4 LEHIGH BUSINESS MAGAZINE directions,” says Hanley, who holds the Bolton-Perella Endowed Chair in finance and serves as director of the college’s Center for Financial Services. “The government should not have unilateral ability to impose potentially costly and burdensome regulations on firms without firms having input into the impact it may have on their businesses.” That input comes through the legally mandated comment period for all regulations, during which all interested parties can make their views known. “By law, regulators must respond to comments that are material in the final rule. Businesses spend a lot of money for attorneys and lobbyists to write comment letters highlighting things about the regulation they approve of or think are deficient.” The comment process might continue for months or even years for large rulemakings, Hanley says. “At the end of the day, if firms disagree enough with the provisions of the rule, they may seek relief through the court system.” Sometimes the SEC wins. Hanley recalls, “I worked on a rule in which my cost benefit analysis bulletproofed the SEC and they won. But, I’ve seen it the other way, too, where rules have been contested in court and the SEC has lost in a big way.” The complex issues surrounding artificial intelligence illustrate the need for government and technology companies to work together on developing regulations, says Andrew Ward, professor who holds the Charlot and Dennis E. Singleton ’66 Chair and is chair of the management department at Lehigh Business. “You can’t really expect members of Congress to have this deep understanding of AI and what it can do,” Ward says. “How should they even go about regulating AI?” Leading companies in the development of AI, including OpenAI, Microsoft and Google, agree that regulation is necessary because of the potential dangers AI poses. AI can be used for harmful and nefarious purposes. “Regarding AI, there needs to be much more cooperation between government and business to help define that regulation,” Ward says. “Even allowing companies to influence the regulation that could affect their business. “With self-regulation, companies can help the political arena better understand the issues, challenges and dangers of AI.” Infrastructure & Supply Chain When an elevated section of I-95 in Philadelphia collapsed on June 11, 2023, after a fiery crash involving a tractor-trailer hauling gasoline, it temporarily severed a main artery in the nation’s supply chain. Nine million trucks, carrying $195 billion in freight, travel on I-95 (the country’s busiest interstate) each year. In only 12 days, the interstate was repaired and reopened, thanks to an extraordinary public-private effort that involved federal and state governments, a local private company that developed an innovative foamed glass aggregate used as backfill, other private contractors and skilled union labor. “Neither the government nor private industry could have done this alone. They had to work together,” says Georgette Chapman Phillips, the Kevin L. and Lisa A. Clayton Dean of College of Business at Lehigh. It was estimated that the detour around the collapsed section added at least 45 minutes to an hour—and often even longer delays—for trucks hauling goods, reports Zach Zacharia, an associate professor of supply chain management, interim chair of the decision and technology analytics department and director of the Center for Supply Chain Research at Lehigh.
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