Sean Jasso

Effectiveness Rather Than Just Practicality

clin246 — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 17:55:00 +0000

Effectiveness Rather Than Just Practicality clin246 Thu, 02/29/2024 - 09:55 More Blog Posts Laurie McLaughlin February 29, 2024

During the process for nominating faculty for the prestigious Golden Apple Award, a student evaluated the classroom style and instruction of Professor of Practice Sean Jasso: “He’s definitely one of the best professors I’ve ever had. His classes are challenging, and the work is not easy, but a rigorous institution would expect that from a top professor. His lectures are focused on effectiveness rather than just practicality. He is an amazing professor.”

This evaluation reflects Jasso’s mission to ensure students take advantage of both lessons learned in the classroom and the opportunities beyond campus—even across the world—to strengthen their skills, enhance their knowledge, and bolster their capabilities as they enter the job market.

Prof. Sean Jasso with two undergraduate business students at Olmsted Hall

Jasso received the 2022-2023 Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence for undergraduate prerequisite and core courses. The honor is voted and presented by students annually at a spring banquet to faculty members providing the best overall classroom experience for learning engagement, teaching style, and innovative teaching methods. He also received the Golden Apple Award in 2017 and 2018.

Jasso teaches core courses, including Strategic Management, Corporate Strategy, Marketing Management, Judgement and Decision Making, and Ethics and Law in Business and Society. “I’ve taken six of Dr. Jasso’s courses, and I understand that everything he teaches and stands for is built on a foundation of strong ethics and morality,” wrote a student during nominations. “He challenges us to behave ethically.”

Jasso joined UCR in 2003, and he has led the UCR School of Business’s educational domestic and international travel program for 13 years. In 2023, he established an endowed gift: the Dr. Sean Drake Jasso Global Scholarship, which will help fund student travel.

“In all the years that I’ve done the global programs, I’ve been moving toward creating a scholarship. I want to help students in need see the world,” he says.

“Dr. Jasso helps students by spending his own free time and effort to create global programs so that UCR students are more global-minded,” wrote another student recommending Jasso for the Golden Apple.

“A global mindset enables students to broaden their perspectives on everything,” adds Jasso. “The objective is for our students to gain confidence and strengthen their overall competitive value in the labor market.”

Jasso also serves as adviser to the many competitive teams representing the School of Business and the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management at national, state, and local case competitions, and these contests require months of research and teamwork in addition to the students’ usual academic load.

“I personally know Dr. Jasso has helped quite a few first-generation college students develop a deeper and more integrated understanding of business and strategy as team members for case competitions,” was another nomination statement from a student.

Added another: “He loves what he does, and it shows.”

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FACULTY AWARDS

Sean Jasso

Global Programs

A Decade-long Streak of Wins

ilseu — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 16:26:34 +0000

A Decade-long Streak of Wins ilseu Thu, 06/03/2021 - 09:26 More Blog Posts Darin Estep June 03, 2021

The International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition is not for the faint of heart. It demands months of preparation, focus, and determination from students who choose to participate. What begins as a classroom simulation quickly transforms into a high-stakes challenge that mirrors the realities of global business leadership.

First, there is more than three months of hard work, with students running a simulated business and making all the C-suite decisions required to compete in an international marketplace. Each student team must step into the roles of chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and other leadership positions, learning firsthand what it means to guide a company’s direction. Every choice matters, from how much to produce, to whether to expand operations, to how to allocate marketing dollars. These decisions ripple across the simulation, with competitors from universities around the world reacting to each move.

Then comes the three-day “intensive phase”—a description that might be an understatement. During this final stretch, the pressure increases dramatically. Teams must take everything they have learned, review their past decisions, and prepare to present their strategies and results to a panel of judges acting as a board of directors.

Before their final presentations, students often work through the night, polishing financial reports and strategic plans, reviewing every detail, and rehearsing talking points. Exhaustion is common, but so is perseverance. “Then, with no sleep, there they are: in their suits, standing before the board of directors, spit-shined and ready,” says Sean Jasso, professor of practice for the School of Business, who serves as adviser to the teams. “They are well-rehearsed. They are ready. And they deliver.”

Deliver they have: The proof is on display in the School of Business trophy case with a decades-worth of victories. Each award represents not only academic success, but also the dedication, teamwork, and discipline required to succeed in a simulated but realistic business environment. The consistent recognition UCR has earned in this competition serves as an inspiration to future teams and reflects the quality of preparation provided by faculty and staff.

The School of Business undergraduate team extended their successful run with a third-place finish for the undergrads in the 2021 competition, the 10th year UCR has entered. That accomplishment adds to an already impressive record, reinforcing the school’s reputation for producing students who can thrive in demanding, real-world scenarios.

The International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition, the world’s longest-running business strategy contest, attracts graduate and undergraduate teams who normally compete remotely over a three-month period. Teams use a sophisticated software platform to run a simulated company in a global competitive market for five simulated years. Students make all the critical strategic decisions: production output, hiring and firing, advertising and marketing strategies, sales force management, financial allocations, and even the construction of new factories. Each decision builds on the last, making foresight and long-term thinking essential.

For students, the rewards go beyond trophies. UCR’s track record of success provides an incentive to give their very best, and the lessons learned are carried into internships, jobs, and graduate studies. The teamwork and leadership skills developed in this competition prepare students for the complex challenges they will face in their careers.

“There are no slackers. They are truly dedicated,” Jasso adds. “This work is intensive, and it’s extracurricular, beyond homework or internships. We don’t participate just to learn. We compete to be ambassadors for the school. We go to deliver excellence.”

International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition 2021 on Zoom

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Sean Jasso

ICBSC

The Age of the Vaccine Passport

ilseu — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 06:57:57 +0000

The Age of the Vaccine Passport ilseu Sun, 03/28/2021 - 23:57 More News UCR University Communications March 24, 2021

The vaccine passport is coming.

The likelihood of a “passport” being required — or perhaps just requested — for travel, and to return to school and work, seems a certainty. New York state is testing a smartphone app that would verify vaccine status for entry into events. IBM is developing the Digital Health Pass, which would live inside smartphones. President Biden is studying vaccine passports; the airline industry is keen on them. The European Commission is proposing similar digital passports to ease travel, with tourism-dependent countries such as Greece embracing the idea. Meanwhile, even as it works to develop such a passport, the World Health Organization cautioned against requiring them for travel, saying it’s not clear whether vaccinations stop transmission.

We asked six UC Riverside experts across disciplines to address the implications of vaccine passports.

Richard Carpiano

public health expert

“Given the option, nobody would want to have the Diners Club equivalent of a vaccine passport vs. one whose acceptance is more akin to Visa or American Express or, better yet, a U.S. passport that is recognized everywhere.”
— Carpiano

Q: Airline and hospitality industry officials are asking the Biden administration to take the lead on “the vaccine passport.” Various groups and states are working on developing their own passports. Is that sufficient, or is it important that the federal government/CDC take a leading role?

A: Fundamentally, any vaccine passport would need to be more than just a vaccine card — it would need to be recognized proof of one’s vaccination status — recognized, like other travel documents, as legitimate by agencies requesting to see them from U.S. travelers. A key way to ensure that legitimacy is to have such vaccine documentation (whether paper or digital) issued by a government agency. Just as we do not have multiple government agencies and even private vendors issuing travel passports, the same logic should apply to any such vaccine passports. As such, the federal government should take a leading role in the process to develop, produce, and issue such a document.

It is ideal for all parties involved to have a limited number of entities issuing them versus numerous options that, like certain credit cards, might be accepted only in a limited number of locations and thus require people to obtain multiple passports (and take on additional data security risks). Given the option, nobody would want to have the Diners Club equivalent of a vaccine passport versus one whose acceptance is more akin to Visa or American Express or, better yet, a U.S. passport that’s recognized everywhere.

Juliette Levy

digital pedagogy and virtual reality (VR) expert

“People are worried that with the vaccine passport, other personal info will be shared, and that is precisely what blockchain would prevent.”
— Levy

Q: “Blockchain” technology, which encrypts personal data, is vaccine passport proponents’ answer to privacy concerns. Is it enough to address privacy concerns?

A: I think blockchain itself addresses most privacy issues — but I think the issues raised about the vaccine passport are not so much about the passport or the vaccine. After all, while our medical info is private, vaccine distribution isn't. People are currently being vaccinated in large public centers or their cars! I think people are worried that with the vaccine passport, other personal info will be shared, and that is precisely what blockchain would prevent.

Jennifer Syvertsen

medical anthropologist; focus on global health inequities

“While vaccine passports seem attractive in permitting safe travel, there are real ethical concerns.”
— Syvertsen

Q: Critics of vaccine passports are concerned that they will widen the gap between elites and nonelites, and between the Global North and Global South, in access to travel, recreation, and hospitality services, as well as increasing inequality in other ways. Given how uneven the vaccine rollout has been, and how unequally distributed it has been between various countries, this is a valid concern. What can be done to ensure vaccine passports do not exacerbate social inequalities?

A: The pandemic has exacerbated long-standing structural and social inequities to disproportionately sicken, hospitalize, and kill vulnerable groups. We are all eager to return to some semblance of “normal,” and while vaccine passports seem attractive in permitting safe travel, there are real ethical concerns that this will be just another driver of global health inequity.

Globally, wealthy countries have purchased vaccines for their citizens, but it has been estimated that perhaps one-quarter of the world may not have access to any vaccines until 2022. Even within the U.S., the vaccine rollout has struggled to achieve equity; currently, in California, 30% of those vaccinated are white compared to 19% of Latinos and 3% of Blacks, for example. There are real challenges not only with “vaccine hesitancy,” based on justified skepticism of our medical system due to its historically entrenched structural racism and mistreatment of vulnerable populations. However, there are also numerous structural barriers, including access to care, limited trusted information in diverse communities, inaccessible testing sites and transportation issues, inequitable access to technology and the internet for making online appointments, and other challenges. Thus, the privileged of the world would be the first to have access to vaccine passports while others might have to wait for undetermined periods of time to get their passport — if ever.

This opens up a lot of ethical questions and would introduce opportunities for discrimination based on an immunity status, which opens people up to experiencing stigma and discrimination based on a medical condition. These passports would compound inequities along fault lines of gender, race, ethnicity, class, citizenship, and the like. Passports could open people up to being discriminated against and suffering human rights abuses. This places a burden of responsibility upon individuals for vaccination and might obscure the role of the government and public health agencies in ensuring the collective good.

Breaking down global patent monopolies on producing vaccines, investing in initiatives like COVAX, and attention to not only vaccination, but testing, contact tracing, and access to reliable information and health care are needed to address equity issues.

Brandon Brown

epidemiologist

“Any way we can encourage vaccination is a good thing.”
— Brown

Q: How important would the vaccine passport be to jumpstarting the travel and tourism industry? What purpose does the vaccine passport serve in the travel industry if it’s not mandatory?

A: Providing evidence of immunization via something like vaccine passports can help protect the health of the individual traveler, other travelers, employees involved in the travel industry, people in the host country that is being visited for travel and tourism, as well as people in the country of origin of the traveler upon their return. Any way we can encourage vaccination is a good thing, as vaccines are one of the most effective ways to improve health and prevent disease and death.

Ashish Sood

marketing professor who has studied the effectiveness of pandemic lockdowns

“Higher the perceived benefit, stronger the consumers’ urge to adopt the intervention.”
— Sood

Q: Do consumers historically embrace or resist restrictions aimed at protecting public safety?

A: Extant research provides ample evidence that consumers look for standard protocols to enhance public safety, but only when certain conditions are satisfied.

First, the threat is tangible and relatively immediate. In cases where there is debate or lack of sound scientific evidence on the probability of the occurrence a certain negative event, the actions or regulations for public safety are deemed restrictive and there is much higher resistance. Thus, the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine certifications will be higher in communities where the impact of COVID-19 has been more visible, or the information has been received from sources that are considered more valid.

Second, the intervention aimed at enhancing public safety, e.g., regulating consumer activity (access/movement etc.) based on the COVID-19 vaccine certification is easy to obtain and validate. In some Asian countries, consumers receive QR-coded vaccine certifications digitally transferred on their phones within minutes of receiving the vaccines. These certifications are standardized and consumers learn to recognize these images making it easier to implement it across regions, marketplaces, and industries. In other cases e.g., in the U.S., we still rely on paper certificates that are not standardized making it impossible to implement easily.

Third, the benefit of intervention is clearly and consistently communicated. Examples of such benefits include access to travel, opening of schools, universities, and business establishments etc. Higher the perceived benefit, stronger the consumers’ urge to adopt the intervention.

Sean Jasso

political economist and business ethicist

“A passport policy risks challenging basic liberties of mobility, interstate and international commerce, and privacy.”
— Jasso

Q: Will vaccine passports achieve their intended goal of boosting the economy and slowing infection?

A: If the purpose of passports is to help industries recover from lockdowns by returning to familiar, highly concentrated groups of people to reduce or eliminate the risk of infection from others, then in theory, a passport policy might help achieve this desired outcome. On the other hand, a passport policy risks challenging basic liberties of mobility, interstate and international commerce, and privacy.

The current phenomenon of the government creating lockdowns and assigning industries that are essential or nonessential is an example of such an unprecedented reach that has produced mixed results throughout the world. There is no clear evidence of what method of reducing the contagion has worked best. But with a vaccine in the mix, policymakers now have a clearer path of what normal might look like with large groups in school, airplanes, restaurants, theaters, and offices.

Q: The European Union is set to vote on a “Digital Green Certificate,” a vaccine passport that would allow free travel between EU countries. If the EU adopts this policy and the U.S. doesn’t, what could the effects be on international tourism? And will the proposed passports be useful at all if they are not universally implemented?

A: Creating an interstate commerce vaccine passport is the job of Congress, where the political feasibility is unlikely due to delegated powers among the states and local governments. What is likely, however, is that industries will have the economic will to more accurately test the risks producers and consumers are willing to bear. Industry leaders and their many stakeholders from customers, employees, suppliers, to owners have a wider scope of analysis to regulate from within both domestically and internationally.

What's the right thing to do? We must ask first, what is the purpose of the policy — whether it is from United Airlines or from Congress. As for vaccine passports, I predict certain industries and governments will indeed create incentives to get vaccinated. Whether the incentives become public policy by putting stamps in passport books so people can move about the nation or the world remains to be seen.

The opportunity for more debate, analysis, and discovery is certainly imminent.

^{This Q&A was compiled by Holly Ober, Iqbal Pittalwala, and John Warren of University Communications.}

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Students Visit the Port of Los Angeles

kmcnally — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 16:33:02 +0000

Students Visit the Port of Los Angeles kmcnally Thu, 10/25/2018 - 09:33 More News October 25, 2018 Riverside, Ca

UCR Business Students Visit Globalization at the Port of Los Angeles

UCR Business is strategically positioned in the hub of supply chains serving regional, domestic and global markets. Students witnessed where economic value creation begins and ends at one of the most innovative and largest shipping ports in the world.

On November 18, UCR Business students from Dr. Sean Jasso's marketing course visited TraPac - the first shipping container firm with full automation at the Port of Los Angeles. Students were given a private tour of the massive shipping yard by the director of maritime operations, Bill Schopp.

Mr. Schopp explained the details of how 40% of American imports enter the Port of Los Angeles. Students stood directly on the working dock of the ship just arriving from China with crane operators unloading and loading 4800 containers in the course of three days, non-stop, 24/7.

The visit included observing the remote control center for trucking and train operations as well as a question and answer period in the board room. Mr. Schopp provided a concluding lecture on the economic impact of the Port from the massive labor force, to the tax and tariff structure, to the time it takes to get Nike shoes from Shanghai to the dock in Los Angeles, to the retail shelves in Riverside and New York.

For more information on future visits to the Port of Los Angeles, contact Dr. Sean Jasso at seanj@ucr.edu.

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Sean Jasso