Welcome to the new and improved STERNbusiness. For many years, the magazine has functioned as a highly effective – and visually appealing – showcase for the prodigious and varied research of our faculty. With this issue, the magazine has been redesigned and re-imagined. Its vision, scope, and circulation have all been expanded.

Why change a good thing?

NYU Stern may be a group of buildings in Greenwich Village. But it’s really a growing virtual and real community, comprising tens of thousands of students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Stern alumni constitute a growing and remarkably accomplished and diverse group of 70,000 people. Many of you continue to live and work in and around New York. But I’ve also enjoyed meeting with Stern alumni in Los Angeles, London, and Tokyo.

From these interactions, I’ve learned that there’s a strong sense of community surrounding Stern. There’s also clearly a strong desire among alumni to maintain and reestablish connections, to continue to learn. We thought that a revamped STERNbusiness – one that combines news about and for alumni, along with content about what’s going on at Stern today – could help further strengthen the sense of community.

With the expanded news section and the addition of features on alumni, a good deal has changed about STERNbusiness. But some important things have not. Research remains at the center of the magazine, just as research remains at the core of our academic mission here at NYU Stern. Our professors are well-versed in the theoretical tools of their disciplines. Yet they routinely apply them, with great imagination, to real-world problems. And so the research articles in this issue offer insights into questions that companies and entrepreneurs face every day. Are companies offering their employees the best investment options for their 401(k) plans? Which Hollywood movies perform best in foreign markets? What’s the best way for content companies to manage digital rights? Why does a six-pack of cola priced at $3.99 strike consumers as being a lot cheaper than a $4.00 six-pack?

As you read through the magazine, it will be clear that Stern regards New York City as not just its home, but as a classroom and laboratory. Because of our location, our students and faculty have the rare ability to see and experience things first-hand, to learn directly from practitioners at the highest levels in crucial fields. In an “only in New York” story (p. 10), Sonny Bazbaz (MBA ’04), within two years of arriving in the city, became a teaching assistant and then a colleague to Richard Fisher of the real estate firm Fisher Brothers. The Public Offerings section details the many events that Stern hosts, including a gathering of prominent economists to honor Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson, and a corporate governance conference that drew both Citigroup CEO Charles Prince and Treasury Secretary John Snow.

Finally, I think the magazine conveys Stern’s sense of dynamism – beyond the astonishing range of activities taking place, beyond the energy bursting from former General Electric CEO Jack Welch (p. 16), and beyond the impressive accomplishments of our students and alumni. At its root, education is about equipping people and organizations to compete in the future, tackling complex problems, and offering insight and solutions. It’s an interactive, continually evolving, and challenging enterprise.

And so is this magazine. We’ll continue to rely on our faculty and editors for much of the content, but we’ll also be relying on you, our readers. Our Class Notes section affords ample space in which alumni can share thoughts, accomplishments, and milestones. And our editors are eager to entertain article ideas. As STERNbusiness re-launches, grows, and evolves, we invite you not only to read, but to connect, to respond, and to contribute.

Thomas F. Cooley
Dean