vol. XV no. 2

				Economic Forecast Conference -Atlanta Trails Nation in Recovery At the Economic Forecasting Center's quarterly economic forecast conference, director Rajeev Dhawan told area business executives that while the economy is showing signs of recovery, it still may be too soon to declare the end of the recession. According to Dhawan, Atlanta's recovery may be even slower than the nation. "Georgia is not going to be leading the recovery," Dhawan told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "It is going to benefit from the recovery." Other Atlanta-area and regional media attended the event, including Morris News Service (providing stories to papers across the Southeast), WSB-Radio, WAGA-TV, and WSB-TV. In addition, information from Dhawan¹s forecast was picked up by the Associated Press, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Financial Times.com, CNNmoney.com, CBSMarketwatch.com, Bloomberg.com, TheStreet.com, Kiplinger.com and YahooFinance. Signs that the economy was turning around appeared around a month prior to the conference. CNN-TV interviewed Dhawan, and he gave them a preview of what he thought. "The engine is strong on the consumer side. We are spending. But at the same time, if you look at CEOs, they're really pessimistic. Once they become optimists a few more months down the road, then we're going to see some good recovery." Business Hall of Fame 2002 Covered by Local Media Three prominent business leaders were inducted into Robinson College's 2002 Business Hall of Fame. Arthur Blank, Jesse Hill Jr., and Christine Jacobs were honored on April 23. Representatives from the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Business to Business Magazine, Catalyst magazine and Atlanta Woman Magazine were in attendance. The event also was covered by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Atlanta Daily World, the Atlanta Inquirer and WXIA-TV. Working Women Kay Bunch, an instructor in the management department, was interviewed for a Chicago Tribune article exploring the management challenges unique to women. One of the areas discussed was making the transition from individual contributor to manager. According to Bunch, research says that women are less likely than men to ask for training. Companies Profiting When Employees Die Insurance policies known as corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) were in the news recently. These policies ­ which are separate from life insurance policies companies provide to workers as part of benefits packages ­ list the company as beneficiary, often without the knowledge of employees or their families. Companies use the policies as tax-free investments. Concerns over COLI have led to much discussion. According to Harold Skipper, professor and chair of Robinson's RMI department, while COLI is portrayed as "the best thing since sliced bread or the source of incomparable evil," it is neither. He told the Associated Press that some companies use the policies to fund retiree benefits, while others appear to have seized on that to explain their use of COLI as an investment vehicle unrelated to benefits. Stock Analyst Woes The virtues of stock market analysts was one of the hot topics discussed at a conference of the International Center for Financial Asset Management and Engineering held in Switzerland. The conference was covered by Reuters News Service and The Financial News (London). Accounting professor and conference speaker Lawrence Brown spoke to the press about the controversy. "How do analysts get compensated?" posed Brown. "On the basis of accuracy of forecasts? Hardly. They get compensated on the amount of money they bring into the company." Time Shares - Good or Bad In a New York Times article about the pros and cons of time shares, professor of real estate Alan Ziobrowski said that time shares are good for people who vacation at the same place every year. "On the assumption that you would go to that location and rent a similar quality property for that one or two weeks every year for the next 10 years, the answer is yes, they are a good investment." Vanilla Coke When Coca-Cola announced plans to roll out Vanilla Coke in the United States, marketing wheels started to spin. Ken Bernhardt, Regent's Professor in Marketing, told a reporter with the Dow Jones News Service that by making Coke available in different sized containers and with different levels of calories and caffeine, Coca-Cola tries to attract a wide range of niche consumers with essentially the same core product. "And now, flavor. How many flavors does Campbell Soup have?" Top |

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