Huang, president and COO, cofounded RayBiotech with husband and CEO, Dr. Ray Ruopan Huang, in 2001. She currently oversees the business and operations side of the company from the Norcross, Ga. headquarters. Her husband served as principal investigator and led development of the technology while an assistant professor at the Emory School of Medicine. Today, he handles scientific research and new product development at RayBiotech. The company has a comprehensive licensing agreement with Emory University.

Given the couple’s passion for the business, it was difficult to consider cashing out when approached by investors.

“It’s a hard decision to consider selling or taking your company to the next level,” she said.

The pair opted for the latter. It was a smart move, she adds, since the company continues to add new technologies and increase sales internationally.

RayBiotech’s physical operations were expanded internationally in 2009 with the opening of a Guangzhou, China-based clinical research and sales location. Originally from China, Huang uses her insider knowledge of the country to navigate the intricacies of doing business there, but her background as founder of two real estate companies and an IT firm in the U.S. remain critical to her understanding of operations management.

Huang also credits Goizueta for giving her a better sense of how to keep a high tech company competitive in the marketplace.

“It’s tech support, business development, and marketing all working with our scientists to initiate the kind of product we should be developing. It’s always about evolution,” she said.

– Myra Thomas

The post Rani Huang bets big on cutting-edge biotech appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

British-born and American-raised, Philip Wainwright 85C 85G has traveled to five continents and boasts more than 20 years of international education experience. He’s practically tailor-made for his current job as vice provost for global strategy and initiatives and director of the Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning. In this role, Wainwright led a task force of administrators and orchestrated a cross-campus faculty survey, culminating in the 2015 “Global Vision for Emory.” This five-year vision details extensive plans to expand Emory’s reputation worldwide as a leader in international scholarship and service. Recently, Emory Business (EB) sat down with Wainwright to learn more about the plan.

EB: Through this cross-campus survey, what did you find Emory is doing well on the global stage?

Philip Wainwright: One of the really notable discoveries is just how much Emory does internationally. We have increased the number of international students and scholars, and the amount of publications with international collaborators also has increased dramatically. I’ve worked at Emory a long time, and I know all the university does globally, but to see it institution-wide made me proud of the school.

Also, maybe not surprisingly, Goizueta is really on the forefront of thinking through how it can connect with institutions overseas in creative and new ways. It’s been exciting for
me to work with Goizueta and see those projects forming. L.G. Thomas, professor of organization & management, was a member of the global strategy development task force. I’m very impressed with the overall commitment of the faculty to international work.

EB: In what areas does Emory have room for improvement?

PW: First, there was a real sense that Emory’s international engagement has grown rapidly but that some of its administrative processes did not support this expansion very well. We’ve started a global services function within this office to systematically assess our administrative support for international activity across the university; to help address any significant obstacles, such as hiring overseas and paying foreign nationals; and to help faculty navigate it all.

Second, we got the sense that there’s not as much awareness abroad of Emory as we think there should be. Since it’s hard to know how to address awareness globally, we’re focusing on five target countries—Brazil, India, South Korea, China, and Ethiopia.

EB: What was the decision-making process in choosing those five countries?

PW: There were two strategic needs. One is the desire to go to places where there’s a lot of activity already—countries with growing economies and populations and a growing role on the world stage. Two is the pull of places where Emory has a unique opportunity, where Emory’s strengths match specific opportunities and enable us to do significant good and have a big impact. Targeting those five countries is a way to balance these goals.

EB: How can alumni get involved and be a resource in expanding Emory’s global reach?

PW: If alums live in places where there are chapters, chapter leaders and officers are a great resource. There are over 20 alumni chapters overseas, and the Alumni Association now has a dedicated staff to support them. In March, President James Wagner took a trip to Korea and China, and events with the chapters were held in Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul. So there is actually quite a lot going on with the alumni chapters. A list of the international chapters and leaders can be found on Emory’s Alumni Association website under the “Connect” and “Chapters” links. Ultimately, the goal is for our international alumni to be ambassadors for Emory.

A glimpse at Emory’s global presence

Emory is everywhere. With nearly 50 alumni chapters in the United States and 24 internationally; dozens of international study, service, and intern opportunities; and faculty working in more than 140 countries around the world, Emory’s reach is universal. Here are just a few of the projects and partnerships that Emory is leading.

Emory Global Health Institute partners with Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has chosen the Emory Global Health Institute to be the lead partner in its latest public health initiative: the creation of the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) network to collect data in areas of high childhood mortality, particularly sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. With an initial pledge of $75 million, CHAMPS will help develop interventions and influence global health policies to reduce many of these often-preventable deaths. Emory Global Health Institute will lead this 20-year project alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the International Association of National Public Health Institutes, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and the Public Health Informatics Institute.

Law school strengthens ties with China

In recent years, Emory Law has built broad and deep ties to the People’s Republic of China. Through its joint Master of Comparative Law degree with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, training of the nation’s influential financial crimes prosecutors, and study program for Chinese judges, Emory has played an active role in Chinese professional education. Emory Law faculty have taught and lectured throughout China. And in Atlanta, more than 100 Chinese students are earning degrees at the school across its JD, LLM, JM, and SJD programs. In the summer, students from Beijing Normal University come to campus to study law and business.

Training moral leaders in South Korea

In 1893, Emory University graduated its first international student: Korean diplomat and Methodist missionary Yun Chi-ho 1893C 1908G. Since then, Emory’s South Korean student population has grown to more than 450, and now students from Emory’s Candler School of Theology are following Yun’s footsteps in reverse. This summer Robert Franklin (pictured here), James T. and Berta R. Laney Professor in Moral Leadership, led students to Seoul to meet with community leaders and discuss moral issues facing Korean society, such as the Sewol ferry disaster and normalization of relations with North Korea. Candler alumnus Won Chul Shin 13MDiv, now a PhD student in Emory’s ethics program, served as translator for the trip.

Working with coffee growers in Nicaragua

As part of Emory’s Social Enterprise @ Goizueta (SE@G), Peter Roberts, professor of organization & management, has been working to address challenges in Nicaragua’s coffee-growing communities since 2010. SE@G’s Farmers to 40 initiative supports coffee growers by returning to them
40 percent of the money paid by consumers for high-quality, organic coffee. Student trips to
coffee country inspired the establishment of the Nicaragua Community Health Connection (NCHC), which is providing health services to 2,000 residents of Los Robles. NCHC is funded in part through the Los Robles Coffee Project, which returns proceeds from bulk sales of coffee grown in and around Los Robles to the local clinic and the community’s coffee farmers.

Migration and public health in Brazil

In a cross-departmental team-up, Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of History, and Uriel Kitron, Goodrich C. White Professor of Environmental Sciences, have received the new Interdisciplinary Faculty Fellowship to study the relationship between migration and public health in São Paulo, Brazil. Lesser is on academic leave this year in São Paulo to begin the project, where he’s “doing everything from archival research to ethnographic work in a government-run health center,” he says. Lesser and Kitron plan to teach a course influenced by this research and then lead a group of students to Brazil to continue the work alongside Lesser’s and Kitron’s Brazilian colleagues.

Emory Vaccine Center in India

The Emory Vaccine Center has several long-term research programs in India and has been collaborating with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in New Delhi, India, since 2008. Led by director Rafi Ahmed, the EVC is the largest and most comprehensive academic vaccine research center in the world, with more than 250 faculty and staff conducting research on infectious and chronic diseases. The Emory labs in India focus on diseases that most affect India and other parts of the developing world. In May, they received a five-year, $3.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund research on the dengue virus. According to the CDC, dengue fever is caused by one of four related viruses transmitted by mosquitoes and is the leading cause of illness and death in the tropics and subtropics.

The post Exploring Emory’s ever-increasing international reach appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

From economists to entrepreneurs, the business world has its eyes on India. With its ever-expanding population, newly successful stock market, and the increasing wealth and education of its middle class, India is an emerging superpower with unlimited potential for growth. Indian native Dr. Jagdish Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at Goizueta, and Philip Wainwright 85C 85G, vice provost for global strategy and initiatives and director of the Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning at Emory University, sat down with Emory Business to discuss Emory’s involvement in India.

The university’s new “Global Vision,” directed by Wainwright, will expand Emory’s reputation as a leader in international scholarship and service by deepening its work in five countries, including India. The country was pinpointed as an area of opportunity because of the extensive work Emory is already doing in India and as a commitment to further develop relationships there. For example, the Emory Vaccine Center and other public health initiatives represent a large portion of Emory’s work in India, but as Dr. Sheth explains, there is potential for more than just foreign aid. India needs and wants consumer goods, education, and professional training—and they’re willing to pay for it. As someone so closely connected to India and to the scholarship of emerging markets, Dr. Sheth provides invaluable insight into ways Emory can not only be a benefactor in India but also greatly benefit from partnerships there.

Podcast audio edit by Kyle Calloway

The post Sheth, Wainwright discuss opportunities for business in India appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To learn more about Weber and topics concerning Goizueta alumni check out the new issue of Emory Business magazine.

Snacking is on the rise, and it’s big business. According to Nielsen, global consumers spent $374 billion on snack foods annually between 2013 and 2014, up 2%. In an age where information on food and healthy eating is abundant, what’s brought one of life’s guilty pleasures into the mainstream?

“People are so time crunched that they are replacing meals with snacks, whether it’s yogurt or a bag of popcorn,” says Jolie Weber 09WEMBA, the new CEO of Wise Foods. “All of this meal replacement is converting into snacking occasions. Fifty years ago, people might have one snack in the afternoon because they had three balanced meals a day. Today, most families don’t have three balanced meals together, and this changes the eating dynamic.”

For instance, a child might start with Goldfish® crackers for breakfast, eat a balanced lunch at school, then come home and have a different snack in the afternoon. “It’s the same for adults,” says Weber. “At work, you snack because there are conference calls and meetings. You are so time constrained that snacking has replaced the meal. That’s why we are seeing the growth in this category.”

Consumer demand for snacks that offer some nutritional benefit has aided the industry’s expansion.

“Today, there is a tremendous focus on better-for-you,” notes Weber. “Companies are asking, “How do we provide the best products to meet what our consumers are looking for?’”

The challenge for companies like Wise Foods is to provide a range of options to satisfy varying palates and moods. As Weber explains, customers may want a better-for-you product one day and an indulgent, full-calorie or salty snack another. Anticipating and meeting these wants can be a challenge.

“Everyone has different moods and different occasions for how they want to snack,” she says. “On one occasion I may want to snack really healthy and feel good. On other occasions I have a different emotional state or just want something indulgent, and then I want my full-calorie or full-indulgent item to satisfy me in that moment. So we are trying to deliver products on this continuum of snacking.”

To do this, adds Weber, is to continue to innovate. Since her rise to CEO, Weber has spearheaded the introduction of a number of new flavors and options to satisfy any appetite. Take the beloved Cheez Doodles®. Consumers can enjoy Hot ‘n Honey, Honey BBQ, or White Cheddar in either crunchy or baked and in puffed stick or ball style. Different flavors are being cooked up in a new innovation test kitchen in their Cobb County headquarters. (For a fun, interactive online experience, visit Cheezdoodles.com.)

“Innovation occurs in several stages. Close-in innovation—these are areas we are comfortable with and are easy for us to do, like adapting a recipe to meet clear industry trends or a flavor profile consumers tell us they want,” Weber says. “For example, kettle chips are hot right now, so everyone is in the category. We are doing reduced fat kettle chips, which allows Wise to not only offer the full experience with the normal chips, but also offer a lower calorie, lower fat option, for someone who wants a little more health. That is close-in and easy.”

Further-out or iPad innovation, as Weber calls it, involves creating products that people don’t know they want or need yet. “This is where the innovation labs and innovation centers come in. How do we really push ourselves outside the traditional salty snack categories and start to create new categories of salty snacks or new snacks all together?”

The challenge of remaining competitive and innovative utilizes skills she honed in Goizueta’s Executive MBA Program. Then head of Wise’s marketing unit, Weber entered the program with the goal of moving up in the organization. She met this challenge head-on—first being promoted to CFO and subsequently to CEO. Weber is using the same zeal and determination to keep ahead of the pack in the snack industry.

“We are on a growth trajectory,” adds Weber. “We want to keep our base business strong, vibrant, and lively for those consumers still interested in those offerings. At the same time, we aim to  bring new consumers into our portfolio through new concepts, new categories, new flavors and innovation.”̶

The post What’s driving the joy of snacking? appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

By the time she says good morning to her husband, Parker has already placed an order with a credit card and information she has on file, RSVPd to attend a business event, and added it to her calendar. After scanning the news headlines and her Instagram feed, opening a weather app to view the forecast, and making a quick bank transfer, she’s almost ready to get out of bed.

In minutes, Parker has packed in more daily tasks than previous generations may have done in weeks. She’s also transferred personal information to innumerable websites, a daily routine that could expose her to internet thieves. Are her actions misguided, or are the conveniences provided by technology too beneficial to pass up?

*Composite character

Race to adoption

Technology has become an integral part of everyday life. From morning exercise monitored by Fitbits to a ride to work courtesy of Uber, staying plugged in has become second nature for  billions of global users.

Recent research indicates nearly 3.5 billion people now use the Internet, up from 394 million just ten years ago. This rapid surge in use began in 1995, when businesses bet on the Internet and the first tech IPOs brought new products and services to an audience growing in awareness and willingness to engage.

What followed was an “explosion of adoption  and consumer-driven content,” says Benn Konsynski, George S. Craft Distinguished  University Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management at Goizueta. “Consumers came online and were not just shopping but also adding content.”

The shakeout from the 2000 Internet bubble left strong players like Microsoft and Amazon poised for expansion. Equally important, these surviving companies identified the elements needed to remain viable in a new business environment.

“What we learned from the market is that high valuations are in the context players, not content players. Netscape didn’t own much information, Google doesn’t create information. Craigslist, Amazon, and eBay don’t create much content,” explains Konsynski. “Instead, all of these players are creating high value by letting others create information. It’s what we call democratic production. Those that are able to exploit that high velocity, high volume of content creation are the ones that win.”

The evolution of smartphone applications has made it even faster and more convenient to conduct business, research, and shop online. Indeed, online sales, increasing through mobile apps, are making up a large chunk of the retail figures. According to Shop.org’s State of Retailing Online study, store-based retailers saw a 135 percent growth in sales on smartphones and an 86 percent boost in sales via tablets year to year.

“People want a seamless experience. Many of the in-store expectations are the same online: People want the right assortment, on-shelf availability, and good value,” says Jessica Cheng 07BBA, shopper insights manager at Procter & Gamble. “Shoppers used to associate online shopping with better prices, but that’s not necessarily the case now. People value other things more, such as convenience, free shipping, and exclusive offerings.”

Done correctly, a business’s online offerings should “supplement brick-and-mortar shopping. Programs such as subscription and customizable bundles give shoppers more control and freedom to shop for what they want, when they want it,” Cheng says. “We expect that such programs will make shopping more enjoyable for consumers and build greater brand and retailer loyalties.”

Consumers also thrive on the ability to build their online credibility by offering opinions, whether it’s blogging on a topic or critiquing a product on Amazon. The power to influence fellow users makes the strength of social media beneficial for commerce. And for many users, the personal recognition is equally valuable.

Take the current explosion of restaurant and fan  reviews. Rhett Marlow 02WEMBA is tapping into this obsession with e-commerce brand and app foomanchew.com, a company that offers delivery  of high-quality Asian cuisine, which they have  established through extensive health-grade  research. Marlow, who cofounded foomanchew  and another technology-based company, believes coupling a trend with the assurance of a high-quality product is a recipe for success. It serves our appetite for convenience in two ways: reliable information and food delivery.

“For the customer using our app, the research is already complete,” Marlow says. “They are guaranteed a quality Asian food experience.”

Specialty apps like these are on the rise, and convenience tops the list of reasons. Statista, an online statistics company, reports that as of July 2015 more than 1.6 million apps were available for Android users, while Apple’s App Store offered 1.5 million. These apps cover every imaginable pursuit, from tracking personal fitness to monitoring fashion trends and shopping. But internet usage doesn’t stop there. For many people, unwinding with technology is just as vital a pursuit as working.

The binge mentality

Alex Slinin 05MBA, director of internet product development and management at Cox Communications, notes: “More than ever, consumers rely on the Internet for their communication and entertainment needs. The average US household has more than six devices connected to the Internet that they use for social networking, streaming video or music, gaming, web surfing, emailing, uploading photos, video chatting, and more. As a result, we are seeing internet data usage continue to double every
two years.”

For some consumers, the convenience and freedom of being able to tap into games or media whenever they please can be addicting. Gamers have been known to play 10 or even 24 hours straight, often leading to exhaustion or worse. For media viewers, there is the freedom to watch one episode of a program or devour an entire series in one sitting.

“The Internet has become a fundamental and constant thread throughout our lives, both in and out of the home,” Slinin observes. “For example, over the course of any given Saturday evening, about 90 percent of households have at least one device online.” Consumption, too, has changed, Slinin says. “During weekday evenings, video streaming of TV shows, movies, and other video clips comprises about 75 percent of all internet traffic.”

In new research, David Schweidel, Caldwell Research Fellow and associate professor of marketing, and coauthor Wendy Moe (University of Maryland), used data provided by Hulu, a streaming TV subscription service, to understand today’s protracted consumption of media—or binge—tendency. They found that “the more you watch a program, the more likely you will continue to keep watching that same program and to keep the viewing session going,” notes Schweidel.

This is not unlike what researchers describe as “flow,” a person’s ability to become so engaged in websites and online experiences that they lose track of time and what’s happening in the outside world. “With binge watching, a similar pattern to flow seems to occur. I am immersing myself in this experience,” Schweidel says. “Consider what Netflix did with its original series House of Cards, the political drama. They decided to offer the entire season at once. When Netflix announced the date that House of Cards would be available, people set aside that weekend to watch the entire series. Technology has enabled us to consume media whenever we want. I can say, ‘OK, I have Hulu, Netflix, and a DVR, and if I want to, I can watch one episode at a time, or I can decide to blow off the day and just watch TV.’”

There’s also a downside for businesses. According to Schweidel, this binge mentality is not great for a company’s bottom line. “From a business standpoint, the more you binge watch the less responsive you become to advertising,” he says. “This is not necessarily good for marketers.”

Clearly business benefits from consumers’ ability to engage with products, companies, and services at a moment’s notice and for as long as we desire. This flexibility has changed the way consumers schedule their time and resources. Email is checked incessantly, television is provided on demand, and smartphones are seen as an appendage that keeps us plugged in at all times. For some, this means overindulging in technology to the detriment of other, more valuable activities. Are the consequences of our internet addiction enough to curb the desire for more access and the subsequent privacy risks, or is the habit too appealing to stop?

It’s noon, and Parker is starving. But with meetings booked back to back and an overflowing inbox, leaving her building is out of the question. With smartphone in hand, she opens an app and places her lunch order for delivery. She walks downstairs to the coffee bar in the lobby and orders a latte, paying via another app that rewards her for frequent visits.

While she’s waiting for lunch back in her office, Parker scans her mortgage statement online, makes an additional principal payment, then logs out to instant message her husband about dinner plans. Lunch arrives, and she takes a seat while scanning the day’s top news and videos, all before returning to the chaos of her day. 

Though some individuals are hesitant to virtually engage, for most people, technology has become a norm. “Habit-forming technology is already here, and it is being used to mold our lives,” says Nir Eyal 01C, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. “A habit is at work when users feel a tad bored and instantly open Twitter. They feel a pang of loneliness, and before rational thought occurs, they are scrolling through their Facebook feeds. A question comes to mind, and before searching their brains, they query Google.”

Eyal describes this consumer truth as “the urge you likely feel throughout your day but hardly notice.” He contends that in engineering these habits, “companies increasingly find their economic value is a function of the strength of the habits they create.”

In his extensive research on how individuals use technology, Eyal recognizes that “habits keep users loyal.” Behavior, he acknowledges, can be shaped through promise of variable rewards. “The fact that we have greater access to the Web through our various connected devices—smartphones and tablets, televisions, game consoles, and wearable technology—gives companies far greater ability to affect our behavior,” he says.

Konsynski agrees: “We are moving to the algorithmic enterprise, with decisions driven by adopted algorithms more so than scripted decisions or human intervention. For better or worse, we are surrendering decision rights to systems that we trust to engage with volumes and velocities that humans can only poorly address.”

Willing to pay the price

Even if companies are profiting from our internet habits, the ability to get what we want, when we want it may prove an elixir so strong that we are willing to accept the consequences.

“Whether we’re sharing information consciously or not, we are making that decision,” says Schweidel, who wrote Profiting from the Data Economy. “It’s a trade: Facebook gives us a social network, a way to stay in touch with people, and we derive some value from that. What am I willing to give up in value? I’m willing to give up a lot of information about me.”

For companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google that are built on advertising platforms, user information is culled and shared with advertisers as a means to pay the bills. From the contents of the “free” Gmail account, the ethnicity of the photos uploaded to Facebook, or the items searched, products can be tailored to an individual, thereby making personal data an attractive cache to advertisers.

“Consumers care about access and convenience. Yes, there is an end user license agreement that goes along with apps—or the terms of service—and we are agreeing to these things. Now, whether or not we’ve actually read these documentations? That’s another story,” says Schweidel. “Technically, if you are using platforms like Twitter, Google, or Facebook, you have agreed to the terms of service, and in those agreements, you are granting your permission. There have been criticisms that those terms of service are so dense and long that no one ever reads them. But from a legal standpoint, the company is clear: You have clicked, and you have agreed. But are people fully aware of what they are agreeing to? Probably not.”

A call for more transparency is under way, as media attention highlights questionable collection of data that goes beyond the intended usage, like the 2014 discovery of a popular flashlight app that was gathering more personal data than necessary. Last year, the Obama administration released two reports around internet privacy and data, urging organizations to be more upfront with what and how data is being used.

As long as there are opportunities to gather behavioral data, the collecting of information won’t stop any time soon. “The best companies are able to use this data in a positive way to delight their customers,” says  Kelley Quinn Coram 15EvMBA, campaign manager for BrightWave, a leading email marketing agency. “We’ve all had an experience where we felt our data was misused. Think of that email list you somehow got on and can’t seem to unsubscribe from. It is a fine line that digital marketers deal with every day and is an ever-changing target. As marketers, we are trusted with our customer’s information and have to be good stewards of their data if we hope to keep them as a customer.”

Then there are digital ads that follow one’s activity around the Web. Called retargeting, the cookie or trail left by every search or visit to a website allows an advertiser to follow you and remind you of the item originally viewed. This is especially beneficial to retailers who, armed with the knowledge of what consumers are thinking of purchasing, can target reminders and coupons to convert that thinking into a sale.

Alok Deshpande 99BBA, president of SmartPath, a financial wellness company that helps reduce absenteeism, turnover, and financial stress for employees, explained retargeting to students as they strive to control spending. Using himself as an example, Deshpande told of researching the cost of a cruise for his family.

“Companies can figure out what you want to buy and then send online ads to you over and over,” Deshpande says. “Now there is nothing wrong with this, but you just need to be aware of this practice and really stay true to what you can afford.”

While computer users will notice this retargeting practice more readily, it may be less apparent on cell phones. “You may not notice retargeting as much on your mobile device because cookies have to be enabled on your device,” explains Michelle Andrews, assistant professor of marketing at Goizueta. “It may help consumers who are concerned about security to note that cookie data is anonymous and does not contain personally identifiable information. Because mobiles are considered more personal devices than desktops or tablets, though, it’s possible consumers will still be more concerned about mobile retargeting.”

Equally concerning, Andrews contends, is the common practice of using Facebook or Google log-in credentials to access other websites. “Sites that allow you to log in using Facebook often do so because they buy ad space on Facebook and want to deliver more targeted ads based on browsing information,” Andrews says. “Consumers have greater reason to be concerned about their privacy in this instance because logging into other sites via Facebook allows that site to request information about you from Facebook. Thus, the site can accumulate more information about you when you log in with Facebook than if you choose to log in with an entirely new or site-specific account.”

Convenience > risk

Clearly, with so many sites requiring passwords, using a shortcut like a Facebook log-in can make it easier to navigate the Web. But consumers are likely unaware of the rights to information they willingly click away when accessing content online. In other words, internet usage creates a push-pull effect of information, with companies wanting information about consumers and individuals wanting privacy along with online convenience. Add to this the hackers out to steal personal data stored by companies, and it’s enough to give one pause.

Or is it?

According to Ryan Hamilton, associate professor of marketing, consumers often underestimate the risks involved. Though each person will weigh risk and convenience differently, Hamilton says these judgments can be impacted by a mental shortcut called the “availability heuristic.”

“Consumers often estimate the likelihood of something by considering the ease with which they can bring instances of that thing to mind,” he says. “For example, when a person is trying to determine how likely they are to be seriously inconvenienced by fraud, they are likely to think of how many people they know who have had their lives seriously disrupted by fraud. Although most of us know people who have had some fraudulent charges on their credit cards, these are usually minor inconveniences. The person makes a phone call, and they are issued a new card. Cases where fraud has caused serious or lasting problems are much harder to bring to mind. So we estimate—accurately or not—that serious fraud is rare.”

In other words, people tend to think that serious internet crime won’t happen to them. While consumers may dismiss such a threat, companies that collect personal data need to be vigilant.

According to a report by the Ponemon Institute, which does independent research on privacy, data protection, and information security policy, 43 percent of companies surveyed in 2014 experienced a data breach. Well-publicized breaches last year included eBay, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Neiman Marcus.

“If companies fail to follow basic industry practices of ensuring their data is secure—due diligence—then they face liability for data breaches,” says Allison Burdette, assistant professor in the practice of business law. “In fact, failure to exercise due diligence can mean that the company’s insurance policies will not cover the damages.”

This shift in liability from consumers to merchant allowed the rapid expansion of e-commerce, but it has increased the cost to companies.

“The threat of a data breach is a huge liability, and firms have started adding chief privacy officers and taking other measures to adequately protect their consumers’ data,” says Ramnath Chellappa, associate professor of information systems & operations management. “The alternative is to not store any consumer data, which obviously prevents companies from pursuing strategies that use the data. Another option for firms is to store modified forms of the data, which basically anonymizes the information to the merchant by storing larger profiles of customers as opposed to personal identifying information. For example, if you swipe your card at a counter at Target, why do they need to store your credit card number? That’s a onetime transaction so maybe don’t store it at all. Essentially, if you are storing consumer information, it’s your job to protect it. That’s the law.”

According to Gerry Baron 13WEMBA, economics often drive what companies do and don’t do regarding information security. Baron, chief marketing officer for Cirrity, a leading, channel-only secure cloud solutions provider, knows about helping businesses secure their data.

“Businesses are motivated to generate profits, and to the extent that they believe there are legal ramifications, industry regulations, or market drivers to invest in information security, they’re likely to take a minimalist approach,” he says. That can be particularly problematic, given that the cost per data breach is on the rise. Baron notes companies have to be ever vigilant when it comes to cyberhacking, and that means continuous monitoring to evaluate the business’s security posture in light of evolving threats and compliance requirements.

Cyberprotection is a two-way street

Even as many firms strive to prevent hackers from accessing data, consumers can be proactive by choosing awareness to circumvent the malaise that results from mindlessly checking email, sharing life updates on social media, or downloading the latest app. New challenges will arise as The Internet of Things (IoT), grows and more devices can connect or tap into the Internet. Thus, additional opportunities to monitor and capture consumer habits, locations, and activities emerge.

“Whether it is watches or refrigerators, pretty much anything that can have a chip attached to itself and an address assigned to it can communicate with other devices and send data,” Chellappa says. “The tech industry is rife with speculation that Apple is getting into the automotive business—after all, you can think about an automobile as a collection of computing and communication mechanisms on four wheels. The same goes with devices for the home, whether they ostensibly are meant to keep track of the temperature or used for security, they are collecting all types of information. You could have a completely digitized home that automatically knows when to shut off the lights. And these are not advances that will happen in the future. They already exist. They are not commonplace, but they will become commonplace because the cost and standardization of technologies will allow for anything to communicate with anything.”

Data collection on consumers’ web activity will continue to reign as the driver of more products and services that bring convenience. However, it comes with a price. Since data can never truly be deleted, awareness will be the strongest deterrent to protecting personal information. Yet this has to go hand in hand with companies protecting the data they collect.

Baron admits it’s a struggle, especially with the new app economy. “It’s so easy to create a new app, and in a few minutes, there will be a ton of people using it,” he adds. Security is often an afterthought on the part of the app developer and the user.

Technology is continuously evolving, of course, and our thirst for and ease with technology means we are always going to be connected. “At the end of the day, it’s a delicate balancing act between convenience and security, whether it’s for the individual surfing the Web or for the company producing the consumer-facing technology,” says Jackie Breiter 01WEMBA, chief operations and information officer at Goizueta.

Consumers need to be especially aware of their online behavior and take an active part in protecting personal information whenever they can.

“Budgets determine the scope of data protection, and some companies will be better at it than others,” Breiter warns. “That puts the onus on consumers to determine their level of comfort when they choose to offer up information online.”

Parker has finished her office work for the day and returns home to make dinner from an online recipe. While she and her family eat, they catch up on a few episodes on Hulu. Later, after a Skype call to grandma and kids’ homework submitted via Google Classroom, she and her husband tuck their children in for the night.

With a fresh mug of tea at her side, she updates her Facebook page and uploads a gallery of the kids’ latest antics. Although she may include every point of information when she blogs about her latest DIY conquest, Parker doesn’t tag her children’s images. Without fully questioning why, Parker and her husband both understand some things are better left unshared on the Internet—just in case.

– By Michelle Valigursky and Nicole Golston

Related Content

• Cyber security prevention just as important as response
• Data breaches harm store brand, reputation
• The Inconvenient Truth about the Convenience of Technology

The post The Inconvenient Truth about the Convenience of Technology appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

A cybersecurity issue can certainly damage brand reputation. High-profile breaches at Target, Home Depot, and a host of other merchants have resulted not only in negative publicity for the stores but sizeable lawsuits too. Shoppers, worried about the possibility of financial loss and identity theft, opted to avoid Target during the 2013 holiday shopping season. The retailer reported a sizeable drop in profit.

Merchants appear to be taking a more proactive stance to head off a major hack. Many are upping security teams and looking at new technologies to thwart cybercrime. Target, for one, put in new point-of-sale systems at registers, as well as a card reader that can take credit and debit cards using a more advanced chip to reduce fraud. Also, the retailer plans to roll out its own store credit card with the same chip technology.

Despite the best efforts, the risks will never go away, and merchants are well aware of it. In the digital age, there’s a dilemma for stores. They need to constantly provide shopping convenience through technology while protecting the financial and personal data that’s collected. If a store fails to prevent or respond appropriately and quickly to a data breach, the costs can be sizeable. According to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost to retailers per stolen record is on the rise, growing from $105 last year to $165 in 2015.

The stakes were upped on October 1, when new laws mandated merchants be held responsible for fraudulent purchases if they have not upgraded their systems to accept chip-enhanced cards.

As a result, stores are spending more on cybersecurity, and the challenge today is to evolve and adapt to security threats, lest a company’s brand be forever tarnished.

“If you’re dealing in customer data, you have to plan for what it’s going to cost to collect and secure that data,” says David Schweidel, Caldwell Research Fellow and associate professor of marketing. “If data is compromised, you’re likely to incur expenses including the risk of lawsuits and damage to the brand’s reputation.”

– Myra Thomas 

Related Content

• Cyber security prevention just as important as response
• Data breaches harm store brand, reputation
• The Inconvenient Truth about the Convenience of Technology

The post Data breaches harm store brand, reputation appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Michael Marks Jr. 18EvMBA, an identity and access management architect for Coca-Cola Enterprises, explains that people need to change their habits. “Hackers are a very smart, persistent, and adaptive group,” he says. “They’re used to acquiring account information using brute-force attacks, meaning they keep trying different passwords for an account until one finally works.”

Today, smarter businesses require users to periodically change their passwords. For the typical person, it’s a hassle, and it also means you’re likely to forget a password along the way. However, Marks points out that the practice makes sense to protect businesses and users’ information. TeleSign reports that, in the past year, 40 percent of consumers had personal information compromised, an account hacked, or a password stolen.

Facing the frightening reality of losing the last vestiges of our privacy, some consumers are getting a bit smarter, using symbols, numbers, and longer passwords. But cyberthieves make it their business to stay a step ahead of us. “In response, hackers started attacking companies that store our passwords—companies like LinkedIn and Facebook,” Marks says. “Collecting these enormous lists of passwords provides hackers with a more targeted list of passwords to try for other, more sensitive websites.”

So is online security elusive or attainable? Marks contends that we can have a safer online experience by taking simple precautions. To protect online accounts, people should enable two-factor authentication (2FA) when available. “2FA combines something you know, such as your password, with something you have, for example, your cell phone,” he says. “When 2FA is enabled, you go to your application and type in your username and password. Then the application will send you a text message with a one-time use code. You type in the code that was texted to you, and you are allowed access.” A hacker will not have access to your cell phone, and he or she will not be able to access your account, even if they steal your password. Most companies offer 2FA free of charge for their products and services; visit twofactorauth.org for a list of well-known companies and whether they support 2FA.

His best password advice? “When it comes to your passwords, try to utilize complex ones and use different passwords for every site,” he says. Having a hard time with making up a new password? “The absolute best practice is to use passwords that are long, acronym-based and have special characters and numbers. For instance, turn the sentence, ‘I graduated from Emory University and love the Eagles,’ into the password ‘IgfEUaltE-2018$.’ This makes brute-force attacks even less likely to be successful.” If remembering that many passwords is challenging, consider using a commercial password management solution.

– Michelle Valigursky

Related Content

• Cyber security prevention just as important as response
• Data breaches harm store brand, reputation
• The Inconvenient Truth about the Convenience of Technology

The post Cyber security prevention just as important as response appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

The educator’s tour includes one-on-one discussions with influential VCs, leaders of promising startups and global corporations, government officials, and others who are contributing to its reputation as a startup nation. The organization’s goal is to help leading business schools like Goizueta facilitate teaching MBAs about Israel’s entrepreneurial community and mindset.

The post An inside look at Israel’s entrepreneurial spirit appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

The post Goizueta hosts workshop for senior leaders from Colombia appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

One of the key challenges in IS teaching is that the rate of change and its impact on business is faster than in many other disciplines. “New research is always happening, but by the time it gets into Harvard Business Review, it’s not necessarily timely enough to teach in a class,” says Ramnath Chellappa, associate professor of information systems & operations management and Caldwell Research Fellow. “This knowledge-sharing workshop helps get new research in the classroom faster.”

Along with Chellappa, Benn Konsynski, George S. Craft Distinguished University Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management, and Anandhi Bharadwaj, professor of information systems & operations management, hosted the event.

The post Goizueta hosts 2015 information systems workshop on teaching appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

The judges were serial entrepreneur Charlie Goetz, senior lecturer in organization & management and distinguished lecturer, entrepreneurship; Klaas Baks, associate professor in the practice of finance and executive director, Center For Alternative Investments; and Manish Tripathi, assistant professor in the practice of marketing.

Although every student received feedback and input, five pitches survived the scrutiny, with their student creators taking top honors. They are:  Andrew Callahan 16MBA and Mo Zhang 16MBA, creators of PumpHop; Bryan Spencer 17EvMBA, creator of Chefter; Raj Nathan 15EMBA, creator of Intaase; Josh Silcox 16EvMBA, creator of Steazy and Company; and Katie Hull 16MBA, creator of SmallBatch. As winners, they each receive a desk in Goizueta’s suite in the Atlanta Tech Village, which offers free workshops and exceptional networking opportunities. Plus, law firm Foley and Lardner LLP will provide a complimentary startup package, which includes IP legal consulting.

Just like the show, the pressure was intense. “They asked very pointed questions about my business model and why the customer would buy this service,” Nathan says. “They appreciated the idea but still came forward with very good feedback on how I could make it more viable.” Nathan’s Intaase, which stands for Interviews as a Service, seeks to shorten recruiting cycles and reduce hiring effort in the tech industry by providing technical screenings of candidates within 24 hours. The win has helped springboard his process of developing a minimal viable product, which has already attracted a few customers.

In the future, Goetz hopes to expand the panel of judges to include guest experts from other parts of the university and skilled individuals working in the field.

Undergraduates got a similar experience during last spring’s inaugural Emory Entrepreneurship Summit. It culminated in a pitch competition judged by the alumni speakers, with $8,500 in cash prizes distributed to the winning teams. First prize went to Denver Rayburn 14BBA and David Zander 15BBA, whose app allows users to locate a small group of friends for a limited time. Second place went to Emory College student and Shark Tank-funded BZBox entrepreneur Kaeya Majmundar 15C for a tank top that that zips out to become a tote bag. These two top teams also received multimedia technology prizes donated by Goizueta alumni-founded Campus MovieFest, the world’s largest independent student film festival.

The post Pitch the Professor: Goizueta’s very own ‘Shark Tank’ appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

The highly competitive program selects 500 fellows from an applicant pool of more than 50,000. The fellows are divided among 20 US academic institutions to study one of three tracks: business and entrepreneurship, public management, and civic leadership.

The post Young African leaders visit Goizueta appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.