Top Stories


Alumni Invited to 2008 Sustainable Business Summit
This is a two-day event, January 25-26, at the McCombs School of Business packed with innovative green business ideas and opportunities to connect with local business leaders, learn about cutting-edge green business strategies, discover job opportunities and interact at the sustainable products fair and alternative fuel vehicle test drive. Please visit the Web site for more information and to register.  

Women in Business Leadership Conference: Unlock Your Opportunity
February 8, 2008, Hyatt Regency Austin
Each year, businesswomen from around the nation convene in Austin for the Women in Business Leadership Conference. This engaging leadership conference allows women to network with other business professionals in their fields and provides them opportunities to enhance their personal skill sets. The speaker panels this year will feature successful women who have volunteered to help others unlock their opportunities by discussing their experiences on a variety of topics such as entrepreneurship, giving back to the community and advocacy within an organization. For more information, visit our Web site.

Texas Executive Education Offers Virtual Leadership Program
Virtual Leadership: Leading Dispersed Teams
January 31 - February 1, 2008
Faculty: John Daly, Ph.D., and Deidre Mendez, Ph.D.
Virtual teams have become a fact of life as talent becomes diffused across the world, the marketplace becomes global and technology allows better communication. In this program, we examine what it takes to successfully work with and lead distanced teams, and we identify the necessary skills members of a virtual team need for creating successful teams. The session introduces a two-stage model of distance leadership and teaches participants how to more effectively work with, and lead, teams that work far apart. 

McCombs In The News


Two McCombs Ph.D. Students Earn Prestigious Fellowship
Ph.D. students Nicholas Crain of the Department of Finance and James Smith of the Department of Accounting have earned scholarships from the Donald D. Harrington Fellows Program. The Harrington Fellows Program is one of the most well-endowed visiting scholar and graduate fellow programs in the nation, and the most prestigious fellowship program at The University of Texas at Austin. Get the full story.

What’s Fair in Work and War
U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 10, 2007
It seems reasonable: People prefer working for companies that treat them fairly, right? Wrong, according to a study co-authored by Caroline Bartel assistant professor of management, and William B. Swann, a professor of psychology and business. In “Is More Fairness Always Preferred? Self-Esteem Moderates Reactions to Procedural Justice,” appearing in the current Academy of Management Journal, Bartel and Swann and their colleagues studied workers at large companies in the midst of downsizing or restructuring. While employees with high self-esteem were more committed to the company when they felt, for example, that work was fairly distributed in their unit, employees with low self-esteem were largely indifferent to organizational injustice. Being fair with workers doesn't seem to be enough to win employees’ hearts.

Austin-tatious: Change is Storming Texas’ Low-Key Capital of Cool
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dec. 2, 2007
Austin is in the middle of a transformation that some claim could destroy its freewheeling soul. Others maintain that the new element—fueled by rising property values and an influx of national and international visitors keen on certain amenities—will just add to what the city has to offer. “Fifteen years ago, I would have said that Starbucks would not have been successful, that Austin isn’t going to pay $5 for a cup of coffee. I would have told you that ice hockey would never play in Austin,” said Jim Nolen, senior finance lecturer at McCombs. “But it is successful, and that tells you how many people have migrated to Austin.”

Business-Plan Competitions Become ‘American Idol Meets Trump’
The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 11, 2007
Business plan competitions are becoming an increasingly popular way for business owners and would-be entrepreneurs to raise extra cash while honing their business strategy. The school-based contests have become much like an athletic competition. Student teams often spend months preparing their plans and participating in in-school competitions to get ready. The Moot Corp Competition, an international contest hosted by The University of Texas at Austin, has been dubbed the “Super Bowl of business-plan competitions” where the winners from other college-based competitions face off.
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