SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Let’s say your company has had a very profitable year, and has decided to reward you, one of its top contributors, with a handsome, 8 percent pay increase. Well done. Now, let’s say it’s just before the holidays. Should your friends and relatives expect an 8 percent raise in your gift-giving budget?

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — It's almost a new year, and across the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, some prognosticating has begun. We asked a group of professors to look ahead at the trends and developments we might see in the next 12 months. Here's what they said. 

On Oct. 17, 2016, undergraduate students at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business who are in the Hospitality Business Fellows (HBF) program traveled a few miles down the road to visit the headquarters of Chesapeake Hospitality, a nationally-recognized hotel management company.

Online services such as OpenTable make it easy for consumers to make restaurant reservations and not show up. But higher-end restaurants are countering this. Sotto Sopra, for example, an Italian restaurant in Baltimore that loses up to $150,000 a year from no-shows and canceled reservations, announced in 2016 it would require credit card information for large reservations and charge a fee to diners who don't show.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Recent headlines signal breakfast has been sizzling.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Online services such as OpenTable make it easy for consumers to make restaurant reservations — and not show up. But higher-end restaurants are countering this, and the trend is global:

High-performing marketing managers from four global firms met at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business as part of Cohort Two of the Professional Services Leadership Initiative (PSLI). This two-session program is organized by the Center for Excellence in Service and the Office of Executive Programs at Smith. 

Holiday shopping season is about to enter full swing and retailers are doing their best to lure customers. With a little comparison-shopping, consumers can score some great deals.   In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, host Jeff Salkin sits down with Janet Wagner to talk about this season’s holiday retail outlook.

Faculty at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have summarized 2012 forecasts for individual sectors of the national economy. “Several important dynamics frame the 2012 economic outlook,” said Cliff Rossi, Tyser Teacher Fellow and executive-in-residence. These factors include: