As director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at  The Wharton School, you collaborate with more than 50 industry partners to expand resources available to faculty and students to support education, outreach and research. How have these partners contributed to the development of your students? Can you share an example?

Our partners have offered their expertise to our students in many different ways. They have been keynote speakers at our conferences; for example, last year Roger Farah (President and COO of Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation) spoke at our annual Penn Fashion Week and this year Vera Wang and William Fung (Group Managing Director of Li & Fung Limited) will speak.

Many of our partners have provided guest speakers from various areas in their organizations to come into our classrooms as a way of bringing relevant retailing experience into our courses. They have also worked with faculty and students to develop research and consulting projects.

For example, I am currently working with a group of students on a term project for Dress Barn and I have worked with Perry Ellis and student groups to develop brand strategies and social media concepts. Finally, many of our partners have hired our students for internships or full-time employment.

Why do you think retail provides attractive career opportunities for young people today?

Retailing is the largest industry in the United States, and it is a very diverse industry. It is an especially interesting time to get involved in retailing as the industry grapples with multi-channel opportunities. How will e-commerce, m-commerce or f-commerce affect traditional bricks-and-mortar stores?

While merchandising might be at the heart of a lot of retailing decision-making, there are also critical issues in supply chain management, in real estate decisions, in branding decisions, in human resources and in controlling operational efficiencies and costs. Many retailers are now developing global strategies as well.

Retailing provides a fascinating context for all of these critical business skills. Plus students who have an entrepreneurial bent usually gravitate towards some form of retailing.

You have an extensive background in higher education and academia (as a dean and professor of marketing at University of Miami and a published author in several industry journals, to name a few accomplishments). In a recent interview, you said “being an academic is the best job in the world.” What led you back to The Wharton School and the Retailing Center in particular?

For the last three and a half years I have been the dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Miami. I am proud of the accomplishments that we achieved while I was dean there; we saw a big jump in our ratings, we made some very prestigious new faculty hires and we brought in better and better students to our programs. It was a very exciting time.

Although I really enjoyed being at University of Miami, it was not an ideal place for my family. Since I had spent 17 years at The Wharton School as a chaired professor of marketing and I was also vice dean of the Wharton Undergraduate Division before going to Miami, it was a natural place for me to return. I have very strong ties to the school and to the marketing department.

I also had very strong ties to Jay Baker. Many years ago, when he was president of Kohl’s, he helped me develop a creative term project for my consumer behavior classes. He came to the classroom several times with many of his top executives to make sure that the students had the most up-to-date information to work on their projects. The students loved him, and the projects were a huge success both for them and for Kohl’s. A few of those students ended up choosing a career in retailing once they graduated. I was delighted to have the opportunity to work with Jay again in this new role.

Any retail experience in your background? How did retail become an area of interest?

After graduating with an undergraduate degree I decided to work a few years before going back to graduate school. I worked in advertising and public relations, and many of my clients were in retailing businesses. I became interested in their problems and in creating effective marketing strategies for them.

When I went back to graduate school, I focused my research on understanding how consumers make decisions, why they buy what they buy. I studied brand loyalty, variety seeking and the design of product assortments — all issues that are very important in retailing. I also co-wrote a book on the supermarket industry called Grocery Revolution: The New Focus on the Consumer.

The Wharton School will graduate a new crop of undergraduates and MBA students in May. I’m sure many have come to you for advice and words of wisdom. What do you tell them?

This is a stressful time for students as the job market is more competitive than it has ever been. It is important when students are at Wharton to make sure that they take advantage of all of the opportunities that they have here, both in and out of the classroom. They have the chance to learn new and valuable skills and to form relationships that can last a lifetime.

When looking for a job, now is the time to try and follow one’s passion, to look for a job that can offer a lifetime career opportunity. While one does not have to stay in any job forever, finding a career path that makes sense for the long term is certainly an attractive option. I do think retailing offers that option to students.

Alumni can be great ambassadors for your program and retail. How do you keep them engaged in The Wharton School’s activities? Do you have any stellar graduates making a name in retailing you’d like to mention?

Many of our advisory board members are graduates of Wharton starting with Jay Baker himself! Also, Mohammed Alshaya (WG ‘84), CEO of M.H. Alshaya Company; Roger Farah (W ‘74), president and COO of Polo Ralph Lauren; Sam Haddad (W ‘93), president of Haddad Brands; Brendan Hoffman (WG ‘97), president and CEO of Lord & Taylor LLC; David Jaffe (W ‘81), president and CEO of Ascena Retail Group, Inc.; William Lauder (W ‘83), executive chairman, chairman of the board of The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.; Pierre Yves Roussel (WG ‘93), CEO, fashion division of LVMH; Mark Schwartz (W ‘79), president, CEO of Palladin Capital Group, Inc.; Daniel Schwarzwalder (WG ‘72), senior managing director of Buckingham Capital Management; Steven Silverstein (WG ‘85), president and CEO of Spencer Gifts; and Robert Trone (W ‘81), founder of Total Wine & More …. Just to name a few!

In addition to serving as director of Wharton’s Retailing Center, you are a professor of marketing. What is your favorite course to teach, and why?

My favorite courses to teach are Consumer Behavior and Strategic Brand Management. These are courses that combine consumer psychology, customer analytics and strategic thinking in a creative fashion. They are so much fun to teach.

What else should retailers and others know about the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center and your programs and plans?

This is an exciting time for the Center and for the Retailing Industry. Changing technologies, consolidation in the industry and the move to a global marketplace presents tremendous opportunity for innovative solutions. We at the Center want to be right in the middle of it. We are looking to develop new curriculum for our courses, to create state-of-the-art new knowledge that will be relevant for the industry and to train our students to take leadership roles in the retailing world.

For more about the typical day-in-the-life of a marketing professor, read the full NRF STORES interview with Barbara Kahn.

It is no wonder that we wanted to continue the interview with the man, who runs a company that includes iconic shoe brands Keds, Stride Rite, Saucony and Sperry Top-Sider. Read on to find out more about his first retail job, his thoughts on pursuing passions and engaging customers.

Matthew Rubel, Chairman, CEO and President of Collective Brands, is active in industry and civic organizations, including the Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative at The Wharton School.

Your resume includes a number of blue-chip retailers and brands — J.Crew, Cole Haan, Revlon and Tommy Hilfiger. What about your very first retail job? When did you first fall in love with retail?

My first retail job was at a very young age at my parents’ clothing store in South Florida. When they finally let me on to the selling floor, I knew I loved retail. It was all about the customers and making them happy. I knew immediately.

We [NRF Foundation] talk about retail being an industry where your passion — whether it be books, the outdoors, technology or shoes — can be your work. Can you talk about pursuing passions?

People are passionate about brands. And when you are the brand builder, creating great brands, it’s really fulfilling. We are working with such iconic brands where you can engage customers in great items to bring more vitality and fun in people’s lives.

What do you see as the biggest benefit of working in retail?

The direct connection with customers and seeing them enjoy your products.

What’s the biggest challenge?

Retail is truly dynamic and ever-changing — no one day is ever the same.

What do you look for when you hire?

People who know how to listen, want to win and know how to think.

In a previous interview when asked, “What would you say to anyone considering a career in retail,” you said, “Stay focused on the customer. They hold the key to any retailer or brand success. Be ready for dynamic action, pace and change. It’s a great place to be creative, work with teams and build. It’s also great because if you make a mistake you can mark it down, learn from it and move on.” What other advice could you share for young people looking to get a start, or get ahead, in retail?

It’s important that you do what you love. Work should be fun. If you love customers and exciting them with great product and a fun, engaging shopping experience, then retail is right for you.

Want to know more about Mr. Rubel? What’s his must-have technology, next on his reading list, or the role of social media in his company and their plans for international growth? Read the full STORES interview.

But, this week, I’ve been particularly excited by a number of interesting news articles that have highlighted the retail industry. Interviews with retail executives, tips for landing retail jobs, managing retail employees — these are the kind-of articles I like to read — the ones that focus on real people in retail.

Here’s a digest of my favorite articles from the week:

(1) You Want Insights? Go to the Front Lines
New York Times, Corner Office, August 15, 2009

Every Sunday, the New York Times interviews top executives about the challenges of leading and managing. This week they interviewed Brian Dunn, CEO of Best Buy, who discussed leadership lessons he has learned (when you’re asked what you think, tell people what you think), and how he uses technology (monitors Best Buy mentions on the web and on Twitter; uses Skype to watch NBA basketball with his kids).

Some of my favorite quotes:

“Learning from people who are actually doing the work.”

“Be really careful about what you believe about yourself. You’re never as good as they say or as bad as they say. When I was made C.E.O. on June 24, I didn’t wake up that morning smarter. I didn’t wake up with a massive I.Q. expansion. I did wake up with a new responsibility.”

Read the full article.

(2) Your Career: Landing a Retail Job in a Recession
New York Times, Business, August 17, 2009

Retail jobs are harder to find in this economic environment. Read about what individuals and universities are doing to find jobs. One example: University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has been working with retailers to develop short-term projects, in areas such as operations and merchandising.

Other tips include:

• • Focus on financially healthy chains.
  • Look for jobs at stores where you regularly shop and that you’re passionate about.
  • Meet the managers: Don’t just drop off your resume
  • Be flexible. Working in retailing can mean long work schedules, particularly as the holiday season approaches.
  • Play up your experience in customer service.

Read the full article.

(3) Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers
McKinsey Quarterly, August 2009

The managers of frontline employees are crucial, yet often overlooked.

This article highlights the importance of the district/area managers, store managers, site or plant managers, and line supervisors. These managers direct as much as two-thirds of the workforce and are responsible for a crucial part of the company that typically defines the customer experience. Yet, they often have too limited flexibility in decision making and too little room for creativity.

Read the article (full article requires subscription).

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