Dean of the UA Sam M. Walton College of Business
Matt Waller, 54, was named dean of the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville on May 1, 2016, after having been the interim dean since July 2015.
Waller earned his bachelor’s from the University of Missouri and his master’s and doctorate from Penn State. He first came to the university as a visiting professor in 1994, was named full professor in 2007 and headed the Supply Chain Management Department.
Since Waller became dean, the university has created the Brewer Family Entrepreneurship Hub, the McMillon Innovation Studio and the Blockchain Center of Excellence.
What is your analysis of the economy? What is going well and what are some potential concerns?
My analysis of the economy and economics over the past 30 years has led me to believe that innovation is the most important factor for driving growth. So, do I have a concern? Yes.
Study a list of companies that existed in America in 1980, and 1 out of every 8 would be less than a year old. The companies on such a list in 2015 would be dramatically different, but here’s the relevant stat: Only 1 in 12 would be less than a year old. Furthermore, while the 524,000 startups founded in 2006 created 3.4 million jobs, there were only 414,000 startups in 2015 and they created just 2.5 million jobs.
We are working to facilitate innovativeness in our students. Since 2009, around 150 graduate students have completed the new venture development course taught by Carol Reeves, and teams from that class have won 27 competitions. That’s more than twice the number of victories as the next closest competitor during that time and four times as many wins as other high-profile business schools like Northwestern, Purdue and Michigan. In the last eight years, our students have won more than $3 million in cash prizes, started more than 40 companies, raised more than $60 million in funding and created hundreds of jobs.
You brought a lot of business executives in to speak to your previous class, “Arkansas Business” — love the name, by the way. What have you learned listening to your guests?
Some of the themes that came through very clearly included the following:
- Your network is a necessary but not sufficient condition for business success.
- Culture is one of the most equivocal and esoteric factors in business, but it is one of the most important.
- You must be both a good leader and a good manager if you are to run a company successfully. However, you don’t need to be great at all aspects of leadership and management, because you must surround yourself with people who have skills you don’t.
Part of the mission of the Walton College is to advance and disseminate business knowledge, and I believe that this course on Arkansas business was directly in line with that.
The UA recently announced a Blockchain Center of Excellence. Why? And what are the expectations for the center?
Blockchain technology could transform the way businesses operate, and it has wide-ranging applications from banking and finance to health care and insurance.
The Sam M. Walton College of Business is at the forefront of blockchain research and education. We aim to develop and establish research partnerships by conducting collaborative industry-university research, promote and enable dissemination of knowledge about blockchain and accelerate industry adoption of blockchain technology. We want to make the Walton College a premier academic leader in advocating for and educating on blockchain.
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