SMITH BRAIN TRUST — The Federal Reserve's decision to  raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 “has the potential to push up the cost of mortgages, slow jobs creation and curb stock prices,” says pr

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — The price of crude oil dipped below $40 for the first time since 2009 this week — a sign of the relentless pressure on oil companies caused by high global output.

As travelers gear up for holiday travel, they Southwest now stands alone as the only U.S. airline to let passenger check a bag or two for free. And baggage fees account for 2.4 percent of all airline revenue, up from .55 percent before 2008, when many airlines started charging for even one checked bag.

Supply chain experts at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have spurred the implementation of a new system that will accelerate trade and save U.S. businesses money and time. Soon, the current paper-based system required by the U.S. government to import or export cargo will give way to the new “single window,” electronic data collection process, dubbed the International Trade Data System. It becomes mandatory in February 2016.

A dispute among U.S. and Gulf carriers over international routes might come down to differences in accounting practices, an Emirates Airlines official said Oct. 14, 2015, during a Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) forum in College Park, Md. Under an arrangement known as “open skies,” airlines of many nations may freely compete on international routes, so long as they don't receive government subsidies.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Consumer spending indicates Americans are not affected by financial market volatility and economic troubles abroad.

A team of MBA students from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business developed and presented a health care management solution to capture the fourth annual Cognizant Business Consulting Case Competition. The Smith MBA Consulting Club hosted the competition’s final round in Van Munching Hall on October 16-17, 2015.

When the South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited Washington, DC, last week, she brought along a small army of business representatives: 166 in all. 

Brazilian immigrant Viviane Hembrock ’13 grew up surrounded by shipping. Her hometown of Santos, São Paulo, processes more than 3.5 million cargo containers annually, making it the busiest port in Latin America.

Twenty-four supply chain students from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business traveled to the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) EXPO on Sept. 20-22, 2015, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The students are in the school’s Supply Chain Management Fellows program, which is fully funded by IANA, and the trip was part of the “Seminar in Supply Chain Management: An Executive Perspective” (BMGT 471) course.