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Business School News: Blondes versus Brunettes in the Office

B-school news round-up from Australia, America and Singapore

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Wed May 12 2010

BusinessBecause
Is it better to be blonde or brunette in the workplace? That’s the question Geni Dechter set out to solve in her research on the US 1980 – 1996 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

The researcher from the University of New South Wales Australian School of Business, now merged with the Australian Graduate School of Management, found that higher educated blondes tend to start entry-level jobs with “significantly lower wages” than their dark-haired sisters. This equates to a “wage gap” of 9 % for the college educated female group of blondes to their brunette colleagues, noted Dechter a brunette herself. All is not lost though for flaxen-haired employees, as long as they play the waiting game in their careers.

“The wage difference between blonde and brunette disappears with job market experience. Five years into their careers, there's almost no gap between them,” said Dechter.

Originally published in Knowledge@Australian School of Business, read the original article 'Blond Ambition: Are Brunettes Paid More Because They're Worth It?'

MBAs bag big money prize

Four MBA students from the GW School of Business were the recipients of a $5,000 prize for their analysis on how the automotive industry could employ ‘management strategies to positively impact climate change.’ Marian Gyarmathy, Tristan Harvey, John Lynch and John Walsh were awarded the prize from George Washington University’s Institute for Corporate Responsibility (ICR) and communications firm MS&L Group WorldWide. “This project provides an opportunity for the next generation of business leaders here at the GW School of Business to gain real-world experience on issues that will have an impact on our future competitiveness,” commented Jennifer Griffin, an associate professor of strategic management and public policy at the b-school.

Stelios flies in for leadership talk

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the entrepreneur behind easyJet and other ‘easy’ ventures, spoke to a packed out audience of students, corporate partners, alumni, and staff at the National University of Singapore Business School. The serial entrepreneur participated in the University’s Leadership Dialogue Series. Previous speakers include Hsieh Tsun-Yan, an independent director at Sony Corporation; Hsieh Fu Hua, CEO of Singapore Exchange; Euleen Goh, non-executive Chairman of the Singapore International Foundation and Liew Mun Leong, President and CEO of CapitaLand Group.

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