy involves a host of challenges and opportunities. Between deglobalization and pandemic-induced supply chain issues, the 20th century practice of moving manufacturing to wherever labor was cheapest is paying smaller and smaller dividends. As the value proposition of cost-cutting diminishes, a different rationale for outsourcing—one based upon maximizing synergies—is gaining traction. Cheryl Druehl, associate professor of operations management and associate dean for faculty at Mason, lays out a model to help managers think about how to outsource in this new world in her recently published paper in IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

In the earliest stage of innovation, creative proposals are judged according to their perceived novelty and usefulness. Sharaya Jones, assistant professor of marketing at Mason, has a simple yet counterintuitive rule for would-be innovators hawking their ideas: More is more. Her recent paper in Marketing Science, co-authored by Laura J. Kornish of University of Colorado Boulder, pits verbose and detailed idea descriptions against terse ones.

Einav Hart, an assistant professor of management at George Mason University’s School of Business, shows the economic implications of negotiators’ relationships, and how these economic implications affect how people negotiate. Her recent paper in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (co-authored with Maurice Schweitzer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania) introduces the construct “ERRO” (the Economic Relevance of negotiators’ Relational Outcomes) to shed light on when negotiators should consider their future relationships.

According to a recent working paper co-authored by Mason finance professors Lei Gao and Bo Hu, more than 80 percent of U.S. public firms use graphics in their annual reports. Further, visual presentation has market benefits as well as aesthetic ones.

Bret Johnson, assistant professor of accounting at Mason, recently co-authored a paper in Management Science finding that SEC comment letters are leaking out among investors close to the company concerned, who then use it to their advantage. Technically, such information-sharing violates Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD), which prohibits companies from sharing secrets with network partners such as institutional investors and analysts.

Hailey Behrman, a senior marketing student graduating this May, always wanted to explore her Jewish identity, but didn’t know where to start. Behrman sought out Mason Hillel, a nonprofit organization affiliated with George Mason University where students can discover their relationship with Judaism through educational and social programming, including trips to Israel.

For the past decade, Mason alum Germán Perilla, cofounder and director of the Honey Bee Initiative, has led Mason’s honey bee efforts.

There are many misconceptions about employing people who have developmental disabilities. Operating out of Manassas, Virginia, Didlake finds and creates employment opportunities for people with developmental and other kinds of disabilities. One of their business ventures in creating such opportunities is The UPS Store franchising, an operation well suited for job skills training. Recently they added a location, opening up on George Mason University’s Fairfax campus. In partnership with Mason LIFE, a program offering a university experience to young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Didlake has assembled a team to proficiently handle the printing, packaging, and shipping needs of the campus community.