Category Archives: News

Business Schools Could Lose Overseas Students in President Trump America

Education, News, , , , ,

Until the election of Donald Trump to become the US president beginning in early 2017, US business schools were a desirable option for students from overseas looking to earn an MBA. Now some of these prospective students are reconsidering US business schools as an option.

“I want to be able to work in the country where I study after graduation,” one marketing executive from India said. “So it is important to be in a place that is immigrant-friendly.”

US business school deans are hopeful that this prospective student is not the sign of a trend.

Douglas Skinner, dean of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business says he is “cautiously optimistic,” about the backlash from a Trump presidency. He pointed out that even if the economy was to stall, (something he does not think will happen,) domestic demand for MBA places would rise, since that is the trend when jobs are more scarce.

But Skinner is afraid that the threatened proposals to immigration will seriously effect enrollment in his school’s MBA program. More than one-third of the full-time students attending the Chicago Booth School of Business come from overseas.

“If there was a restriction on visas to students that would clearly be somewhat harmful to us,” Prof Skinner says. He adds that other schools are even more dependent on students from abroad than Booth is.

Larger Women Growing as a Fashion Market Force

Consumerism, News, , , ,

Armed with the knowledge that larger women control a large and growing chunk of the fashion sector pie, clothing retailers are beginning to understand how to lure this market and boost sales.

The first step is perhaps surprising: to eliminate the so-called “Plus-size” section of the women’s clothing department and mainstream sizes 16 and above into the center of the sales floor.

Meijer Inc, a Michigan-based retailer, has already made the switch in 15 of its 230 stores, placing the extended sizes on the same racks as the “straight sizes.” Their goal is to have the plus size section fully integrated into the straight sizes department in all of their stores by early 2017. The result will be that the majority of their fashion offerings will come in all sizes; from small to XXXL.

“We really felt all customers should have the exact same experience at Meijer,” said Annette Repasch, vice president of Softlines. “Not only by style, but by price and by location.”

Repasch added that until now the fast majority of plus-size fashion was conservative, and being relegated to the back of the store made the shopping experience less enjoyable for this sector of consumers.

The plus-size consumer is a growing segment of the market, according to a new study conducted by International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education. They found that the the average American woman wears a size 16-18, up from a size 14 not too long ago. The NPD Group says that spending on plus-size clothing will reach and estimated $20.4 billion this year. That is an increase of 17 percent from 2013 and is outpacing the overall US apparel market by twice. The NPD Group also estimates that the percentage of teens purchasing plus-size clothing will reach 34 percent. In 2012 that number was 19 percent.

Small Businesses Also Included in Wells Fargo Scandal

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Photo courtesy of Mike Mozart.

Louisiana’s Republican Senator David Vitter sent a letter on September 29, which was viewed by Reuters, to John Stumpf, chief executive of Wells Fargo, asking him to provide a “full accounting” of customers affected by their improper sales practices.

As a member of the US Senate’s banking committee and the head of its small business committee, Vitter wrote that discussions between congressional staffers and Wells Fargo representatives “have indicated that the fraudulent activity of your employees was not limited to Wells Fargo’s consumer banking operations. Thousands of small business owners were impacted by this fraud.”

Investigations by Vitter’s committee can point to Wells Fargo’s fraudulent practices being directed to about 10,000 small businesses in addition to the possible 2 million consumer accounts which Wells Fargo opened fraudulently. This new revelation comes about one month after the bank reached a settlement of $190 million with its customers for opening accounts for them without their knowledge.

The news of the bank’s behavior caused a sensation among consumers, resulting in the firing of about 5,300 employees for opening up accounts improperly.

Stumpf appeared before two congressional committees, and other oversite governmental authorities such as the Justice and Labor Departments, which led to investigations into the bank’s sales practices.

“While the vast majority of accounts in the settlement were consumer accounts, to the extent there were small business accounts included, all were previously reported in the total number of potentially impacted accounts,” said Wells Fargo spokeswoman Jennifer Langan. “As stated earlier, Wells Fargo has already refunded 115,000 accounts. The impacted accounts, including Small Business, were part of our Retail Bank business.”

But a Consumer Financial Protection Board spokesman said Langan’s words were incorrect. The two million accounts in the settlement did not included any small business accounts.

Unilever Buying Seventh Generation Green Products Brand

Companies, News, , , ,

Unilever PLC, the European consumer products powerhouse, agreed to purchase Seventh Generation Inc, maker of environment-friendly detergents and household cleansers, for $700 million.

The London-based giant, known for its popular brands such as Dove soaps and Axe deodorants, is looking to gain a toe hold into the growing market for “natural” cleaning products. Unilever had been in preliminary talks with a different company, Jessica Alba’s Honest Co. Actress Alba’s company claims to avoid any harsh chemicals in its cleaning products. Honest Co’s asking price was $1 billion, but the deal seems to have fallen through and is unlikely to happen.

Seventh Generation was founded in 1988 and is based in Vermont. The company has been growing steadily, and had sales of over $200 million last year. In 2007 an investment deal valued the company at $100 million.

“We look at this as having a multiplier effect for our business,” said Seventh Generation Chief Executive John Replogle, who will stay on to run the company. “We always aspired to be a billion-dollar brand. We see this as a springboard as opposed to throwing in the towel.”

US Flies Bombers Over South Korea in Response to North Korean Nuclear Test

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The United States, allying itself with South Korean interests, answered North Korea’s largest nuclear test with sorties over South Korea.

Two US Air Force B-1B Lancer strategic bombers left  Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to send a not so subtle message to North Korea. The US long-range supersonic strategic bombers had company when a few Japanese F-2s joined them in a training exercise to “enhance operational capabilities and the tactical skills of units.”

The skies continued to get crowded as South Korean F-15s and US F-16s joined in for a low-level flight. The show took place not far from the South Korean city of Osan. When the bilateral flight was complete the bombers returned to Andersen.

US Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris said in a statement:

“These flights demonstrate the solidarity between South Korea, the United States, and Japan to defend against North Korea’s provocative and destabilizing actions. North Korea continues to blatantly violate its international obligations, threatening the region through an accelerating program of nuclear tests and unprecedented ballistic missile launches that no nation should tolerate. US joint military forces in the Indo-Asia-Pacific are always ready to defend the American homeland. We stand resolutely with South Korea and Japan to honor our unshakable alliance commitments and to safeguard security and stability.”