Is This Really a Thing?

Are the Excel Championships just another bit of content for ESPN? Could it keep the Pac 12 alive? More importantly, is it an eSport and can we gamble on it? Listen in! Featured Guests Andrew Grigolyunovich - Founder and CEO of the Financial Modeling World Cup David Clayton Brown, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Finance at the Eller College of Business at the University of Arizona "Mr. Excel" Bill Jelen - Excel Expert, Consultant, Author & Play-by-Play Announcer Adrien Bouchet, Ph.D. - Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation Endowed Chair; Eminent Scholar of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at UCF Sean Dennis, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting at UCF Episode Transcription Announcer from the movie "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story": Live from Las Vegas, It's the Las Vegas International Dodge Ball Open here on ESPN 8: The Ocho, bringing you the finest in seldom scene sports from around the globe since 1999. If it's almost a sport, we've got it here. Paul Jarley: But I have to admit I did not see this coming. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. Paul Jarley: While, it most certainly isn't "Dodgeball," and we aren't breaking down Average Joe's, we are talking about the Excel Championships that just aired on ESPN, and will be heading to Las Vegas in December. Are the Excel Championships even close to an eSport? I really need help understanding why Excel is on ESPN. To form an opinion on this, I've assembled the following panel of experts. Andrew Grigolyunovich is the Founder and CEO of the Financial Modeling World Cup and joins us all the way from Latvia. David Clayton Brown is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Eller College of Business at the University of Arizona. Bill Jelen goes by the moniker Mr. Excel. He has authored several books on Excel and is the competition's play-by-play guy. Adrian Bouchet is the DeVos Endowed Chair of Sports Management and Chair of the Sports Business Management Program here in the College of Business. Finally, Sean Dennis is an Associate Professor in our Dixon School of Accounting. Listen in. Paul Jarley: So one of the very first podcasts I did was on eSports and the premise of it was whether eSports was going to be a thing or not. I came down on the side that I thought it was going to be a big thing that I thought it wouldn't just be a big thing in the professional ranks, that it would be a big thing in the college ranks as well. And one of the reasons I thought that that would be true is it would be a way for universities to promote a group of geeky students with a unique offering, but I have to admit, I did not see this coming. When I saw the ESPN promotion on The Ocho for this event, I thought, wow, this is one I just wouldn't have imagined. I'm going to start with David and Andrew here. Where did the idea for these kinds of competitions come from? Andrew? Andrew Grigolyunovich: It all started, I think that was back in 2012, the first competition of a similar kind that was called ModelOff that was created by two guys in Australia and they were doing that on an annual basis and that was devoted to financial modeling. That was called the Financial Modeling World Championship. They had a name brand named ModelOff. I was one of the players, David was one of the players there. We were good players, we made it to the finals a couple of times and in 2016 we were among the top 16 players in London. So the difference between what you saw on ESPN, first of all, that was annual, not regular. Second, it was more player oriented, less show oriented. That was basically targeting finance professionals, giving them very interesting cases to solve,

Could Artificial Intelligence make Hollywood a ghost town? Reality TV, strikes and cyborgs, OH MY! Hollywood may be heading toward AI-generated content, and we all may already be living in a cyborg state … so was this episode AI-generated? This is part two of a two-part episode. Be sure to go back and listen to Part 1: Will the Hollywood Strike be an Extended Thing? Featured Guests David Luna, Ph.D. - UCF College of Business Robin Cowie - Phygital Experience Creator & Feature Filmmaker Cassandra "Cassi" Willard, J.D. - Instructor, Department of Management, UCF College of Business & Program Director, Blackstone LaunchPad at UCF Ray Eddy, Ph.D - Lecturer, Integrated Business, UCF College of Business Episode Transcription Actor Bryan Cranston speaking at a SAG-AFTRA strike rally in Times Square in New York City on July 25, 2023: Uh, we've got a message for Mr. Iger. I know, sir, that you look through things through a different lens. We don't expect you to understand who we are, but we ask you to hear us, and beyond that, to listen to us when we tell you we will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots. Paul Jarley: The real issue, Bryan, is whether the AI listens and understands us. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. In our last episode, we explored the current writers and actor's strikes and how the parties might come to some agreement to get everyone back to work and spare us a lot of new reality TV. A key part of that analysis involved the limitations of AI today. It can't produce a final product without humans. That, of course, is today. AI technology is changing rapidly and its impact on the industry is likely to grow over time. In today's episode, we look at the long-term implications of AI in Hollywood and ask, could AI depopulate the industry in 10 years? In other words, could it eliminate or substantially reduce the number of people working in Hollywood, especially the writers and actors. To shed light on these topics, I returned to the discussion I had with my group of UCF experts. To just remind everyone, Cassandra Willard is an instructor and program director in our Center for Entrepreneurship and a practicing attorney with extensive experience in entertainment law. Ray Eddy is a lecturer in our Integrated Business department with an interest in understanding the customer experience. Ray is not just an academic, he has worked as a stunt man, started his own production company and written, directed and starred in several performances. David Luna is a professor in our Marketing department. He is currently working on several projects, studying human machine interactions in the context of chatbots, intelligent assistance, and AI. And last but not least is Robin Cowie. Rob is a graduate of our Motion Picture Technology program at UCF. He's a little hard to summarize, having worked in a variety of positions in the industry from EA Sports, to Nickelodeon, to the Golf Channel, and the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts. Today, he is the President and CTO at Promising People, a company that produces training and placement services for people who have been incarcerated. But, you probably know Rob best from his work as co-producer on "The Blair Witch Project." Listen in. David, if AI is going to depopulate Hollywood, it's going to have to produce movies that are more profitable than the ones being created today. What do you see as the main issues here? David Luna: There are different kinds of costs involved in making a movie, right? One of them would be the creative part, and from what has transpired from the conversations with the writer's union,

More reality TV? AI-generated “South Park” episodes? Is this where Hollywood is heading thanks to the latest writer and actor strike? We find out from UCF experts how, and why, the strike will be resolved and how AI will play into plans moving forward. This is part one of a two-part episode. On July 14, 2023, members of the Hollywood actors' union, SAG-AFTRA, stood with screenwriters, forming a picket line outside Amazon Studios in Los Angeles, California. This marked the commencement of an actors' strike. SAG-AFTRA joined forces with the Writers Guild of America workers, who had been engaged in a determined strike against the Hollywood studios for three months. This joint walkout, a rare occurrence not witnessed since 1960, underscores the magnitude of the situation. The collaboration between SAG-AFTRA and WGA intensifies the impact of the strike, with the potential to bring Hollywood productions to a complete standstill. Featured Guests David Luna, Ph.D. - UCF College of Business Robin Cowie - Phygital Experience Creator & Feature Filmmaker Cassandra "Cassi" Willard, J.D. - Instructor, Department of Management, UCF College of Business & Program Director, Blackstone LaunchPad at UCF Ray Eddy, Ph.D - Lecturer, Integrated Business, UCF College of Business Episode Transcription SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher in a press conference July 13, 2023: The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history that is a moment of truth. If we don't stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines. You cannot change the business model as much as it has changed and not expect the contract to change too. We are labor and we stand tall and we demand respect. Paul Jarley: Oh my, this is going to get really complicated. In the meantime, prepare for a new round of reality TV. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions, to get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? On to our show. The writers and actors haven't been out on strike together since 1960. Then, it was partly about how television was impacting the film industry and getting residual income for writers and actors from movies that were then being shown on TV. The business model was changing and labor wanted its share. Screen Actors Guild President Fran Drescher's comments at the start of this podcast note that technology is changing the business model again with streaming services, digital media and AI among the main drivers. This is a very complicated situation, so complicated, that we couldn't fit it into our usual 25-to-30 minute podcast. So we decided to split it into two parts. Today we will tackle the basics of the strike and how and when we see it being resolved. The second part, we'll do a much deeper dive into AI and Hollywood and how that is likely to change the industry going forward, especially for writers and actors. Essentially, we want to answer the question, will anybody be left in Hollywood in 10 years? As always, to shed light on these topics, I've assembled a group of UCF experts. Cassandra Willard is an instructor and Program Director at our Blackstone Launchpad and a practicing attorney with extensive experience in entertainment law. Ray Eddy is a lecturer in our Integrated Business program with an interest in understanding consumer experiences. Ray is not just an academic, he has worked as a stuntman, started his own production company and written, directed and starred in several performances. If you've been to Walt Disney World in the last several years, you may have seen Ray playing Indiana Jones, in Indiana Jones: Epic Stunt Spectacular. David Luna is a professor in our Marketing department.

Did the pandemic spark a flurry of innovation or was everyone too busy bingeing Tiger King and Outerbanks and Zooming to endless happy hours to launch new businesses and products? Dean Paul Jarley turns to UCF's entrepreneurial in-house experts along with an alum whose company helps startups grow and scale to find out the answer. Featured Guests Caroline Castille - CEO, Clickable Impact Cameron Ford, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Management; Founding Director, Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and StarterLab Director, UCF Blackstone LaunchPad Carol Ann Dykes Logue - Director, Programs & Operations Innovation Districts & Incubation Program, UCF Business Incubation Program Michael Pape, Ph.D. - Dr. Phillips Entrepreneur in Residence; Professor of Practice, Management Episode Transcription Caroline Castille: I think we're going to see a lot of more entrepreneurial people out there who are more hunt-to-kill type of people instead of grazers, just worker bees in the company, which I love. That's going to make more people, not only in control of their lives, but it's going to make the economy even stronger. Paul Jarley: Did I just get called a grazer? When did that become a thing? Paul Jarley: This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, "Is this really a thing?" Onto our show. Paul Jarley: My sense is, in talking to a lot of faculty and editors, that submissions to journals in terms of research were down during the pandemic. And I think part of it was because people didn't have access to subjects like they might normally have if they were doing certain kinds of research. Some of it, I think, was just the general angst people had. And then maybe third, people didn't get together in groups, maybe, as much, and to the extent that sometimes ideas come out of group conversations. And then it got me thinking as to whether or not there's sort of a similar phenomenon with respect to innovation and entrepreneurship. Paul Jarley: To answer that fuzzy question, I assembled today's panel of experts. Caroline Castille is a UCF grad, a finalist in the 2014 version of the Joust, and a serial entrepreneur. Cameron Ford is the founding Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at UCF, and an associate professor in our Department of Management. Carol Ann Dykes Logue is Director of Programs and Operations at the UCF Innovations District and Incubation Program. And Dr. Michael Pape is the Dr. Phillips entrepreneur and residence in the Department of Management, and serves as the director of the UpStart Student Venture Accelerator at UCF. Mike, let's start with you. Did innovation go up or down as a result of the pandemic? Michael Pape: One way that we measure innovation, which is a new way to do things, at least with a solid metric, is patent submissions. So I was interested in this, been reading about this, and if you look at patent submissions, they kept going up and up and up, the USPTO, the US Patent and Trademark Office. Paul Jarley: Yeah. Michael Pape: They publish all these stats every year. If you look through, they started the plateau in 2016, interestingly enough- Paul Jarley: Before the pandemic, yeah. Michael Pape: Yeah, and they've stayed pretty flat, but that's sort of a gross aggregate, obviously. And that's just the U.S. But I did see that in other countries, they had actually an increase in the number of patent applications, depending, again, what's your point of reference as you try to interpret this? Michael Pape: But one interesting thing that came out since... I went to University of Chicago, I get some of the publications and read a paper put out by some of the researchers there,

Inflation hasn’t been much of an issue since Jimmy Carter was in office. But—like Mom Jeans and mullets—it’s totally back. This time, though, it feels different. We’re paying more than ever at the pump and in the grocery stores, so what’s to blame? Is it government spending? Supply chain shortages? The war in Ukraine? We’ve got questions, so we turned to UCF economist Sean Snaith for answers. Additional Resources Want to learn more? Check out Snaith’s latest U.S. Economic Report from UCF’s Institute for Economic Forecasting. Featured Guests Sean Snaith, Ph.D. - Director, Institute for Economic Forecasting Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: Inflation hasn't really been an issue since the Carter years. That Saturday Night Live skit was Dan Aykroyd impersonating Jimmy Carter. Inflation is definitely not the friend of people who are on fixed incomes. Today's inflation, though, feels a little different. Some people think it's not a surprise. We printed a bunch of money during the pandemic, and we're suffering the consequences to that. Spending was high, particularly government spending. Some people blame it on supply chain shortages. Some people blame it on the war in Ukraine. Some people believe it's a government conspiracy. To sort through all of those things, when Sean gets here, we will have a conversation with him that will help us shed some light on where inflation really is today and where we think it's going in the future. Well, here he is. I'm assuming you're in big demand these days. Sean Snaith: Yeah. I've spoken on at least two occasions about inflation over the past year and a half. Paul Jarley: So you raising your prices, given all this demand? Sean Snaith: No, competition's too fierce. Paul Jarley: Really? Yeah. Sean Snaith: Yeah. Economists are a dime a dozen. Paul Jarley: Well, that's probably true, but you're the prettiest one I have, buddy. Sean Snaith: Aw. You're like my magic mirror. What fairy tale was that? Who's the fairest economist in the land? Paul Jarley: Oh, that's not even close. I mean, it's a low bar if you've met most economists, right? Sean Snaith: I build a career on low expectations. Paul Jarley: There's no GQ for economics. I've never seen it. Sean Snaith: No. We did do a GDP GQ... Paul Jarley: There you go. Very nice. Sean Snaith: But yeah, the model was not an attractive man. Paul Jarley: I would imagine not. So how unattractive is it right now? Sean Snaith: Well, we're making the call when our release goes out that we are in or very close to a recession right now. And speaking to different groups and to the media over the past year, all of this can be traced back to the policy response to COVID-19 in 2020. Paul Jarley: We'll come to that in a couple minutes. A few weeks ago I was driving home and when I drive home from the gym, I tend to put on sports talk radio. It's my time to kind of catch up with. And the guy was railing against the inflation number in the sense that he didn't believe it, that he thought the reported one was too low. And he was quoting the doubling in gas prices over a period. And yeah. So talk a little bit about how that inflation number is actually put together and what it really means. Sean Snaith: Many of the variables in macroeconomics have measurement issues. Financial markets, interest rates... Paul Jarley: Pretty simple stuff right? Sean Snaith: To the second on the spot. When you start talking about GDP, employment, unemployment inflation, now you're dealing with something that's not as directly observable. And especially for something like the price level, we know what the price of individual commodities are. We know much wheat and soybean costs. We know much corn costs, how much a gallon of gas or gallon of milk costs, but the price level's not observable. So we, the economics profession, the government, comes up with proxies to try to gauge that.

This past summer marked a significant change for college athletes as the NCAA voted to allow them the opportunity to benefit from their name, image and likeness. While it's certainly a significant change in the NCAA's approach and rulemaking, what will it mean for most student athletes, especially those outside the big conferences and revenue-generating sports like football and basketball? Featured Guests Terry Mohajir - Vice President & Director of Athletics at UCF Brittney Anderson-Duzan - Associate AD for Compliance at UCF Scott Bukstein - Undergraduate Program Director & Associate Instructor of Sport Business Management at UCF Episode Highlights 01:08 - What is NIL? 04:27 - What's going on nationally? 06:26 - What's the total value of the market? 09:08 - Is it going to impact recruiting? 14:54 - Are there guidelines for sports agents? 18:52 - Is NIL the endgame or are more changes coming? 27:05 - Dean Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: This would not have happened a year ago. Valerie Moses with Addition Financial (00:02): Good morning. It is so great to see you all here today. We are so proud of our partnership with Dillon Gabriel and with UCF Athletics and with the College of Business, we're a proud partner. You can see us at the student gate at any football game, so please come visit us. We are incredibly honored to sponsor this morning's event and to get to hear from Dillon and from [Steven 00:00:24] as well, all about the NIL partnerships. This is such a huge brand new front here, I would say, in the world of sports business and something that we all really need to be paying attention to. So it is very exciting to see these partnerships really come alive, and we are so grateful for our partnerships here today. Paul Jarley (00:44): Will this newfound right to publicity change college athletics forever? Paul Jarley (00:48): This year was all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? On to our show. Paul Jarley (01:08): Name, image and likeness is a legal concept that allows any person, including student athletes, the right to publicity, the ability to capitalize on anything that identifies them, including the ability to engage in third-party sponsorships and endorsements. Some people think this will change college athletics as we know it, others aren't so sure. They think the marketplace will adjust, and that the benefits will accrue to a very few. To help sort through this, I've assembled three guests. Terry Mohajir is UCF's athletic director, Brittney Duzan is the associate AD for compliance, and Scott Bukstein is an associate instructor in our DeVos Sports Business Management Program. Listen in. Paul Jarley (01:51): As I understand NIL, this is being dealt with on a state-by-state basis. So what does Florida allow student athletes to do now that they couldn't do before? Brittney, I'm going to throw that to you. Brittney Anderson-Duzan (02:06): Sure. So, like most states, the state of Florida is one of the few that actually has a legislated piece for name, image and likeness. So essentially what they now have is the right to utilize their name, image and likeness for commercial purposes, so whether that be for money or not for money, that they weren't allowed to do previously by NDA legislation. So basically, they have the right to publicity now. Paul Jarley (02:32): They can print their faces on t-shirts. Can they get appearance fees? I'm trying to understand exactly what we're- Brittney Anderson-Duzan (02:39): Yeah. They can get appearance fees. It [inaudible 00:02:43] us now with what students on campus can do. So think outside of just those big endorsement deals,

Find yourself asking "Where's the beef?" when you order a burger these days? You could be a victim of "Shrinkflation." Rising demand post-pandemic and disrupted supply chains are impacting many of the goods and foods we consume. Will we be getting less of a product for the same price as companies try to protect their bottom lines? Hear what a UCF economist and Marketing professors have to say about what to expect and whether you need to watch out for Shrinkflators around every corner. Featured Guests Uluc Ayson, Ph.D. - Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at UCF Anand Krishnamoorthy, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Marketing Muge Yayla Kullu, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Marketing at UCF Axel Stock, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Marketing Yael Zemack-Rugar, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Marketing at UCF Episode Highlights 00:14 - Introduction 01:26 - Are we experiencing inflation? 03:40 - What prompts companies to become shrinkflators? 05:30 - What are some examples of shrinkflation? 08:40 - Are we more sensitive to price than changes in service or packaging? 13:00 - Are there any consumer benefits to shrinkage? 28:00 - Will shrinkflation be here in a year? 32:04 - Dean Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Assorted Speakers:“Where's the beef?” “Why is my six-count nugget now a five count nugget? Where's my other nugget?” “You mean shrinkage?” “Significant shrinkage.” “So you feel you were short changed?” “Yes.” Zemack-Rugar: So apparently if you reduced one dimension, but you make it longer, then people perceive the same size because we can't assess volume. Jarley (Host): : As Erin Turner would say, this is how they get ya. Jarley: : This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show… Jarley: A couple of weeks ago, I read an article claiming that for a variety of reasons, some companies were cutting back on the size of their offerings rather than increasing their price. I was intrigued. So I sent an email out to the faculty and within an hour, I had 10 people who had volunteered to become part of a podcast on this subject. It made me think that shrinkflation was at the very least, well, an academic thing. Conflicting schedules reduced the size of our panel from 10 to five, but I have one economist and four associate professors of marketing with me today to talk about what's going on. Muge Kullu, Yael Zemack-Rugar, Axel Stock and Anand Krishnamoorthy all hail from our Marketing Department. Listen in. Before we get to shrinkflation, Uluc, are we experiencing inflation right now? Ayson: Yes, we are. So if you look at TPI inflation, it's called headline inflation. It has increased in the past three months. We went from below 2 percent to 2.6, 4.1. Now it's just four points, 4.6. And then now it's just at 4.9, uh, which is considered high based on the past three decades. And it's high compared to the Fed implicit inflation target as well, which is 2 percent. So it is increasing. Jarley: It's a really odd situation here. We've had an economy that's been largely shut down for a year. That's coming back. Give me some sense of how much of this is sort of a supply chain issue and how much of it is due to other factors. Kullu: Companies had trouble from the supply end, also from the demand end, you know, like people just ran to the store and cleaned off the shelves for toilet paper. So like demand went crazy and suppliers shut down first; China shut down. So, and that was a wave of shutdowns in different parts of the world in different parts. At times through the year and then logistics shut down, now there was a lot of trouble passing through...

If you're wondering what an NFT, aka Non-Fungible Token, is, well, you're not alone. CryptoPunks and CyberCats are selling for six and seven figures and even Christie's is getting in on the digital art action. So we've got questions...what are these digital items, why are people investing a fortune in them (and should you?), and what does that mean for the financial sector and the art world? Featured Guests Buvaneshwaran "Eshwar" Venugopal, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of Finance at UCF Carla Poindexter, M.F.A. - UCF Professor of Art Lory Kehoe - Director, Digital Assets & Blockchain, BNY Mellon Episode Highlights 0:26 - Introduction 2:04 - What the heck is an NFT? 04:01 - What do I actually own? 05:58 - What's actually in the blockchain? 11:33 - Why did the bank become interested in an NFT? 15:10 - When the world gets back to normal, will this all go away? 21:40 - What keeps you up the most at night about NFTs? 24:45 - 10 years from now are NFTs going to be around and what are they mainly going to be used for? 28:15 - Dean Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: Eshwar, I'm going to start with you. What the heck is an NFT? Eshwar Venugopal: I think the world is trying to figure it out. Paul Jarley: This here was all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, dean of the college of business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. (singing). On March 11th, CryptoPunk 3,100, a piece of digital art, sold for $7.6 million with an NFT. That broke the record set the day before by CryptoPunk 7804, which had sold for $7.5 million. Then on March 21st, Beeple's the First 5,000 days sold for $69.3 million. Needless to say, people took notice. I took notice. Well, honestly, Josh told me to take notice. I was hesitant. This all seemed pretty esoteric. Techno geeks with stupid money doing techno geeky things, I thought.But then Forbes did an article. I noticed Christie's auction house was involved. And so I started to send some emails and make some phone calls. My resident blockchain guy had an interest in this. The dean of arts and humanities, Jeff Moore, put me in contact with an artist interested in NFTs. The kicker was Jeff Stokes. Jeff is a member of my dean's advisory board, with BNY Mellon, who put me in contact with their digital asset guy. If Alexander Hamilton's bank was interested in NFTs, I figured I should be too. So to shed some light on this new phenomenon, we have with us today, Eshwar Venugopal, who is an assistant professor here in the finance department at UCF, Carla Poindexter, who is the professor of art at UCF, and Lory Kehoe, who is the director of digital assets and blockchain at BYN Mellon. Listen in. Paul Jarley: Eshwar, I'm going to start with you. What the heck is an NFT? Eshwar Venugopal: An NFT is basically a certificate of ownership of a digital group. Basically giving artists an ability to offer limited additions of their artwork. I'm going to use artists as an example over here, since we have Carla over here. But I have a problem with that, but I'll come to it later on. But the idea is that you have a certificate of ownership and it is a limited edition product and it is more of a digital collection rather than a physical good. That's how it has been envisioned. But things have been changing rapidly. These days, if you take some of the latest NFTs that are being minted, there is a physical aspect of it. One guy actually sold his house on NFT. So, things are a little bit blurry now, but if you take a look at it from a property perspective, it is just an ownership as a consumption good. That's it. Paul Jarley: Yeah. Let me be old school for a minute so I can understand this a little better. I can purchase an original Monet.

GameStop and AMC made national headlines for unexpected reasons as retail investors from social media website Reddit began feverishly scooping up shares in each company. While the resulting drama caused wild swings in stock prices and scrutiny against some online trading platforms, the long term impacts remain to be seen. Did "Redditors" usher in a new era of retail stock trading? Or are these so-called meme stocks just another example of financial history repeating itself? Featured Guests Garrett Cummings - President, UCF Young Investors Club Kevin Mullally, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of Finance, UCF College of Business Episode Highlights 1:04 - Introduction 2:48 - Why would anyone invest in GameStop? 7:22 - What led to the media spotlight on $GME? 12:37 - Who is the group driving the run on GameStop stock? 14:27 - Is this a legitimate area of finance research? 16:37 - Historical similarities 20:12 - How is this run on $GME going to end? 22:08 - What's the future for meme stocks as a whole? 28:27 - Will this still be a story a year from now? 31:33 - Dean Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: Remember the E-Trade Baby? E-Trade Baby: A lot of people are like, "Isn't it difficult to invest in the markets?" And I'm like, "Not if you're using E-trade. Making a big investment is as easy as a single click." Boom. I just bought some stocks. Paul Jarley: I think he was the first meme investor. He didn't last long. E-Trade Baby: Wait, why is this line going down? Oh God, it just dropped 400 points. This is not happening. Dear Lord, I made a horrible, horrible mistake. **** Paul Jarley: Or maybe he just moved onto the social media site, Reddit [crosstalk 00:00:31] and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars trading stock in GameStop. Turns out he's just one of many. E-Trade Baby: Take it back. Sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. Too late. It's all gone. Paul Jarley: This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, "Is this really a thing?" Onto our show. Paul Jarley: So GameStop has obviously been in the news a lot over the last week, and to help me understand what's going on here, I've convened a panel of experts. Kevin Mullally is an assistant professor in our finance department. Garrett Cummings is the president of our student investment club and a finance major. And I pulled in our own Josh Miranda, who knows a little bit about viral marketing and maybe viral finance to have a conversation about GameStop and its short-term and long-term implications. But I want to start out with a story. When I first came to UCF, one of the first groups I met with were some executives at EA sports. Paul Jarley: And they said to me, "We know right now we're a company that puts the $60 box in a GameStop for people to purchase, but we know that's about to go away. We know that a few years from now, we will have developed into something like iTunes, where people electronically download whatever the game is into their console. And we think after that, we will become a company that offers various components of games that people can download and create their own game. And we want to understand that consumer more and what aspects of the games they like and dislike, so that we can meet that market demand when it comes." Now, I raise that story because that was 10 years ago, and EA sports knew GameStop was dead then. So when I first heard the stories about GameStop, I have to admit my first reaction was, "Wow, they're still around?

After one of the deepest recessions in history, the U.S. economy still has roughly 10 million fewer jobs than before the COVID-19 pandemic began. While some say the economy is improving faster than expected and has seen significant growth in recent months, it could be some time before the U.S. returns to pre-pandemic highs. What will drive the economy back into recovery? And can it happen before 2022? Sean Snaith, Director of UCF's Institute for Economic Forecasting, explains his timeline and predictions for complete economic recovery. Featured Guests Sean Snaith - Director, UCF Institute for Economic Forecasting Episode Highlights 0:45 - Sean Snaith introduction 1:31 - Just how bad did it get in 2020? 4:54 - How Sean Snaith describes the economy today 7:01 - The U.S. government's response 9:46 - Will new stimulus packages be effective? 11:41 - How did Florida fare compared to the U.S. economy? 16:06 - The future of the U.S. and Florida economies 18:18 - Economic recommendations for the Biden Administration 22:48 - New taxes? 25:21 - Are the "Roaring '20s" going to be a thing? 26:54 - Paul Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: So between now and election, what do you think, the economy going to have a recession? Yes? No? Why? Glenn Hubbard: On balance, I don't think we're at the cusp of a recession. John Solow: I absolutely agree with Glenn's take on what things are doing now. Paul Jarley: No, I think the short answer is no, there's not going to be a recession before the 2020 election or in 2020 at all, I think. Sami Alpanda: I agree with almost everything that has been said so far. Paul Jarley: Turns out they were all wrong. This year was all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. Paul Jarley: 2020 threw everyone a curve ball. That recession, well, it turned out to be a thing. Is 2021 the return of prosperity? Will the economy go on a run like it did in the 1920s? I sat down with our resident expert, Dr. Sean Snaith, he's the director of our Institute for Economic Forecasting. Listen in. Well, thanks for joining me today, Sean. Sean Snaith: Pleasure. Paul Jarley: We've got a lot to cover. I'm going to ask you to be the ghost of economy past, present, and future, if you don't mind. And let's start out with the past. Back in 2019, I hosted a panel of people, including Glenn Hubbard at that time and asked them whether a recession in 2020 was possible and all of them to a person and you as well said, no chance, right? Paul Jarley: The economy was really humming. When I asked them what they were concerned about, frankly, they had trouble coming up with anything and then March of 2020 happened. So how bad did it get in 2020? Sean Snaith: Well, at least I'm in good company in being wrong, I suppose. And I don't know if I'm the ghost or I'm haunted by my past forecast, but I don't think, two things, that I don't think anyone saw coming. One is a pandemic, global pandemic out of China. That's one thing. This is ... Paul Jarley: That's the exogenous shock. Sean Snaith: That's the exogenous part. And so this stuff happens. Now, could that in and of itself have triggered a recession? Maybe. Paul Jarley: Maybe. Sean Snaith: Maybe. But it was the endogenous part or the policy response to it that really put us into the historic downturn.

It's hard to imagine a virtual Tupperware party. Sales presentations are trickier with the move to increased online communication. Gone (for now) are the days of making small talk with prospective clients in the hallway and capturing their undivided attention face-to-face. Now that life has gone virtual, is it really possible for sales professionals to channel their charisma and build rapport through video calls? Do customers respond the same way to virtual selling tactics? Or should salespeople be expecting lower commissions until they can meet in person? Featured Guests Kathleen Lima - Sales Manager, Gartner Keith Lubner - Chief Business Strategist, Sales Gravy Episode Highlights 1:47 - What is virtual selling and how does it work? 6:35 - B2B vs. B2C - Who virtual selling is really for 12:34 - The biggest barriers to overcome 16:50 - Is virtual selling just a "young people's" game? 23:09 - What students can learn from virtual selling 26:16 - Final thoughts from Keith and Kathleen 28:12 - Paul Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: Remember the door-to-door Salesman? Salesman: Good morning, madam. Homeowner: Good morning. I'm afraid I don't want them. Salesman: You've been selected for a special introductory offer, madam. Announcer: Using one of the many tricks to interest you, he'll keep talking, exaggerating. Paul Jarley: My sense is he got largely replaced by the robocall. Robo Caller: Hi, I'm calling from vehicle servicing to reach out regarding the factory warranty on your vehicle. Our records indicate it's past the coverage expiration [crosstalk 00:00:24] the vehicle you want to sell is actually still eligible for a warranty. Paul Jarley: But if there isn't enough to be annoyed about in 2020, now we have this. Zoom Caller: Can anyone hear me? Zoom Caller: We can hear you. Zoom Caller: Hello. Zoom Caller: Yeah. We can hear you. We can all hear you. Zoom Caller: I'm sorry. Just before we begin, can I just go to the bathroom quickly? Zoom Caller: I'm just going to go ahead. Paul Jarley: Does anybody really need Zoom call salespeople? Really? Paul Jarley: This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. Paul Jarley: Necessity really is the mother of invention. Case in point, how do you sell people stuff if lockdown orders and social distancing norms mean you can't meet with potential customers in person? Answer? Virtual selling. Google it and you'll see how many YouTube videos you can find featuring people who are now positioning themselves as virtual selling experts. YouTube is the happy home of many a modern-day snake oil salesman. So I wanted to talk to a few sales experts and get their take on virtual selling and whether I need to incorporate this into the business school curriculum. Listen in. Paul Jarley: So what the heck is virtual selling and how does it differ from other forms of selling? Kathleen Lima: Virtual selling in general is a way to communicate using digital platforms and technology in order to still be able to do business. Paul Jarley: Kathleen Lima is a sales manager at Gartner, and more importantly, a graduate of our professional selling program.

As employees continue to work from home, leases are running out and corporate office space is in jeopardy. Managers around the world have to decide if it's more efficient to keep their offices open, downsize, or go entirely remote. Seven months into this pandemic, the question remains... is working from home really going to stick? How is the commercial real estate industry handling the move to remote work spaces? Can professionals truly replicate the "sense of space" that comes with collaborating in person... from home? And five years from now, what will the typical workday look like? Featured Guests Steve Garrity - Vice President, Highwoods Properties Nick Poole - Managing Director, JLL Yvonne Baker - Regional Managing Partner, Franklin Street Bill Moss - Director, Dr. P. Phillips Institute for Research and Education in Real Estate at UCF Episode Highlights 2:34 - The state of commercial real estate pre-COVID 4:25 - The rise of the open offices 9:19 - How the pandemic is changing office space 12:07 - The importance of "a sense of space" in collaborative work 13:44 - How working from home affects company culture 18:30 - Will companies downsize their offices? Eliminate them entirely? 23:04 - Permanent fixes for temporary problems 25:27 - Will everyone be back in the office in two years? 28:01 - Dean Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Spooky Voice: Submitted for your approval: a man gets up every day... he gets dressed, he drives to work, he interacts with 10,000 students. Paul Jarley: Well, hello there. Welcome to The College of Business. Spooky Voice: The year is 2020 and Dean Paul Jarley has entered ... Paul Jarley: Hello? Is anybody here? Spooky Voice: The Twilight Zone. Paul Jarley: Tina? Tiff? Josh? Anybody here? Paul Jarley: This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, dean of The College of Business, here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. Paul Jarley: To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? On to our show. Paul Jarley: Seven months into this pandemic and the UCF College of Business is largely empty. Office occupancy can't be greater than 10%. Many of my employees don't want to return to work. They tell me they can get their work done from home, just fine. Paul Jarley: It makes me wonder what I should do with all this space, but I have to admit, I'm not really sure what I'd turn it into. Maybe an apartment for me, so I never have to leave work? Perhaps dorms for students? Maybe, I could lease it all out to Amazon as warehousing space? I'm not really sure. Paul Jarley: To help me think about the future of office space, I've assembled a panel of experts. Listen in. Paul Jarley: If anybody can remember what life was like before March, could you talk a little bit about what the trends in class A office space has been, over the last few years? What have been the major trends that you are all seeing? Paul Jarley: Bill, do you want to kick us off? Bill Moss: So, everything was fine while I was still in the industry at CBRE. Since I left, it's all gone haywire. Paul Jarley: Bill Moss was the managing partner of CBRE. It's the largest commercial real estate brokerage company here in central Florida. Paul Jarley: These days, he's the director of the Dr. P. Phillips Institute for Research and Education in Real Estate at UCF. Bill Moss: Maybe Steve could kick things off with really,

As cardboard cutouts occupy the stands at stadiums across the country, sports leagues and teams are dealing with a massive blow to their bottom line. If fans are stuck watching the game from home, it begs the question... how long can sports really be financially viable? Can exclusive, virtual experiences fill the budgetary void left by the absence of ticket sales? Or can the leagues just shoulder the economic consequences until stadiums and arenas are back at full capacity? Featured Guests Brian Wright - General Manager, San Antonio Spurs Shelly Wilkes - Senior Vice President, Orlando Magic Jon Alba - Sports Reporter/Anchor, Spectrum Sports - News 13 Episode Highlights 2:00 - What's missing from sports in the pandemic 4:27 - The media landscape for sports in 2020 5:56 - How the NBA is doing during COVID-19 7:16 - What the future could hold for sports 9:54 - A new model for sports monetization 13:01 - Media owned sports leagues? 19:50 - Will there be fans in the building next season? 26:23 - Final thoughts from the panel 30:06 - Dean Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Jon Alba: The pitcher for the Washington Nationals just knocked this out of the park when he said that sports are like the reward of a functioning society. Jon Alba: [crosstalk 00:00:08]. Jon Alba: Mr President. Paul Jarley: If you watched the presidential debate like I did, you might think, well, we don't deserve sports at all. This show is all about separating height from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. Paul Jarley: Life, for me, had a glimmer of normalcy with this. Paul Jarley: First, it was Korean baseball. Then it was MLS, followed by the NHL, and the NBA. They all started in bubbles. Major League Baseball returned to play in their regular venues, but all these restarts were missing one thing, spectators. The seats were empty. We've seen some baby steps towards the return of paying customers and seats in football but the question remains, how long can sports really be a thing if the stadiums are, well, mostly empty? Paul Jarley: Luckily, I know people on the inside who can help us understand what's going on in sports today. How long this disruption might last and how sports might look different going forward. Listen in. Paul Jarley: Is the current arrangement sustainable financially? How long can the leagues operate without spectators before this becomes a real financial problem? Shelly Wilkes: Well, I can jump in. Paul Jarley: Shelly Wilkes is a graduate of the DeVos Sports Business Management Program here in the college, and was the president of the Lakeland Magic. Now, she's a senior VP for the parent club, the Orlando Magic. Shelly Wilkes: I think this is not really sustainable. I don't think it's sustainable from a society standpoint or a team ownership standpoint. I think that we, as sports leagues, really bring fans together, we bring communities together that's really what we build our businesses upon, is how do we bring a group of people together to cheer for one common cause. I think that in the short term, everyone understands where we are as a country, where we are as a world with the pandemic. We're making changes and sacrifices where necessary so that we can continue the game on the field or on the courts. I think everyone wants sports to come back in its entirety. We want to have arenas full. Shelly Wilkes: I mean,

Two researchers at UCF are developing a cough drop that can reduce the spread of COVID-19 by making saliva heavier and stickier - it makes sneeze and cough particles fall rather than float. But is there really a market for such a product? Paul Jarley talks with researchers Michael Kinzel and Kareem Ahmed to find out the science behind the lozenge, how soon it could hit store shelves and the similarities to products you already have around the house. Featured Guests Kareem Ahmed - Assistant Professor, College of Engineering & Computer Science, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Michael Kinzel - Assistant Professor, College of Engineering & Computer Science, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Cameron Ford - Director, UCF Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Michael Pape - Dr. Phillips Entrepreneur in Residence; Lecturer, Management Episode Highlights 0:49 - The origin of the COVID-19 cough drop idea 2:58 - How mechanical engineers got into cough drops 5:18 - How can the COVID cough drop make it to stores? 7:58 - Legal hurdles for the COVID cough drop 11:53 - Who is the target audience for this? 16:27 - How long will it take to get to market? 25:42 - ...Ketchup? 28:48 - What are the learning lessons for students? 33:07 - Final thoughts from Paul Jarley, Cameron Ford and Michael Pape Click to listen to the extended "geek" edition of this episode or visit business.ucf.edu/podcast! Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: 2020 has been the year of the coronavirus, and big money is being put in to find a vaccine. But what if I told you that the spread of COVID isn't a medical problem, but rather an engineering one. And that two UCF Aerospace Engineers might have a simple, low-cost solution. Would you invest in their project? Paul Jarley: This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. Paul Jarley: Ideas come from unexpected places. Listen to Michael Kinzel, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCF. Explain the origin of the idea for a COVID cough drop. Michael Kinzel: It was kind of funny, right? My wife was arguing with one of our neighbors on Facebook, about aerosols and how far they can kind of pass from one person to another. And one of the things about aerosols is they're very small, and if you cough, for example, at that time, they were showing that... Actually not cough, sneeze, if you sneeze, they were showing that these aerosols can travel at 27 feet. My wife was arguing with neighbors like, "Hey, you need to be careful as you go by somebody, maybe move out of the sidewalk." Because of these aerosols. And it drove me to think, how do you make these... What do we do in engineering to make things not form aerosols? Michael Kinzel: And one of the things that drives that is underlying fluid dynamics processes that associated with how thick your fluid is. So for example, if you think about trying to make small droplets out of oil, it's a lot more difficult than making small droplets out of water, or even on the other end alcohol. So this is kind of driving, it was kind of, how do you get to a scenario where you don't enable droplets to travel 27 feet? And if you make them large, they're no longer aerosols and they have a tendency to fall. So one way to potentially enable that is by making a lozenge that actually alters your saliva. So that it behaves or has a tendency to form these large droplets that don't persist for very long distances. Paul Jarley: Okay. So first, Michael,

As the name explains, The Invitational is the UCF College of Business' invite-only career fair, designed to connect top business students with employers and college partners seeking to fill internships within their organization. In this episode, Paul Jarley speaks with employers and recruiters to learn the best tactics to help you find your dream job. Featured Guests Amanda Valiente - Eli Lilly Mateo Perez - Enterprise Rent-A-Car Brittney Brown - City Furniture Dylan D'Orazio - Gartner Episode Transcription Episode transcription coming soon! Listen to all episodes of "Is This Really a Thing?" at business.ucf.edu/podcast.

A media darling of sorts, UCF economist Sean Snaith's presentations across Central Florida tend to be an 80/20 mix of economic forecasting and comedy sketches. But the Director of the UCF Institute for Economic Forecasting means business - his forecasts have been named one of the nation's most accurate. This episode takes a "behind-the-scenes" look at Snaith's forecasting methods while exploring his thoughts on the state of the Florida economy in 2020. Featured Guests Sean Snaith - Director, UCF Institute for Economic Forecasting Erika Hodges - Director, Communications & Marketing, UCF College of Business Jessica Dourney - Assistant Director, Outreach & Engagement, UCF College of Business Episode Highlights 1:48 - Paul Jarley introduces Sean Snaith 2:37 - What the Florida economy is going through 3:28 - Commentary from the "Mean Girls" 4:14 - Florida's housing market 07:04 - Sean Snaith: "King of the Nerds" 11:09 - Growth by industry in Florida 15:06 - Job and population growth in the state 17:01 - Questions from the audience 21:30 - Paul Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: Sean Snaith is central Florida's favorite economic forecaster. Sean has been named one of the nation's most accurate forecasters by Bloomberg News and as appeared on pretty much every media outlet from the Wall Street Journal to the BBC. But he has some very strange hobbies. Sean Snaith: If you've heard me speak over the years, you know I have an affinity for SkyMall. Paul Jarley: You remember SkyMall, It's the defunct inflight shopping catalog that survives on the internet. Well, Sean, he might just be their biggest fan. Sean Snaith: The Dean called it a fetish, I think, last year, which, that sounds a little dirty. Paul Jarley: He's also a bit of a diva who dreams of becoming a viral internet sensation? Sean Snaith: So, everybody can't be a social influencer though. I mean, I think that's where they all want to be. I do too. Quite frankly, I've got 1300 on Twitter. I don't know what I can offer to them, but. Paul Jarley: And he hates being handled, especially by the college's so called mean girls. Sean Snaith: There's a group of, largely women, in the college of business and there'll be shaking you down for money here at the end of the event, but I like to refer to them collectively as the mean girls and they sort of followed me since middle school and they make fun of my clothing and my glasses and things like that. Speaker 3: I don't know if you've seen his PowerPoint slides, but we think they date back to the mid 1980s. Paul Jarley: Is Sean Snaith really worth all this trouble? Are those forecasts right? Or do those mean girls have a point? Speaker 4: That is so fetch. Speaker 5: Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen. It's not going to happen. Paul Jarley: This issue is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF, I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. Paul Jarley: This podcast is a condensed version of a talk Sean gave at our recent Dean Speaker Series, where he provided his economic forecast for both the US and Florida economies. Since Sean had already weighed in on the US economy as part of our podcast on whether the 2020 recession is really a thing, we focused today's show on his predictions for the Florida economy. We're calling this the mean girl edition because I've given the team th...

In the midst of the longest economic recovery in American history, the big question is when the next recession will hit. With unemployment reaching record lows, job growth skyrocketing and consumer confidence at an all-time high, some economists see no end in sight for the expansion that began in 2009. On the other hand, manufacturing is at a 10-year low while the U.S.-China trade war continues. Can the U.S. really avoid a recession in 2020? Or is the bubble about to pop? Featured Guests Glenn Hubbard '79 - Economist; Chairman of the Board, MetLife Inc. Sean Snaith - Director, UCF Institute for Economic Forecasting John Solow - Kenneth White and James Xander Professor in Economics, UCF College of Business Sami Alpanda - Associate Professor, Economics, UCF College of Business Episode Highlights 0:48 - What's most likely to cause a recession? 2:38 - Where the U.S. economy currently stands 4:29 - Thoughts from a microeconomist 6:20 - How consumers play into today's economy 9:06 - The role of political tension in the economy 11:18 - Paul Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Transcription coming soon! Listen to all episodes of "Is This Really a Thing?" at business.ucf.edu/podcast.

A lot of people don't really like change. But can they be coached or managed through the change process to understand and truly appreciate its benefits in the workplace? Guest host Thad Seymour, Interim President of UCF, introduces a panel of staff members from Addition Financial to discuss their recent re-brand initiative and what they learned from undergoing a massive, company-wide change. Featured Guests Thad Seymour, Ph.D. - Interim President, University of Central Florida Jordan George - Head of Leadership & Talent Development, Addition Financial Christina Lehman - Marketing Manager, Addition Financial Kerby Pickens - Manager of Leadership & Talent Development, Addition Financial Episode Highlights 0:39 - Introduction from UCF Interim President Thad Seymour, Ph.D. 2:26 - The difficulty of change within an organization 8:22 - How to implement change 16:27 - What makes people resistant to change? 19:34 - "How Stella Saved the Farm" 29:20 - Common mistakes to avoid as a leader 40:27 - Addition Financial's experience with change 46:36 - Thad Seymour's final thoughts Episode Transcription Jordan George: We're really excited to dive into this topic around changed management. Something that I know that you have overseen a lot in your time at UCF and certainly we're experiencing a lot internally right now with the name change from CFE to Addition Financial. Getting ready for an acquisition in the next couple of months here. So as we think about change and how disruptive it can be, why is effective change management so difficult? Paul Jarley: Well, the short answer is people don't like change. It's uncomfortable for them. But if you drill down into it, I think it comes down to a few things. If your change is very fundamental, a lot of people came to the organization, they were attracted to it maybe because of a specific mission or set of values or culture that you have. And if they see that change is threatening those things, they can have a very emotional reaction to that. People care deeply about those things. And they feel like they fit in an organization. And if they think that change threatens their fit with the organization, that can be a pretty traumatic experience for them. Paul Jarley: Secondly, organizations develop compensation systems and other kinds of reward systems that are in place to encourage the kinds of behaviors and outcomes that they want. And people know whether they're winning or losing under those systems. Or perhaps they've come to be comfortable with wherever they are kind of in the hierarchy of that system. And if those initially proposed change is going to threaten that they get pretty nervous about that. That's their livelihood, at one level, and that can be very disconcerting. Another real problem here is generally in a change process, the costs of the change are borne first by people. They're really well known and they're at a minimum irritating and maximum kind of threatening to their security. The benefits are all about the future. And those are kind of fuzzy and they're kind of unknown. Paul Jarley: So unless you have a change that's being motivated by something that's really compelling and urgent and threatens the entire organization, and it's just going to force a change, people tend to focus on the cost side of the change, rather than the benefit side of the change. If you're a leader in the organization, the hardest thing I think it is for a leader to do is to get people to see a future they have yet to experience. That's really, really difficult for people. And if they don't see that future experience as something that's going to benefit them personally, they're going to resist it. Jordan George: I like what you said about, we receive the cost of the change before we receive the benefits of the change up front.

With new technology comes new ways to shop online and find a good deal, but retailers also have new tools at their disposal to charge customers higher prices. "Retail guru" Anand Krishnamoorthy discusses how retailers exploit consumers' lack of knowledge to charge higher prices and how shoppers can beat retailers at their own game this holiday season (and on Black Friday). Featured Guests Anand Krishnamoorthy - Associate Professor of Marketing, UCF College of Business Episode Highlights 1:10 - Opaque Selling 4:11 - Examples of opaque selling in the marketplace 10:59 - The truth about "list prices" 14:25 - The shopping experience and its influence 19:51 - Price matching 27:52 - The New York Times: Charging more for less? 35:13 - Variable ticket pricing 39:33 - Paul Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Anand Krishnamoorthy: This is something that many of us on the State side may not be familiar with. Eurowings is a German low cost flyer that doesn't even tell you what your destination will be, before you pay up. You will not know where you're flying to until you pay up. Paul Jarley: Here's a tip for value conscious holiday shoppers everywhere. You probably don't want to buy two tickets on that airline. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, "Is this really a thing?" Onto our show. Paul Jarley: Everybody knows that person who will go to great lengths to get a deal, but is a deal ever really a deal? We're bringing back our retail guru, Anand Krishnamoorthyorthy to explain to you that a deal, well, probably isn't really a thing. With pricing games, there's always a loser and Anand explains, that's usually you, listen in. Anand Krishnamoorthy: What I'll do today is talk about three broad topics in pricing games. The first of which is what we refer to as opaque selling, where product attributes are hidden. Then we'll talk about where pricing cues are hidden. We'll start off with something that firms do a lot of, which is cost plus pricing. Some of you are familiar with this term, at least you've used it in the past, which is, you figured out your cost, tack on a markup, and then figure out your price based on that. Anand Krishnamoorthy: Many firms practices, but if you ask them, they will not admit to it because it's a decidedly unsophisticated way to price. So why is it a problem? Let's start one, you're pricing based on things that consumers have no idea about. Consumers usually don't know what a firm's costs are. Even if they knew, why would you care? Why would a firm's production process of manufacturing plant factor into how much you'd be willing to pay? Anand Krishnamoorthy: As a way of maybe channeling venture payroll's book, it's because costs don't care about consumer feelings. Costs are based off of things that consumers don't care about at all. It is consumers wanting benefits, consumers wanting other attributes, et cetera, rather than costs. Anand Krishnamoorthy: To put it another way, if I'm inefficient, and I work for you and I take three days to do a job that you expect done in one, would you pay me three times as much? No. Then why would you expect firms to pay for consumers in terms of costs? Consumers do not want to compensate firms for their ineptitude, why would you expect cost to drive pricing? Anand Krishnamoorthy: So then perhaps better ways to price would be, price based on consumer benefits. That is, figuring out what consumers want, price based off of that. Consumers would want that, ideally. The problem is, consumer benefits are very hard to figure out. In fact,

Presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle point to a host of different factors for the state of the U.S. economy. With an economic recession on the way, renowned economist Glenn Hubbard joins UCF Business faculty John Solow, Sami Alpanda and Paul Jarley to discuss the hot topic of income inequality and when we can expect the current expansion to hit a wall. Is a recession really on our doorstep? Featured Guests Glenn Hubbard '79 - Economist; Chairman of the Board, MetLife Inc. John Solow - Kenneth White and James Xander Professor in Economics, UCF College of Business Sami Alpanda - Associate Professor, Economics, UCF College of Business Episode Highlights 1:02 - Guest introductions 3:02 - Rising income inequality 7:24 -Technical disruption in the workplace 15:54 - Politcal response to a changing economy 21:00 - Trade wars 25:35 - Rising healthcare and pharmaceutical costs 29:46 - President Trump, politicians on the economy 33:41 - Questions from the audience 40:48 - Paul Jarley's final thoughts Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: The economy is a thing. The national election is a thing. But, the stuff politicians talk about on the way to Election Day? Well, those aren't always things. We've assembled a panel of experts. Listen up, people. Paul Jarley: This year was all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? On to our show. Paul Jarley: This podcast comes from an event where we were celebrating Glen Hubbard, and his gift to endow a professorship in economics. Listen in. Paul Jarley: I didn't want to resist the huge opportunity I had today to get together a panel to talk a little bit about the relationship between the economy and the political election that's coming up. So we're going to talk a little bit about whether a number of things are sort of a thing, or not in as non-political a way as we can here. Paul Jarley: I have three panelists with me today to help me understand some things. Most of you know Glenn Hubbard. What you may not know is Glenn Hubbard is a graduate of our economics department at UCF. He studied here. He is currently the chairman of the board of MetLife and is the former dean of the Columbia Business School. He is still a professor there, and I like to joke with Glenn, after you're a dean, the comment that you always make is you get to go back to be part of the problem, right, and then, the part of solution, and he's enjoying that a great deal. Glenn Hubbard: Totally. Totally. Paul Jarley: Right now. Paul Jarley: Next to Glenn is John Solow. John is new to the college this year. He spent many years at Iowa. In fact, John and I were assistant professors together many, many years ago. And, he sits in the White, Xander endowed Professorship in Economics that Glenn and Glenn's wife, Constance, has funded. Glenn Hubbard: [inaudible 00:02:01]. Paul Jarley: And, it's not named after them. It's named after the two faculty members, who were most influential to Glenn while he was here becoming an economist. That's really awesome, and we're really glad to have John with us today. Paul Jarley: My last guest is Sami Alpanda. Sami is an associate professor in the Department of Economics and spent four years? Sami Alpanda: [inaudible 00:02:22] there? Yes. Paul Jarley: Four years at the central Bank of Canada. So I thought he would also bring kind of a really interesting perspective to what we're going ...