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DSEF Welcomes Its Newest Fellows 7/31

DSEF Welcomes Its Newest Fellows 7/31

DSEF launched the Fellows Program to support educational and research efforts to foster a deeper understanding of the direct selling channel and its impact. We now have more than 130 Fellows around the world from a wide range of disciplines – management, marketing, economics, entrepreneurship, sales, consumer studies – and provide them a rich offering of benefits and opportunities.

DSEF warmly welcomes our newest Fellows:

Dr. Jessica Hurst
Iowa State University
Associate Professor in the Apparel, Events, & Hospitality
Management Department

Dr. Liang “Rebecca” Tang
Iowa State University
Associate Professor in the Department of Apparel, Events, & Hospitality Management

Dr. Jennifer Zarzosa
Henderson State University
Assistant Professor of Marketing

Mr. Zachary Moore
The University of Louisiana-Monroe
Doctoral Candidate and Instructor of Agricultural Business
Agricultural Business Program Coordinator

Ms. April Kemp
Southeastern Louisiana University
Doctoral Candidate and Instructor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management
Marketing Internship Coordinator

Dr. Scot Squires
Central Michigan University
Professor and President of the Union of Teaching Faculty

Dr. Ellen Bolman Pullins
The University of Toledo
Professor of Marketing and International Business

Dr. Ying Liao
East Carolina University
Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management

Dr. Anne Balazs
Eastern Michigan University
Interim Dean

Dr. Mohammed Shaki
Saint Leo University
Assistant Professor of Management in the Donald R. Tapia School of Business

Newsletter

DSEF Welcomes Its Newest Fellows 4/03

DSEF Welcomes Its Newest Fellows 4/03

DSEF launched the Fellows Program to support educational and research efforts to foster a deeper understanding of the direct selling channel and its impact. We now have more than 125 Fellows around the world from a wide range of disciplines – management, marketing, economics, entrepreneurship, sales, consumer studies – and provide them a rich offering of benefits and opportunities.

DSEF warmly welcomes our newest Fellows:

Dr. Yulong Li
Associate Professor of Marketing
Simmons College

Ms. Joanne Cao
Assistant Professor of Marketing
The University of Southern Mississippi

Dr. David Altounian
Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship
Associate Dean of Academic Programs
MBA Program Director
St. Edwards University

Dr. Crystal Scott
Associate Professor of Marketing
University of Michigan-Dearborn

Dr. Mathew Joseph
Emil C.E. Jurica Distinguished Professor of Marketing
St. Mary’s University

Dr. Minjeong Kim
Associate Professor in Merchandising
Indiana University-Bloomington

Dr. Sally Fortenberry
Associate Professor
Director, Center for Merchandise Education and Research
Texas Christian University

Dr. Sebastian Hohenberg
Assistant Professor of Marketing
University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Cathy Curran-Kelly
Associate Professor, Management and Marketing
University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth

Dr. Jeananne Nicholls
Professor, Marketing and Management
Slippery Rock University

Dr. Scott Swain
Associate Professor of Marketing
Clemson University

Dr. Brian VanderSchee
Professor of Marketing
Aurora University

Dr. Diana Haytko
Marguerite and Guy Howard Professorship in Business; Professor of Marketing
Florida Gulf Coast University

Newsletter

Amway’s 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Report

Amway’s 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Report

Amway’s 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Report examines intrinsic and extrinsic factors that impact potential entrepreneurs. The data is based on survey data from nearly 50,000 people across 44 countries. Here are five of the most important findings to get a high-level overview of this year’s results (source: Amway).

  1. The global business environment has room to improve to be entrepreneurship-friendly.

Nearly 50,000 people were asked about different aspects of entrepreneurship, including technology availability, the education system, taxes, rules and regulations, and their country’s economic situation. As you might expect, there remains great opportunity to improve the global business environment. Unsurprisingly, people don’t find their country’s taxes manageable (only 33 percent do), nor do they think their country provides easy-to-understand rules and regulations (only 24 percent do).

  1. One of the most significant barriers to starting a business is the fear of failure.

It’s hard for people to start a business because they are afraid to fail. Less than half of people surveyed say they’d be willing to risk failure to start a business. Possibly, it’s because people see starting a business as a giant endeavor — a significant commitment. And it can be. However, there also are ways to start a business that are relatively low-cost and risk-free – direct selling is one of them.

  1. People need the most help raising money for their business idea.

When asked about different areas respondents would need help with when starting a business, raising money rose to the top, at 23 percent. In the traditional business scene, you’re investing a lot of your personal money, asking friends and family for support or pitching investors to finance your business. In direct selling, the average cost of a sales kit is just over $100 and includes a 90 percent buy-back guarantee.

  1. People prefer to build a team, rather than work alone.

When asked whether people prefer to work alone or hire people, the majority (57 percent) opted for building a team. In direct selling, you can create your own business – work independently or develop a team.

  1. Personal service still matters

In today’s digitally connected world, personal service is still significantly valued. The research found that 75 percent of people prefer to service customers personally than digitally. This trend remained consistent with even the under-35 demographic, countering the common perception that millennials prefer virtual interaction over interpersonal and indicating that personalized service is still highly valued around the world.

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NCPW 2018

In celebration of National Consumer Protection Week’s 20th Anniversary, the Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF) asks anyone seeking to gain a deeper understanding of their rights as a consumer, so that they can make even better-informed decisions, to download the DSEF Consumer Protection 101 toolkit.

The toolkit – developed in concert with the Direct Selling Association – provides consumers with a one-stop-shop of information to help them avoid fraud and scams in the marketplace.

For more information, visit consumer.ftc.gov to learn more about National Consumer Protection Week 2018 and the Federal Trade Commission. #ConsumerProtection #NCPW2018

DSEF Consumer Protection Tookit 2018

Blog

Incorporating Direct Selling in the Classroom by Dr. Victoria Crittenden

Direct Selling by Crittenden
Incorporating Direct Selling in the Classroom by Dr. Victoria Crittenden

Direct Selling in the Classroom by Dr. Victoria Crittenden:

To me, there is nothing quite so great as leaving class on a high because students really seemed to engage with the class topic. I had such a euphoric feeling after leaving my Marketing Management class in the Master of Science in Entrepreneurial Leadership program at Babson College in mid-September. The topic for the day was “Go-to-Market Strategies.”

The students were to read the Harvard Business School note. “A Note on Direct Selling in Developing Economies,” and prepare the Harvard Business School case, “Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales,” prior to class. I then started class with two DSEF videos: “Micro-entrepreneurship and the Gig Economy” and “Cutting out the Middle Man.”

With approximately three-fourths of the students in this master’s program from outside of the USA, there was considerable interest in the direct selling business model as a go-to-market strategy. Several students remained after the class ended to discuss the pros and cons of direct selling as a go-to-market strategy and how the direct selling business model might be implemented in entrepreneurial endeavors in various parts of the world.

I left class wishing that I had planned in advance for a way to capture the amazing classroom interactions. Since I had not done that. however, I emailed students and asked them to contribute some thoughts that I could include in a blog post. Here are comments from two students (one from each section of the class):

Nomah Javed (MSEL ’18) said: “I feel direct selling is an amazing way to reach your end customer down to the grass roots level. Especially for burgeoning entrepreneurs who don’t have seed money to set up this network on their own or reach customers. Again, it would work best for smaller, fast-moving goods which would benefit from the interpersonal interaction and persuasion involved in the process of direct selling. I think it’s a tremendous resource for third world countries, where women are the more subjugated gender and don’t necessarily have access to the same education and job opportunities. I feel direct selling gives people a chance to create something of their own despite their limiting circumstances. It can be used as an amazing empowerment tool for women. I would definitely think of it as a very strong proponent business model for my future venture.”

Philip Cobbinah (MSEL ’18) offered these comments: (1) Partnering with consumers is the best way of becoming a household name (#cobbyquotes).  (2) It is entrepreneurship at your doorstep (#cobbyquotes).

Given that I taught two sections of the course and both sections were equally great. I think it is fair to say that the topic was well-received by all. The discussions were clearly the best I had with my MSEL students during our seven-week module on marketing management. I found that direct selling as a go-to-market strategy incites interest and engagement among students who have an entrepreneurial orientation and that this is particularly true in a cross-cultural classroom environment.

 

DSEF Academic Engagement

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  • The various partnerships each department has with a professor, college or university.
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