Letter from the Chair

Dear BEPP Community,

The BEPP department consists of high-caliber economists working within a top business school. As such, our primary purpose is to bring the rigor and critical thinking inherent in economic modeling and econometric analysis to important business and policy questions and challenges. Recognizing our role, we want to highlight how BEPP faculty, students and alumni have served this purpose over the past year.

In what follows, you’ll find: an in-depth look at select faculty, a detailed discussion of our course on Sustainable Enterprise, summaries of key BEPP activities, discussion of BEPP’s presence in the Kelley Direct Core, a recap of the Bonser lecture, BEPP program highlights, BEPP club activities and engagements, and several updates from – and spotlights on – BEPP alums.

Of course, there is much more to BEPP than what we can summarize here. So, if you haven’t already, please join your fellow BEPP friends who now follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/KelleyBEPP/), and if you’re a BEPP alum, please join our LinkedIn group (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4347267) to not only learn about the department but also stay connected with fellow BEPP grads.

I like to conclude these newsletters with a thought that highlights general BEPP skills within a current context. A major topic du jour is the alleged market power of so-called Big Tech firms, such as Apple, Google, and Facebook. In an age of political divisiveness, one thing significant factions of both major parties at least appear to agree on is increased regulation of these and other similar firms. However, deciding what regulations should be enacted, if any, is not a simple task. Some key questions at the heart of such a debate include: What are the relevant economic forces at play? Are all these firms part of a broader “data market,” with winner-take-all characteristics? What business strategies have these firms relied on, and how have those strategies contributed to their success? Do any of these strategies risk running afoul of antitrust laws, and how might that change if proposed changes to antitrust laws are enacted? These are just some of the many relevant questions – for analyzing Big Tech regulation and topics well beyond – that faculty in BEPP work toward answering in our teaching and research.

As friends of BEPP, please don’t hesitate to stay in touch and stop by any time you’re back in B-town – we’d love to see you!

Sincerely,

Jeff Prince

Harold A. Poling Chair in Strategic Management