Guido Palazzo, professor of business ethics, highlights a case where entrepreneurial ingenuity has turned environmentally and socially toxic, threatening the health and economic welfare of thousands of people living and working in Italy.
Brexit, Uncertainty and Values at Risk – Five Risk Management Lessons
After nearly three years of negotiations, Brexit is proving a seemingly intractable problem, with all routes out of the EU looking costly for the UK. With emotions running high, opinions polarised, and reasoned argument often elusive, maybe a risk management perspective can offer some useful insights, suggests Professor Anette Mikes (HEC Lausanne, UNIL).
5 min read Continue reading Brexit, Uncertainty and Values at Risk – Five Risk Management Lessons
The Facebook effect: How Facebook browsing shapes the consumer decision making process
Marketers are well aware that social media sites can play a role in influencing consumers, whether it is through product endorsement or building customer loyalty, for example. However, research by Christian Hildebrand and Tobias Schlager suggests that the effect of Facebook on consumers is both more subtle and powerful than commonly realized. They demonstrate that merely browsing this social media site has a significant impact on subsequent consumer decision making.
Powers of attraction: How to make the most of tax holidays as a foreign direct investment incentive
In a global economy where countries compete fiercely for foreign direct investment, Prof. José Mata offers some insights for policymakers wishing to extract maximum value from specific tax related investment incentives—notably tax holidays.
How badly run is your firm? Measuring the impact of key corporate governance issues
Corporate governance rules are designed to ensure that firms are well run – that management decisions do not unjustly deprive certain stakeholder groups of value, for example. A major challenge for policymakers, however, as regular reports of poorly run companies in the media show, is devising effective governance provisions. Now though, using a novel approach, academics Boris Nikolov, Erwan Morellec, and Norman Schürhoff have devised a framework which can be used to gauge the actual impact on a firm’s value of some common governance problems and the relative impact on different stakeholder groups.
5 min read Continue reading How badly run is your firm? Measuring the impact of key corporate governance issues
Mosquitoes, malaria and the spread of slavery in the US
In 1641 Massachusetts legalized slavery, the first North American colony to do so. Slavery was to persist in the colonies and territories, and then the United States for another two centuries, until formally abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. Numerous theories have been advanced about why the US, a nation that values individual liberty so highly, introduced and institutionalized the practice of slavery. And why the slavery of African slaves in the southern states, in particular, became the prevalent form of slavery. Now, Elena Esposito publishes new research showing how the spread of malaria in North America may explain the pattern of growth of slavery in the US.
5 min read Continue reading Mosquitoes, malaria and the spread of slavery in the US
Keeping the lights on: are electricity firms the next “too big to fail” crisis?
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis it became clear that regulators had allowed many financial services firms to become “too big to fail”. Yet this system-critical firm problem is not confined to financial services. In their paper “Can electricity companies be too big to fail?” Ann van Ackere, Erik R. Larsen and Sebastian Osorio explain how a similar challenge faces the electricity sector, and offer some suggestions to help regulators prevent the lights from going out.
5 min read Continue reading Keeping the lights on: are electricity firms the next “too big to fail” crisis?
Kept in the picture: A consent-based system for sharing data online
Privacy issues associated with the online sharing of data, from photos to genetic information, have been the subject of much discussion recently. One particular problem is how to protect the privacy of people who are featured in shared data, such as group photos, for example, but are not the uploaders of that data, and may not even be aware of the data being shared.
5 min read Continue reading Kept in the picture: A consent-based system for sharing data online
Long live the power breakfast: Why executives should schedule critical tasks for early in the day
Many executives spend significant sums improving their personal performance. However, new research by Elizabeth Demers and her co-authors, suggests that there is one relatively simple, effective and low cost way of upping your game as an executive. They show that, for a combination of reasons, cognitive function, mood and the ability to communicate tend to decline throughout the day. For executives with packed diaries and little time to replenish reserves, it is best to get critical tasks scheduled for the morning.
War and peace: The case for power sharing
There has long been an association between politics and violence. Factional disagreements can often lead to prolonged violence. At the same time, there is apparent evidence that the prospect or reality of power sharing can reduce violence – as with the Good Friday agreement and paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, for example. At a time when factional violence, within a country or region, is evident in numerous parts of the world, research that examines how to prevent that violence is particularly relevant.
5 min read Continue reading War and peace: The case for power sharing