SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Considering getting an MBA? It might be the best investment you ever make, says Michael Faulkender, associate dean for master's programs and professor of finance at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – For Blue Apron, Amazon's blockbuster deal to acquire Whole Foods couldn't have come at a worse time, says Jie Zhang, marketing professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – When President Donald Trump slapped new restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba, he didn't exactly bar U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba, but he did make it clear that their journeys cannot support the Cuban government, particularly its military.

The Center for the Study of Business Ethics, Regulation and Crime (C-BERC) at the University of Maryland is pleased to announce that Jim Staihar, associate director of C-BERC and assistant professor of accounting and information assurance, will become the first Fishlinger Family Endowed Scholar (2017-18), a program dedicated to support and enhance C-BERC

On June 9, 2017, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business hosted the 2017 Journal of Accounting and Public Policy (JAPP) Conference in College Park, Md. The theme of the sixth annual conference was, “The Interactions between Regulatory Institutions and Accounting: A Public Policy Perspective.” The editors of JAPP are Lawrence A. Gordon and Martin P. Loeb, both professors of accounting and information assurance at the Smith School.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Ever wonder how the Terminator would do picking stocks? Researchers at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business might have the answer. Working with 900,000 financial news articles and a neural network, the researchers found they could predict stock returns for up to 13 weeks.

Fifteen participants from colleges and universities throughout the United States traveled to Cuba from May 21-28, 2017, with the University of Maryland’s Center for International Business Education and Research (UMD CIBER).

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The U.S. grocery industry is bracing for a shakeup – and a potential price war – as one German supermarket chain seeks to make its debut and another looks to expand its reach. German grocery chain Aldi says it will invest $3.4 billion to broaden its U.S. footprint, adding 900 new stores by 2022 and remodeling 1,300 others. German rival Lidl, meanwhile, is opening its first U.S. stores this month, with plans to open 100 by next summer.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – What happens to a company when a CEO takes a leave of absence? It's a question Uber Technologies must now face, as chief executive Travis Kalanick begins a hiatus of unspecified length from the $68 billion ride-hailing company he co-founded.

The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is excited to announce some favorite books in the 14th Annual Top-10 Summer Reading List for Business Leaders for 2017, as recommended by faculty members. (1) The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds By Michael Lewis (2016)