Fuqua File

Recent Media Coverage of the School's People and Programs

Fuqua's groundbreaking Global Executive MBA (GEMBA^TM) program continues to receive coverage in publications and broadcast media outlets around the world. In a survey of schools using distance education to deliver some or all of their programs The Wall Street Journal described GEMBA as "the most ambitious attempt at conducting virtual classes world-wide." In its annual report, "Business Schools: An A to Z Guide," Financial Times wrote: "Many schools, most notably The Fuqua School at Duke University in the U.S., are now starting to exploit these [communications] technologies to enter the distance-learning market on a global scale, often combining it with classroom-based modules."

The GEMBA program has also been featured in print and broadcast media in Belgium, Brazil, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Russia and Spain.

Increasing the tax on cigarettes could save thousands of lives each year, according to Fuqua economics professor Michael J. Moore. Examining changes in tobacco taxes and mortality rates nationally between 1954 and 1988, Moore found that "a 10 percent increase in the tax rate is estimated to save about 6,000 lives per year or, more accurately, to extend them." These benefits flow to smokers largely because a 10 percent hike in cigarette taxes results in a five percent decline in smoking. Moore's study was cited in The Washington Post.

Recent studies by Robert E. Whaley, T. Austin Finch Foundation Professor at Fuqua, challenge some popular nations about the benefits of stock-splitting. In "Split Opinions" in CFO Magazine, Whaley argued that splits can actually inhibit shareholder liquidity by increasing per-share trading costs - helping traders, who profit more from dealing in greater share numbers, but hardly aiding the company declaring the split. The New York Post also cited Whaley's work. A joint study found that while stock prices rise in the 10 to 20 days following the announcement of a stock split, they subsequently fall. "I don't believe stock splits are worthwhile," said Whaley. "I think that investors get hammered."

In a USA Today feature on Olympic advertising, Marian Moore, associate professor of marketing, discussed the trend among national advertisers to air highly emotional commercials during the 1996 Games. Advertisers know that viewers are especially plugged in to their emotions during the Olympics. But, observed Moore, the emotion comes from the viewer: "The ad is just a stimulus."

Fuqua remained at No. 11 in this year's Business Week rankings of leading business schools. The School was named among the five programs showing the greatest improvement and was ranked eighth among the 10 programs where companies say they find the best operations graduates. Fuqua was also noted as one of the schools having strong networks based on the percentage of alumni who donate money annually to their alma maters.

More and more European car companies are sizing up the Southeast for possible manufacturing operations, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. In recent months, following the lead of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, representatives of Volvo, Saab, Porsche and other automakers have been looking into possible manufacturing sites in the region. Some industry watchers, among them Fuqua Professor Paul H. Zipkin, believe the Southeast could eventually displace Detroit and the Midwest as the nation's auto capital. "The Interstate 85 corridor will become the Detroit-to-Chicago axis of the next century," said Zipkin.

An October feature in Investor's Business Daily reported on the stiff competition for slots at the top business schools: "The MBA is now the preferred way for many to launch their careers. It's no longer just for bankers, but has become essential for engineers, marketers and others who want to expand their horizons." The article pointed to dramatic increases in applications at some of the nation's leading MBA programs: "The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, for instance, saw the number of applicants rise 23 percent this year to 2,943."

The October issue of Black Enterprise Magazine cited the "Top 25 Blacks on Wall Street." The magazine's list of the best and brightest in the investment banking and securities industries included J. Derek Penn, a member of the MBA Class of '84. Penn is head trader, International Equity Trading, with Shearson Lehman Brothers, Inc., and is an active member of Fuqua's Alumni Council. He has worked with Fuqua's Finance Club to establish the J. Derek Penn Investment Panel, an annual information session for MBA students considering careers on Wall Street, and is a regular participant in the Ford Workshop for Minority MBA Applicants, held at Fuqua each December.