Marketing


Towards Sovereign Equity

Stanford Journal of Law, Business, and Finance, Vol. 21, No. 2 (2016)

Stephen Park, Tim R. Samples

Sovereigns are unique market participants in the global financial system, and sovereign debt markets largely operate in a legal and regulatory void. This Article adds an important and timely perspective by examining the concept of equity in sovereign debt finance. Governments, unlike corporations, rely almost exclusively on debt to externally finance their investments and operations. GDP-linked securities, which provide interest payments indexed to the sovereign issuer’s rate of growth, are sovereign debt instruments with certain equity-like characteristics. This Article considers whether innovation towards sovereign equity can help mitigate problems associated with sovereign debt crises. To address this question, we analyze the use of GDP-linked securities in recent sovereign debt restructurings by Argentina, Greece, and Ukraine. Drawing on this analysis, we explore more broadly the legal implications of sovereign equity, and conclude that these applications offer opportunities to help manage sovereign finance in the absence of readily enforceable international financial regulation. Full article.



Contracting for Innovation and Innovating Contracts

Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation (2016)

Thomas D. Barton, Gerlinde Berger-Walliser, Helena Haapio

This special issue of the Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation (JSCAN) is devoted to “contracting for innovation and innovating contracts.” From the inception of planning for the issue, the co-editors hoped to attract contributions from a full range of professionals engaged in contract theory and practice: research academics, contract managers, corporate executives, and legal counsel, plus what JSCAN Editor-in-Chief Tyrone Pitsis told us are called “pracademics:” those who straddle research and commercial environments, making concrete contributions through collaborative projects, experiments, interviews, software development, or theory-building. JSCAN is a natural publication outlet for such partnerships, since so many of the 40,000 worldwide members of the International Association of Contract and Commercial Management (JSCAN’s parent organization) are thought-leaders in every aspect of commercial contracting. Full article.


An Efficient Investment-Risk Model of Compliance

The CLS Blue Sky Blog– Corporate compliance — the internal processes that firms use to ensure that their employees do not violate applicable laws and regulations — has become big business. Regulation of business continues to grow, punctuated by landmark laws that have re-shaped the financial services (the Dodd-Frank Act) and health care (the Affordable Care Act) industries in the United States. Further, federal regulators have…


Bird Speaks About Conscious Capitalism

Robert Bird (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Robert Bird (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

UConn Business Law Professor Robert Bird was a panelist at a presentation on “Conscious Capitalism” on Nov. 17 at the Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Conn., sponsored by the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce.

The presenters discussed conscious capitalism—business enterprises that follow a strategy in which they seek to benefit both human beings and the environment—its purpose and vision and what’s happening on a global scale.

Other participants included Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s, Larry Bingaman, president and CEO of the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority and Kate Emery, founder and CEO of The Walker Group, a technology services firm.


Internship Success Story: Jacqueline Ho

Jacqueline Ho is a senior Communication and Marketing major. She spent her summer as a Public Relations Intern at Eric Mower and Associates (EMA) in New York City. EMA is a full-service advertising and marketing agency and the New York City office specializes in public relations for the travel industry. Jacqueline called the NYC office in early May, inquiring if they were still hiring, and sent over her resume. Fortunately, they were still looking for one more intern to join the team over the summer! She completed an interview and a writing assignment before being offered the position. Continue Reading


Internship Success Story: Taylor Vanfleet

Taylor Vanfleet, a senior Finance major with a minor in Professional Sales Leadership, interned for Virtus Investment Partners over the summer with the internal sales desk. She obtained her sales internship by connecting with a company recruiter at the Sales Competition event in Fall 2015. The Sales Competition event is a class event open to students in MKTG 3452, Professional Selling, and MKTG 3454, Sales Management and Leadership. Continue Reading




Internship Success Story: Claire Messina

Claire Messina, a junior Marketing major, worked for Liberty Mutual Insurance as a Sales Intern last summer. As a member of Pi Sigma Epsilon, Claire had the opportunity to network with representatives from Liberty Mutual at a golf outing event hosted by the fraternity. She connected with one of the representatives at the event and through him, was introduced to a campus recruiter. Continue Reading