Fox Focus

Owl's Eye View

A Look Back on the Fox School’s Evolution

by: Taylor Tropea

Since its inception as Temple University’s School of Commerce in 1918, the Fox School of Business has been on a constant journey of evolution. More than 100 years after opening its doors, the Fox School continues to grow and expand, mirroring the fast-paced, ever-changing business world.

As we look back on how much change happened over the years, we recognize the critical role that the faculty and staff played—and continue to play—in making that evolution possible. We spoke to a few people from across the school to hear their reflections on their time at the Fox School, the changes they experienced firsthand and the motivation that fuels their work.

Telling the Fox School’s Story

Cynthia Smith, associate director of communications, witnessed plenty of change during her time at the Fox School, especially to the campus. Each new building, from Alter Hall to the Charles Library, brings an opportunity for her to watch students fill the spaces and make them their own.

"You see students meeting up with their friends in the Egg or at Saxby’s, and then showing their parents around at graduation," says Smith. "These physical spaces are part of the shell that nurtures students during their time at Fox."

Coming up on her 25th year at Temple, Smith works with colleagues across the school, using email communication and strategy to share stories of the Fox community. Smith had the opportunity to work on the ground floor of what have become some of the school's flagship centers and institutes. She helped the Center for Student Professional Development promote events when it was just a small team in Speakman Hall, and shared the news of the opening of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute.

"The investment in positive student outcomes has been amazing," says Smith. "Knowing that these students are going out into our community, and that I played a very small role in highlighting their journey—both as students and alumni—is rewarding."

Finding fulfillment in student success

Pallavi Chitturi, professor of Statistical Science and associate director of the Executive DBA program, credits the students for keeping her motivated and inspired at the Fox School for the past 17 years. Chitturi teaches classes at every level, from freshman lectures to doctoral courses, and feels that she learns something new from each of them. Her fondest memories include nominating an undergraduate student who went on to win the prestigious Diamond Award and mentoring many others through the Diamond Peer Teacher Program. "All of my favorite memories revolve around the students," says Chitturi.

Throughout her time at the Fox School, one of the most significant developments she experienced was the addition of new academic programs. Chitturi and her colleagues in the Statistical Science Department launched two undergraduate minors, one in Statistics and Data Science and the other in Business Analytics, and a new undergraduate major in Statistical Science and Data Analytics. "That was a big accomplishment," says Chitturi. "Fox was an early adopter and champion of statistics, data science and data analytics in business."

Moving Fox forward

Julian White, senior director of the Center for Undergraduate Advising, also experienced a great deal of academic change during his 11 years at Temple. "We have to stay revolutionary and contemporary to keep up with the business world," says White. "Especially as it pertains to our majors and curricula."

Looking back, White can describe his time thus far at the Fox School with one word: rewarding. He considers every opportunity he gets to work with students on their overall academic, personal and professional growth as special. They remind him why he pursued a career in higher education in the first place. "Being in the position to really see the outcomes of what we’re doing is so rewarding," says White.

White now looks back on the past as a way to inform the future through his involvement with the Fox Strategic Plan 2025. "To me, Fox has always been about change," says White. "To have played a part in the meetings and committees to bring about this new plan only makes me more excited for what is to come."

by: Anna Batt

Transformative Steps, No Matter How

A dedication to giving back is part of the connective tissue that binds the Fox School together. On the organizational level, Community Engagement is a cornerstone of the Strategic Plan 2025—from supporting small businesses through the pandemic to donating to Temple University Health System to help safeguard front-line workers and more. Individuals, faculty, staff, students and alumni at the Fox School work to transform their communities in their own way.

Passing the Philanthropic Torch

Manoj Raghunandanan, MBA ’04

As a boy, MANOJ RAGHUNANDANAN, MBA ’04, occasionally spent the day with his father, K. Raghunandanan, a mathematics professor, on campus at Temple University. In the mornings, as they drove through some of the most underprivileged sections of the city on the way to Temple from their suburban New Jersey home, his father would say, "This is why I teach."

Years later, as a student at Temple, Raghunandanan flourished, earning a bachelor’s of music, a master’s of music and an MBA. He also joined the African American service-based fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma. Raghunandanan remembers tutoring math with the other fraternity brothers in the basement of Bright Hope Baptist Church. He remains an active member of an alumni chapter of Phi Beta Sigma based in Bucks County.

"I have seen the struggles families face in underserved, largely minority sections of Bucks County and understand the important role Big Brothers Big Sisters can play in children’s lives," he says.

It is the latest in a lifetime of steps Raghunandanan has taken to continually build up the community around him. Now, as a global president of the self-care division of Johnson & Johnson, Raghunandanan remains committed to transforming the world around him for the better, both through Phi Beta Sigma and as a professional.

His father’s message of service to others, of using education to better the lives of those around him, stayed with Raghunandanan to this day.

"From watching my father teach at Temple, to joining a service fraternity, my own teaching and charitable work, each of these steps played a role in creating my values and commitment to transforming my community."

Lifeblood of the Fox School community

Matthew Henry, president of College Council

Planning a blood drive can be complicated enough in an average year. During a global pandemic, it can feel almost impossible. But with an organizationwide commitment to philanthropy and giving back, students in the College Council were motivated to make the best of it.

"As Fox students, we think it’s really important to give back to the community that we’re engaging with and living in," says MATTHEW HENRY, president of College Council. "So I think just getting every opportunity to really give back to Philadelphia is so important."

The College Council’s typical blood drive goal is 48 units of blood, and in 2018, they reached 121% of that goal. For the fall 2020 blood drive, they are proud of what they accomplished safely, receiving 29 units while adhering to all COVID-19 physical distance restrictions.

Amanda Carey, vice president of community service for the College Council at the Fox School

"This year was definitely special circumstances, but as always, our goal was to get as many units and people to sign up as we could. Twenty-seven units equates to about 81 lives saved, so we still did a great job," says AMANDA CAREY, vice president of community service for the College Council at the Fox School. The College Council oversees all Fox organizations and activities and serves as a liaison between organizations and the university, particularly the Dean’s Office.

Looking forward to the virtual and in-person future of philanthropy, the group is working to enhance their online presence. At the beginning of the fall semester, College Council held an online food drive with Philabundance, a nonprofit hunger relief organization. The platform allowed contributors to donate in the form of dollars, cans of food and/or meals for a family.

Listening to the past to create a better future

Kim Sakil, assistant director of the Online MBA Program

"When I was in elementary and middle school, I was not happy with myself and sometimes felt lonely," says KIM SAKIL, assistant director of the Online MBA Program. "I was a quiet girl who loved school. GirlStory may have helped me change my outlook and connect with other girls who had similar experiences."

GirlStory, a virtual magazine that Sakil recently discovered through a connection on LinkedIn, is a platform for girls ages 10–14 to encourage and inspire each other as they write articles under the themes of brain, body and heart. GirlStory invites women across various industries to respond and relate to the girls on a personal level.

Sakil recently responded to a story about Ruby Bridges written by a young girl named Chloe, relating about their love of books and the value of a support system, especially as it relates to education. Looking to the future, Sakil is looking for more opportunities to get involved with the publication. She believes that GirlStory can be transformative for young girls looking to find and develop their own unique voice.

"I am glad I found this magazine because not only can the girls learn from our words, but we can learn from theirs too," says Sakil. "I appreciate that when girls share their stories, we as women are able to respond because we can relate. We have been there, and are perhaps still working on dealing with some of these topics in our lives. It takes courage to be vulnerable. I appreciate everyone involved — girls and women to be vulnerable and transparent."

Working towards social equity and inclusion in real estate

David Wilk, assistant professor of finance and director of the real estate program

"Real estate is the currency for inclusion and economic development," says David Wilk, assistant professor of finance and director of the Real Estate Program. "So in working to improve our neighborhoods by creating more economic opportunities, entrepreneurship, quality housing that is affordable, and knowledge sharing on wealth creation, you’re bringing social equity to members of the community. You also create opportunities for personal advancement and shared prosperity through innovative real estate strategies that don’t displace existing residents."

This idea comes to life in Wilk’s experiential approach to education. His students use CityLabs, a practicum and social entrepreneurship platform that allows students to engage with stakeholders in urban neighborhoods. Wilk focuses on communities around Temple’s main campus and health systems campus, developing a concept for reimagining the areas around the main campus into the "Acres of Diamonds Innovation District."

Wilk’s most recent and most direct involvement in community transformation is his work with the formerly named Hockessin Colored School #107 (HCS #107) property in New Castle County, Del.

The school will be redeveloped into a Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Social Equity. Wilk is the chair of the board for The Friends of HCS #107 and works closely with other board members, including Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice C.J. Seitz. The group was formed with funding from the African American Empowerment Fund and a community fundraising effort with the goal of restoring the historic site.

"We want to have an active and ongoing lifestyle connection with the community and not for the school to just become a museum, so we have worked for years to create the center and allow it to have a national impact on social equity and inclusion," says Wilk.

In Real Life Research IRL: Pivot with Purpose

by: Megan Alt

The Fox Focus editorial team asked Associate Professor Monica Wadhwa and Andrew Nakkache, BBA ’15, to discuss how, especially in today’s world, companies may need to pivot in order to survive in a fast-changing industry.

NAKKACHE is the co-founder and CEO of Habitat Logistics, a Philadelphia-based company that supports local businesses through “last mile” delivery services.

WADHWA, Associate Professor of marketing and supply chain management at the Fox School, studies consumer motivation and effective decision-making.

Andrew, can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I’m from a small town, Dallas, Pa. My grandfather knew I was going to be an entrepreneur when I was three. I was always hustling to find a way to make some money and have fun. Then, when I went to Temple, on my first day, I met Mike Paszkiewicz, who would become my co-founder of Habitat Logistics.

At Habitat Logistics, we power delivery for restaurants. Restaurants receive orders from any source like Grubhub or UberEats, and then we aggregate those orders to a single software dashboard and charge a fixed, flat fee for each delivery we fulfill.

As an entrepreneur, you need to be able to identify the gaps in the market. Without doing so, you can’t innovate. Where have you innovated in this industry? What gaps have you filled?

We’ve gotten good at being able to predict demand on an hourly basis and how we operate against demand in real time. For example, we had to ask ourselves the question, “If we have 100 orders and 50 drivers at a given moment, how do we allocate those orders so that everyone’s happy?”

After about a year of operating, we decided we needed to double down on demand forecasting. We took a bunch of criteria into consideration. How does rain impact demand? How does that weather change demand the second day versus the first day? Then we built out a machine learning model that can predict a lot more accurately.

You started off in a consumer-facing area and then you moved to businessfacing. How did that pivot happen?

When we started, we were all juniors at Temple, and we were really solving a problem for ourselves. We were able to get the restaurants and drivers on board. But we couldn’t get the consumers; we didn’t have a big balance sheet to try to fund consumer acquisition.

Then in talking to more restaurants, they said they’d rather have someone who can just deliver for a flat fee. There was another company called Zoomer that started in Philly that was doing something similar. Unfortunately, they had to cease operations and we were in the perfect position to fill the gap in the Philly market.

Let me be a bit of an academic and ask, if Zoomer went out of business in 2017 despite being very successful early on, how did you think you’d be able to sustain your business?

Well, fortunately, Zoomer’s founders were open and transparent with us. We made sure to charge more so we could protect our unit economics. That’s really what’s allowed us to build the right foundation for the business.

A lot of my research is on food marketing and what makes people buy food.

Monica Wadhwa

That is so important. I teach consumer behavior at the Fox School and I used to teach strategic marketing management to senior executives in my previous job. In my conversations with these executives, I always hear that they are afraid of charging more. This is especially the case with the startups.

Most business executives, even the top directors, miss this point. Typically the reason you fail is not that you are charging more; rather it is that you’re charging less than what the customer is willing to pay. If you have a good offer, your customers will pay for it. And you should be able to capture their willingness to pay with your pricing.

I think the best way is to just ask for a high price and see where the friction is. You’re right, most startups don’t charge enough for their product or their service.

A lot of my research is on food marketing and what makes people buy food. How do you think the pandemic has impacted consumer decision-making? And, how are restaurants responding to it?

I think it made already existing trends in the market accelerate. In many ways, it was like a warning sign for businesses to adapt and change quickly, to be able to offer delivery if they hadn’t before.

When you’re looking at the technology adoption curve, typically there’s a gap between early adopters and the majority. This pandemic has somehow bridged that gap.

Exactly.

Now, let’s talk about your competition. How do you ensure that the barrier to entry is high enough so a competitor doesn’t enter?

You know, honestly, I’m not too worried about it. There are maybe ten companies in the U.S. that are doing last mile logistics in multiple cities. Delivery is like an iceberg. On the surface, it looks simple. But underneath, there is an insane amount of complexity. So if someone wants to start a delivery company, I say good luck. Maybe this is ego, but I don’t think that there’s that many people out there that have the right combination of naivete and mental toughness to take this on.

Does that make you complacent or do you think that you still want to innovate further?

I know I have to improve every day. My behavioral economics professor shared an article about three core qualities that make people successful. One, at some level, you have to feel that you’re better than everyone else. Two, you still have to feel paranoid and think, “No, I’ll never be good enough.” It’s like a contrarian internal fight. Three is impulse control which, to me, is the ability to not jump to conclusions before you have a full picture. And that’s how you make good decisions.

Maybe this is ego, but I don’t think that there are that many people out there that have the right combination of naivete and mental toughness to take this on.

Andrew Nakkache

You just summarized a lot of things from my TED talk (“The Power of Not Winning”). If you think you’re almost there but not quite there, that keeps you motivated. Where do you see the path forward?

We want to embed ourselves within the restaurants so that we can give them a full solution that powers their entire turnkey, off-premise operations. Once you have the logistics, you can move across the value chain. But without the logistics, nothing else really matters.

The key premise for good marketing is to basically understand what the unmet customer needs are. To me, it sounds like you’ve done that. You’ve done the competitive analysis. Packaging is just a marketing action. A sound market analysis and strategy are really the pillars of business success.

Thank you. I appreciate it. I’m flattered.

As the CEO of a business-to-business (B2B) company, Andrew Nakkache elaborates on the three things that his business offers.

First,

it’s margin control. So when restaurants use us, they can set a delivery fee, whether they want to have the delivery be zero cost or they want to cover the delivery for the consumer.

Second,

we enable their customers to order direct. Most people don’t realize restaurants have razor-thin margins. Even the restaurants themselves don’t often realize how thin their margins are.

Third,

we really are giving them a higher level of service. If you order on GrubHub or DoorDash and something goes wrong, they’ll usually just issue the customer refund, but that customer is still left hangry (hungry and angry). We’re able to troubleshoot problems in real time. So rather than just issue a refund, we’re passionate about making sure that the end customer has a good experience.

Learn more at HabitatLogistics.com.