Present Value Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Goals, Food, and Social Interactions | Kaitlin Woolley Sep 22, 2020

Show notes

Kaitlin Woolley discusses the psychology behind goal pursuit and motivation, information avoidance, and the role food consumption plays in facilitating social connection. A rising star in the field of marketing, Professor Woolley also reflects upon the most influential mentors and educators throughout her life.

Kaitlin Woolley is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the SC Johnson Cornell College of Business. She is also the Clifford H. Whitcomb Faculty Fellow and Co-director of the center for behavioral economics and decision research. Her research has been published in top-tier academic journals and has received coverage from popular media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and NPR.

Professor Woolley received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from our very own Cornell University in 2012, and an MBA and PhD in Behavioral Science from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2017.

Links from the Episode at presentvaluepod.com LinkedIn: Kaitlin Woolley Twitter: @Kaitlin_Woolley Website: https://kaitlinwoolley.com/

Multisensory Branding: Mastercard CMO | Raja Rajamannar Aug 21, 2020

Show notes

Raja Rajamannar, the Chief Marketing Officer at Mastercard, shares his thoughts about building a brand in today’s world. Raja discusses his career journey spanning everything from consumer packaged goods to financial services and technology. A pioneer in the field of marketing, Raja introduces the concept of “multisensory branding” and describes how Mastercard has developed a sonic brand that captures its identity. Raja also discusses the 2019 re-branding of Mastercard and explores the changing role of the CMO today.

Raja Rajamannar is the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer and President of the healthcare business for Mastercard. Prior to Mastercard, Raja held executive leadership roles in healthcare, financial services, and consumer packaged goods industries. Raja received an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, in Bangalore, India, and a Bachelor of Technology degree in chemical engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India.

Links from the Episode at presentvaluepodcast.com LinkedIn: Raja Rajamannar Twitter: @RajaRajamannar YouTube: “Merry Go Round” Song

Sports Analytics: The Science of Winning | Doug Fearing Jul 26, 2020

Show notes

Doug Fearing discusses how a background in computer science led first to academia and then to the world of professional sports. Doug touches on what has changed in the world of sports analytics in the last decade, including a shift from descriptive statistics to 2D and 3D kinematic analyses of player movement, and the differences between how a team’s payroll budget affects assessment of a player’s value. Doug also speaks to the ways his work in baseball can be applied to other major sports including football and basketball, and talks about the thought process that goes into a trade like the one that sent Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in the 2020 offseason.

Doug Fearing is the co-founder and president of Zelus Analytics, an Austin-based sports analytics company that applies an innovative business model to build the world’s best sports intelligence platform. Doug’s career in computer science and operations research has spanned positions in academia as well as industries such as automotive, transportation and sports.

Links from the Episode at presentvaluepodcast.com LinkedIn: Doug Fearing Website: Zelus Analytics Twitter: @ZelusAnalytics

Nutritional Science Jun 30, 2020

Show notes

Professor T. Colin Campbell joins us for an interview on a range of topics relating to nutrition, whole-foods plant-based diet, and academic freedom. The conversation explores the definition of nutrition in the context of his research in China that revealed the relationship between animal protein consumption and chronic diseases as well as the correct way to think about diet. Campbell also reflects on the pushback on his research he experienced from policymakers and industries and asserts the importance of having academic freedom in universities.

Professor Campbell is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus at the College of Human Ecology division of Nutritional Sciences. He is widely recognized as a top researcher in the field of Nutritional Science. Professor Campbell has published over 300 research papers and 3 books, including The China Study, which became one of America's best selling books about nutrition. In 2011, he was featured in the documentary ‘Forks Over Knives’.

In his over 45 years at Cornell, he has served as an adviser to the American Institute for Cancer Research and chaired the board for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Since 1978, he has been the member of several United States National Academy of Sciences expert panels on food safety, and holds an honorary professorship at the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine.

Links from the Episode at presentvaluepod.com Faculty Profile: T. Colin Campbell Research Paper: Past, Present, and Future of Nutrition and Cancer Twitter: @TColinCampbell

The Merger: Tech & Innovation May 25, 2020

Show notes

Professor Gautam Ahuja distinguishes between two different types of innovations for a firm, generative appropriability and primary appropriability. He then discusses how a firm can better organize itself to encourage innovation, through investments in fundamental or basic research and, counterintuitively, tighter controls on R&D budgets. Professor Ahuja also discusses what motivated him to leave an attractive job as a regional sales manager, to become a professor and shares some of the challenges that he faced along the way. Gautam Ahuja is the Eleanora and George Landew professor of management and organizations at SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and is an award-winning researcher in the fields of competitive analysis and innovation. Professor Ahuja currently serves as the editor in chief of Organization Science, one of the premier journals in his field. At Johnson, he teaches the popular course Cases in Strategic Management. In 2011, he was ranked the second Most Popular Professor in the United States of America by Bloomberg Business Week and, across his teaching career, he has been selected as the “best professor” by student vote 17 times across MBA, MBA and PhD programs.

Links from the Episode at presentvaluepodcast.com Faculty Profile: Gautam Ahuja - Johnson Research Papers: Gautam Ahuja - Google Scholar Meet the Faculty: Gautam Ahuja

Capitalism and Democracy | Louis Hyman May 04, 2020

Show notes

Louis Hyman discusses the rise of the gig economy and how the gig economy is a consequence of “income volatility.” He discusses the ways businesses and the federal government can support gig economy workers as well as the current “productivity paradox.” He then discusses the history of personal debt in the United States and the tools that were created to expand the use of credit. He also discusses changes to the provision of consumer credit post-2008 financial crisis and his thoughts on whether lending institutions will change their practices towards gig economy workers. Finally, he discusses ways businesses are engaging marginalized groups as both labor pools and consumers.

Louis Hyman is a historian of work and business at the ILR School of Cornell University, where he also directs the Institute for Workplace Studies in New York City. He has published two books on the history of personal debt (Debtor Nation and Borrow) as well as a book about the history of the rise of consultants, temps, freelancers, and day laborers in our businesses (Temp). A former Fulbright scholar and McKinsey associate, Hyman received his PhD in American history from Harvard University. He teaches the MOOC American Capitalism: A History through EdX and is the founding editor of the Columbia Studies in the History of U.S. Capitalism book series from Columbia University Press.

Links from the Episode at presentvaluepodcast.com Faculty Profile: Louis Hyman

Perspectives on COVID-19 Apr 02, 2020

Show notes

For this special edition episode covering the COVID-19 pandemic, the Present Value team connected with some of Cornell’s top minds to discuss various aspects of the crisis. Dean Andrew Karolyi, Dean Lynn Wooten, Professors Li Chen, Vishal Gaur, and Kaitlin Woolley discuss the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets, crisis leadership, supply chain disruptions and retail operations, as well as personal motivation amidst social distancing.

Andrew Karolyi is the Deputy Dean and College Dean for Academic Affairs at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. He is a professor of finance and holder of the Harold Bierman Jr. Distinguished Professorship in the College’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. He is also a professor of economics in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences.

Lynn Wooten is the David J Nolan Dean and Professor of Management and Organizations at Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.

Li Chen is an Associate Professor of Operations, Technology and Information Management at the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

Vishal Gaur is the Emerson Professor of Manufacturing Management and an Associate Professor of Operations, Technology and Information Management at the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

Kaitlin Woolley is an Assistant Professor of Marketing and Co-Director of the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research at the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

Links from the Episode at presentvaluepodcast.com Faculty Profile: Andrew Karolyi Faculty Profile: Lynn Wooten Faculty Profile: Li Chen Faculty Profile: Vishal Gaur Faculty Profile: Kaitlin Woolley Research: A New Approach to Measuring Financial Contagion

Promotions, Demotions, & Emotions Mar 02, 2020

Show notes

Waldman discusses his decades of research into labor economics, including the role of job promotions, the benefits of lateral moves, and how resume padding may improve social welfare. He also describes his research in rational thinking, planned obsolescence, and product bundling and tying. He reflects on the personal life lessons he learned from his father, who survived the Holocaust.

Professor Waldman teaches Economics at the CU MBA Program. He first joined Cornell in 1991 and received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from MIT and a PhD in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Links from the Episode at presentvaluepodcast.com Faculty Profile: Michael Waldman - Johnson Research: IDEAS / SSRN NY Times: Planned Obsolescence Article Faculty Last Lectures: 2016 - Michael Waldman

Social Media, Influencers, and Investors Feb 06, 2020

Show notes

From being too overconfident when picking stocks to anchoring on a low number when buying a car - Guggenmos and Rennekamp illustrate the common biases that individuals face and connect these to managerial decisions. They also discuss their newly coined term I-FOMO, Investor Fear of Missing Out, which is used to assess how changing investor communication practices are impacting everyday investors.

Professor Ryan Guggenmos and Professor Kristina Rennekamp (MS '11 and PhD '12) introduce the field of behavioral accounting by discussing the common biases that individuals, investors, managers, and regulators face when making decisions.

Under The Influence Jan 24, 2020

Show notes

Frank discusses his new book, Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work. We discuss social contagion and its power to influence our choices. What have we missed in the past? And how we can leverage our tendency to mimic others to confront societal threats moving forward.

Professor Frank’s "Economic View" column appeared monthly in The New York Times. He received his BS in mathematics from Georgia Tech, and PhD in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Book Link: Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work (Amazon Link)

Profile: Robert H. Frank - Johnson

Twitter: @econnaturalist

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected