Home > Gazette > May 2007

May 1, 2007

Marketing Professor’s 'Brand Community' Research Earns National Attention

An article on the concept of “brand community” co-authored by Thomas O’Guinn, a marketing professor with the School of Business, is one of the 20 most-cited papers in the field of economics and business worldwide.

The paper was published in the Journal of Consumer Research in March 2001.  In it, O’Guinn and his co-author, Albert Muniz, Jr. of DePaul University, coined the term “brand community” —now commonly used to describe a connected group of admirers of a brand. In the paper, they demonstrated that wired groups of consumers behave similarly to traditional communities and present significant challenges and opportunities for marketers.

O’Guinn is the executive director of the business school’s Center for Brand and Product Management.

 “Brand communities have changed the basic marketing paradigm in that it has forced marketers to realize the enormous importance of consumer-to-consumer communication in a wired world, where groups of consumers may speak not with the voice of one, but with the power of thousands,” says O’Guinn.

O’Guinn maintains that consumers are demanding to be taken seriously in co-creation of a brand, and even in how it is marketed. Several major companies have consulted O’Guinn and his colleagues, and the idea of brand community has become an important concept in 21st century marketing.

“The response to Tom's work on brand community is a reflection of the impact his thinking has had on other academics and on industry and is still more recognition of how our marketing faculty are at the forefront of important research," says School of Business Dean Michael Knetter.

The paper’s impact was announced this spring by Thomson Scientific, a company that provides information about innovation to businesses and academic institutions, and quantitatively tracks the impact of scientific contributions.

O’Guinn came to the UW-Madison School of Business in 2006. His research interests focus on the sociology of consumption, brands, advertising, branded entertainment and visual communication. He came to Wisconsin from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a college scholar at the College of Communication.  O’Guinn also has taught at the University of California at Los Angeles and Duke University.  He received his Ph.D. in communication from the University of Texas at Austin.

Sports Illustrated Lauds Wisconsin Football Star (and Real Estate Student) Joe Thomas

 "There may not be a better school in America to study real estate and urban land economics than Wisconsin," says Sports Illustrated in a profile of UW football star (and real estate student) Joe Thomas.

The story, titled "Old School: While draft hype consumes NFL nation, Wisconsin's Joe Thomas is chilling in Madison, hitting the books and the brats and waiting for life to get even better" was posted April 17, 2007 on sportsillustrated.com and appears in the current issue of the printed magazine.  

The article continues: "Thomas carried a 3.5 grade point average in the undergraduate program, which is ranked second nationally by U.S. News and World Report, and even with the NFL draft looming, he has a full course load this semester: Finance 300, real estate finance, business law, real estate development. Who says a guy can't be Jonathan Ogden and Donald Trump in the same lifetime?"

Senior Lecturer Sharon McCabe, who has had Thomas in two of her classes, is quoted in the article. " 'Believe me, this is no slough-off major he's in,' she says. 'You've got to work hard to succeed. He got A's in both classes, and he never once asked for an extension on any papers or projects because of football.' "

Tuition Differential for Undergraduate Business Program Wins Regent Approval

In April, the UW Board of Regents approved the School of Business differential tuition proposal. Beginning in fall 2007 undergraduate business majors will pay an additional $500 per semester and Certificate in Business  students will pay $150 more per semester.

A significant portion of the new revenues, 25%, will go toward maintaining an affordable program through financial aid to students. The remaining 75% will be used to maintain the program’s high quality, allowing the School of Business to attract and retain quality faculty members, hire additional staff to support student recruiting, academic advising, and career preparation missions, and to grow the Certificate in Business program.
 
“For several years we have maintained our program through increased contributions from alumni and surpluses from our part-time MBA programs. But now we have reached a point where we must ask students to carry a larger share of the burden,” says Dean Michael Knetter.   

UW-Madison is not in a unique situation in terms of financing options for the increasing costs of business education. Other Big Ten schools already have a tuition differential for undergraduate business majors (except for Northwestern which doesn’t have an undergraduate business program and the University of Minnesota, which has direct control over tuition revenue.) Within the UW System, UW-Milwaukee’s undergraduate business program has had a tuition differential in place for three years.

The UW-Madison proposal was developed with collective input from UW-Madison campus leadership, the Undergraduate Business Leadership Council (UBLC), School of Business alumni via the Dean’s Advisory Board, and School of Business faculty and staff.   

“Tuition differential will be an important tool in maintaining the quality of our undergraduate business education,” says Dean Michael Knetter.   

Grainger Hall Construction Update

With the construction of the addition to Grainger Hall making steady progress, several moves and interior remodeling projects will be made over the summer. To learn more, see the list below, plan to attend a Construction Update meeting scheduled for May 24 at 10 a.m. in Room 5120, or contact Assistant Dean for Administration Melissa Amos-Landgraf  mamos@bus.wisc.edu or Building Manager Cheryl Schroud cschroud@bus.wisc.edu.

• The Undergraduate Programs Office (UPO) will be moving to Suite 2020 Grainger Hall until the completion of the Grainger Hall addition.  The UPO will move May 29  and 30. In order to pack and prepare for this move, the office will be closed on May 25.   
• In anticipation of remodeling in the building this summer, the multi-media lab has been moved to the library.  The color printer is behind the desk of the library and a copy card is needed to pick up printouts.  Please see the library for current costs. Scanners are now located in the audio/visual room in the library. The multi-media lab will reopen in its new location with the opening of the Grainger Hall addition in fall 2008.
• For summer 2007, while the undergraduate computer lab is remodeled, computers will be available in the library for undergraduate students.
• Room 1200 will be converted to a new undergraduate computer lab - planned to open August 2007
  
• Room 1295 will be converted to space for TAs and PhD students.
  
• Rooms 1220 and 1230 will be converted into a new central Copy Center - planned to open August 2007  (or December 2007.)
  
• The mailroom will move to room 1250.
  
• The central corridor on the first floor of the east wing will be vacated for interior remodeling, Rooms 1241 – 1267.
  
• The Weinert Center and SMILES students will be relocating to room 2294.
  
• The Strategic Human Resource Management MBA students will be relocating to room 2265 (C,D, and E).
  
• The MAcc program students will be relocating to Room 2256. (This will be their computer lab/lounge).
  
• Room 2250 will serve as the MBA Program computer lab/lounge.
  
• The PhD computer lab has been relocated to room 2132.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Team Takes Third Place in KPMG Auditing Competition

A team of accounting students from UW-Madison won third place and $10,000 in the KPMG’s National Audit Case Competition held in April in New York City.

The Wisconsin team of Erin Lavelle, Elly Thio, Rene Sczygelski and Duncan Davis competed in the finals against student teams representing University of Georgia, Ohio State University, University of Virginia and Brigham Young University.    
 
The competition began in January, when the University of Wisconsin-Madison team and teams from another 20 of the nation’s top colleges accepted invitations from KPMG to perform some of the most challenging tasks that auditors face. The student teams used a Web-based application that simulated a series of interactions between a KPMG audit partner and members of the student audit team. Partner mentor videos, audio, PowerPoint slides and simulated emails were used to provide background information and instructions.

The competition is sponsored by KPMG International’s Global Services Centre and the KPMG Foundation.

Accenture Leadership Center Celebrates First Year of Leadership Development

The Accenture Leadership Center (ALC) celebrated its first year of leadership development for business undergraduates with a capstone event held at the Fluno Center on April 16.  All students who participated in any of the center’s events throughout the academic year were invited to the evening that included a keynote speech by Charles Gasparino, an on-air editor with CNBC, who was UW-Madison’s spring semester business writer in residence. The event also included student presentations, awards  and a celebration of the center’s inaugural year.

At the event, the 2007 Accenture Leadership Center Foundation Award was given to five students (Talia Esser, Kristin Kroes, Dan Reich, Jesse Siegelman and Jen Zaidel) for helping to build and promote the Accenture Leadership Center during its first year.

Recognition was given to students who participated in the Accenture Leadership Center’s Immersion Track.  The Immersion Track programming includes a six-day leadership “boot camp” and hands-on project work with Accenture mentors that allow students to apply their leadership skills.  Students worked on two School of Business projects, a campus project and a project for a Madison non-profit called Grassroots Leadership College. The student teams who participated in the Immersion Track gave brief presentations on their project at the capstone event. Recognition also was given to ALC  students who placed in last fall’s case competition.

Graaskamp Center for Real Estate Dedicated 

More than 200 alumni and friends of the real estate program were in Madison April 25 and 26 for the dedication of the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate. Nearly 600 alumni and friends raised more than $10 million in donations to make the naming possible. The late professor James A. Graaskamp was a legendary figure in real estate education.

Governor Jim Doyle took part in the special event. The inaugural presentation of the E.J. Plesko Distinguished Speaker Series in Real Estate Development was held, with  a talk given by Stu Ackerberg, CEO of The Ackerberg Group.

Prominent Real Estate Alumna Dianne Orbison Dies

Dianne M. Orbison, long one of the most successful and active alumni of the School of Business, died April 12. Orbison was chief investment officer of Securian Financial Group & president of Advantus Capital Management in the Twin Cities.

She was a graduate of UW-Madison, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and French, and a Master of Science in Real Estate Investment Analysis, which she earned in 1977. A former member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, Orbison remained active with the School of Business, especially the real estate program. She was one of the first speakers in the business school’s Executive Leadership Speaker Series and has been one of the prominent alumni featured in Wisconsin MBA viewbooks. 
Memorials many be given to the UW Foundation, YMCA Camp Menogyn or YMCA Camp Nan-A-Bo-Sho.

IN THE NEWS

National

Steve Bennett,  the CEO of Intuit and School of Business alum, was on the cover of Biz Ed magazine’s May/June 2007 issue. In the article, Bennett, BBA ’76, talked about how he keeps Intuit focused on the consumer. He also discussed his involvement with the Dean’s Advisory Board of the UW-Madison School of Business.

Regional

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisbusiness.com (article 1, article 2)and the Milwaukee Business Journal mentioned the MBA program’s 29th place ranking in U.S. News and World Report.

Wisbusiness.com took note of the Real Estate Center naming event in which the school will be named in honor of James A. Graaskamp.

The director of the Family Business Center Ann Kinkade was quoted in “Family business 'intense emotions' often lead to strife” in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Local

The Wisconsin State Journal featured an article about the G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition on April 21.

The School of Business writer in residence Charles Gasparino received mention in the April 17 edition of The Badger Herald.  The article detailed a speech the CNBC business reporter gave to students at the Accenture Leadership Center capstone event. 

Area and campus newspapers covered the U.S. News and World Report rankings that placed the Wisconsin MBA 29th among all business schools in the U.S. http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2007/03/31/0703300421.php
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/03/31/0703310312.php
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/03/31/0703310314.php

The Wisconsin State Journal and the Capital Times featured articles detailing the events for the renaming the Real Estate Center for James A. Graaskamp. http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2007/04/14/0704130409.php
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/04/07/0704070672.php

The newly passed differential tuition received  coverage in local and campus newspapers.
http://badgerherald.com/news/2007/04/16/grainger_hall_tuitio.php
http://badgerherald.com/oped/2007/04/25/state_woes_spur_busi.php
http://badgerherald.com/news/2007/04/12/tuition_hike_sparks_.php
http://badgerherald.com/news/2007/04/13/board_to_settle_tuit.php
http://badgerherald.com/news/2007/04/13/board_to_settle_tuit.php
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/04/14/0704140104.php

Associate Professor Rafael Lazimy, Operations and Information Management,  was quoted in a Wisconsin State Journal article,  on "The state's expensive IT mess." 
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=125934 &ntpid=3

Real Estate and Urban Land Economics alumna Susan Chapman was mentioned in Wisconsin Week for being honored with the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Distinguished Young Alumni Award, which honors graduates under the age of 40. 

News from the MBA Program Office

• The MBA Graduation Brunch
  The MBA Graduation Brunch will be held Saturday, May 19 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first floor of the Fluno Center. Full-time Wisconsin MBA students will celebrate their graduation with family, friends, faculty and staff at the brunch. A slide show reviewing the past two years will be shown in Howard Auditorium. At noon, a class photo will be taken with the dean in cap and gown. Commencement ceremonies will be held at the Kohl Center at 2 p.m.  For more information, contact Mark Matosian, 265-5078,
   

• MBA Newly Admitted Student Weekend
  The MBA Program Office hosted the first ever Newly Admitted Student Weekend for the full-time Wisconsin MBA program.   Thirty new admits and nine spouses spent the weekend visiting Madison and learning about the program on April 19-21.

School of Business Length of Service Luncheon Held This Month

The annual Length of Service Staff Awards Luncheon will be held Wednesday, May 16,   from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Room 5120, Grainger Hall Please RSVP by May 4, to Dianne Rothwell at drothwell@bus.wisc.edu.

Faculty and Staff Retired and Retiring 2006-2007

Deletta R. Anderson
Ruth B. Dahl
Harold J. Joseph
Mary Ann Martin
Constance F. Rieben
James V. Scallon
Mary K. Skupniewitz
Z. Kevin Weng
Jerry J. Weygandt
 
2006 Length of Service Staff Awards*
 
3 Years
Chad Margenau
Susan Sauer
Scott Savage
Amy Schmidt
Diane Upton
 
5 Years
Nick Adair
Linda Davis
Lee Gottschalk
William Kardasz
Caryl Knutsen
Barbara Lauersdorf
Pauline Miller
John Van Roo
John Weltin
Franklin West
Terry Wise
 
10 Years
Scott Converse
Philip Miller
Jack Reiners
Diane Transue
 
15 Years
Lari Fanlund
Robert Shaver
 
20 Years
Joan Gillman
 
*(calendar year)

CIBER News

• Doing Business in China
  May 21, 2007 / 2:30-4:30 p.m. (reception, 4:30-5:30 p.m.)
  Conference Room 50, MG&E Innovation Center, 510 Charmany Dr, Madison
  
  Aimed at the biotech and hi-tech sector, this workshop will feature a discussion of the opportunities, challenges, and strategies by key industry experts using examples from Wisconsin biotechnology companies. The event will be a good opportunity for companies to consider participating in the Wisconsin Department of Commerce's fall trade mission to Asia and to network with other companies currently doing business in Asia or evaluating this growing market.  The cost of this event is $35, payable at the door.  The registration deadline is Monday, May 14.  To register, please click here. This event is sponsored by the Wisconsin Biotechnology and Medical Device Association (WBMA), the Wisconsin Department of Commerce – International Division, CIBER, and the UW-Madison Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE).
  
  

• Expanding Your Global Business into Greater China
  June 4-6, 2007 / Fluno Center for Executive Education, 601 University Avenue, Madison
  
  During this three-day session, participants will hear from faculty with first-hand experience working throughout China and Asia. The course takes a holistic approach to the process of incorporating Asia (particularly China) into global strategies, as well as improving current relationships in the region. It’s highly practical and interactive, and uses a mixture of lecture, large and small group discussions, case analyses and negotiation role-plays. The cost of this course is $1,595. To register, please click here and select “Enroll” in the left hand column to register for the June course. This course is coordinated by UW-Madison Executive Education, with support from CIBER and WAGE.
  
  

• Updated CIBER Grant Guidelines Available Soon
  CIBER is not accepting applications for May 1 Applied Funds grants while it revises its funding guidelines. If you would like to apply for a June 1 Applied Funds grant, please email uwmadisonciber@bus.wisc.edu to receive revised application information while the CIBER Web site is being updated. 

Student Entrepreneurs of “Sconnie Nation” Profiled

Professor Phil Kim teaches Entrepreneurial Management to undergraduate students. As part of the spring 2007 class, he assigned students to interview an entrepreneur of their choice.  Two students, Alex Verbeten and Brian Burke, interviewed Ben Fiechtner, who co-founded Sconnie Nation, while a student.  For the interview, please see: http://www.bus.wisc.edu/weinertcenter/news/SconnieNationArticle.pdf

How the Business Library Contributes to Area Businesses

The Business Library was one of the UW-Madison libraries featured in an article on how university libraries are contributing to economic development produced by the Office of Corporate Relations. http://buswire.ocr.wisc.edu/leadstory/200704.php

FACULTY-STAFF NEWS

Del Anderson, assistant dean for financial management, retired April 30. Anderson will serve as the associate director of accounting services at California State University, San Bernardino, where she will be responsible for the fiscal operations of the university's Accounting Department. “Anderson joined the School of Business in December 2004 and has worked diligently to improve our financial operations,” said Dean Michael Knetter in announcing Anderson’s departure. “We are grateful to Del for her long hours and for the expertise she has been able to share with us.”
  
Kathryn Caggiano, assistant professor, Operations and Information
Management, will end her position with the school on June 27.

Assistant Professor Jon Eckhardt, Management and Human Resources,  recently presented a working paper at Harvard Business School co-authored with Ph.D. student Mike Ciuchta  and Associate Professor Mason Carpenter, Management and Human Resources, titled "Why Switch?: Information That Influences The Switch From Innovator To Commercial Entrepreneur." Jon Eckhardt also received an Outstanding Reviewer Award from the Journal of Business Venturing.

Cynthia Devers has been named to the Academy of Management Journal’s Editorial Review Board. 

Mary Skupniewitz, student services coordinator with the Business Career Center, will retire July 31.

Michaela Aust has joined the School of Business as a university services program associate A, working with the Wisconsin Enterprise MBA Programs  (the Evening and Executive MBA programs).  Aust  previously was a department administrator for the UW-Madison Office of Orientation and New Student Programs. She earned her undergraduate degree and M.A. in North American Studies from the University of Bonn.

Monika Wingate, director of the A. C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research, will leave the school July 6 to accept a position with an area marketing research firm.

Julie Ethridge, student services coordinator with the Business Career Center, will
end her position with the school on June 30.

Business Library Celebrates Library Week with Alando Tucker

UW Basketball star Alando Tucker was a surprise visitor at the Business Library on Friday, April 13. Tucker signed the READ poster he made for National Library Week and talked about how pleased he was that the posters are going to area schools. Brody Burton, a student employee of the Business Library, is a friend of Tucker, and had mentioned to him that  its librarians were big fans. 

Marketing Students Win Burrill Competition

Undergraduate marketing majors Stacy Knuth and Mat Lerner, won $10,000 as the first-place team in the tenth annual G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition. To learn more about this year’s competition results, go to: http://www.bus.wisc.edu/news/0208.asp

New PhD Funding Support Provided

A research awards competition among PhD students was held for the first time this year and resulted in $11,000 being awarded to 10 PhD students to help them in the conduct of their various research projects.  According to Assistant Dean for the Learning Environment Phil Miller, “We believe this was a good exercise in writing a proposal for funds and will also stimulate students to seek funding through additional sources.”  

Real Estate Undergrad Honored

Holly Larson, an undergraduate business student majoring in real estate, was recognized at the Adult Student Awards and Scholarship Reception in April.
She is the recipient of an Osher Scholarship for the 2007-2008 academic
year.  Larson has been raising her two daughters and working on her degree
for the last seven years.  

About the Gazette

The School of Business Gazette is published the first of the month by the Office of Marketing and Communications for faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. Send submissions or other feedback to Editor Lari Fanlund, lfanlund@bus.wisc.edu. The deadline for submitting items for the June 1 issue is May 29.