THE BULL, BEAR & LION

VOL VI. no iii. T H E S T U D E N T B U S I N E S S N E W S PA P E R O F T C N J DECEMBER 2018

This Winter Break: Unwind

Investment Therapy 101: The Art of Remaining Calm

By Connor C. Introna
extended periods of time. If an investor cannot tol- and fear take too great of hold and push people to
Markets are in seemingly endless turmoil. erate months like November and October, this is make impulsive decisions. This is ultimately why
Both October and November have not at all been simply not his or her game. There is no reasoning most retail investors fail. Inexperienced, distract-
kind to investors; six weeks alone have wiped out with the invisible hand of the broader market; it’s ed, and most importantly, the opposite of calm,
trillions of dollars in market capitalization. Trig- either look up above or look out below. An inves- they fall victim to the market. Most of the time,
gered by fears of a slowing economy in a high- tor can either take the risk that comes with playing such investors do not have to fail, yet they are more
er-interest-rate environment, virtually all of 2018’s with equities and potentially win big, or hide out likely than not to do so. Warren Buffett is often
gains have been forfeited, and the broader mar- in fixed income and cash and win a lot smaller. tossed around by retail investors as being the bea-
kets have sunk into troubling correction territory. There are several fundamental keys to be- con of investment wisdom, but how many times
Financials, energy stocks, technology giants, re- ing successful as an investor or trader in the eq- has the Oracle of Omaha himself been subject to
tailers, and the consumer cyclicals have all been uities markets. Being thrifty, having a diverportfo- great deals of stress in the market? He’s been in the
crushed as each day seemingly brings lower and lio, being patient, and having the right insight are market for decades. Surely, there have been more
lower yearly averages. The decline in the broad- all important, but there is still one than a fistful of times where
er markets has even poured pressure onto diver- cardinal virtue missing in this mix. Periods of decline like even perhaps the greatest
sified exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, and Without this skill being properly October and November investor of all time has been
even traditionally safer stocks listed on the major mastered, it is almost impossible to present valuable buying left with little but his cool de-
indices. That being said, there are not too many be a successful investor, never mind opportunities in popular stocks meanor. Wells Fargo’s stock,
places to ride out the storm, with the exception a disciplined trader. If not yet evident for the long-term. It’s only a which Buffett owns nearly
of cash, different asset classes, at this point, this essen- matter of time before buyers step 10% of and which is down
some utilities, and consumer There is not a single tial virtue is the ability in and acknowledge that struc- over 10% since its September
staples. This article is not at- successful big investor, large to remain calm. Staying tural fears are largely high, is more than enough
tempting to find the bottom in institutional money manager, relaxed and remaining overblown. reason alone for him to lose
these markets or pick names or legitimate investment calm in turbulent times it, but in all likelihood he has
to buy when the markets get banker who has not mastered could mean the difference in attaining not. Follow the leader and remain calm.
crushed. Instead, let’s start off the art of remaining calm. pleasing success or traumatic failure. Granted, there are times when investors
with a deep breath, a glass of They have to; it’s the nature of An investor can master virtually every have the right to panic and lose their composure.
water, and maybe a box of tis- other skill, but if he or she cannot keep If a portfolio is filled with the stocks of General
business.
sues. Clear the mind, rest on calm, his or her ventures will never be Electric, Snap, Tilray, Fitbit, and Facebook, there
the sofa, and try to think hard about what is going fully fruitful. There is not a single suc- might be a
to be talked about. Therapy is in session; the doc- cessful big investor, large institutional few reasons
tor will see the troubled investor now. money manager, or legitimate invest- to not have
“My portfolio is down twenty-percent!” ment banker who has not mastered the a clear head.
“Why on God’s green earth is the stock of Mastercard art of remaining calm. While in the cer- However, if
plummeting in an ever-more-cashless economy?” tainly not-desired state of comfort un- a portfolio
“I am thinking about quitting equities and staying in der pressure, such equities players all is well-bal-
fixed-income forever.” know exactly how to keep a cool head anced and
All of the above might be common reac- when things go wrong. They have to; it’s d ive rs i f i e d
tions by investors to stressed-out markets heading the nature of the business. The titans of among as-
further downward. The democratization of stock finance accept that times like these are set classes as
owner- inevitable. well as within
ship only Remaining calm is especially them, there
amplifies important when encountering is nothing to
these con- short-term fluctuations in the broader mar- worry about. The major indices will recover and be
cerns and ket. These times could easily distract an in- fine in the long-term. Respected names like Ama-
i n c re a s e s vestor from the long-term view of investing. zon, Mastercard, Apple, and JP Morgan Chase will
the num- Days when the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones all come to lead the charge upwards once again.
ber of peo- Industrial Average fall two percent or more Periods of decline like October and November
ple they could be very intimidating and send an am- present valuable buying opportunities in popu-
affect. It is ateur investor into a selling spree. This is lar stocks for the long-term. It’s only a matter of
only natural to feel distraught and anxious when where a strong understanding of behavioral eco- time before buyers step in and acknowledge that
equities flow anywhere but in the upward direc- nomics and human psychology comes into play. structural fears are largely overblown. Until then,
tion. However, it is also only natural for equities to There is not a single investor who enjoys losing remain calm, keep a cool head, and don’t crumble
fluctuate and, sometimes, sink lower and lower for money; it’s outright painful. But sometimes, pain under the downturn. ◆
Contact us: bbl@tcnj.edu Poets & Quants ranks the TCNJ School of Business in the Best 50 Undergraduate Business Programs in the United States www.bbltcnj.weebly.com
page b1 | The Bull, Bear & Lion | Vol. VI, No iii. December 2018
THE BB&L

CULTURE & COMMERCE

Apple Unveils Upgraded Products in Brooklyn
On October 30th, Apple held its yearly
press event in the Howard Gilman Opera House
at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York
City to introduce a few of its latest products. While
no new innovative items, such as a new iPhone,
were to be revealed during the program, the Cu-
pertino, CA-based Apple announced a plethora
of upgrades to its already impressive line of tech-
nology products. One of the most popular prod-
ucts to revealed during the event was the new
iPad Pro. It is equipped with USB-C, Apple’s lat-
est gadget that aims to reduce the charging time
for full battery life to an hour. Like the compa-
ny’s other recent products, the iPad Pro also has
Apple Pencil support and an upgraded camera,
but lacks a touch button. The device’s other new
features include a liquid retina display and a A12X
Bionic processor, which will make this tablet Ap-
ple’s fastest ever. While the initial price of $1,100
for the 12.9-inch model and $800 for the 11-inch
model might seem a little steep, customers have
been purchasing these devices at a record pace.
Apple also announced a new MacBook Air
during the event. The company moved aspects of
By Matthew Mancuso
its current MacBook Pro to the Air, including Force
Touch, Touch ID, more advanced speakers, and a
quicker processor. The latest Air comes in three
new colors: Space Gray, Silver and Gold.
The Air also has a much better display than
the last computer. Additionally, it is made with 100
percent recycled aluminum, which contributes to
(Gray) Silver & Gold:
Apple releases upgrades for its most popular products, like new color
lines for its Macbook Air, with the gift-giving season in view
Apple’s goal of helping the environment. Current-
ly, it is the most powerful Mac on the market. The
base models, which have 128 gigabytes of storage,
sell for $1,199 while the 256GB computer is listed
at $1,399. The 128GB computer is currently the
cheapest laptop Apple offers, though it is the most
powerful Mac on the market.
The final improved product that was intro-
duced in Brooklyn was the Mac Mini, one of Ap-
Key Upgrade Areas ple’s oldest prod-
ucts. Apple gave
• iPad Pro: USB-C, battery
the device its first
life, Apple Pencil, camera,
upgrade since 2014.
retina display
While the Mac Mini
• MacBook Air: Force might be confusing
Touch, Touch ID, speakers, to understand ini-
colors, processor tially, it is a pretty
simple concept. Think of it as a computer without
a display, a mouse or a keyboard. In essence, it is
the control center of the computer. It does all of
the important functions that are not visible to the
human eye and makes sure the computer is run-
ning properly.
With these products, Apple hopes to re-
main profitable over the next decade. With increas-
ing competition and a new wave of innovative
technology products flooding the market, Apple
faces a difficult test to remain in the green. Howev-
er, Apple has not failed to profit since its founding,
and there are no signs that that trend will stop. ◆

Jared Kofsky: A NYC-based chain of sandwich shops is moving into

New Jersey, as are new information kiosks. Meanwhile,
NEW JERSEY, a new Costco and hotel could open in the northern half
NEW BUSINESS of the state.

Major companies from outside the Garden
State are continuing to show interest in some of North
Jersey’s densest communities. From restaurant chains
to big box stores to hotels, a variety of corporations
are constructing new facilities or adaptively reusing
existing buildings. Now, one company is opening not
one, but two locations in New Jersey, while another is
continuing its expansion into the state. Simultaneously,
an out-of-state business is planning to come to a local
city in a unique way. Here is this month’s look at New
Jersey business news, as initially showcased on Jersey-
Digs.com.
Like most other states, New Jersey is seeing an
increase in big-box warehouse wholesale clubs along
busy thoroughfares. Although Sam’s Club locations
nationwide have been closing, Costco Wholesale
and BJ’s Wholesale Club are continuing to expand.
These types of stores charge customers an annual fee
to shop in them, but are also known for inexpensive
prices on items sold in bulk. While plans for a BJ’s lo-
cation in Hanover Township in Morris County were
cancelled earlier this year, construction is underway
on a new Costco club in the Hudson County city of
Bayonne. The 150,000-square-foot store, which will
include a gas station on the premises, is rising off of
Route 440 at the Military Ocean Terminal site. It will
be Hudson County’s first Costco and will be part of a
larger 241,712-square-foot retail complex called Har-
bor View Marketplace. There are also plans for 651
apartments, a pedestrian bridge over Route 440 to the
34th Street Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Station, and
Seastreak ferry service from the new complex to New
York. The upcoming Bayonne store comes after the
Issaquah, Washington-based retail chain opened new
locations in Raritan Township, Hunterdon County and
Lawrence Township in Mercer County.
While customers at the new Costco and the
other stores at Harbor View Marketplace will need to
enter each retailer from the outside of the building, the
opposite will be true at two new locations of a New
York-based chain of sandwich shops. Melt Shop,
which currently has outposts in New York, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Kuwait, is expanding
to northern New Jersey. Two locations of the growing
franchise are coming to the food courts at the New-
port Centre mall in Downtown Jersey City, Hudson
County and the Rockaway Townsquare mall in Rocka-
way Township in Morris County. The restaurant chain,
which specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches, milk-
shakes, and burgers, is also planning to open in Edison
Township in Middlesex County and East Rutherford
in Bergen County, according to food-service-industry
news provider QSR.
In addition to restaurants, Jersey City, Rocka-
way Township, Edison Township, and East Rutherford
all have no shortage of hotels. Because of growth in the
number of hotels near its airport and central business
district in the past few years, Newark can be added to
that list as well. Now, plans to open up yet another hotel
in the heart of New Jersey’s largest city have been reini-
tiated. Three years ago, a proposal to open a Home-
wood Suites by Hilton in a vacant 12-story New-
ark office building was first revealed. The plans call for
turning the structure, which is located along Raymond
Boulevard at the corner of Commerce Court, into 153
guest rooms, a restaurant, a fitness center, and a busi-
ness center. Then, in November, developer HARI New-
ark Urban Renewal brought the plans back, request-
ing Preliminary and Final Site Plan approval from the
Newark Central Planning Board, according to a legal
notice. The Homewood Suites location would join the
chain’s other North Jersey hotels in East Rutherford,
Cranford, and Edgewater.
The neighborhood surrounding where the
Homewood Suites is expected to open recently got
a new neighbor. A LinkNWK kiosk, similar to the
LinkNYC kiosks across the Hudson, was installed this
fall near Military Park. Now, Jersey City is expected to
get a kiosk system of its own. Smart City Media is
working with Jersey City officials to install CityPost
kiosks throughout the state’s second largest city. These
devices, described officially as networked public infor-
mation kiosks, are expected to offer information about
transit alerts, local businesses, and community events.
Up to 50 kiosks are slated to be installed in the city’s
business districts. While Smart City Media will not pay
a fee to put the devices on the sidewalks, they plan to
give a portion of the advertising revenues to the mu-
nicipal government. ◆

Contact us: bbl@tcnj.edu Poets & Quants ranks the TCNJ School of Business in the Best 50 Undergraduate Business Programs in the United States www.bbltcnj.weebly.com
page b2 | The Bull, Bear & Lion | Vol. VI, No iii. December 2018
THE BB&L

In The School of Business

To Do This December: Get A New Logo
Is there just something in the air? Is it some-
thing about pine and the falling snow that make people
think, “I need to rebrand”? Clubs are up and running,
college students are applying for jobs, and business-
es are just slowing down after a long year. Whatever
the reason may be, the winter seems to be a great time
to rebrand and rethink your logo. Before you dive in,
however, you might want to consider what your mes-
sage is, what tone you want to set, and how your logo is
going to be used.
What does it take to rebrand or create a great
logo for the first time as a student start-up or small
business? Even if you have no idea what you want, the
first step is knowing who you are and knowing what
you want your logo to convey. A key to this consider-
ation is identifying what makes you stand out from
your competitors. In general, determining your mar-
ket position first in logo designing is best.
A logo will then set the tone for observers. Its
appearance is meant to be catchy and to draw in in-
terested parties before they know anything else about
you and your business. In terms of fonts, Comic Sans
sets one tone, while Georgia sets a very different one.
The same can go for color, clarity of design, and icon
usage. This does not mean that a logo has to tell every-
one outright who you are. Some of the best logos, like
those of Apple and Target, give nothing away about
what a company does, yet are the most recognizable
aspect of its brand.
By Jill Marbach
Speaking of recognizability, simplicity is key
to getting consumers to remember you. Think of all
the big social media icons: Instagram, Twitter, Snap-
chat; the list goes on. One such image sticks with any-
one who comes in contact with it, so much so that one
needs to only display the social media brand’s logo and
a username for for the entire web to understand which
platform one is referencing. A simple logo can go far
when you want your brand to be instantly remem-
bered.
Next up, you should make it a point to
consider where this de-
sign is going to be used.
Logos for t-shirts will
look very different than
those for website icons.
Consider two logos I
recently created. One is
for an electrician who
was looking to rebrand
(right, down). He cur-
rently uses his logo as letterhead, on shirts, and on his
truck. He needed it to display key information to give
potential clients a direct channel to reach out. On the
other hand, the “EZ” logo (left, up) was created for a
friend in the tech industry to be used on his website.
He can use the simple, versatile design in a number of
ways and use its color and style to dictate the look of
the rest of the website.
Finally, if you are rebranding with a new logo,
consider your roots. How far are you willing to move
from your original design? Losing too much of your
original concept can be detrimental -- if you don’t be-
lieve me, look at the change Yahoo! made a few years
ago. Key pieces like keeping an icon, a color scheme,
or a font are essential to evolving who you are but not
losing who you were. When Yahoo! redesigned, its
logo lost every one of its original aspects, keeping only
the company name itself. That being said, rebranding
dangers are not as great if you did not have an iconic
logo to start out with. The danger of thinking you have
nothing to lose in rebranding, however, comes then
from making too many changes too fast and appearing
disorganized in the process. Constant rebranding also
makes committing to promotional materials far more
difficult.
Overall, finding a logo for yourself or your
business is key to creating a comprehensive brand.
It’s a great way to start considering who you are as a
business, how you want to be represented, and what
should stand out when people look at your brand. ◆

Employment in the Humanities vs. STEM

By Kathy Dobrow
STEM label and its promise of well-paying and abun-
The current career wisdom is that STEM (Sci- dant jobs.
ence, Technology, Engineering, and Math) jobs will net As seen in actual statistics and not just through
you a higher paycheck, while those based in the human- accepted wisdom, STEM only has more of those
ities will doom you to unemployment. well-paying jobs in certain fields. Most jobs, and among
If you look at a wide variety of data from profes- the best-compensated jobs in STEM, are related to
sional resources like The Hamilton Project or the One computer-science and engineering, under the “T” and degree level biologists aren’t making much more than
Year Out Survey that TCNJ publishes on salaries and “E” of the acronym. The “M” and “S” employees often many humanities majors. STEM is not an uncompli-
positions for various majors, this is not true. Sure, many fare very differently. According to the Bureau of Labor cated ticket to well-paying and plentiful jobs. The cur-
STEM majors start out with salaries double those of Statistics, there is expected to be significant growth in rent STEM craze is one in a line of many STEM crazes
many humanities majors with bachelor’s degrees, but jobs for those in math, particularly statisticians; but they over the years, dating back to the Sixties when Ameri-
those humanities majors are in fact gaining employ- do note that the field was small to begin with. As for cans feared they were falling behind in the sciences and
ment. As seen in the One Year Out Survey from TCNJ the sciences, those in physics tend to earn the most, fol- math when the Soviet Union reached space first. With
and other broader statistics, humanities majors do start lowed by those in chemistry. The lowest sciences sala- a bachelor’s degree alone, a humanities major will start
out at lower salaries; but let us look more closely at the ries are attributed to biology, for which at the bachelor’s out earning $10,000-$30,000 less than engineering and
computer science majors, and the degree does not di-
Not In The School of Business rectly translate to a job. Over years of earnings, the wag-
In their Liberal Learning classes, your classmates are building their business es grow closer, and over a lifetime, humanities majors
educations beyond the Business Building . earn their fair share of income, especially with a gradu-
ate degrees.
In the first installment of this panel series, BB&L editors explain how Liberal Learning classes Though debatable in its fairness, a bachelor’s
were valuable for content rather than requirement fulfillment. degree in anything, even the humanities, still forecasts
far higher lifetime earnings than just a high school de-
Jared Kofsky: ANT246 Climate Change and Society gree. Additionally, money is not the only measure of
“We completed a project that involved working with on-campus
happiness. From a survey by the American Academy of
departments along with government agencies and community partners
in Mercer County in order to try to enact a policy change related to the Arts and Sciences in 2015, 87% of people with bachelor’s
environment. These skills will certainly be useful following degrees in the humanities were satisfied with their jobs.
graduation.” Furthermore, in the 2014 Gallup-Purdue poll of alum-
ni, almost equal numbers of engineers and humanities
Kristen Townend: PHL100 Introduction to Philosophy majors (70%) felt that they were interested in the work
“We applied philosophical theories to real-life cases. Many of the theories that they did. Salary is not the ultimate measure of satis-
applied to ethical situations in business, and having this bac
faction; humanities majors may be making less at times,
kground helped me in Business 200 (Legal and Regulatory
Environment).” but in the end, they overall are happy with the jobs they
have. ◆

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page a2 | The Bull, Bear & Lion | Vol. VI, No iii. December 2018
THE BB&L

review
DOCUMENTARY The outcome at Wells Fargo can teach future
business executives many lessons:
“Playing the Rules: Ethics at Work” (1) language matters;
Wells Fargo’s Path to Scandal (2) incentives can determine behavior; and
(3) the tone of the
By Monica Vitting company starts at the top.

in front of co-work-
In an October airing of the PBS special titled “Playing by the Rules: ers, employees were
Ethics at Work”, various former Wells Fargo branch managers and employees better persuaded to
share their experiences working for the banking giant. Wells Fargo has recently give names of friends
rebranded itself in efforts to reestablish customer trust amidst various scandals. and family to open
One of these scandals involved millions of accounts being opened without cus- accounts for. When
tomer knowledge. In response to the scandals, the Federal Reserve capped the a customer subse-
amount of growth that Wells Fargo can attain in 2018. quently complained
Throughout the PBS special, a theme was evident: bankers at Wells to a branch manager
Fargo needed to meet numbers. The outcome at Wells Fargo can teach future regarding an account
business executives many lessons: (1) language matters; (2) incentives can deter- being opened without his or her request, upper management did not respond
mine behavior; and (3) the tone of the company starts at the top. to the manager with a way to address the conflict.
Following a merger in 1998 with a Although Wells Fargo is just one example of illegal activity within a cor-
Minneapolis based bank called Norwest, In the late 90s, upper poration, future leaders can learn from the norms that were established at Wells
a new CEO became the head of Wells management imposed that Fargo. It is quite evident that this scandal started with tiny lapses in judgement
Fargo. While aiming to increase sales af- branches be referred to as in upper management that trickled down to lower-level workers. This case il-
ter the merger, the CEO imposed that the stores, bankers be lustrates how short-term thinking can lead to long-term repercussions. ◆
branches be referred to as stores, the bank- referred to as salespeople,
ers be referred to as salespeople, and the and services be referred to
services be referred to as products. These as products. HAPPY HOLIDAYS, TCNJ!
changes created a shift in focus away from The BB&L Editorial Board & staff thanks you for
the customer. The emphasis was now on the “products” that were being mar-
your readership this fall, and wish you happy holi-
keted and, often, forced upon customers. Employees were introduced to an
incentive structure that rewarded those who sold eight or more “products” to days and a happy New Year. Enjoy our final issue of
each of their customer. Wells Fargo had re- Fall 2018 as you enjoy your winter break.
Employees started opening alized that fixed costs could be lowered if it
accounts for friends and marketed to existing customers as opposed Look out for our first edition of the Spring 2019
family and, sometimes, to attracting new ones, thus leading to the semester in February!
themselves, in order to goal of selling eight products per customer.
keep their jobs and earn This strategy was known as cross-selling, Please submit your essays, articles, and
bonuses. a skill that the CEO Richard Kovacevich
boasted about. In aims to meet the sales ideas over break:
goal, employees started opening accounts
for friends and family and, sometimes, themselves. Employees followed this bbl@tcnj.edu
practice to keep their jobs and earn bonuses. This focus on short-term goals
of selling products led to long-term negative consequences. In total, 3.5 million
accounts were opened without customer knowledge.
When news of this scandal and
others surfaced, Wells Fargo had already When a customer complained
fired 5,300 employees, many of whom about an account being
were earning $30,000 to $40,000 a year opened without his or her
request, upper management
Index to Writers
as bankers. While the bankers had opened BB&L contributors featured in this edition:
the unsolicited accounts, it was the culture did not respond to the branch
at Wells Fargo that led to these wrong- manager with a way to Jared Kofsky, ‘20 ........ B1
doings. Upper-level management put the address the conflict. Communications major; Public Policy & Management minor
Insights: NJ business, economic development, historic preservation
pressure on branch managers to meet num-
bers. Part of this culture involved public humiliation. To avoid being harassed Jill Marbach, ‘2o ........ B2
Marketing major; Graphic Design minor
Insights: advertising, social media, brand design
THE BULL, BEAR, & LION
the student business newspaper of the college of new jersey Monica Vitting, ‘20 ........ A2
Volume VI, Number iii Interdisciplinary Business major; Political Science minor
December 2018 Insights: healthcare, politics, ethics
CONTACT
BOARD STAFF
Editor-in-Chief Harrison Kelly, ‘19 bbl@tcnj.edu Connor Introna, ‘21 ........ A1
Sean Lange, ‘19 Jillian Marbach, ‘20 Note: The opinions Finance major; Information Systems Technology minor
Assistant Editor Vivian Louie, 20 expressed in The Bull, Bear & Insights: investment strategy, stock advice, personal financial literacy
Lion are those of the writers and
Jared Kofsky, ‘20 George Seitis, ‘20
do not imply endorsement
Assistant Editor Kathy Dobrow, ‘21 by the newspaper.
Katherine Dobrow, ‘22 ........ B2
Izaac Brook, ‘21 Connor Introna, ‘21 History major
Assistant Editor Alden Racz, ‘21 FACULTY ADVISORY PANEL Insights: social/economic surveys, historical costume, higher education
Kristen Townend, ‘19 Matt Mancuso, ‘22 ECONOMICS MANAGEMENT
Roger Moore, Ph.D. Brenda E. Ghitulescu, Ph.D. Matt Mancuso, ‘22 ........ B1
ADVISOR FINANCE MARKETING
Susan Hume, Ph.D. Jean Brechman, Ph.D.
Open Option Business major
Karl Peterson, Professor of Management
SPECIAL ASSISTANCE INNOVATION & ETHICS STATISTICS Insights: sports, technology, current news
Kevin H. Michels, Ph.D. David Letcher, Ph.D.
Nicole Beagin, School of Business Communications Specialist

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