Research by Rebecca Hamilton and Wedad Elmaghraby The goal of business is to maximize profits, so it just didn’t make sense to researchers at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business why many retailers and suppliers sign deals that leave money on the table.

A sampling of retail expertise from faculty at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business reveals three different perspectives about the 2011 Christmas-holiday shopping season:

Flight Delays Cost Passengers Billions Mike Ball, Orkand Corporation Professor of Management Science, associate dean of research, and co-director of the National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR), published a study showing that in 2007 passengers traveling by plane were delayed by more than 28,000 years, costing them $16.7 billion in lost time. In total, flight delays in the United States cost $32.9 billion each year.

April 26, 2011: MEDIA ALERT Royal Wedding: Thank Disney for our obsession with Kate

The Smith School’s marketing department combines leading scholars who have had profound influence on the discipline with young scholars showing great promise and potential for impact. Two faculty members recently received major awards.

Research by Rebecca Hamilton Direct experiences with products helps customers choose the products with which they will be most satisfied in the long run.

College Park, Md. January 8, 2007 Rebecca Hamilton, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business has been identified by the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) as among a select group of scholars most likely to become the marketing fields next generation of leaders. In that role, Hamilton participated in MSI's fourth, biennial Young Scholars Program, January 4-7, 2007 in Park City, Utah.

College Park, Md. January 8, 2007 - Rebecca Hamilton, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business has been identified by the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) as among a select group of scholars most likely to become the marketing fields next generation of leaders. In that role, Hamilton participated in MSI's fourth, biennial Young Scholars Program, January 4-7, 2007 in Park City, Utah.

Gilvan Souza, associate professor of operations management, received his PhD from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His primary research areas are in technology management and supply chain management, including production planning, remanufacturing, reverse logistics, and closed–loop supply chain design.

Research by Rebecca Hamilton, Gabriel J. Biehal In their paper "Achieving Your Goals or Protecting Their Future? The Effects of Self-View on Goals and Choices," Rebecca Hamilton, assistant professor of marketing, and Gabriel J. Biehal, associate professor of marketing, examined how consumers’ self-views and goals affected their choices of investments through two experiments conducted online and in the Smith School’s Netcentric Behavioral Research Lab. These studies were made possible by a summer research grant from the Smith School.