Leveraging Technology to Drive Innovation and the Future of Business

At the forefront of this transformation is the Gabelli School of Business. As a trailblazer in the tech realm, we are deeply immersed in a spectrum of initiatives, positioning us not only as observers of this exciting age but also as its architects, sculpting the future.

This edition of Fordham Business offers a glimpse into our journey. Dive into a collaborative faculty research project with Sony that has unearthed the unique listening habits of Gen Z. Learn about a student-led venture using AI to refine job interview techniques. Discover the cutting-edge advancements and reimagine the academic experience at Fordham University’s new LITE facility. With each page, you’ll find our commitment to leveraging technology not just as a tool, but as a catalyst for innovation, education, and the evolution of business.

Explore and discover the future with us.

Center for Digital Transformation 10th Annual Deloitte March Data Crunch Madness Competition

Gabelli School of Business Hosts FinTech Innovation Lab New York Demo Day 2023

Responsible Business Center Explores Material Gains of Seeking Measurable Social, Climate, and Economic Returns with Top Industry Thought Leaders

Gabelli School of Business Faculty Researchers Collaborate with Sony to Gain Student Insights for Innovative Music Lifestyle Driven by LinkBuds Series

Interested in making an emotional connection with this powerful segment, Sony Corporation (“Sony”) collaborated with faculty researchers at the Gabelli School of Business to test its innovative LinkBuds series of truly wireless earbuds that enable users to “stay connected to and aware of people and places in everyday life, without ever having to pause their personal soundtrack.” LinkBuds—which come in a unique open ring design (LinkBuds) or a traditional, sealed noise-canceling design (LinkBuds S)—allow users to personalize a listening experience in which music, phone calls, games, and other digital content merge with, and seamlessly transition between, ambient sounds that occur in everyday life.

Salute to the Full-Time MBA Class of 2020

Faith, Family, and Football

For the 115 million viewers of the 2023 Super Bowl, it was a day to kick back with friends, grab some snacks, and watch the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the Philadelphia Eagles. For Elizabeth “Libby” Vernon, BS ’22, it was one of the busiest and most memorable days of her career.

State Farm Stadium, which hosted the event, is home to the Arizona Cardinals and also is Vernon’s workplace, where she serves as the team’s premium services coordinator. In this role, she ensures that Stadium Club members enjoy game day, dining, and shopping opportunities through the season, and take advantage of off-season events, such as attending training camp.

On the day of the 2023 Super Bowl, Vernon assisted several high-profile guests, including NFL team owners, politicians, and celebrities, as well as two special guests of her own—her father and brother, who traveled 2,000 miles to share this exciting moment in her career and in the sport that has bonded their family as far back as she can remember.

“It was full circle because my dad instilled my love of the game,” she said, adding that he and her brother both played football in high school. “It was a memory that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”

Vernon, who earned a B.S. in Management from the Gabelli School, credits her education for honing the skills that are essential to managing events, projects, and people—which all played out during this sports mega event.

Now retired from the NFL, Griffith recently completed the Executive MBA program at the Gabelli School to further advance his business career and deliver more scholarships through the Robert Griffith Foundation. His story is so inspiring that when he graduated in May, Griffith was interviewed by CBS News New York about his latest achievement.

“I’ve been a team captain for over a decade, and managing people in that setting was a lot different than being able to do that in a corporate setting,” he said in the interview. “I wanted to develop those skills to be able to articulate them in the workplace.”

Education has always been important to Griffith. His mother was a primary school teacher in San Diego, California, where he played college football and earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at San Diego State University.

There is little doubt that generative AI, or artificial intelligence, will join that roster, making a dramatic impact on our lives—and in every facet of business—while also raising complex questions about its promise and ethical implications. One thing is clear: AI has caught the attention of Wall Street. According to Pitchbook, in 2022, venture capitalists poured $483.6 million into generative AI companies in New York alone—a 1,096.6% surge from $41.1 million in 2018. Almost $10 billion has been invested in the AI industry in the last two years across the nation.

Jiaying Deng, Ph.D.,

These platforms, however, have become an important emerging market within the sharing economy because of the way they go further, offering investors transparent access to leaders’ trading activities and financial performance, and the ability to automatically allocate their funds to mirror the strategies of the leaders they choose to follow.

The networks rely on leaders exchanging their expertise for payment that is based on size of their following, but unlike regular social media platforms where accounts can remain connected for years, relationships on social trading platforms are volatile and often short lived.

Andrey Ermolov, Ph.D.

Research by Andrey Ermolov, Ph.D., associate professor of finance and business economics, shows that since the Great Recession, yields of five-year bonds issued by the U.S. government often moved in a different direction from those of bonds issued by governments in the U.K. and France.

“Most models would predict that prices of government bonds of developed countries would have moved closer together, but that wasn’t the case in the Great Recession,” said Ermolov, who holds the Felix E. Larkin Distinguished Professorship in Management. “Somehow this dependence broke down after the Great Recession.”

Business Anthropology 101

Q: Why is studying business anthropology essential to our understanding of business?

The first premise of this book is to inform anthropology students, beginning practitioners, and curious non anthropologists about the ways in which anthropology provides an intellectual and practical framework for seeing and dealing with the larger ‘why’ questions of human behavior in business and society. It shows ways of addressing issues holistically, identifying with people empathetically, acting reflexively, and understanding situations from an insider’s point of view.

Q: How does business anthropology differ from traditional anthropology?

Hoori Rafieian, PH.D.
Assistant Professor of Marketing

Rafieian seeks to help companies—including health, budgeting,and productivity apps—to better understand their customers. In “The Effect of Pursuing Self-Regulatory Goals on Variety Seeking in Vice Consumption,” a paper she coauthored, which was published in the Journal of Consumer Research this year, she studied consumers’ attitudes toward unhealthy foods after they set health goals. The findings showed that people tend to seek variety in healthy foods, but restrict themselves to only one type of unhealthy snack.

Masthead

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Opinions expressed in this publication may not necessarily reflect those of the Fordham University faculty or administration. © 2023, Fordham University Gabelli School of Business