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The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

The discussion questions relating to the case focus students’ attention on breaking away from the intuitive/emotional “boom mentality” driving their business decision and ask them to focus more on analytical decision criteria to support their “go” or “no-go” decisions.

The authors interviewed one of the partners of Burned-N-Turned several times and read the partners’ brief business plan for the food trailer.

Partners are wrapped up in the “boom mentality” in the Bakken oil fields in 2011 and jump into their decision to open a food trailer restaurant to serve the oil field workers and others. But have they omitted important considerations for their business decision?

The study is appropriate for undergrad strategic management courses. The authors have tested the compact case in three sections of capstone senior-level strategic management courses.

This chapter depicts the burden of suicidal behavior among African American males. It describes the public health approach to preventing suicidal behavior among African American males. This approach includes assessing and describing the problem; identifying causes or risk and protective factors; developing and evaluating programs and policies; and implementing and disseminating findings and activities. The chapter provides a review of the epidemiology of fatal and non-fatal suicidal behavior; a summary of what is known about the risk and protective factors of the problem; and a descriptive analysis of the circumstances associated with suicides among young African American males is presented. Lastly, the authors give a summary of evidenced-based prevention programs which could be applied in preventing male suicidal behavior.

From the supplier firm's perspective, a referral is a recommendation from A (the referrer) to B (the potential customer) that B should, or should not, purchase from C (the supplier firm). Thus, as referrals are for a specific supplier firm, they should be viewed as part of the supplier firm's marketing and sales activities. We recognize three types of referrals – customer-to-potential customer referrals, horizontal referrals, and supplier-initiated referrals – that have critical roles in a potential customer's purchase decision. We develop the concept of referral equity to capture the net effect of all referrals for a supplier firm in the market. We argue that supplier firms should view referral equity as a resource that has financial value to the firm as it affects the firm's cash flows and profits. We offer strategies firms can use to manage referrals and build their referral equity and suggest a research agenda.

The Ivey Business School recently decided to outsource its printing to ProPrintR. Barbara Pokropek, Ivey Executive Development (IED), was faced with managing IED's outsourced printing jobs. There had been an increasing number of quality issues with the binder that ProPrintR prepared for IED's executive classes. While binder material errors may not sound like a big deal, for IED these materials are part of their branding and can lead to executive student dissatisfaction. This case describes the evolution of the current situation and challenges students to consider how to manage the situation.

The situation described in this critical incident is real, only the name of the print provider has been changed. Barbara Pokropek was interviewed and she provided the data and examples described. Ms Pokropek reviewed and provided input to revise the manuscript.

This case is intended for undergraduate core operations management classes. It can be used to discuss supplier relations and supply management. As such there are multiple dimensions to the case: importance of clearly delineating the work needed, defining performance expectations and metrics for a supplier, selecting quality tools to help measure performance, and centralized vs decentralized supply management.

Josh Williams is a Student at the NAU who has driven buses on campus and wants to improve the transportation on campus. He is convinced that purchasing a new type of bus that is more fuel efficient, has larger capacity, better designed for boarding, and has a longer life is worth the higher purchase cost. He sets out to prove it by creating a discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis. Since many of the estimates for the DCF analysis are uncertain, he decides to perform a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) analysis. Students are asked to step into Josh’s role and perform the analysis.

Josh Williams was a Student in the authors’ MBA program. Both authors teach in this program and one author was the Advisor for Net Impact and worked with Josh to present his idea to the university administration. The authors have changed a name or two but otherwise, the case describes a real situation in a real organization without disguise.

The authors have used this case in a first semester MBA-Applied Management course, Decision Modeling and Simulation. Students already have experience with DCF analysis and have been introduced to MCS. With this case, students apply MCS at the conclusion of a three-week module on predictive analytics. Students have run at least two MCS models and have become comfortable with the software. The case would also be appropriate for a senior-level undergraduate course such as business analytics or management science. It might also be useful for other courses that include the MCS modeling technique learning objectives such as project management.

This case provides an opportunity for students to perform an MCS analysis. MCS is useful when many of the inputs to a DCF analysis (or any model) have been estimated and the modeler is concerned that the estimates are uncertain and could perhaps be a range of values. MCS can be used to understand the effect of this uncertainty on NPV which in turn may affect the decision. The case could also be used without MCS focusing just on the DCF analysis with deterministic sensitivity analysis.

This study aims to investigate how new graduates in Nigeria can simultaneously pursue entrepreneurial and professional careers. Specifically, this study tested the contextual (socioeconomic status [SES]), person-based (an open personality) and cognitive-person (self-efficacy and outcome expectations) predictors of entrepreneurship, professionalism and leadership.

The study design is cross-sectional. Data were collected from 363 new graduates from Nigerian tertiary institutions. Hypotheses were generated from social cognitive career self-management (CSM) variables. Research instruments were also revalidated for the Nigerian context, and regression path analysis was used to analyze the data.

This study’s key findings showed that SES and an open personality are predictors of entrepreneurship, professionalism and leadership (EPL) self-efficacy and intentions, entrepreneurial and job outcome expectations. Second, EPL self-efficacy predicted both entrepreneurial and job outcome expectations and served as a mediating variable for SES and an open personality. Third, entrepreneurial outcome expectations related to EPL intentions, whereas job outcome expectations did not. These results suggest that SES and openness personality trait are crucial for developing a versatile career mindset.

This study demonstrated that individuals’ characteristics (i.e. cognitive and personality) and economic resources are crucial determinants of CSM. As this study is cross-sectional, future research could use a longitudinal approach to determine the cause-effect relationship.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first research to examine how new graduates can simultaneously explore entrepreneurial and professional careers in a developing country like Nigeria using the CSM theory.

The purposes of this qualitative study were to determine the contribution of 4-H experiences to leadership life skill development of college-level 4-H alumni and to determine the effect of those skills on collegiate alumni’s desire to continue involvement in 4-H. The research methods included semi-structured interviews. Major findings of the study noted that the interviewees’ 4-H experiences positively contributed to leadership life skill development, closely following the pattern of the four essential elements which serve as the foundation of 4-H programming. Also identified was a strong desire of college-level 4-H alumni to continue their participation with 4-H. Recommendations include specifically targeting this generation of alumni for greater utilization because of their strong desire to stay connected.

Good system documentation is the backbone to the success of any automated system, for only through complete and thorough documentation can the user fully understand and utilize a system's capability. This symposium focuses on printed documentation and the many related applications that affect the daily lives of computer users. Printed documentation takes different forms, including user and reference manuals, tutorials, reference cards, and “cheat sheets.” The various forms are produced by both system vendors and system users, the latter frequently adapting and modifying vendor‐prepared documentation to reflect local practice and meet specialized training needs.

I don’t remember exactly when I began to be interested in music, but my mother and godmother would laughingly recall when they knew I would be musically inclined. Though I was then in diapers, whenever Tommy Dorsey's recording of Boogie Woogie was played, I would immediately begin to pat my feet. My first conscious memory of reacting to music when I was very young were the times my father would sing little ditties and play his banjo. He could carry a tune, and he played the banjo quite well. His greatest musical feat, however, was as a whistler, and I would try to imitate his whistling style, without success as I grew older. Then too, my siblings and I would sing and recite little nursery rhymes before our parents, and I would compose songs for my sisters to sing. Before he died an early death at 37 my father gave me a mouth harp and a harmonica which I kept for many years; I later misplaced it while in college. I later bought another harmonica which I kept throughout my years in the U.S. Army, my travels throughout Europe, and throughout my years in graduate school. How and why we each possess the talents and skills we have are questions I’ve never fully understood. So I’ve concluded that we just have them, and we’ll never be able to explain it. Throughout this chapter four reference points will be used to explain my exposure to music and my music biculturality: schools, churches, home, and my neighborhood. If I make very few references to whites, it is simply because during my early life my contact with whites was minimal, and white individuals played a minor role in my life, as at home my world centered around my parents and godparents, siblings, and other family members, and neighborhood friends; at school my world was a completely black world. The first white I got to know outside of my early work experiences was the white Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church who visited St. John's Episcopal Church at least six or seven times a year.