THE BULL, BEAR & LION

VOL. II, NO. iii

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEYS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

Thanksgiving or Black Thursday?

By JoAnna DiCicco
The holidays are coming at us
quickly, and it seems that each year
stores are bringing this to our attention sooner and sooner. Many retail
stores begin to sport holiday decorations around mid-October. However,
the rush is most prominently displayed in companies' advertisements
for Black Friday.
Black Friday, as most would recall,
is the "shopping holiday" that offers
extremely reduced prices which people take advantage of for the Christmas/Holiday season. Over the past few
years, some stores have begun opening
their doors for Black Friday sales as

The

early as 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving

Day. Stores that will be open this year
include K-Mart, Macy's, and Sears.
Black Friday participation is a
choice for American consumers, but is
becoming a requirement for employees of certain retail stores. This is especially true because Black Friday is extending into Thanksgiving itself, and
these employees are not able to celebrate the holiday with their families.
This is why many stores have been
boycotting this new trend.
Costco, Sam's Club, and GameStop
promised to be closed on Thanksgiving Day to give customers and em-

ployees time to spend with their families.

The National Retail Federation's
2014 Thanksgiving Weekend Survey
revealed that 86.9 million shoppers
were present either in stores or online
on Black Friday, and approximately
one-third of these shoppers admitted
to shopping on Thanksgiving Day.
Surprisingly, this was a 5.2% decrease
in shoppers on Thanksgiving Day from
2013.
With this said, why do retailers
continue to open their doors before
Black Friday even begins? The answer
is competition. If their doors are shut,

people will go elsewhere; therefore,

the company will make less money.
With the increase of cyber sales during Thanksgiving weekend and the
hype of "Cyber Monday," companies
must compete with the Internet as
well.
With the mixed signals from the
statistics of last year's Thanksgiving
Weekend Spending and the fear of
competition in the business world, it
will be interesting to see how 2015
consumer spending and shopper presence will affect retailers' decisions on
Black Friday in the upcoming years.

ENTREPRENEURS AT

UPCOMING EVENTS, TCNJEC:

THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY

Lets Put Our Cities on the Map

TCNJ

Mercer County Community College (James Kerney Campus)

TCNJ Entrepreneurship Club

on Wednesday, November 16, 2015, 5:30-8:00 p.m.

By Gregory Kaye

Chris Hindley, Founder of the Hoodie Pillow, Lecture

Entrepreneurship

Club

TCNJEC wishes to bring together a

(TCNJEC) is a new and exciting club that

team of self-motivated, passionate and

has just begun this semester. The purpose

resilient students who find and recognize

of TCNJEC is to create an open-minded

opportunities. If you want to learn more,

Sun-National Bank Center in Trenton, December 19, 6:30-10:30 p.m.

environment to encourage dialogue, new

attend our meetings, bi-weekly on Tues-

Qu es tio ns ? E - mail: tcn jec@ tc nj .ed u

ideas, innovation, and hands-on experi-

days, in BB124 at 7 p.m. The next meeting

ence for entrepreneurial minded individu-

is November 17. See our advertisement at

als by being a resource for The College of

right for some information about upcom-

New Jersey community to foster and grow.

ing events.

Brian Smith,
Founder of UGG
By Kristen Borowski

BB 124, Tuesday, November 17, 7 p.m.

An Evening with the Shark: Daymond John

Twitter: TCNJ Entrepreneurs @TcnjEC

Instagram: TCNJ_Entrepreneurs

During his talk at Kendall Hall in

ing an entrepreneur. Australia had

to grow. From initial sales of $1,000,

October, Brian Smith, founder of UGG

something unseen in America: sheep-

UGG grew through specified market-

Australia, offered TCNJ students great

skin boots. Mr. Smith capitalized on

ing and mainstream media exposure

advice about life and business.

this market opportunity and founded

through people like Oprah Winfrey.

Mr. Smith began his career as an

UGG.

Mr. Smith wants us to figure out

accountant. Unhappy in that field, he

Mr. Smith emphasized that busi-

decided to pursue his dream of becom-

nesses are not born as adults; they need

what you do better than everyone else

and do it. This is the key to success.

China: A Prospect for Growth

By Kristen Townend

A week-long conference has recently

my that is less dependent on exports,

ended in China, during which the Chi-

and that is driven by the market as well,

nese government discussed possible

causing the governments role in deter-

measures to boost economic growth in

mining prices to shrink.

future years.

Follow us on Twitter: @Bull_Bear_Lion

China has also done away with the

The Five-Year Plan includes targets

one-child policy that has been in place

for development in the nation, social

for decades, in order to increase domes-

agendas, and political reform. Growth in

tic consumption once their exports have

China is not high at the moment, and

been reduced. Their main goal is to dou-

the government fears that stagnation

ble the size of their economy by the

and recession could lie ahead. The Chi-

year 2020, and the plan includes boost-

nese government has stated that their

ing entrepreneurship and encouraging

plan includes moving towards an econo-

domestic innovation as well.

THE BULL, BEAR & LION

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

Review: The Slight Edge

By Alyssa J Freitas
What you do every day, your
actions, and disciplines, are what lead
to greatness. That is the premise of Jeff
Olsons book, The Slight Edge. Olson is
a
passionate
teacher
of
selfdevelopment and has founded an organization dedicated to helping people
better themselves: The Peoples Network. As his book indicates through
success stories and personal experience,
many people are not willing to put in
the work required to achieve their
aims. However, Olson argues that those
who recognize how simply it can be
accomplished reap the rewards.
While it may be tempting to push
aside self-help advice, recognizing that
it is easy to control your future through
present actions is the basis for harnessing the power of the slight edge. Every
day you have the choice to better yourselfthe key is having the discipline to
do so. Anyone can be great; its those
who make the conscious effort who
become successful. For example, instead of waiting until the weekend before an exam to start studying, set aside

30 minutes each day throughout the

semester to review the material. Going
in with the mindset that this small,
daily effort will give you an edge when
the exam actually rolls around will help
you to stick to your practice. Like Olsen makes clear in his book, it is easy to
set aside those 30 minutes and also incredibly easy to push it to another day.
Being the person who gets started right
now is 99% of the battle.
This notion of follow through and
the other principles explored in The
Slight Edge are fundamental for businesspeople and are great assets for college students. Entering the workplace
requires not only practical knowledge,
but also soft skills and the motivation
and ability to continually improve.
Reading The Slight Edge is an investment in yourself and a way to increase
your consciousness for how your every
action affects your life. Olson shows
that you alone are in control of your
life. Take control and give yourself an
edge by learning this now.

Class Dismissed,
MGT 360 Beyond the Classroom
By Sarah Wallin
Chip Lem, a junior finance major,
sat down with The Bull, Bear & Lion

intimidating, Lem assured us that it is

not as scary once done.

for an interview to discuss his sum-

When asked what advice he would

mer internship with PHH Mortgage

give to students taking MGT 360, he

in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. His

said to get Six Sigma training and

work with capital markets and the

keep learning. Lems personal dedica-

Bloomberg terminal provided him

tion to learning is evident in that he

with insights about how his education

has completed the Six Sigma training

at TCNJ has prepared him for his in-

up to the green belt level. At the end

ternship.

of his summer with PHH, Lem had

MGT 360, or Operations Manage-

the opportunity to present solutions

ment stood out to Lem as a class that

and Excel models to the company

prepared him for his internship with

management. Seeing the real life ap-

PHH. The class gave him a broad per-

plications of MGT 360 and Six Sigma

spective of business and also inspired

in his internship made his job reward-

him to pursue Six Sigma training. Lem

ing. Lem said that contributing to

defined Six Sigma as a decision mak-

something that could ultimately lead

ing tool used to solve problems in

to the companys success definitely

efficient and effective ways a way

made the time spent doing work over

of thinking [and] looking at prob-

the summer a worthwhile experience

lems. Although Six Sigma can sound

for him.

U.S. & World News

Russian Passenger jet implodes, Crashes over Sinai peninsula,

no survivors Search for el faro ongoing Justin trudeau
succeeds Stephen harper as Canadian pm Hewlett-packard
splits in two, becomes Hp Enterprise, HP Inc. Rep. Paul Ryan Becomes new Speaker of the House Chipotle closes stores on
west coast in wake of E. Coli scare Upcoming GOP Primary
Debate, 11/10, democratic 11/14

Advertise here.

BIG DATA III

The Rise of College and University Programs
By David W. Letcher, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
U Michigan Will Spend $100 Million on New Data Science Initiative, a
September 9, 2015 article written by
Mr. Michael Hart in Campus Technology.com, is illustrative of the almostsudden appearance of many degree
programs in data science that are cropping up at schools all across our country.
I say almost sudden because,
according to information I obtained
from the North Carolina State University analytics web site there were about
nine masters degree programs in the U.
S. in 2011 but about 83 in 2015!
Mr. Hart goes on to say that U
Michigan will hire 35 additional faculty members and engage more existing faculty in the initiative; support
interdisciplinary data-related research
initiatives; provide new academic programs for students interested in data
science; expand its research computing
capacity; strengthen data management
storage, analytics and training resources; and establish the Michigan
Institute for Data Science.
What do these new programs look
like? Lets see what kinds of courses
are offered. There is some variation in
program names and course offerings,
but there is a common theme within
them. Programs at the undergraduate
level are mainly minors or concentrations while at the graduate level we see
masters- or doctoral-level degrees.
Some are post-graduate certificate programs. Well take a brief look at some
local schools that offer these programs.
Montclair State University offers
B.S. in Business Administration with a
concentration in Business Analytics
(effective Fall 2015). It aims to educate
students in how to navigate the world
of distributed storage and computing

borowsk1@tcnj.edu
Follow us on Twitter: @Bull_Bear_Lion

Etiquette & Helpful Advice

By Kristen Borowski
With our hectic days and busy
schedules, many of us can forget how
our actions affect other people and
how these actions influence how others perceive us.
As we continue our job searches,
interviews, and networking sessions,
we learn about presenting ourselves in
the best way possible. To help, I have
amassed a list of tips from various
sources that will help you in both your
professional and personal life.
Hold the door for the person/

frain from cursing or using unprofessional language.

When walking through a crowded

doorway, do not push through
allow another to pass through first.

In an interview, do not sit until

you have been offered a seat, stand
when the interviewer stands.

Say please and thank you.

When in doubt, err on the side of

professionalism and politeness.

people behind you.

Choose your words carefully, re-

Always remembersimple acts of

kindness have the ability to make
someones rainy day sunny.

THE BULL, BEAR & LION

The Student Newspaper of The College of New Jerseys School of Business
November/December 2015 ~ Volume II, Number iii

STAFF:
Editor-in-Chief

L i mi t e d s p a c e , c on t a c t

and to learn how to use powerful statistical and mathematical techniques to

develop and implement solutions to
business problems.
At Drexel University Business Analytics is available only as a co-major,
taken in combination with one other
major in the LeBow College of Business. The study includes coursework
in statistics, operations research, management information systems, econometrics and modeling. Students adding
business analytics as a co-major will be
better prepared for a data-driven
world, where companies collect and
analyze data to measure past performance and plan for the future.
Students in this program must select
an additional major from the following
list: Accounting, Entrepreneurship,
Finance, International Business, Legal
Studies, Management Info Systems,
Marketing, or Operations Management.
Rutgers University offers an MBA
program in Analytics and Information
Management. Courses in this program
include Analytics for Business Intelligence, Business Analytics Programming, Business Data Management, Data Analysis & Visualization, Information Security, Information Technology in the Digital Era, and Interpretation of Data.
And the list goes on-and-on! I recommend that you take a look at the
NC State analytics web site (http://
analytics.ncsu.edu/) in which they describe all current masters-level analytics programs based in the U.S. Its a
long list!
In my next article, Ill sort out and
describe the fascinating vocabulary
bandied about in this new world of Big
Data.

Kristen Borowski, 2017

Contributors
JoAnna DiCicco, 2017
Alyssa Freitas, 2017
Sarah Wallin, 2017
Kristen Townend, 2019

ADVISORS:
Patty Karlowitsch, Manager of Operations,
TCNJ School of Business
Dr. Jean Brechman, Assistant Professor,
Marketing
A special thank you to Dr. Letcher for
contributing to the Big Data series.
Mer r y C hr i st mas, H appy H anukk ah,
H appy Kw anza, E njoy the b r eak !

CONTACT:
Join our team! Write, take
photographs, or help manage
The Bull, Bear & Lion!

Write to Kristen Borowski:

b or ows k1@ tcnj. edu
T H E B U L L , B E AR & L IO N is
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