Marick Masters, professor at Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business, shares insights about the types of jobs that may be most threatened by automation, fields expected to experience a high rate of job growth, and more. “The sectors in which the most growth is expected are healthcare, leisure and hospitality, advanced technology, data and information analysis, and alternative energy. Jobs that involve the provision of care and services for the elderly and infirm are like to grow considerably. Included among the specific jobs expecting growth are nurse practitioners, statisticians, health services managers, data analysts, and technicians working in alternative energy,” Masters said.  

The city of Ferndale has become the target of jokes and complaints on social media by fans of Taylor Swift because the vinyl records, CDs, sweatshirts, jewelry and other official merchandise sold on the singer's website are shipped from the Metro Detroit city by record label Universal Music Group NV through a company called Artist Endeavor LLC. And some fans who preordered her 10th studio album, "Midnights," released on Oct. 21 say they aren't coming, well, swiftly enough. Central parts of the country, like Michigan, often can be attractive to distributors for ease of access to customers nationally. Metro Detroit also is home to a major international airport, though it's still 30 minutes from Ferndale. Michigan may offer less costly real estate and labor than other states like Massachusetts, noted Hakan Yildiz, associate professor of supply chain management at Wayne State University. It also has a low risk for natural hazards like hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires. 

Three energy companies, a fertilizer firm and a drug maker have all been suping super well while most of the rest of the U.S. grapples with soaring prices. There’s a silver lining to the worst inflation since the 1980s. Just ask the companies that are making bank on higher prices. Hiking prices gets easier during inflation, when everyone seems to be doing it. Sometimes charging more makes sense. Inflation raises the cost of production, and most companies pass on the cost to customers. Sometimes, however, the higher prices go above and beyond the extra expenses companies incur. Operating margin is a fair indicator because it excludes borrowing, Wayne State University finance professor Mai Iskandar-Datta said. “Essentially, you’re trying to have a broader picture of company performance. You’re trying to see how they’re doing without considering financing. It separates financing and investment decision-making.”

By Minnah Arshad  As the “glory days” of widespread, generalist master of business administration degrees fizzle out, Michigan universities are finding new ways to attract students across the globe. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some universities saw a decrease in graduate business program enrollment, which could be attributed to health concerns or deferrals for international students. Fall 2022 data shows a rebound to pre-pandemic numbers for some universities in the region. For others, the slump continues. While colleges in Michigan have offered numerous options for how to earn an MBA, from fully virtual to in person, the question of why has changed over the last couple of decades. Over the years, accrediting bodies and business colleges have shifted focus as the world evolves, said Jeff Stoltman, director of entrepreneurship and innovation programs at Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business. With the collision of the digital revolution and societal shift, entrepreneurial academics are facing another moment of “soul-searching criticism,” Stoltman said. Wayne State faculty approved some revisions to the MBA program on Sept. 30, Stoltman said, adding new courses in supply chain and emerging technology issues, which reflect the growth of the digital economy. As a Detroit university, Wayne State has responded to the auto giants by way of building a strong supply chain program. Over the last few years, Wayne State has offered courses in varying lengths and formats, from four-week classes to weekend classes, and asynchronous, synchronous, hybrid and in-person formats. Most of the MBA students are part-time, so the university has worked to offer a variety of schedules to accommodate working students.  

By Brandon Kochkodin    When it comes to inflation, there’s no shortage of blame to go around. First, the pandemic broke the global supply chain. Then stimulus payments set off a frenzy of consumer spending at a time when finding toilet paper at the local grocery store wasn’t a given. But from the halls of Congress to Main Street, fingers also point at corporate America. Greedy companies, by this telling, have raised prices above and beyond their rising costs of production. Companies, of course, deny this. “Operating margin excludes financing costs,” Wayne State University finance professor Mai Iskander-Datta said. “Essentially, you’re trying to have a broader picture of company performance. You’re trying to see how they’re doing without considering financing. It separates financing and investment decision-making.”    

By Jamie L. LaReau  General Motors is reinstating health care benefits to its U.S. salaried employees' same-sex domestic partners and their kids and, in a first for the automaker, is also going to allow employees to add opposite-sex, unmarried partners and their children to their health plans. GM's move, part of an effort toward its goal to be the most inclusive company in the world, will also expand the medical benefits it already offers to transgender salaried employees in the United States. The initiatives start January 1, 2023. GM's strategy, while significant for its goal, is not groundbreaking. This time a year ago, Stellantis reinstated its offering of domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples, adding it to the inclusion of employees with opposite-sex partners, which was not the case previously. The offering is still in effect. Stellantis has also offered similar medical benefits to transgender people. Similarly, Ford Motor Co. provides domestic partner benefits in the states that require it. Since 2021, Ford has covered various transgender-related medical procedures and it will add new services next year. GM's newest offerings are more "in the middle of the curve" than ahead of it, said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University who specializes in business, labor, human resource management, conflict resolution and employee relations. "They are essentially catching up," he said of GM. "Recruitment and retention are difficult in auto because of the waves of technological change, continual restructurings due to electrification, and portending demand for product challenges, domestically and globally, on the heels of supply (chain) difficulties." 

By Rasha Almulaiki  Economists have long lamented the shrinking of the American middle class. In Detroit, the economic crises of the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic and the persistent instability of an accessible real estate market has exacerbated the strain on the growing socio-economic divide between the top one percent and the struggling majority. In an economic climate that is steadily growing stronger, residents need to think about ways to build generational wealth to sustain themselves and the future of their family’s financial health. Ranjan D’Mello, professor of finance at Wayne State University, discussed how Detroiters can begin securing their future. “The idea is that you have to begin saving early,” said D’Mello. “For those that spend on things they don’t really need, there must be restraint and a long-term goal in mind.”  

By Alexander Davidson  Alexander Davidson, assistant professor of marketing at Wayne State University, wrote an article for The Conversation about disparities in Airbnb earnings between male and female hosts. He highlights recent research that found female Airbnb hosts in the United States earn on average about 25% less per year than their male counterparts for their rentals, and that, in general, women offer lower rental prices than men on the site. “It’s not yet clear whether or why male and female hosts take different approaches to setting Airbnb rates – although other research suggests some clues,” he writes. “A 2007 study found that compared to women, men negotiate for higher payments in bargaining situations. And a 2009 study of gender differences in setting professional fees found that women typically charge less than men for the same services because they tend to be more relationship-oriented toward their clients, which can lead them to charge lower prices.”  

Kevin Ketels, assistant professor of teaching global supply chain management at Wayne State University, joins in a conversation about Twin Metals’ lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s cancelation of two key federal mine leases and the government seems to be pushing toward electric vehicles and wind and solar power. The suit is the latest step in a longstanding back and forth over controversial proposed mines that’s now spanned three presidential administrations. “There is definitely going to be some tension in the upcoming years as we try to navigate electric vehicles and producing the batteries and materials for them. There’s no easy way to do this. Opening up these mines in some of these areas – there will be questions about the impact on local communities and the environment. We definitely feel that tension…" 

By Dorothy Hernandez  Marick Masters, a management professor at Wayne State University and labor expert, joins Detroit Today to discuss unions in America. He said corporations and labor both played a role in the decline of union membership, but the trade policies driving the U.S. economy are the primary culprit. While union membership has continued to decline in recent years, last month saw an increase in momentum for labor movements in Michigan. Both state congressional staffers and nursing home workers continued formal efforts toward unionization, continuing a spike in union worker petition filings nationally this year. “I would say the principal blame lies in the structure of the U.S. economy, which is dominated by the wealthy and those who have supported free trade policies, which has led to the exodus and off-shoring of jobs,” said Masters. “Treaties like NAFTA and our trade relations with China have cost lots of manufacturing jobs, which have resulted in the decline of unionized workers.” “I’d say that if we’re looking to place blame on the unions, it wouldn’t be so much that they did a poor job representing members. In fact, the opposite is probably the case,” he said. “They probably did too good a job in trying to raise wages and raise benefits to where the companies could not remain competitive with the onslaught of international competition with unfair trade rules.” 

By Kurt Nagl Wayne State University sociology students will be conducting a demographic study for the North American International Auto Show in September to give organizers a better idea of its audience. In addition to this student project, the university’s Mike Ilitch School of Business will host an executive speaker series with an emphasis on the issue of recruiting diverse talent in the automotive industry. The Detroit auto show, scheduled for September 14 to 25 will return to downtown Detroit for the first time since 2019. The new indoor-outdoor format seeks to attract a new type of audience and raises questions about how the event will fit in the industry’s show circle going forward. “Our partnership with Wayne State University is a great example of the community outreach we are undertaking this fall as part of the auto show,” Rod Alberts, executive director of the show, said. “Students will be directly engaged with the show, managing and completing a demographic study of the various audiences that the show attracts.” 

Experts in business management, organizational development and communications will facilitate a new professional development certification program designed to help mid-level managers navigate the changing workplace. Crain’s New World of Work will feature instructors from Wayne State University and guest speakers from the metro Detroit business community. The program includes 28 hours of instruction over eight weeks in a hybrid model. Participants who complete the program will receive a leadership certificate from Wayne State University. Crain’s New World of Work was designed in partnership with the university’s Executive and Professional Development team.  

The Federal Reserve has begun to raise interest rates – in the hope of cooling off the economy – to slow inflation. You have noticed that prices are going up. Gasoline at the pump, fruits and vegetables at the supermarket, and more or less all other products, suddenly cost more money. That is inflation. Experts provide context for the factors that drive prices up. Alan Reinstein, CPA, George R. Husband professor of accounting at Wayne State University, identifies a factor specific to the United States: deficit spending. “For an extended period of time, Reinstein observes, “under both Democratic and Republican administrations,” the government has spent far more money than it has taken in taxes. “The Federal Reserve increases the money supply to fuel deficit spending, feeding inflation,” Reinstein adds. Because, by definition, “inflation occurs when too much money chases too few goods, thus raising prices,” the increasing money supply generates inflation.  

From Amazon to Google and Starbucks, workers at more and more major companies are seeking union representation, some more successfully than others. After workers at Buffalo Starbucks locations voted to unionize in December 2021, a wave of union interest spread in Michigan and around the country. According to the National Labor Relations Board, union petitions were up 57% in the first half of the fiscal year from Oct. 1 to March 31. Marick Masters, a professor at Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business, has written extensively on labor issues and says that despite the measurable uptick, union membership in our state is still nowhere near what it used to be. “In 1960, 50% of workers in Michigan were unionized,” he said. It’s currently around 15%, when the private and public sector are combined. “So this is perhaps a tipping point, but it’s too early to tell whether or not this represents a sea-change in union success, either in Detroit, statewide, or nationally,” Masters said. He believes the COVID-19 pandemic was a huge catalyst for the recent wave of union interest. “There’s no doubt that the workers across the nation at Starbucks saw this as an opportunity and wanted to take advantage of it as quickly as possible. And I think that’s one of the reasons why they’ve had success,” he said.  

By Lindsay Moore  Gas prices are influencing car buying preferences according to the latest inventory reports showing that compact cars are moving faster than their larger counterparts. A record high $5 per gallon nationally have curbed spending patterns, according to Cox Automotive. Cox’s new vehicle inventory report for May showed compact cars are staying on the lot for less than 20 days, while full-sized SUVs and trucks have more than double the days on the market. Chip shortages have now cost the auto industry 2 million vehicles that won’t be recouped. Car makers are still prioritizing high-end, high-margin models instead of entry-level vehicles. This ripple effect has shown up in the inventory data, too. Drivers can see the effects of the semiconductor shortage right on the road – or rather the parking lot. The semiconductor supply chain has improved but new production will take at least two to three years to really make a dent in production, said John Taylor, chair of Wayne State University’s department of marketing and supply chain management. “If you use semiconductors, you’re scrambling,” he said.  

Car buyers will need some patience this summer as new and used vehicles are still slow to get on the lot. The car buying experience will feel more like a layaway purchase than a quick exchange negotiation as most cars that land on the lot have been claimed in advance. Pre-ordering has become the norm. Deliveries to the dealership have been slow to recover, although they have tripled since the beginning of the year. The backlog is starting at the auto plants. The summer of 2022 does look better than last summer in terms of lost production, said John Taylor, chair of Wayne State University’s department of marketing and supply chain management. Alternate suppliers, flexible design and reduced functionality have boosted production this year. “Time cures a lot of problems,” Taylor said. “Eventually, we’re going to get out of this. It’s still not going to be great for 2022 and 2023, but there’s some improvement.”  

A Starbucks store in Grand Rapids last month became the first in the state to unionize amid a broader organizing effort at the country’s largest coffee chain. Now, workers at nearly a dozen other Starbucks stores in the state are poised to determine whether they’ll join a union that has racked up dozens of wins across the country in the past six months. Voting in union elections administered by the National Labor Relations Board is scheduled for Tuesday at five stores in Ann Arbor and Thursday at five others in Clinton Township, Flint, Grand Blanc, Lansing and East Lansing. A store in Ypsilanti will vote on June 17. “This is a significant movement for the labor movement as a whole and the retail industry in particular. It reflects a potential change in the climate that is more favorable toward unions, particularly among younger workers,” said Marick Masters, a professor of management at Wayne State University who is working on a book about organizing efforts at Starbucks and Amazon. “The unions have had a great deal of success so far in winning certification of elections at various sites in which they petitioned to organize.”