The Center for Global Business (CGB) at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business concluded a second successful year of the Maryland Global Export Consulting (MGEC) program. The program is meant to serve as a resource for Maryland companies engaging in the global marketplace by offering them the opportunity to work with a team of the school’s MBA or undergraduate students to address challenges their company is facing in going global.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Firearm background checks soared to record highs on Black Friday following mass shootings in France and a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Restaurants often come across as desperate when they offer Groupon-style deals, but a new study from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business suggests that certain types of venues can escape the damage to their reputations. That's because the negative effect tends to be concentrated on restaurants at lower price points.

Using a database of 130,000 Yelp reviews, Smith PhD student Jorge Mejia and two Smith professors have found a way to predict which Washington, D.C., restaurants will close. The technique, which grew out of Mejia’s dissertation, involves new software that can “read” and analyze the contents of online reviews.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Surveys show little change in American attitudes toward gun control after mass shootings, and gun sales have been going up in recent years. But the stock market may tell a different tale. Investors appear to be skeptical of the long-term prospects of the gun industry's business model, according to new scholarship produced at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Smith Researchers Mine Yelp to Predict Success, Failure of D.C. Venues SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Using a database of 130,000 Yelp reviews of restaurants in Washington, DC, two professors and a graduate student at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have identified a method that allows software to “read” the content of those reviews—and predict which restaurants will close.

New research shows service providers at the lower end of the value chain mostly find that their efforts to move up yield limited success.

New research shows with online shopping, retailers’ use of recommendation systems increases their overall sales and consumer click-throughs and conversion rates. The effect is greatest for mobile shoppers.

New research points to when Groupon deals don't signal weakness and when they benefit businesses. in business strategy.

New research says there is much more to learn from reviews than just the star rating.