Feature Channels: Story Ideas: Business

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Loyola University Health System Occupational Health Expert Comments on Impact Sick Employees Have on Businesses and How They Affect Workforce as well as Business Image.

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While the country's economic woes appear vast, the three "r"'s of the recovery might boil down to job recruiting, money raising, and the future of financial regulation.

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Urban economics professor Robert Edelstein at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business will be available for media interviews to discuss solutions to the California economy at this week's American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA)'s annual conference, July 11-14, at the University of California, Los Angeles. Edelstein is chair of this year's conference.

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The recession may have permanently changed some buying attitudes and behaviors. Consumers are spending less, they are hunting for deals and they have traded down from the high-end to the discount store. How can retailers satisfy consumers' expectations in a post-recession environment and still make money? Butler University Marketing Lecturer Kate King says businesses will need to work harder to keep customers happy and they should begin preparing now by focusing their efforts in four areas.

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In this tough economy, the allure of buying lottery tickets seems like a pretty enticing way to erase financial problems. But new research from Vanderbilt Law School found that people who won between $50,000 and $150,000 did not solve their debt problems and only postponed bankruptcy.

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"Capitalism without the threat of bankruptcy is like Christianity without the threat of hell," famously said Princeton economics professor Alan Meltzer. "It doesn't work very well."

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The American automobile industry, specifically the "Big Three" companies of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, has suffered deeply during the current recession.

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The economy has been in crisis for some time now, but Karen Videtic, chair of the Department of Fashion Design and Merchandising at Virginia Commonwealth University, says that clothing retailers are just adjusting now, and consumers can expect big changes on the sales floor.

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Retail expert David Urban, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Marketing in the VCU School of Business, says that recessions tend to highlight every problem area that a retailer has "“ from operating inefficiencies to knowledge of their consumers.

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Risk management is not a flashy business topic "“ after all, making money is more exciting than saving it. Still, managing risk and avoiding problems is every bit as critical to the health of a business as creating revenue, according to a VCU professor.

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The economy is limping badly, and many consumers are suffering. Kelly O'Keefe, a branding expert and the executive education director at the VCU Brandcenter, believes businesses have a responsibility to project strength and assume a leadership role in such an uncertain climate.

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Healthy habits and reaching out are the keys to coping in an economic downturn, according to VCU psychology professor Micah McCreary.

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Grinnell College Professor of Economics Bill Ferguson is available to reporters to discuss the current financial crisis.

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UNC Charlotte can provide the following economic experts.

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Expert Tom Simpson, Federal Reserve Board veteran and University of North Carolina Wilmington executive in residence, is available to lend his expertise on topics related to the United States economic and financial systems to include the regulatory issues of commercial banks and their role in financing the economy. He is also prepared to make comparisons related to the current U.S. economic situation and the Great Depression.

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Expert William W. "Woody" Hall Jr., senior economist with the Center for Business and Economic Services at the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Cameron School of Business forecasts slow economic growth for portions of Southeastern North Carolina through 2009 and 2010.

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The past can clarify the present, says Dean Johnson of Michigan Technological University, who uses the 1929 crash to teach about the 2008 housing debacle. He also observes that faith may finally be overcoming fear the financial markets.

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Wake Forest University political science professor David Coates presents three arguments against concerns that the United States is moving into a "˜new economy.'

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In the debate over whether inflation or deflation poses a greater threat to the current economy, Robert Whaples, department chair and professor of economics at Wake Forest University, says the answer is clear.

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Cities are scrapping public works projects that could help grow the knowledge economy if they don't expand infrastructure, says a national infrastructure and municipal finance expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Shoplifting in retail outlets is becoming an increasing problem, but RFID technology can help to track the in-store whereabouts of productions and reduce shoplifting incidents, according to an expert in the technology.

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According to a recent study, the Pennsylvania wine industry is expected to prosper in the coming year. With residents spending less money on long vacations this summer and more time planning day trips, vineyards are projected to reap the benefits of the scaled back travel plans.

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Analysis of personal bankruptcy rates across the 50 states shows why some states routinely have far higher filing rates: Wage garnishing laws and a preference for filing under Chapter 13 (repayment plan) as opposed to Chapter 7 (wiping out debt altogether).

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A new study by marketing researchers at the University of Arkansas indicates that many consumers have a poor understanding of the calorie, fat and sodium content of quick-service restaurant meals. This finding is especially true for less healthful meals, such as a cheeseburger with fries and regular (not diet) soft drink. The researchers found that as the calorie content of a meal increased, so did the extent to which calorie, fat and sodium levels were underestimated. In other words, although most consumers expected a large cheeseburger and fries to be high in calories, few realized just how unhealthy that meal was.

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The top four factors for the success of movie sequels are: whether the public is aware of the parent movie; the number of theater screens expected for opening weekend; if the first movie was widely considered good or not; and whether the sequel has the same star as the first film, researchers found.

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Despite the infusion of nearly $200 billion of federal bailout money into the banking system since last October, the nation's banks had another rough quarter in the first three months of 2009. And, according to an analysis of federal bank data by American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop, it appears that mid-sized banks are suffering more than the largest banks.

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They decorate the walls of break rooms across America, lush, awe-inspiring color photos of landscapes or athletes or wildlife, with pithy nuggets of wisdom urging us onward and upward to accomplish things we've never thought possible and make life the best we can make it. But do they work?

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Even in a downturned economy, four students in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas have turned an idea for a test using a woman's tears for breast cancer into more than $85,000. Mentored by management professor Carol Reeves, the team found success this spring in five major business plan competitions.

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The country's economic woes are forcing many companies to become lean and mean in their business practices -- most notably Detroit's "Big 3" automakers. In the current economic climate, "lean manufacturing" has now become all the rage within industry according to Danny Johnson, an Iowa State University associate professor of operations and supply chain management.

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"Innovation" immediately denotes brilliance and discovery. In the realm of asset pricing, however, innovation can become a risk. UC Berkeley's Nicolae Gârleanu, assistant professor, Haas School of Business, created a financial model that reveals a "shock" of innovation at a given company decreases human capital in competing companies that do not innovate.

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Both the dollar depreciation and the increase in longer-term interest rates are attributable to fears of significant long-term inflation resulting from massive government borrowing and anticipated ongoing deficit spending. Expecting inflation, investors worldwide tend to move their money from dollars to what they believe will be more stable currencies. This results in depreciation of the dollar.

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The Rosenberg Center Franchise 50 Index lost 11.6 percent of its value in the first quarter of 2009, pulled down by struggling financial markets.

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Two University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) professors from the School of Business say General Motors' (GM) bankruptcy is no guarantee of a successful future and warn that released details about the reorganization strategy raise serious questions about the plan's potential success.

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With GM apparently on its way bankruptcy court, a new study by University of Iowa finance professor Erik Lie might not be very comforting for the company. The study found that many companies that enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings emerge too soon and with too much debt to survive long-term.

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The Chrysler restructuring plan, which favors unsecured over secured investors, sets a dangerous precedent that could undermine confidence in financial markets, according to a finance professor at the University of Indianapolis.

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New England's current economic problems are anticipated to continue throughout 2009, with only modest improvement in 2010, according to Ross Gittell, James R. Carter Professor of Management at the University of New Hampshire.

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Using U.S. Department of Labor and Mine Safety and Health Administration data, two Michigan State University researchers found that the number of workplace accidents spikes after Daylight Savings Time changes every March.

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Lawrence H. Officer is author of "Everyday Economics: Honest Answers to Tough Questions," a new self-help book that shows readers how to make sense of everything from global economic issues to their own financial situations. In an easy-to-understand Q&A format, the book addresses more than 100 common questions.

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Congressional TARP overseer Elizabeth Warren and several other leading bankruptcy experts will gather for the first time to examine data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a massive database of bankruptcy survey information developed by Warren as a law professor at Harvard.

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A private equity fund at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School is giving students hands-on experience in operating a private investment fund.

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Diversity in university business schools "“ and ultimately the U.S. workforce "“ could be another casualty of a deep and lingering economic downturn, says a longtime administrator and economist who will soon lead one of the nation's top business programs.

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The disease formerly known as Swine Flu likely will hammer exports of agricultural products such as corn, soybeans, sorghum, beef, poultry and pork to the U.S.' second-largest trade partner.

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A study by information systems researchers at the University of Arkansas shows that as many as three out of four college students may be illegally copying and downloading digital material, including copyright-protected music, movies and software. The researchers found that people pirate digital media because they possess the ability and resources to do so, and because it is easy to copy and download copyrighted music and movies.

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A study examining more than 500 toy recalls between 1988 and 2007 suggests ways that firms can minimize the business impact of a recall.

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A wet spring in the Corn Belt and scaled-back harvest estimates in South America have helped revive grain prices that slid in the wake of a widespread influenza outbreak in the U.S. and Mexico, a University of Illinois economist says.

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In economy-boosting "campus-to-community" research, the University of California, San Diego continues to excel at technology transfer and discoveries that spark entrepreneurship.

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Study after study has shown that an engaged workforce is considered desirable in any organization and leads to greater productivity and profitability. In short, There seems to be no downside to employee engagement. However, Thomas Britt, an industrial-organizational psychology professor at Clemson University, cautions there are some limits to employee engagement that managers should consider.

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A dentist is teaming with two University entities in attempts to provide an easy, alternative way to quickly remove a child from a safety seat in an emergency situation.

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New research from the University of New Hampshire shows that employees who feel entitled to undeserved preferential treatment are more prone to get into workplace conflicts and less likely to enjoy their job. And the number of entitlement-minded workers is on the rise among younger workers.

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The debt-saddled U.S. government doesn't have to just give away billions of taxpayer dollars that will help struggling homeowners stave off foreclosure, according to a new study by a University of Illinois law and labor expert.